A Job for the Obama Campaign
by Andrew Bard Schmookler
Link to ArticleFor those who believe that it is important that the Republican Party be driven out of the White House in the coming election --and of course I am one of them-- one thing should be clear: the sooner the Democratic contest is over, and the sooner therefore the nominee and the Party can focus on winning in November, the better.Even for those who do not have a clear preference for Obama --as of course I now do-- the upcoming primaries on March 4 therefore offer both an opportunity and a danger. If Hillary Clinton does well enough (whatever that level is judged to be), the competition between the her and Obama will continue. That is the danger --a danger that's all the greater now that Clinton has escalated her attacks on her rival. If, on the other hand, the voters of Texas and Ohio choose to ratify the dramatic movement toward Obama that has made him the 4:1 favorite right now (according to the collective wisdom of the political futures market on Intrade.com), then the pressure on Clinton to withdraw will be overwhelming and the presumptive nominee can be freed to deal with John McCain. That is the opportunity. Many people are likely aware of this strategic implication of the results of the big March 4 primaries. But one cannot assume that all those who will be casting their votes on that day have thought the matter through. It could therefore be very valuable for the Obama campaign to find away of making these implications clear to those primary votes. Those who support Hillary Clinton very strongly will not be influenced by such a perspective. But for many voters who are on the fence, or even lean slightly toward Hillary, being led to see the value of settling the nomination sooner rather than later could well determine their choice: FOR THE SAKE OF THE PARTY, FOR THE SAKE OF DEFEATING THE REPUBLICANS IN THE FALL, IT IS TIME TO RATIFY THE CHOICE OF THE PAST 11 PRIMARY ELECTORATES TO MAKE BARACK OBAMA THE PARTY'S NOMINEE.So how can this be done? Can Obama himself somehow convey this notion in a way that is graceful and appropriate? Can Obama start working into his speeches something like this? Of course, the sooner we in the Democratic Party can set aside the contentions among us and unify behind our standard bearer in the campaign to take back the White House from the party of George W. Bush, the stronger we will be. And so I hope that all of you out there who are hungry for that change will consider this when you go to vote next Tuesday: the sooner we can settle this contest, the greater will be our chances for victory in the fall. Does that work? Is there some better way? These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages. If you have accounts on these bookmarking sites, you can post this story to share it with others.
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