BY BRANDO STARKEY
In her run to the White House, Hillary Clinton’s stride at first appeared flawless. She was a finely tuned machine, constructed methodically and built for inevitable success.
But as her journey continued, she, like a white woman in a scary movie, has tripped and fallen and her death – her political death – awaits. The machine that once was thought to be invincible was but a mirage for it was composed of weak parts and assembled based on a weaker design. Had it not been for Rudy Giuliani, Hillary Clinton’s campaign would be studied for years to come as how not to run a presidential primary campaign. Hillary Clinton is the Titanic.
This column was written prior to the March 4th primaries in Ohio, Texas, Rhode Island and Vermont. If Senator Clinton does not win big in both Texas and Ohio, she should gracefully bow out. I doubt she will though; the Clintons fight until the last dog dies.
The only way in which Senator Clinton can win the nomination is if the party changes the rules in midstream – rules to which she agreed – and seat the delegates of Florida and Michigan during the convention, where neither candidate campaigned and, as for the latter, where Senator Barack Obama’s name did not appear on the ballot.
But she’s a Clinton and the rules, consequently, do not apply to her. And even if they did, she can just change them. It’s the Clinton way.
But even changing the rules is not enough. Clinton is so far behind in pledged delegates and the popular vote that nothing short of blowout victories in the states that follow will keep her from finishing second. She will need the superdelegates, therefore, to go against the will of the people and choose her as the Democratic nominee for president.
Even if this – the Jesus intervention scenario – occurs, her gaining the nomination would split the Democratic Party, preventing her from winning the general election in November. What’s more, black folk, rightfully, will be outraged. It would seem as though the established rules were suddenly susceptible to change as soon as a black man was about to earn the nomination.
“Wait a minute. How did you get into the big house? You’re supposed to stay on the plantation!”
Because blacks are the base of the party the appearance that the nomination was stolen from the first potential black president would be the death knell for the party’s hopes come November.
All of the young people Obama enthused, furthermore, would be disillusioned if the nomination were seemingly stolen in a smoked-filled room by party bosses. These youths might avoid politics for decades. The ramifications would be disastrous for the Democratic Party which would subsequently crumble.
Democrats, moreover, should not even want Hillary Clinton to be their nominee. Like President Bush, she has prized loyalty over competence. Before she was given the deuces, Clinton’s former campaign manager, Patti Solis Doyle, was in over her head, overspending in the senator’s re-election campaign in 2006 and again in this 2008 primary contest.
Additionally, Clinton’s campaign was recently saddened after it learned that the delegates from Texas are apportioned so as to give heavily black populated districts more delegates than their Hispanic counterparts. How could they not know this? Are they running a presidential campaign or TJ Maxx? That’s pathetic.
In a year where the voters wanted change, Hillary Clinton fashioned herself as the inevitable candidate, essentially running as an incumbent. In an attempt to be the first female president, it takes an unbelievable supply of stupidity to shroud that possible remarkable facet of her candidacy. And while Barack Obama was exciting thousands of people in arenas with soaring rhetoric and “Yes We Can” chants, Clinton, in turn, became the “Oh No You Can’t” candidate. She’s like that old lady that yells at kids for walking on her lawn. “You don’t even have any grass!”
But I digress.
The missteps did not end there. The campaign, unforgivably, did not have a plan B. The strategy was to win Iowa, roll through New Hampshire and wrap up the nomination on February 5th, Super Tuesday. A funny thing happened. She lost Iowa. She barely won New Hampshire. She was routed in South Carolina. And Obama won more delegates than her on Super Tuesday.Her plan A failed. And the campaign was doomed.
When Senator Clinton and her coterie of the clueless went to work on February 6th, the coffers were depleted and the organization in the ensuing states was nonexistent. I probably spent the same amount of money on the Nebraska caucuses as Clinton did.
Obama, because he was running against a supposed Goliath, premised his campaign on the belief that it would take time to win the nomination, a war of attrition, and was well-positioned for victory on those post-Super Tuesday contests. And with that favorable position came much success. He won ten straight.
It’s over.
Sometimes you have to say things twice.
It’s over.
Hillary Clinton could have been the Democratic nominee. She’s a good candidate. But in her role as the CEO of her presidential campaign, the most important job of her life, she showed why she was not up for the task of being President of the United States. Senator Clinton should stay in the Senate.
Brando Simeo Starkey is a 3L.