The pressure is on for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.). You know, she didn’t need a split this week to succeed; she needed a complete blowout. Although Sen. Clinton won in Indiana, she barely squeaked by; whereas Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) won by wide margins in North Carolina. So what does this mean for the Democratic nomination? Frankly, Sen. Clinton needs a reality check — she’s got to go, and soon.
Listen, she doesn’t have the numbers to win the nomination. Let me rephrase … If she could blow out the rest of the states and if most of the remaining superdelegates would pledge to her and if lightning strikes Obama on a sunny day, she could potentially get the nomination. Unfortunately for her, that’s not going to happen. This week wasn’t perfect for Sen. Obama with the Rev. Jeremiah Wright speaking up again; yet he still won North Carolina and got pretty darn close in Indiana, making it tough to believe that Clinton has a chance at a blowout anytime soon.
Further, the superdelegates have been Sen. Clinton’s lifeline, but they too are inching their way towards the Obama campaign. As I’ve said before, if the supers start to get chatty that it might be the time for her to drop out, it won’t take long before it becomes mathematically impossible for her to win.
So what will she do? Will she bow out of the race with the little bit of elegance and grace she has left? Or will she hang on until someone else (the Democratic voters/party/leaders) decide she is done? Either way, her chances for the presidency are gone. Democratic voters and leaders see the reality of the situation; now they need to give Sen. Clinton a reality check if they still want the White House to be blue next year.
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