It's Time
I believe, as I have since the day she announced, that Hillary Clinton was the best we were going to get as the 44th president. But a confluence of events - from her husband's uncharacteristically bad moves to people buying into "hope" as some kind of policy initiative; from a media that sold its own story and hype on the notion of "inevitability" to a tragically flawed nominating process - all have made today the right time to hang it up.

I could not, and would not, ever say she was the perfect candidate. In fact, this latest idea - also proposed by the republicant John "100 year in Iraq" McCain - to suspend the gas tax is just plain idiotic. But, on the whole, no other candidate has put forward policy initiatives as detailed and in-depth as Clinton's. Does that make her wonkish? Absolutely. And that's what I love. Because that's governing; that's policy-making. Yes the gas tax thing is pandering; and that's political. But all-in-all, I could more easily live with a toss off pandering here and there if it means, at the end of the day, that we have a president that by-and-large knows what the hell is going on and how to make the system work.

That said, we are where we are. Senator Obama is going to be the nominee and if the American people can turn away from the story the media is going to want to tell in the general election (that is, that McCain is the "straight-talker" "maverick" who seems to always "come back from the dead") then Obama will be the next President.

As for Senator Clinton, I've had a few thoughts about what should be next... Unity ticket? No. I don't think that's going to work. Where she needs to be is in the Senate. As I said, she's a wonk and wonks make great lawmakers. In fact, I think she should push to replace Harry Reid as Senate Majority Leader. Because if there is a single feckless pussy that's ever been leader, it's Harry Reid. Without a doubt, Senator Clinton is the person to take over and push for a true Democratic agenda in the Senate.

Lastly, I'll be volunteering for the Obama campaign come general election time even though he wasn't my candidate of choice. But that's politics. You have to suck it up and stick with the team that will do the most good. And that means attaching to Obama to ensure we control the White House and Congress and, with any luck at all, relegate the republicants to permanent minority.