What Happened Last Night - Clinton Nets A Gain of Four Delegates

Maureen Dowd, in today's NYT, observes that it was "shoulder pad feminism" whose tone was "if you don't vote for a woman, you're a traitor to the cause" that played the key role in Hillary Clinton's popular vote victories last night in three of four states which held primaries. As my dear departed mother (zt'l) used to say, "if you throw enough s**t on the wall, some is bound to stick". And indeed, in addition to the kitchen sink, she trotted out the feminists of yore and others who played to the traditional bias against women in America as a basis for rejecting Obama and supporting her. "People will have to choose which of America’s sins are greater, and which stain will have to be removed first. Is misogyny worse than racism, or is racism worse than misogyny?"

It's a pity that the people of Ohio and Texas could not see past this shameless yet ultimately successful attempt by the Clinton campaign to divide traditional liberals like this. Aren't we past identifying people's ideas by the color of their skin or what equipment is between their legs? I believe, in the end, in the power of ideas and in turn, their power to motivate people. And all you need to do is look at who is best able to articlulate those ideas, propose changes based on them and motivate people to implement them. I am more interested, as I have written in this space, in what is between their ears; nothing more and nothing less.

For all the horn-blowing and drumbeat of "Clinton Comeback" after last night, she gained a net total of FOUR delegates. FOUR. Repeat a third time: FOUR. She still trails in the delegate count by plenty, and as long as like-thinking Americans show up and vote their conscience and not their sex or race, there is only one candidate: Obama.

Meanwhile, we are stuck in a primary that will see both candidates go after each other, giving John "Grampa Munster" McCain all the ammunition he needs for the general election. He can dismiss 65% of his staff right now, and just sit back in his Arizona Barcalounger and watch the fun and games as the Democratic candidates rip each other to shreds.

In THAT battle, I am glad that Obama came of age politically in Chicago. He is going to need every bit of that experience in the coming weeks to fend off the Clinton attack machine and hopefully address those women voters who, in Wisconsin at least, had the shmarts to see past Obama's skin and Clinton's pantsuits and bra to the ideas that they offer the Country to get us back to where we need to be.

This is an awful situation to be in and, in the end, Hillary is doomed to failure, a fact which someone in the Demcractic National Committee needs to tell her before we hand the Republicans another victory. Do they have the cajones to tell her what she NEEDS to hear as opposed to what she WANTS to hear? I doubt it, but at the same time, the Obama campaign rolls on with an almost insurmountable lead in delegates.

What will be interesting, if it comes to this, is when Hillary starts to argue about popular vote being more important than the delegate count, the exact opposite of what she was saying only a month or two ago. You can bet her whining will get tiresome and someone, finally fed up, will tell her to go back to her seat in the Senate, sit down and read a copy of Vogue. She's forgotten how to be a real lady and at the same time command respect and admiration. (see, e.g., Barbara Boxer, Carly Fiorina, the former CEO of Hewlett Packard, the late Barbara Jordan, and the list goes on and on) All I see is political maneuvering and hacksterism from someone who will say or do ANYTHING to get herself elected President. At this point, she can only want the election for the thrill of power; her campaign right now is leading her party to ITS doom.

RS