[shetuck]

RCP: Clinton Fatigue Driving Pressure to Quit

April 03, 2008
Clinton Fatigue Driving Pressure to Quit

By Steven Stark

This past week, Vermont senator Patrick Leahy joined a growing chorus of politicians, pundits, bloggers, and Barack Obama supporters urging Hillary Clinton -- trailing by a little more than 100 delegates with a number of contests still to go -- to quit the Democratic race in the interests of party unity.

It is, in truth, an argument virtually without precedent in modern political history, at least at this stage of such a close race. And while it does have its origins in an effort to preserve party unity, it also has its roots in an odd and vitriolic crusade to purge the Clintons and hand the nomination to a candidate who has yet, after all, to win a single large state's primary (other than his own), let alone the nomination.

The fact is that, until now, candidates have rarely, if ever, faced such a concerted movement (featuring prominent names, such as Bill Richardson, and a column in Slate titled "The Hillary Deathwatch"), urging them to drop out before their rival has clinched the nomination. [...]

... Clinton is being held to a different standard than virtually any other candidate in history. That's being driven by Clinton fatigue, but it's also being driven by a concerted campaign that examines every action the Clintons take and somehow finds the basest, most self-serving motivation for its existence. Thus, in this case, when Clinton is simply doing what everyone else has always done, she's constantly attacked as an obsessed and crazed egomaniac, bent on self-aggrandizement at the expense of her party. Is there a fair amount of sexism in the way she's being asked to get out of the way so a man can have the job? You be the judge.

[...]

Lastly, at the risk of getting preachy right here, it's kind of un-American to end a contest prematurely. Did the referee call a premature end to the Davidson-Wisconsin NCAA tournament hoops game this past week because it was clear Davidson was going to win and the team needed to rest its starters for the next contest? The usual standard is that we allow contests to play out to a conclusion and we also try to allow everyone who wants to vote to have a chance to participate. Yes, the Clinton campaign has often been unusually negative -- a valid topic of criticism. But should she withdraw? Only if she's held to a standard different from the one we've always had before.