By ALISON SONNENSCHEIN
Opinion editor
Trailing Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) by an estimated 187 total delegates according to CNN, Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY) feels increasing external pressure to give up her presidential dream. These outside forces, some supporters of her opponents and others political analysts, constantly reiterate the fact that she cannot mathematically win.
She has consistently advertised herself as a fighter, and she is not going to stop. To quit would simply be un-Clinton-like. It would make the political difference between Obama and her almost disappear. In fact, their differing views on the summer gas tax, lobbyists and approaches to universal health care are the only relevant purely political factors that they conflict on. So, why are Clinton’s supporters still checking off her name if she seems so obviously the “loser” of this so-called political game?
Voters like her tough attitude and determination. Although some may argue the former first lady has the toughness to emerge a winner in the general election because of her experience as first lady and Senator, these arguments are merely a pretext. Voters are making this primary season a competition about personality, image and even gender and race more than anything else. The preference for Hillary’s gritty personality has drawn out the Democratic nomination and has drastically cut the party’s time to attack the actual policies.
These politics have been about identity rather than policy. Falling in the demographic of white, over sixty, and female, Clinton has proven to attract those just like her. For many of the contests, exit polls have shown that about 50% of her supporters took race into consideration when voting. The fact that she gains support from older women does not seem surprising either; many of them knew a time when sexual equality was not a reality and the ideaof a woman president was unthinkable.
Obama supporters are guilty of bias as well: he has won 90% of the African-American vote. He generally wins among college-educated voters, even though Clinton is college-educated as well. He typically wins the vast majority of voters under 30 and tends to win in big cities. But since he has ultimately emerged as the winner, it is clear that his supporters’ prejudice has not and will not hinder anyone’s success in the general election.
Hillary continues to push for her nomination, promoting her role as the candidate best able to carry the swing states and attract the “Reagan Democrats,”white working class voters whose allegiance shifted to the Republican Party over social issues and foreign policy. After the Indiana and North Carolina primaries, she engaged in the extremely divisive tactic of talking about “hard working Americans, white working Americans.” Though she has softened that edge, she continues to trumpet her ability to carry this part of the electorate.
Her campaign advisors promise that she will not attack Obama directly, rather she will speak to her own qualities and attack Bush and McCain, but her campaign continues to focus on our country’s divisions and Obama’s potential weaknesses as a candidate. Little can be gained by her tenacity besides further questions raised about Obama’s candidacy. Already, her persistence has encouraged Reverend Wright to engage in his spectacle, and she has given fodder to conservative talk shows and editorial pages.
Though some have argued that these challenges have strengthened Obama as a candidate, they have also created doubts in voters’ minds. Despite the media beginning to ignore Clinton’s jabs, the need to fill up 24/7 cable and Internet news leads to continuing loops of herspeeches. The full force of the Democratic Party needs to be focused on defeating McCain rather than the sideshow of the unrealistic Clinton candidacy.
It is time for Senator Clinton to get over her pride and ego and let the discussion on policy begin. The opportunity to shape our future and undo the past eight years of a train wreck can no longer be squandered.
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