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Mrs. Clinton Concedes*
By JAMES TARANTO
June 3, 2008
"Hillary Rodham Clinton will concede Tuesday night," the Associated Press1 reports.
Oh wait, sorry, here's the full sentence:
Hillary Rodham Clinton will concede Tuesday night that Barack Obama has the delegates to secure the Democratic nomination, campaign officials said, effectively ending her bid to be the nation's first female president.
Hence the asterisk in the headline--and the absence, for now, of a bye-ku. The Wall Street Journal2 reports that Mrs. Clinton's campaign quickly "issued a one-line statement refuting the report":
"The AP story is incorrect. Senator Clinton will not concede the nomination this evening," the campaign said.
Yet AP is not refuting their original report. "The former first lady will stop short of formally suspending or ending her race in her speech in New York City," AP reported, citing two senior officials. "But for all intents and purposes, the two senior officials said, the campaign is over."
Seeing as how there are no more primaries or caucuses once the polls close tonight in Montana and South Dakota, that last statement is, in one sense, obviously true.
But it has been clear for a long time that neither candidate would win a majority of delegates chosen by voters, so that the so-called superdelegates would end up choosing the nominee. As Bloomberg3 noted this morning, however, Obama now seems to hold an insurmountable advantage among the supes:
Obama is just 43 delegates away from securing the nomination. Between the pledged delegates he picks up today and another rush of superdelegate endorsements his campaign expects, the Illinois senator likely will reach the 2,118 delegates he needs to become the party's nominee by week's end.
[Mrs.] Clinton, by contrast, is 199 delegates shy of the threshold and would need to persuade more than 85 percent of the remaining undeclared superdelegates to block Obama. Over the past three months, Obama has gotten about 80 percent of all superdelegate endorsements.
Early this afternoon the AP reported4 that Obama had "effectively clinched" the nomination. As for the Clinton campaign, the earlier AP dispatch said that "most campaign staff will be let go and will be paid through June 15." The story cited "officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to divulge her plans." Good thing they didn't divulge her plans! They did divulge this:
The advisers said Clinton has made a strategic decision to not formally end her campaign, giving her leverage to negotiate with Obama on various matters including a possible vice presidential nomination for her. She also wants to press him on issues he should focus on in the fall, such as health care.
This doesn't really add up, though. If Obama does have the nomination wrapped up, how is Mrs. Clinton in a position to negotiate anything with him, whether she formally ends her campaign or not? And some will doubt the paramountcy among Mrs. Clinton's motives of pressing Obama to focus on health care.
Our reading of this is that Mrs. Clinton is admitting the obvious because refusing to do so would make her look ridiculous, but she is refusing to concede because she hopes--or, maybe, plans--for new information about Obama to surface that is damaging enough to persuade superdelegates to change their minds.
Will she prevail? The odds are overwhelmingly against it. But if she tries, it'll be fun to watch.
Take I-95 to Connecticut Highway 815
"Clinton Exit Possible"--headline, Hartford Courant, June 2
Doesn't He Have a 'Woman Urge' Everywhere?6
"Women Urge on Clinton at SD Diner"--headline, Washington Post Web site, June 2
If Elected, I Will Not Run7
The Atlantic's Marc Ambinder has some breaking news from April 2007. "John McCain was inches away from making an unprecedented pledge: if he were elected, he would serve only one term as president." Which is to say that McCain did not make such a pledge. Which, come to think of it, you already knew, or would have known had it occurred to you to think about it.
OK, so maybe this isn't such big news. But Ambinder's account of the campaign's deliberation over the question is slightly interesting:
Campaign advisers said that, as they discussed the merits of the pledge, the drawbacks were obvious: it might tie McCain's hand with Congress. It would certainly raise the profile of his heir apparent and vice presidential nominee, who would be treated as a de-facto presidential candidate for McCain's entire term. And it would draw attention to his age.
But at the time, the benefits were judged to be equally as [sic] powerful: his finance team loved it; it would call more attention to the political opportunism of his opponents, Republicans and Democrats. It would free him from having to spend the last two years of his presidency running for re-election; it would send an unmistakable message that McCain intended to be a different kind of president. One Republican close to the campaign said: "It would have been the most selfless act in modern American politics."
Which means that the existing record for most selfless act in modern American politics stands. We refer, of course, to Hillary Clinton's staying in a loveless marriage for the sake of improving health care.
Anyway, it seems to us that the McCain team missed an opportunity for an obvious compromise: He could have pledged to serve no more than two terms as president.
All the Flourish That's Fit to Print8
The New York Times reports that Hugo Chavez, Venezuela's increasingly despotic ruler, "has used his decree powers to carry out a major overhaul of this country's intelligence agencies, provoking a fierce backlash here from human rights groups and legal scholars who say the measures will force citizens to inform on one another to avoid prison terms."
In the course of what is purportedly a news story, the Times slips in an innuendo against the American government:
On Sunday, Mr. Chávez referred to critics of the intelligence law as de facto supporters of the Bush administration and of the Patriot Act, the American antiterrorism law that enhances the ability of security agencies to monitor personal telephone and e-mail communications.
Mr. Chávez's new intelligence law has similar flourishes. For instance, it authorizes his new intelligence agencies to use "any special or technically designed method" to intercept and obtain information.
But the new law may also point to the influence of Cuba, Venezuela's top ally, on intelligence policies. For instance, the use of community-monitoring groups to assist in gathering intelligence resembles Cuba's use of neighborhood Committees for the Defense of the Revolution to report on antigovernment behavior.
"This is purely Cuban-style policy," Juan José Molina, a legislator with Podemos, a leftist party that broke from Mr. Chávez's coalition last year, said of the new intelligence law. "Our rulers want to impose old models upon us."
What exactly does it mean to say that the two "laws"--and Chavez's, unlike the Patriot Act, is not a law at all, since it lacks even formal legislative approval--have "similar flourishes"? This appears to be merely a substanceless effort to liken the Bush administration to a nascent dictatorship.
An Economic Bright Spot9
High fuel prices got you down? Here's some news to cheer you up: Houses are a steal, at least in Southern California. The Los Angeles Times reports you can BOGOF:
In a sign of how difficult it is to sell new homes in Southern California right now, a San Diego developer is offering a "buy one, get one free" deal, pairing million-dollar homes with less expensive homes.
"We thought, 'Why does it just have to be on Pop Tarts and restaurants? Why not buy one home, get one free,'" Dawn Berry of Michael Crews Development told 10 News in San Diego.
More: "Michael Crews Development is offering new, 2000-square foot cityscape row-homes worth $400,000 in Escondido for free--if you buy one Royal View Estate home in San Pasqual Valley starting at $1.6 million. 'You know it's a straight-up legit deal; no prices have been increased, there are no hidden costs. Michael is just giving away a free home for people that buy at Royal View,' said Berry."
Of course, no one really needs two houses. But what you could do is tear down the one in Escondido and use the lot to grow corn for ethanol to keep your tank full.
Stickers for Sticklers10
"A computer spell-checker run amok christened several Pennsylvania high school students with new--and in some cases unflattering--last names," the Associated Press reports from Middletown, Pa.:
Middletown Area High School's yearbook listed Max Zupanovic as "Max Supernova," Kathy Carbaugh as "Kathy Airbag" and Alessandra Ippolito as "Alexandria Impolite," just to name a few. . . .
The mistakes were found on four of the yearbook's 176 pages, co-editor Amanda Gummo said.
Uh, shouldn't that be Amanda Gumbo?
The AP reports that "Ed Patrick of Taylor Publishing, which printed the book, said his company is responsible for the errors and will provide free stickers printed with the correct names."
That's an innovative corrections policy. Some newspaper should try it.
Clarification11
In an item yesterday about "Fargo-Moorhead Pride Week," a gay-rights festival in North Dakota's largest city, we noted that one of the events was a drag competition. We wrote, "There's nothing like taking your kid to a drag competition to disabuse him of any stereotypes he may hold about GLBT people."
Several readers emailed us to point out that the word drag actually has two meanings, and it is unclear which was intended in the original story we referenced. It occurs to us that if the Pride Week competition involves men dressing in women's clothing rather than driving fast vehicles, it would actually tend to reinforce rather than counteract stereotypes.
Metaphor Alert
• " 'The MSM is already sending love letters to Obama,' said a GOP operative who worked for the Bush-Cheney reelection. 'That's something that has traditionally been countered on the Republican side with talk radio, blogs to a lesser degree but especially Drudge. If those tools are not part of the Republican vehicle for message delivery, that's crippling.' "--Politico12, June 2
• "Please forgive me, Scott, if this sounds personal, but you've just filleted me and everyone who worked with you, for you and for George W. Bush for being propagandists, manipulators and lemmings. That isn't exactly a bank shot."--Trent Duffy13, a former deputy White House press secretary, addressing a onetime co-worker in a Washington Post op-ed, June 2
So Much for Anthropogenic Global Warming14
"Universal Fire Ruled an Accident"--headline, Washington Times, June 3
Better Late Than Never15
"Abstinence Backers Targeting Parents"--headline, Contra Costa (Calif.) Times, May 31
In the Harshest Place on Earth, Love Finds a Way16
"Penguins Survive Marathon to Play Another Day"--headline, FoxSports.com, June 3
Stay Away From Crime Dips17
"Crime Dips but Not Steadily"--headline, Finger Lakes Times (Geneva, N.Y.), June 2
Or How Not To18
"Man Shoots Self While Showing How to Handle a Gun"--headline, Associated Press, June 3
Someone Set Up Us the Bomb19
"Ray Double Current Record Ray"--headline, WVEC-TV Web site (Norfolk, Va.), June 2
News of the Tautological
• "Serial Bicycle Seat Slasher Strikes Again"--headline, Mainichi Daily News20 (Japan), June 4
• "$40 Million Lottery Ticket Bought in Vista Has Owner"--headline, San Diego Union-Tribune21, June 3
News You Can Use
• "Just the Cricket: Eating Insects Is Good for Us and the Environment, Scientists Claim"--headline, Evening Standard22 (London), June 3
• "Feds Say Prostitution Rampant at Strip Clubs"--headline, Seattle Times23, June 3
• "Today's Lesson: It Flows Downhill"--headline, San Jose Mercury News24, June 3
Bottom Stories of the Day
• "Britons Too Busy to Peel Oranges"--headline, Reuters25, June 3
• "Baby Ducks Are Rescued From Storm Drain in Pierre"--headline, Argus Leader26 (Sioux Falls, S.D.), June 2
• "Oakland Blogger to Cover Democratic National Convention"--headline, Oakland Tribune27, June 2
• "Tiger Woods Scoffs at Stanley Cup final"--headline, CBC.ca28, June 3
• "FEMA Center in Pine Bluff Has Slow Day"--headline, KRLT-TV29 Web site (Little Rock, Ark.), June 3
Feather in His Cap30
The Associated Press reports from Crow Agency, Mont., on one of the final campaign events of the 2008 primary season:
The purification ceremony isn't an everyday ritual of U.S. presidential politics.
The newly named Awe Kooda Bilaxpak Kuuxshish--better known as Barack Obama--faced east, the symbolic source of new life. His adopted Crow father, Hartford Black Eagle, prayed over him.
Afterward, they walked arm-in-arm with Black Eagle's wife, Mary, to a podium, where Obama promised to live up to the meaning of his new name: "One Who Helps People Throughout the Land."
No doubt the Republican Attack Machine will insist on calling him Awe Kooda Bilaxpak Hussein Kuuxshish.
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