10.26.08
The Bargaining
As she fell into the death throes of her candidacy, I insisted here and elsewhere that Hillary Rodham Clinton was serving a noble purpose and was a hero to this country for doing what she could to smash the idolatry of Barack Obama. I gladly voted for her in the Texas Democratic primary because I felt a genuine obligation not unlike the obligation I believed compelled her own perseverance. And because she is a profoundly intelligent woman, which was true when I despised her for her politics and advisers and which remained true when those things began to matter less than averting the crisis that now faces us: the prospect of a socialist demagogue, wrapped in some diabolical immunity to every normal point of political skepticism, and poised to become the most powerful man on Earth.
Mrs. Clinton, the first characteristic of heroism is selflessness.
Right now, your support of Barack Hussein Obama is nothing more than party loyalty. Let’s be clear about that. You will not run in 2012 because Obama will either be running for re-election —no matter how poorly he will have performed in his first term— or he will be running again to recapture what McCain will have stolen from him here in a few days. Thus, you will be eight years removed from what was once called inevitably yours. Do you think you are another Nixon, set to run in 2016? What if Bill isn’t there with you? Which Democrat, if not Biden, will you have to run against then? Eight years is a long time, Mrs. Clinton. How could that iron ever get so hot again?
I think Hillary Clinton —and surely Bill Clinton himself— have an important opportunity to serve a cause greater than their own self-interest by defying their party in these last few days and issuing an endorsement of John McCain. Can either of them ignore the enormous harm this would do their legacy within the party? No, of course not. But they ought to recognize that the almost kinetic force of such an endorsement would serve a far greater purpose than the burnishing of their own statues while the Republic falls —and into the wrong hands.
