Former Democratic presidential nominee George McGovern, a Clinton backer, is switching his support to Obama and becomes the first high-profile backer to publicly urge her to leave the race:
"After watching the returns from the North Carolina and Indiana primaries Tuesday night, McGovern says it's virtually impossible for Clinton to win the nomination."
The irony: The superdelegates who have become key to this year's struggle were structurally put in place to reduce the possibility of another McGovern -- who was viewed as a nominee of one wing of the party that never had a realistic chance to win in 1972.
Maybe it makes sense that McGovern, of all people, doesn't want to see a process designed to block another him used to block Obama....
Comments (1)
My wife and I voted for George McGovern in 1972, when we lived in Arkansas. Hillary and Bill were just getting started on their full-time career in politics, as McGovern organizers and canvassers - their efforts on McGovern's behalf, like ours, were fruitless: McGovern was blown out in Arkansas (and almost everywhere else), and my wife and I were repeatedly condemned by Arkansans for wearing our McGovern lapel pins: "Don'tcha know he's a communist?!"
This was long before Bill became governor.
As someone who values loyalty, McGovern has always supported Hillary's bid for the nomination, even though his personal values probably more closely align with Barrack Obama's.
So it's especially telling that McGovern is the first top-rank super-delegate to tell Hillary to yield to the inevitability of Barack Obama being the nominee.
A safe prediction: he won't be the last.
For the good of the party, for the good of the country, Senator Clinton, please give it up. If you keep on like you've been doing, you'll make it impossible for the rift between your supporters and Obama's to heal, and Obama will lose the general election.
In that event, you may be absolutely certain that the Democratic Party will never allow you to be its nominee - not in 2012, not ever.