Hillary Clinton '08, R.I.P.

For a little while there, it looked like Hillary Clinton had a shot at mounting a comeback. But on Tuesday, that pesky math caught up with her. There's simply not enough time, or delegates, remaining for her to pull it out. Barack Obama has won. Such is the prognosis from all of those but the most hardened loyalists. Here then, a compendium of obituaries for Hillary's '08 bid for the presidency.

First, a few editorials from today's papers:

The Seattle Times gives us "Clinton's end: time to yield and unify," that conculdes:

Clinton's campaign is over. She is perhaps the last to know.

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The Boston Globe sees Clinton's "Not dead yet!" appeal as pointless and counterproductive:

At the heart of the Clinton's political mythology is their ability to thrive amid setbacks that would defeat other politicians. Clinton still seems well positioned for upcoming contests in Kentucky and West Virginia. She can run more negative ads. She can max out her donors and force Obama to do the same. She can fight on to the convention--if party luminaries will tolerate it, and maybe even if they won't.

Clinton's resilience and determination are impressive. But the delegate math is not inexorable, and it favors Barack Obama.

The Los Angeles Times has nice words for Clinton, and a blunt assessment:

Hillary Rodham Clinton has run a long and admirable campaign for president of the United States. The prospect of her presidency has energized voters, particualrly but not exclusively women, and offered working people a champion for their cause in this time of economic malaise. She has demonstrated resolve and character. And yet, she has lost.

Looking for that major daily that advises Clinton to keep soldiering onward? Good luck finding it.

From the pundit class, the-man-formerly-not-known-as-Annonymous, Joe Klein, gives us the following homily in Time magazine:

Clinton's apparent loss of the nomination was a consequence of her campaigns impotence, but it was also a result of the same-old. The shameless populism that seemed a possible game changer to media observers, micro-ideas like the gas-tax holiday, the willingness to go negative--which Obama tried intermittently, in halfhearted reaction to Clinton's attacks--appeared very old and clichéd to Obama's legion of young supporters, who were the real game changers in this year of extraordinary turnouts.

Columnist George Will has the lead editorial in today's Washington Post:

Gen. Douglas MacArthur said that every military defeat can be explained by two words: "too late." Too late in anticipating danger, too late in preparing for it, too late in taking action. Clinton's political defeat can be similarly explained--too late in recognizing that the electorate does not acknowledge her entitlement to the presidency, too late in understanding that she had a serious challenger, too late in anticipating that she would not dispatch Barack Obama by Super Tuesday (Feb. 5), too late in planning for the special challenges of caucus states, too late in channeling her inner shot-and-a-beer hard hat.

Here's Politico's Roger Simon, piling on with the metaphors:

Rats don't swim toward sinking ships, and pols don't back no losers, and this is why Hillary Clinton is in such trouble. In a relatively short amount of time, Clinton has gone from being the inevitable winner to being the underdog to being a dead woman walking.

Karl Rove pens a piece in the Wall Street Journal, whose title, "It's Obama, Warts and All," sums up the outcome pretty well.

And Slate's famous "Hillary Death Watch" meter now puts Hillary's chances of winning the election at a comatose 2.5%.

As for Clinton's trusted circle of supporters, who will be telling her it's time to pull the plug? George McGovern stepped up to the plate yesterday, and Diane Feinstein tipped her hand a big when telling reporters:

"I'd like to talk with her and get her view on the rest of the race and what the strategy is... I think the race is reaching the point now where there are negative dividends from it, in terms of strife within the party."

Finally, we'll end with Tim Russert, who weighed in on election night with the following eulogy.




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