Right now, that would be my preference. I won’t do it, because–in my opinion–only a weenie votes “Present,” but it certainly feels like a tempting choice.

Senator’s Obama’s speech this week was, for the most part, quite good. I don’t think it reinvented the wheel, but it was effective, and occasionally ambitious. A solid single, which a brave soul could probably stretch into a double–but, it wasn’t a home-run. (Mind you, no one else has even been stepping up to the plate, forget connecting with the ball, so some significant credit is definitely due.) A home-run requires an act of political courage–not a hasty, if well-written, response to intense media pressure. The same sort of speech could, and should, have been given months ago, simply because it was the right thing to do, and not because a cranky reverend popped off a few too many times. If one is going to be a visionary leader, it’s not enough to have vision–you also must lead.

A grand-slam home-run is when the speech is not only completely voluntary, but also–dare I say it–full of genuine audacity, scope, and risk. Risk is a major component of world-class political oratory, which simply doesn’t exist when one is carefully preserving one’s campaign, while preaching to the eager-to-be-converted. (It is good that many, many people want to change the way the United States operates, but political expediency is still political expediency.) A walk-off grand-slam home-run is when the speech is entirely extemporaneous, and in immediate response to a terrible crisis. Robert F. Kennedy, addressing Dr. King’s tragic murder comes to mind. A speech which is mostly given to further one’s own personal fortunes–even a very good one–simply doesn’t belong anywhere in the same category.

It was fine. It was intelligent. It was a nice start. I hope he sent his grandmother some flowers.

I also kind of think that a true leader isn’t afraid to roll the dice and have Michigan and Florida re-vote.

How swell it would be if Senator Clinton suddenly spoke–out of the blue, at length, and from the heart–about gender. However, if she did, I suspect she would be pilloried by one and all, for being a less gifted speaker, and for discussing a subject the media has long since made clear that it considers entirely unimportant. And, unfortunately, it would smack of “me, too!”, and she would be accused of political opportunism. It probably would be opportunistic, but that wouldn’t make it wrong, or irrelevant.

It is very clear that the Democratic Party is not going to allow any scenario which would result in her receiving the nomination. Superdelegates will not be permitted to fulfill their duties–unless, of course, they are named–oh, say–Governor Bill Richardson, or the increasingly transparent Nancy Pelosi. (Senator Clinton won New Mexico and California, which means that the will of the People in those two states was for her to–oh, never mind. The rules aren’t allowed to be changed in the middle of the game–except for when they are changed in the middle of the game. I sense that the Party specifically wants Speaker Pelosi to land the fatal blow, in the end, to make it appear slightly more palatable. Very slightly.)

Senator Clinton is going to lose. It stinks, but there it is. It’s partially her fault, for not running a tighter, smarter, bolder campaign–but, even though I remain convinced that she is a much stronger general election candidate, and would be a far superior President, it’s just not going to happen. If Senator Obama keeps stumbling regularly, and it appears as though she really still might have a chance, I assume that former President Carter, or Al Gore, will grab the ax from Speaker Pelosi and forcefully end the campaign for good.

Which will mean that pretty much all Senator McCain has to do to cruise to the Presidency is–stay awake. And not pick a total loon as his Vice-President.

If I were Senator Clinton’s pal, I’d tell her to pull out. They’re not going to let her win, even if she takes the popular vote, so there’s nothing to gain. And I would be willing to bet a great deal of money I don’t have, that in November, when Senator Obama turns out to be Professor Harold Hill, without the deus ex machina, Hilary will be the one who gets blamed. So, she should be wily, and tough–and fall on her sword.

I think she should sit down with the Powers That Be in a back room, and say, “I can win without him, but he can’t win without me, so here’s how it’s going to go.” (His supporters–as is invariably true during Democratic primary seasons–tend to be on the most liberal side of the Party, and won’t defect to Senator McCain; a certain percentage of her supporters will.)

Although, obviously, this is the gift which keeps on giving.

Anyway, in exchange for her warm, whole-hearted support throughout the fall campaign, Senator Clinton’s minimum price should be Senate Majority Leader or, possibly, the next seat on the Supreme Court. And, among other things, she should also insist that he re-think his health-care plan, and require a mandate–because it doesn’t have a shot in hell of working, otherwise. In addition, Senator Obama should be required to praise her–in public, even!–for putting the Party first, against her better interests, and he needs to sound a whole lot better than this. (Yes, for anyone keeping score at home, I thought Senator Obama was making an ill-advised, premature run before he even declared, but that was one of several moments which has helped to reinforce my gut feeling that, inclusive rhetoric aside, he is not a very nice person–and, as I have said before, is actually just a left-wing, eloquent version of President Bush.)

It’s not the way I wanted to see the path to the Democratic nomination end, and I dread November, but I’m afraid that all that is really left for Senator Clinton’s campaign is a salvage operation.

On a more cheery note, this is fun.

And I wish I could do this.

Maybe I will go eat some of these.