I have additions today to the two Americas concept I brought up earlier this week, those who get it and those who are completely without a clue.
Gets it: San Diego State University President Dr. Stephen Weber, who responded to the fatal overdoses of a pair of coeds last year by providing support for university police, the Drug Enforcement Administration and District Attorney's Office in an undercover operation that resulted in 96 arrests, including 75 students. The initial announcement was something of an embarrassment for the school, but as more information came out about the way the operation was handled, Weber and SDSU look very good right now. Weber and the university saw a problem and attacked it head on. If Barack Obama were as upfront on critical issues as Weber was on this one, he'd be drafting his inaugural speech right now.
No clue: there were actually protesters Wednesday who complained against the "heavy-handedness" of the DEA and claimed the arrests created "a climate of fear" on campus. And get this, some of the protesters were PARENTS. That's all we need, a bunch of second-generation junkies who fall over dead in chemistry class. They actually set up 75 empty chairs to represent the 75 students who will no longer be able to graduate from SDSU. I'm serious.
---
So Hillary Clinton is not dropping out of the race for the Democrat presidential nomination. The question is why, since there's no way she'll gain enough delegates to defeat Obama.
The most logical reason is that she just wants to get through the last significant primaries through May 20 to let the voters have their say. She could go to the end on June 3, then back out. She might see it as an honorable course, like a golfer finishing 18 holes despite being hopelessly behind the leader. The idea that she might be able to seat the Michigan and Florida delegations and somehow eek out the nomination in Denver seems to be moot by now. There's talk of her maybe turning her focus to a vice-presidential appointment, but I have a hard time seeing that one work.
There's one more possibility. Maybe it's just me, but I've kind of assumed that between the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, the terrorist fundraiser and Tony Rezko, all the skeletons in Obama's closet have been revealed. But we really don't know that for sure, do we? A lot of stuff seems to have come out of thin air, either from things not being reported previously or from the candidate or his wife making a mistake.
I can't believe Hillary Clinton would sit and wait for Barack Obama to make another error in judgment, or for Michelle Obama to come out and say something stupid again. Plus, his mistakes have not been too costly among Democrats. He's still leading, after all.
That leaves the nuclear option. The big one. Information to be leaked that would drive her opponent from the race. If the things that have hurt him with the general population aren't working with Democrats, how about something that shows him to be too conservative? Like an internal memo in which he suggests that we'll have to remain in Iraq?
I wouldn't count that out. I would not bet on it either. Of course, my betting track record so far in this election season isn't worth much. My guess is that the Clinton camp considered Wright to be their trump card and it didn't work.
Clinton probably just wants to finish the race with her head held high before she concedes.
