Dear Hillary,
I mean this with all do respect. Please concede the Democratic primary to Barack Obama. You have lost. You are hanging on to a faint notion that you might bloody Obama so much that your margins in the final primaries will push you above him in popular votes and delegates. Or, that your momentum might persuade enough super-delegates to vote for you to give you the win. Either way, you are destroying the Democratic party's chances of winning in November.
Look, there are only two outcomes to this. One, that you'll lose anyway. In that case, you've only successfully helped John McCain in his fight against Obama, and bettered McCain's chances of winning in November. Although your recent statements lead me to think otherwise, I don't think you really believe having McCain in the oval office would be better than having Obama there.
The second outcome is that you'll actually win the nomination. But at what cost? You'll have dissuaded the large number of new, and newly active, Obama supporters. They'll view your win as dirty-tricks, or the underhanded tactics of a political party they had hoped might actually change to support a new, fresh, candidate. You'll help to realize their fears, that being involved in politics really doesn't make a difference.
Everyone has done the "math" on this race, and knows full well that your chances of winning are next to impossible. Obama leads you in pledged delegates (with or without including super-delegates). He leads you in the popular vote. He leads you in the number of primaries won, the number of caucuses won, the number of States won (the number of both "Red" and "Blue" States), and he has raised millions more than you from his millions of donating supporters. What is it you know that keeps you in this?
There is something to be said for someone who doesn't give up in the face of defeat. But as we've seen too many times with President Bush, going forward in doing something that you think is right, when everything and everyone is saying otherwise, isn't a positive trait. We've lived through nearly eight years of wrong-headed stubborn leadership. We don't need more of the same.
I speak for myself only, but as an example of what I'm sure others are feeling. Everything you've done between Ohio and now has turned me off to the possibility of voting for you in November. I used to be one of those who supported Obama but thought that you and he would be great choices for our party. Then you turned negative. And not just negative, but down-right dirty. As your campaign says, you threw the kitchen sink at Obama. Even so, you still didn't gain any noticeable ground on his lead. All you managed to do was lower his polling advantage against McCain in a head-to-head match up. As much as I dislike the thought of having McCain win, I will simply not vote if you are our party's nominee. I'm sorry. But you have brought this on yourself.
The one saving grace for you, Hillary, is to bow out of this race before the convention. Work out a deal with Obama where you become his VP, or just realize this isn't working and drop out. That, or reverse course and turn your fight against McCain. There is no disgrace in losing this race. By conceding, you will restore my respect for you, and I would enthusiastically support you as Obama's VP.
Again I ask you, for the sake of our party and the sake of our country, please Hillary, drop out.
Sincerely,
Jason Holderness
San Diego, CA
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