It had to be like this...

The truly sad thing is that I think many of us are fully aware that Hillary probably didn't mean to deliberately build the construction that she needed to stay in the race purely because Barack Might Get Shot.

She's been saying over and over again how she's the "better candidate", and that's the reason she's continued to fight on. Frankly, looking at the Electoral Vote Map, she has a point.

Even as of today the state-by-state polls indicate she has a lead over McCain of 312 to 202 Electoral votes with 270 being needed to win the Presidency. That's practically a blow-out.

The thing is that winning isn't everything.

There's also the question of "Who would make the Better President?"

What Hillary has shown us again and again, long before this latest rhetorical blunder, is that it wouldn't be her.

She was against seating the delegates in Michigan and Florida before she was for seating them. She and her campaign gleefully exploited the Secret-Muslim smears, the links to a "Slum Lord", to an ex-Hippie Radical whose never been charged or indicted with anything, and his links to the outrageous black preacher - look he's black and angry and stuff - with the verbal diarrhea problem. (Not that any of them have ever spoken for Barack, but who cares?) She claimed we shouldn't just count the votes from 48 States, we should count all the votes - except for the caucus states she didn't win. We've heard her claim that the "little states" don't count when she doesn't win them, but that they show that "Barack can't close the deal" when she does. We've heard Geraldine give us the "Barack wouldn't be where he was if he was white" upper-cut, while Hillary herself delivers the round-house that his problem is that "He can't get the poor dumb white voters", and she can.

And all the while, the real reason she hasn't already won the nomination is because of all the sexism!?

Yeah, right.

If this was about just the one RFK statment, it woudn't be so bad. But we've already heard her claim that MLK wasn't as important as LBJ right on top of the 40 anniversary of Martin's murder. Why should we be surprised when she didn't know that she should have stopped with the insensitive crazy talk back then, and has now basically did the exact same thing to RFK and his memory?

I know some of her supporters feel that all she's done if fight hard and I agree we do need Democrats to fight hard for what they believe in. But what is it that she's shown she believes in here? That MLK doesn't matter? That she's Hubert Humphrey waiting in the wings for Kennedy's fall only to lose in November to Nixon? That truth is only viable when it's expedient? That some white people are irredeemably racist, and she doesn't care? That instead she's willing to exploit fear and paranoia of a black man, who couldn't possibly love America as much as she does or they do, while claiming she's the victim of gender prejudice? What, just cuz Chris Matthews is a condescending prick? Grow up. Have these all just been political arguments that have nothing to do with how she really thinks or how she would really govern?

Which version of Hillary are you guys supporting? Do you think you get to pick your personal favorite and go with that?

This is not how we need a potentially leader of the free world to be thinking, speaking or acting. They're supposed to be fighting for us, not just for themselves. If the RFK comment was her response to a 3 A.M. wake-up call, she just flubbed it and started World War III with most of America. Nobody makes you take the Low-Road, it's not a mandate, it's not a requirement - it's a choice. There's always a better option. She has simply made the wrong call - repeatedly - because she thought she could get away with it. She thought "it's just politics", instead of it being a complete lack of character. It's not just politics, it's clearly a part of who she is, and she's not getting away with it. Not anymore.

It's time for Hillary's supporters, to realize they made an honest mistake. Yes, she does seem like a great candidate on paper. Electorally it makes sense. It's true that she would probably win the Presidency more easily than Barack and that feeling that way can be easily understood, forgiven and forgotten. In the heat of a passionate campaign, we can all sometimes say things we don't literally mean, it can get away from us. But now it's time to face the facts.

Her campaign is in it's last throes. She's not going to be the nominee. She's not going to the be VP. She's out. She's probably going to continue to hang around, continue to get a few more charity/protest votes in Puerto Rico, but then - it's over.

This isn't a construction of the media. This isn't the boys club trying to squeeze her out. She's been dancing on the edge of the rhetorical cliff for months now. We all know it. Many of her supporters have happily cheered her on with each new dazzling kick and spin move. But you have to know she's been flirting with total disaster and devastation all along. It's been the kitchen-sink/scorched earth strategy for a long time. Now she's finally gone tumbling down the cliff and Nobody pushed her.

She fell off the cliff all by herself.

That's the way it had to go. It wouldn't have been tolerated if Barack had cut her off at the knees. He would've become the bad guy. The big black meany man who stole her Presidency from her. But that's not what happened. Nobody can claim that Barack knee-capped our first potential female President. She just lost.

She utterly failed the Commander-and-Chief test.

I'm not gleeful about this. I'm not joyful. I'm just relieved that it just might - just might - be nearly done with. I'm telling you this has not be fun to watch. Democrats clawing at Democrats. Friendships broken. Families going at each other. It's been H.E.L.L.

That is why people have wanted this to come to an end. We've needed to put her out of our misery. It's not about June. It's the fact that you don't count the length of campaign from the finish line backward, you count it from the beginning. This campaign has essentially been going on for a year and a half already. The only reason anyone might have wanted Hillary out of the race, beside the fact that she hasn't been able to statistically win for weeks, is that they are just plain SICK AND TIRED OF IT ALL.

22 debates. 22 Friggin Debates. Enough already. We get it. We know who we want, we don't want Hillary. Sorry, but that the way it is.

The one thing I have to thank Hillary for - in a sad, sick way - is making Barack a better candidate than he had been. McCain can't play the "He's a Negro" dog-whistle game on him, she's already done it and still lost. He can't argue that he's "too inexperienced", because with experience and judgment like her's - we obviously need more rookies. Obama is now innoculated on Reverend Wright, on William Aires and on Tony Rezzco. He's teflon. Unbreakable.

During all these challenges Obama has shown us a grace, class, dignity and clarity of vision that is rare and awe inspiring. His speech in Philadelphia was historic. That's how we need a someone to respond under pressure. These primaries have shown why we need a President like Barack Obama. This is the guy I want answering the crisis phone at 3 a.m. and at 2 p.m.

So, yes in a way, we owe Hillary our thanks.

It's also true that during her various attacks Barack suffered Electorally. Back on May 5th, Obama and McCain were in a dead-heat with 264 to 263 Electoral Votes respectively.

After Hillary hit him with Bitter-gate and "He's an Elitist who doesn't relate to hard-working blue collar (white) Americans" Barack lost ground not just in West Virginia, but in Texas, Florida, Wisconsin and Michigan falling behind McCain 290 to 237 on May 11th.

But today - literally today,just a single day after Hillary's campaign has taken what may well be a mortal wound - Barack has flipped the map by gaining ground in New Mexico, Ohio and Virginia. He now has regained the lead with 266 to 248.

He still has to break the tie in both Indiana and Virginia, as well as hold his leads in New Mexico, Ohio and Missouri to win. But it's possible he could do that and take back Wisconsin, Michigan and South Carolina. Sure, it could also go back the other way, there are quite a few states at play, including red ones, But today, for the first time, if just a few things go his way, it looks like Obama could win by an Electoral Land-Slide!

And we have Hillary to thank for that. Somebody had to air out of Barack's near-dirty laundry, better it was Hillary now than McCain in November.

It had to be this way.

By finally exiting the race, and not seeking to use her delegate votes to engineer some kind of Shotgun Wedding as VP, Hillary will be doing us all a great service.

She just might've saved this country, from both McCain and herself.

Vyan