A dream lost: Not too hard to see why Hillary Clinton stayed so long

Really, what would you do if you had dreamed of something for more than a few years, worked hard to prepare, earned the frontrunner status early on and then watched it all slip away?

If you were Hillary Clinton, would you give up so easily and hand over a nomination you thought you had earned to a relative newcomer on the scene?

It is not hard to understand why it is taking so long for Sen. Clinton to give up the fight for the Democratic nomination. After all, it is a little like setting aside a dream.

So while the pundits will pontificate and her advisers might suggest that she give up the fight before she is embarrassed yet again, Sen. Clinton probably isn’t going to make the decision to stand before a crowd of supporters and throw in the towel until there is absolutely no reason to continue.

Unfortunately, she is there.

No matter what your feelings might be about Sen. Clinton and her politics, you have to admire someone who has worked so hard for so long for a chance — and then refused to give in, even when naysayers were screaming to shut her down.

That takes a bit of courage.

Think about how many people have cycled through both parties’ nomination races — and how quickly they ended their bids for a chance to lead this nation. It did not take much for many of them to hand over their supporters to someone else.

Hillary Clinton gave the Democratic party a race — and a chance to think about just what its mission might be as it heads into the future. There can never be anything wrong with a nomination fight that makes people think about what their party does and should stand for.

Hopefully, when this is all said and done, Sen. Clinton will have a chance to affect her party’s future — and maybe even to reappear again as a candidate.

We will just have to wait and see.

But in the meantime, for now, it is time to bow out — at least this time around.

Published in Editorials on May 12, 2008 11:06 AM