Next Up for Hill: A Spot on VH1's the Surreal Life?

Even by the Clinton's trailer park standards, last night's non-concession speech was particularly base,self-serving and hypocritcal. Baruch College's gymnasium was packed to the gills with defiant, screaming Clintonistas who were whipped into a frenzy with tunes like Tom Petty's "Won't Back Down", and Clinton campaign chair Terry McAuliffe laughably introduced their hero as "the next president of the United States" despite the fact that every news organization had already called the race for Obama.

The carefully assembled crowd- which included a handful of African Americans strategically placed directly behind Hill- exhorted their leader with cries of "Denver, Denver!" indicating their clear preference for her to refuse to acknowledge the obvious. Clinton, for her part, only vaguely congratulated Obama- delighting her intransigent fans by refusing to concede, despite the fact that- by any count- she had lost the race. "What does Hillary want?" she asked, vainly refering to herself in the 3rd person, before attempting to masquerade her own selfish ambition and thirst for power by answering her own question with an absurd justification for her refusal to concede the race. Hill would have us believe she's staying in because of all the little people- the woman in Sioux Falls with no health insurance, the second shift worker, the single mother, blah, blah, blah. Of course, this is complete bullshit, and everyone knows it. Everyone that is, save for the angry hooligans in the auditorium (and those of their ilk watching from home) who- in a truly surreal spectacle- jumped up and down and whoooped and hollered as though they were celebrating a victory rather than conceeding a defeat. The only thing that was missing from the twilight-zone like presentation was a rendition of "Happy Days are Here Again" and confetti falling from the rafters.

Commentators keep telling us that Clinton has earned the right to go out on her own terms, and that she shouldn't be rushed into conceeding the race. The truth is that its too late for a graceful exit- last night should have been Obama's night- but the Clinton's still cannot come to grips with losing and so they couldn't let the man have his due. Even if she conceedes the race today- which I doubt-its too late- the time to bow out was last night, if not weeks ago.

If Clinton's ultimate goal truly is to advance the policies she espouses rather than just to re-inhabit the White House, she would have conceeded long ago. Instead she and her campaign have duped their core constituency- working class women, white collar feminists, senior citizens uncomfortable with the idea of a black candidate and just plain old rednecks- that the sexist media and the DNC have stolen the election from her by unfairly refusing to count the votes in Michigan and Florida. Never mind the fact that she herself conceeded that those elections weren't going to count back when she didn't know she'd need those votes.

Die-hard Clintonistas want to believe that the nomination has been stolen from them and the facts aren't going to get in the way of that. They are convinced that she is the stronger candiate despite the fact that at least 40% of the country despises her. Years of experience with the Clintons tells us that they aren't going to go quietly from the scene- so now the only question that remains is- will Obama allow himself to be held hostage by Hill's selfish demands? Will she withold support until Obama agrees to put her on the ticket and pay off her campaign debts? No one would put it past her.

I'd like to see Obama put some other woman on the ticket- if for no other reason than to just prove a point- most American men aren't opposed to women in power- they're just opposed to Hillary being in power. Hillary for Veep? Nah, I have another idea- I think Bill and Hill are more well suited for VH1's Surreal Life House ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Surreal_Life) than the White House- perhaps the producers could even arrange to have them room with the "scumbag" reporter that wrote this recent Vanity Fair piece on Bill's shady business and personal dealings. http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2008/07/clinton200807
Check your inbox Hill- you may have missed the memo- you lost- its all over, there won't be any 3AM phone calls for you to answer, no more fake tears to shed, no more vast right wing conspiracies to fend off, no more having to unfairly field the first question at sexist debates. Extinguish your torch and get off the island. The tribe has spoken.