Obama to claim nomination on 5-20?
This will be a very quick post because I’m in between meetings for the REAL job today.
Politico has a post up saying that Barack Obama will claim the nomination on May 20th. He just gave an interview to Brian Williams of NBC which will air tonight. In the clip I saw just now, he answered Williams’ question about May 20th this way (not an exact quote, but close):
“May 20th is an important date. If we have the majority of pledged delegates, we can make the claim that we’ve won….But it’s really important to bring in all the parties and make sure our attention is on the Republicans for the fall.”
Now this news follows news that the Clinton campaign is pushing back hard on the question of the Michigan and Florida delegates, and that Michigan has offered a compromise to seat their delegates where they would be seated 59/69.
In a letter sent from the Clinton campaign to Senator Obama, she asks him to work toward a resolution.
In addition, Senator Clinton made the following statement in an interview with USA Today :
“I have a much broader base to build a winning coalition on,” she said in an interview with USA TODAY. As evidence, Clinton cited an Associated Press article “that found how Sen. Obama’s support among working, hard-working Americans, white Americans, is weakening again, and how whites in both states who had not completed college were supporting me.”
“There’s a pattern emerging here,” she said.
This type of statement reveals how far Hillary Clinton can go and how deeply she can divide the Democratic party. On the one hand, her letter seems to indicate an opening for negotiation of a gentle and classy exit from the race, yet on the other, her racial statements which clearly pander to anyone doubtful about Obama because of his race.
My opinion: Negotiate an exit, work on party unification before the convention, and come out strong against the McCain.
Read more reaction to the “white comments” here and here.