For the "good" of the party

Obama’s supporters are increasingly calling on Clinton to quit. This obviously seems harsh, particularly for Clinton’s more ardent supporters, many of whom feel Clinton, due to her much-talked about experience, would make a better president. We can debate whether her “experience” is all it is cracked up to be, but the bottom line is this: “experience” is no longer a compelling argument for her candidacy at this point in the campaign. The message of “change” has already won, given Obama’s current lead in the delegate count, states won and popular vote. The only hope Clinton has is through the super delegates, and the only way the super delegates will feel comfortable overturning the will of the voters is if Obama stumbles mightily or there is some devastating thing revealed about him

And therein lie the problem for Clinton: she can only win by going negative against Obama, but in so doing she is not only hurting the Democratic candidate Republicans will most likely face in the fall, she is turning off the super delegates whose support she is paradoxically seeking to solicit. I, for one, would not go so far as to say that she should leave; I think her candidacy is a historic one, and she may well have a positive role to play by creating excitement about the Democrats’ prospect in the fall. But taking things too far might further deepen the lines of division among the Democratic electorate, which could leave whoever emerges –or survives the trench war, basically – mortally wounded come the final leg of the race in the fall.