Bill Clinton obviously hasn’t gotten the Unity memo from the Democratic establishment. In an appearance this weekend, Bill told a South Dakota audience that his wife has been victimized by the primary process. He said that he has never seen any candidate treated so disrespectfully just for running, a claim that makes less sense when one considers the treatment Hillary received over the year prior to her February debacle:
The press treated Hillary Clinton as an inevitability from the moment she announced her bid for the presidency. Not until Iowa did the narrative of the “presumed nominee” change. She had plenty of respect until she started losing primary contests.
Now Bill’s unhappy that Democrats want her to stop running in the primaries, claiming that the party establishment has started to “bully” superdelegates into making decisions now rather than at the convention. Bill wants them to wait, apparently all the way to a Credentials Committee fight in Denver over Florida and Michigan, before declaring their intentions. It seems as though Bill wants to fight this all summer long, using the two disputed states as the bloody shirt.
Republicans would love nothing more than a sniping war during the summer, but Barack Obama has probably positioned himself now to where he can yank the rug out from under the Clintons. He can now afford to cut a deal that seats Florida and splits Michigan generously without risking his lead in pledged delegates. If he does that, it strips Hillary of her last rationalization for continued campaigning and ends the victimization card she and Bill keep playing.
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