Quiet Summer Saturday, No TV Viewers: Hillary “Suspends” Campaign

On a quiet Saturday afternoon in the early summertime, with a heat wave scorching the District, Hillary Clinton today at last, begrudgingly, accepted reality. She ended her campaign… well actually she suspended her campaign, and formally endorsed Barack Obama and urged her legion of followers to campaign for him. She could have done this on Tuesday evening in primetime, when the entire universe of cable news viewers was watching intently. Instead, she took that occasion to pretend to be the victor, listing her states won, her vote tally of 18 million (counting Michigan and Florida), her swing state bonafides, her self-proclaimed readinesss to lead in day one, and demanding that her followers be shown respect. Who exactly was disrespecting them? Instead, she monopolizes pundit airtime for four days, finally giving her concession speech when the smallest possible audience will be watching, a Saturday afternoon on a hot summer day.

At the end of the day, does anyone really believe Hillary wants Obama to win? No way, unless she is his vice-president, with a firm lock on the Democratic nomination in 2012 or 2016. Will she campaign for Obama the way she promises she will, or will she campaign the way she did for Kerry in ‘04 or Gore in 2000? Will Bill hit the trail with gusto for the man who stole the presidency from his wife? It all depends if she is on the ticket, for that is the only way she can still matter. But whether Obama wins or loses, whether she is his VP or not, the next Hillary Clinton campaign for president began this afternoon in a sultry Washington, DC.