What will Clinton say tonight? Will she say that Obama "is the nominee"?
My guess is that Clinton is convinced that by convention-time either Obama will self-destruct or the party will escape his hypnotic grasp and come to its senses, and she wants to still be around when that happens. So whatever she says, she'll leave herself wiggle room.
So in terms of whether Obama is the nominee, I guess it depends on what the meaning of "is" is. If 'is' means is as of now, that is one thing. So If somebody says, is Obama the nominee as of right now, and currently is likely to be, the nominee, then that is a completely true statement. But the nomination isn't going to happen for awhile, as we all know. If that statement means Obama is going to be the nominee, then I would have to say I don't know. And that would be completely true too.
If we were to rely upon Elizabeth Kubler-Rosse's theory of the five stages of death and dying, and observe that thus far, Clinton has been in denial, then it would be logical to predict that tonight she will engage in a little bargaining.
Seeing as how her bargaining is unlikely to do her much good, we can further expect some anger, depression, and acceptance down the road as well.
Posted by: Michael F. Martin | June 03, 2008 at 03:04 PM