It is a FACT that Hillary is hurting Obama's chances in November

[mudesi]

I just want to make it clear that it is not an opinion when I say that Hillary Clinton is damaging Obama's chances of beating McCain in November.

Barack Obama is the Democratic nominee. I don't need to explain why as it has been rehashed hundreds of times here. With that said, as long as Hillary Clinton refuses to concede, Obama is faced with The Economic Problem. This is the fundamental theory in economics that attempts to explain human choices in the face of scarcity (limited resources).

The gist of it is that Obama has unlimited wants (He wants to run an anti McCain ad, he wants to attack Republican policy, he wants to campaign in a certain state), but limited resources (Money and time).

You're fooling yourself (also known as being willfully ignorant) if you think Obama can both run against McCain and Clinton at the same time with the same effectiveness doing either. The absolute, indisputable fact is that he can't. If he has X number of dollars to spend on Y television advertisements, he can either spend it all on attacking Clinton, all on attacking McCain, all on positive character ads, or split the money among the three possibilities. (This, in economics, is called the Production-possibility frontier).

Similarly, if McCain is campaigning, say, in Ohio, Obama can either spend a certain amount of time rebuffing McCain there, or he can spend time in West Virginia, the next state coming up in the primary against Clinton. But it is impossible for him to do both. He can either spend 3 days in one and 5 days in the other, or he can spend 0 days in one and 8 days in the other, or any other combination. But as long as Clinton is refusing to concede, she is forcing Obama to use resources that otherwise would be used to beat McCain in the general election.

Again, this is not an opinion, it is a fact. Whenever Clinton runs a negative ad against Obama, Obama is forced to spend X number of dollars defending himself from that ad with an ad of his own. Those are dollars not being spent on attacking McCain. Whenever Clinton lies about Obama, Obama must spend X number of minutes defending himself from that lie. Those are minutes not being spent on attacking McCain.

He has to send out flyers to win the next primary, or to win the general election. He has to phone Democrats to ask for their vote in the next primary, or he has to phone apolitical people and independents for their vote in the general election. His speeches have to include paragraphs attacking Clinton's stances as well as paragraphs attacking McCain. His staff must spend this much time strategizing on how to beat Clinton and that much time strategizing on how to beat McCain. He can send 20 volunteers to knock on doors in a district that he needs to beat Clinton, or in a district that he needs to beat McCain, or he must split them among the two.

He must buy yard signs that say "Obama" instead of ones that say "Obama/Vice Presidential Pick". He must spend 3 days calling super delegates instead of 3 days calling potential donors to his campaign. He must have a televised debate against McCain 10 times instead of 25 times, because the networks wouldn't dare schedule a debate until Clinton concedes. Speaking of the networks, they will focus their attention on the primary race instead of the general election race.

The number of darts he he has to buy for his staffers to throw at pictures of his opponents will have to be split among Clinton and McCain.

The list goes on.

So spare me, anyone who thinks Clinton is not hurting Obama's chances in the general election. She is, and the only question one has to ask is why, when she knows he had clinched this nomination weeks ago. Follow that reasoning to it's logical conclusion and it's easy to see why my opinion of Hillary Clinton is in free fall.

[anigbrowl]

1. But she's rich, so she can keep loaning herself $$$. God bles those rich people.

She's only into the Clinton fortune for about $11.4 million so far. So there's a lot more what that came from!

[sandnsea]

2. Every time she lies about him

with some gun nonsense, or elitist gas tax nonsense, or health care lies - she hurts him with Democrats. That's the problem. Democats believe campaign propaganda and way too many of them just won't let it go.

[beltanefauve]

3. Two or three weeks ago

(It's all become one big, messy blur,I'm afraid) McCain gave a stump speech in Selma, Alabama, followed by a speech in New Orleans. This is the guy who voted against the MLK holiday twice, followed by a vote to repeal the holiday. Was Obama able to call him on his hypocrisy? No. Why? Because he's still in a primary battle defending attacks based upon flag pins and Rev Wright. This is just one recent example of how this prolonged primary has hurt us, when we should be focusing on McCain.

[mudesi]

5. That's what it's all about

The Clinton supporters don't want to understand that the rest of us are looking forward to the general election. They say things like "If you're so sure he won it, why not let it play out to the end?" It's not about whether or not we are sure he won it, (he did, it's mathematically certain), it's about his chances being hurt in November, thanks to Hillary Clinton.

If McCain is the next president, it will be her fault.

[lob1]

4. Hey Lynyrd, you're absolutely right. Good post.