For Her, The Belles Toll

The political symbolism was thick, if unheeded, at Saturday's 134th running of the Kentucky Derby.

Senator Hillary Clinton took a break from the campaign trail and slipped over the Indiana border, trading the Hoosier political war zone for a relaxing day at the races in the neighboring Bluegrass State. From a private box at Churchill Downs, she witnessed a valiant mare who gave her all against a crowded field of colts, but didn’t know when to quit and had to be destroyed in front of a horrified nation.

Can’t the woman take a hint?

Like the doomed Eight Belles, Clinton is a spectacularly talented female who has proven that she can compete in a male-dominated arena. She has run bravely and well, but coming down the stretch it is clear that she cannot win and that she should abandon the race while she still has some life in her.

The Clintons have taken great offense at such calls for her to quit– and truth be told there is a hint of irony when a Democratic base that bristled at the “early” surrenders of Gore and Kerry balks at her perseverance – yet the swelling requests for concession are not merely motivated by favoritism, but a matter of mathematics. She simply cannot win without rewriting the rules and/or revoking her word – actions that could split the party and fatally wound its ultimate nominee.

Even Hillary supporters are muttering that it is time to throw in the towel; not for Obama’s sake, not for the good of the party, but so that the Senator can retain some of her dignity, popularity and power. With each day that she continues to sling mud and tilt at primary windmills, the whispers grow that she is driven not by conviction but by delusion, vanity, or the hope that catastrophe will strike Team Obama. Democrats who previously revered the Clinton brand are starting to view the duo as the Republicans long have: ambitious self-centered dirty tricksters who will do ANYTHING to win.

This cannot be her desired legacy.

Actually, we know exactly how Mrs. Clinton wishes to be remembered, as she regularly defines her candidacy with comparisons to popular culture -- often with double-edged analogies that are comically flawed. She called herself “Goldilocks” because her policies were “just right”, but the allegory may be more apropos because she is a determined trespasser intent on living in a house where she does not belong. More recently she has identified her story with the movie Rocky because the protagonist never quit….but any cinema fan knows that he also did not win.

Neither the fairy tale nor the film provides the proper fable for her fate, but a filly just might. Like Eight Belles, Hillary Clinton is a magnificent competitor who has shown her skill and run an impressive race but cannot win.

The election process is often called a “horse race”, and never has the comparison been more apt or evident. Please Senator, acknowledge reality, give up this contest and live to fight another day – it would be a shame to watch you run yourself to (political) death.