1115.org

If there’s one thing that became abundantly clear this weekend, it is that Hillary Rodham Clinton no longer inhabits the same universe as the rest of us.

When the Democratic Party’s Rules and Bylaws Committee made its decision on the Florida-Michigan delegate stalemate, and awarded her 24 delegate-votes on Saturday, the Clinton campaign celebrated by having Harold Ickes put on a display of apoplectic rage because they felt they were entitled to 26 delegate-votes instead. Ickes angrily accused the party of hijacking 2 delegate-votes that Clinton had won fair and square. (Funny how this lady’s idea of compromise is exactly the same as George W. Bush’s: this is what I want and I’m perfectly willing to accept any compromise that gives me exactly what I’m asking for. And let’s not even get into her notion of “fair and square”.)

For the sake of these 2 delegate votes, the Clinton campaign muttered dark hints about not accepting the Michigan compromise, and taking the dispute all the way to the convention.

As of this morning, Barack Obama is 48 delegates short of clinching the 2,118 delegates now required to win the nomination. Given that he’s expected to pick up a majority of the 31 delegates up for grabs in the Montana and South Dakota primaries tomorrow, and given the fact that he’s widely expected to pick up a bunch of superdelegates between now and then, it’s clear that the nomination contest can have only one possible outcome. In fact, “aides to both Mr. Obama and Mrs. Clinton said they expected enough superdelegates to rally behind Mr. Obama in the 48 hours after the final primaries to allow him to proclaim himself the nominee.” So there was our Hillary in Puerto Rico on Sunday, declaring that she has clearly been chosen by the Democratic party as its candidate:

Now there can be no doubt: The people have spoken and you have chosen your candidate.

The icing on the cake?

After she won Puerto Rico last night, Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-NY, was asked if she may challenge the new “magic number” of delegates the Democratic National Committee says is needed to clinch the nomination — 2,118.

“That’s a question we’re going to be considering,” Clinton said. “… we’re going to decide how to proceed and depending upon what the outcome of that decision is we will either mount a challenge or not but obviously it would have an impact on the number of delegates necessary to pledge the nomination.”

All of which is to say - Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, may reach 2,118 this week, but Clinton may assert that doesn’t mean anything.

If you have any other suggestions for what else Hillary can do — no matter how unethical or undignified — to undermine the legitimacy of Obama’s claim on the nomination, do be sure to pass them on to her campaign. I’m sure they’re paying big bucks for any good suggestion for how to stick an asterisk or question-mark on Obama’s victory.

*** Update, 6:49 am ***

Two voices from the Clinton camp.

The voice of reason:

Tom Vilsack, the former Iowa governor and a national co-chairman of Clinton’s campaign, said Sunday: “It does appear to be pretty clear that Senator Obama is going to be the nominee. After Tuesday’s contests, she needs to acknowledge that he’s going to be the nominee and quickly get behind him.”

The other one. This is the Clinton campaign’s national chairman, Terry McAuliffe), amplifying why the Rules and Bylaws Committee’s decision about Michigan is “outrageous.”

“People are angry,” he said. “This does not unify our party, this crazy, cockamamie thing they came up with in Michigan.”

Well, at least Hillary Clinton is working tirelessly to unify the party, no matter what everyone else is up to.