Can some Obama supporter explain to me the rationale for declaring victory on May 20 instead of when he gets 2,025 delegates? He has to know that the May 20 declaration will be disputed, and that it will cause acrimony between his and Hillary's campaign, and it will make him look as if he is trying to railroad himself through the nomination, all for what, a measly 3 weeks?
The only explanation I can think of is that they feel less secure than they want everyone to think over there in camp Obama.
IMO, Obama should be the gentleman from this point on. He can afford it. Clinton's last chance at getting this nomination was really to make it close in North Carolina and winning big in Indiana.
If I were Obama I'd let Michigan and Florida be seated, allow Clinton to have her wins in Kentucky, West Virginia and Puerto Rico, sit back and enjoy the ride. He is STILL going to get the nomination, might as well act the bigger person and look better for the General Election.
After Oregon, there won't be much left for Clinton. She can't spin Obama's arrogance to South Dakota and change her situation. She's can't spin it like Puerto Rico's voice needs to be heard for the Dems to succeed in November. Obama knows that a huge portion of Oregon has already voted and it favor shim. The media won't officially declare things to be over until the margins are clear in Oregon, but once it's clear that no matter how much Puerto Rico loves her, she has no argument left to the superdelegates, they will tear into her like wolves. Huckabee was comical and jovial so the media tolerated his mathematic insanity with a whimsical narrative. Huckabee wasn't attacking and making McCain bloody or dividing the party so there wasn't any reason to hurry things.
If you thought the kitchen sink strategy was bad earlier, anyone see the threats against Nancy Pelosi recently? Clinton supporter(s) are threatening to cut off millions of dollars if Michigan and Florida are not counted, presumably in their entirety. The recent comments about her strength with "hard working voters, white voters" similarly are a blunt message to superdelegates. What Obama wants to do is shut out that last figment of hope for Hillary so that she stops her attacks and becomes forward-looking. He wants to stop the bleeding with the Democratic party.
Obama's declaration of victory will be a message to superdelegates that he expects their endorsement sooner rather than later once that occurs (or better yet, sooner, so that his announcement is made more legitimate). It also is a message to the media to stop covering Hillary and the primary contests and start covering the general election. Obama doesn't really care that much about mobilizing support in Montana and Puerto Rico for the general, but he wouldn't mind organizing and runnings ads in West Virginia (however unlikely) and Oregon for November.
But yeah, this announcement of an announcement might preemptively cut off some of Hillary's strategies by demoralizing her campaign's chances.
