Obama endorses Hillary!

More verbal judo from Obama yesterday. At a news conference in a high school gym in Johnstown, PA, he was invited to pile on to the rising calls for Hillary to drop out because intraparty warfare is undermining his chances to beat McCain.

Obama's response:

My attitude is that Senator Clinton can run as long as she wants.Her name is on the ballot. She is a fierce and formidable opponent, and she obviously believes she would make the best nominee and the best president.

As to a Gallup poll showing that 28% of Clinton supporters and 19% of Obama supports say they'll vote for McCain if the their candidate does not get the nomination:

You know, there’s no doubt that among some of my supporters or some of her supporters, there’s probably been some irritation created,” he said. “You can’t tell me that some of my supporters are going to say, well, we’d rather have the guy who may want to stay in Iraq for a hundred years because we’re mad that Senator Clinton ran a negative ad against Senator Obama. And I think the converse is true as well.

Once again, Obama's graciousness in the heat of combat makes the Clintons look small. As Bill Clinton continues to mouth fulsome praise of John McCain (the same McCain who repeatedly lambasted Bill as unfit to be commander-in-chief), Obama expresses incredulity that his own supporters would choose McCain over Hillary. By crediting Hillary's belief that she is the best candidate, he throws her belittling of him into sharp relief while coolly projecting his own confidence that her 'belief' is mistaken. Instead of piling on, he displays again the character and leadership style that's making voters and superdelegates choose him.

Try to imagine Hillary saying, in effect, that a Democrat would have to be crazy to choose McCain over Obama. Or imagine her in his situation, with a near-insurmountable delegate lead and supporters calling publicly for Obama to withdraw. Remember her mind's tailkick when asked to affirm that Obama was not a Muslim: "...as far as I know." And ask yourself: which candidate projects strength, detachment, ability to see the contest and the players as they are, to digest the brouhaha du jour and deliver a measured response?

Prevailing in day-to-day combat with Hillary Clinton is an admittedly poor proxy for dealing with international crises. But no one crosses "the commander-in-chief threshold" until they're commander in chief. And Obama has shown over the course of many months that he's better able to keep his head in a fight than Hillary is.

Related posts:
Changing 'the rules' on Clinton
Debunked! Obama spanks the Clinton Kids again
Truth and Transformation
Obama Praises Clinton, and Buries Him
Obama: Man, those Clinton Kids are Something