Matters of Opinion

In a column published in today's Buffalo News, pundit Clarence Page joins those, including Democratic National Committee Chair Howard Dean, who are hoping the Hillary Clinton-Barack Obama contest can be wrapped up soon so whoever the nominee is can be about the business of uniting the party and running against longtime Republican candidate John McCain. Says Page, "Democracy is good. Indecision is self-destructive."

Other views:
* The leader-writers at The Economist agree with Page: "The Democrats should wait until the last primaries are held on June 3rd; then the superdelegates should declare themselves, and the matter should be settled."
* The Ed Board at The Dallas Morning News also wants the superdelegates to step in and end it: "There is nothing new about either candidate that they are likely to learn. There's only one person in whose interest it is to drag the Clinton-Obama trench warfare out to the Denver convention: John McCain. It's time to end this thing, mend fences and get ready to rumble in the fall."
* In The San Francisco Chronicle, Debra J. Saunders suspects a long primary season is good for the Democrats, and not so good for McCain, because, "I'm starting to forget what he looks like."
* On Slate's Trailhead campaign blog, Chris Wilson says the way to end the self-destructive race is for Obama to drop out. Why Obama? Because Hillary won't.: "There simply isn’t a function in her assembly code for throwing in the towel. Obama, on the other hand, is fully capable of it. And if he’s really serious about representing a new kind of politics, now is the time for him to prove it in the only meaningful way left. Moreover, were he to play it right, dropping out now nearly guarantees that he’ll be elected president in 2012."
* In Canada's Globe and Mail, Margaret Wente predicts more blood: "Hillary Clinton's most striking feature is her tenacity. She never, never, never, never quits. She knows voters don't like her. She knows they think she's cold, arrogant, untruthful and devious. But still she presses on. 'Just tell them that up close, I'm nice,' she instructs the door-to-door canvassers."
* BostonGlobe.com's Joan Vennochi expects Clinton to tough it out: "Obama still leads in the delegate count and still has the media love. He's still the favorite to win the nomination. But by now, he knows better than anyone else just how tough Clinton is. And he might be worrying just a bit that despite all her obvious flaws, his opponent is showing the kind of toughness Americans want from their next president."
* In the LATimes, Rose Brooks channels Clinton to demand the nomination for herself because, well, because she demands it.

-- George Pyle/Editorial Writer