Don't Ever Push the Red Button

Last week Hillary Clinton went to Geneva, Switzerland to make nice with the Russians after eight years of George W. Bush making double-plus un-nice.

During her meeting with Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov, Secretary Clinton presented him with a "reset button" to symbolize a new beginning with the United States.

Much was made of our translation of "reset." During dinner Clinton said, "We worked hard to get the right Russian word. Do you think we got it?"

Mr. Lavrov, apparently not one to overly worry about hurting others' feelings, replied, "You got it wrong. 'Peregruzka' means 'overload'."

(As an aside, they worked hard at this? Isn't the U.S. government supposed to have some people who speak really good Russian on staff? And they still got it wrong?)

To my (admittedly limited) knowledge, neither Lavrov or Clinton made any mention of -- or even gave much thought to -- the button's appearance, which looks to me like the sort of thing you might push when you want to blow something up.

Or overload it.

Too Much, Too Late

As recently as January I was in love with both the leading Democratic presidential candidates, even going so far as to say I would favor a ticket with either of them in the lead spot as long as the other was there to play back-up.

But love and presidential politics are fickle things. It's true the Democratic race has been close, but what's also true is that Barack Obama has emerged as the winner in terms of elected delegates, super delegates, popular vote and the number of states won. With or without Florida and Michigan.

What's also true -- at least in my mind and in the minds of a majority of Democratic voters -- is that Hillary Clinton has clung to her failed presidential campaign far longer than is good for any of us. Especially her.

This became clear yesterday, when she invoked the assassination of Democratic front-runner Robert F. Kennedy in June of 1968 as a reason to continue running for a nomination that stopped being hers weeks if not months ago.

Here's the video of that fateful interview with a South Dakota newspaper, for those of you just tuning in.



You can tell when she mentions the subject that she realizes she's gone too far. There's a slight pause, even a brief look of fear or horror as the words leave her mouth and sail into history.

Hillary Clinton is driven and committed and no doubt exhausted from intense and unrelenting work; perhaps at this point in the race she is even desperate. But rationalizations aside, it's still a shocking glimpse into the mind of a candidate who has already stooped to all manner of fuzzy math, reneged promises, flimsy truths and outright lies to justify her ongoing presence in the race.

If a campaign can be considered a taste of a candidate's presidency, it's clear at least to me that Clinton's would be more of the same fast-talking flim-flam and disregard for reality that has characterized George Bush's presidency as the worst in our nation's history.

Not only is Robert Kennedy's assassination just weeks away from its 40th anniversary, Clinton also gave voice to a chilling specter in American politics that has taken some of our nation's best and and most inspiring leaders, and is for many an ongoing concern during this race as well.

For weeks now I've had a private response to every pundit who's speculated on the possibility of an Obama/Clinton "dream ticket." Now it's time to make it public. Senator Obama should not consider selecting Hillary Clinton as his vice-presidential running mate for even one minute, because I believe she would have him killed in order to be President of the United States.

Keith Olbermann -- for whom I have tremendous respect and gratitude for telling it like it is during these dark years -- said it better than me with this special comment last night on his MSNBC show Countdown.



Ms. Clinton, you have finally, unmistakably and irrevocably gone too far. There's no place left for you to go now except home.