The Democratic party has a candidate!

It's been coming on for the last few weeks, but yes, finally Barack Obama has the delegates required to clinch the Democratic nomination for President.  I'm glad; he was the candidate I voted for (in no small part due to encouragement from orichalcum and cerebralpaladin).  And Hilary Clinton kept going for longer than she ought to have; I have found some of her recent actions and stances irritating at best.

That said, I do now honestly think that the best thing for the party would be a realization of the so-called 'dream ticket', with Obama in the Presidential slot and Clinton as Veep.  From what I heard on the news in the last day or so (particularly regarding the protests outside the decisionmaking regarding the Michigan and Florida delegates), there are portions of the Democratic party that have become kind of frighteningly polarized over this issue.  I believe that having both candidates on the ticket would be the fastest, surest way to excite and energize those who were/are strong Clinton supporters who may feel disappointed - or even robbed - by the Michigan-Florida delegate decision. 

That's my hope, anyway.  I think Obama is both smart enough as a gameplayer (re orichalcum's post) and gracious enough as a human being to extend her the offer.  We'll see what the next few weeks bring!