Doozy Tuesday

It was a doozy of a Tuesday.  For Hillary Clinton, it was time to claim the Democratic party nomination for President.  She won New Jersey big, New Mexico, South Dakota and was far ahead in California, where mail-in votes will be counted for days.  That's enough votes to give her a majority, even without superdelegates.  Bernie Sanders has begun the deliberate road to the end of his candidacy.  

Meanwhile, Donald Trump was taking more fire--from Republican leaders.  Senator Paul Kirk took back his endorsement, Senator Jeff Flake decided he could never endorse Trump, Senator Graham and others suggested the party could still look elsewhere.  Even wiggly Paul Ryan said that Trump's attack on the judge presiding over a Trump U. case were textbook racist--though he still backs Trump for President, because apparently he doesn't mind racism in the White House as long as he gets a GOPer hand to sign his dumb bills into law.

Trump, facing the prospect of being head of a party without nobody in it,  tried awkwardly to reign himself in.  Not a lot of people were buying it.  There was a sense of the dimensions of Trump's potential fall in Hillary's victory speech, which was the kind of appeal that LBJ made for consensus in the face of the scary Barry Goldwater in 1964.  (Whereas in 2016, Goldwater would be way too moderate, professional, conciliatory and sensible for the GOP.)

Clinton talked about her mother, who would have been 97 and just missed seeing her daughter make history. Hillary is not my favorite candidate of all time and I'm uncomfortable with her aggressive military policies, so I was surprised that my response to the unexpected news Monday night that she had clinched the nomination as the first woman presidential candidate of a major party was so emotional.  I've voted four times for the first African American President, and today for the first woman President.  It's wonderful.