I thought this was particularly subtle: “Declaring mission accomplished does not make it so.”
And, for what it’s worth, Obama insists that tomorrow night’s speech is not declaration of victory. With emails like this floating around, the work is sort of done for him.
To: Interested Parties
From: Howard Wolfson, Communications Director
Date: Monday, May 19, 2008
Re: Mission Accomplished? Not so fast.
Senator Obama’s plan to declare himself the Democratic nominee tomorrow night in Iowa (http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0508/10184.html) is a slap in the face to the millions of voters in the remaining primary states and to Senator Clinton’s 17 million supporters.
There is no scenario under the rules of the Democratic National Committee by which Senator Obama will be able to claim the nomination tomorrow night. He will not have 2210 delegates, the number needed with Florida and Michigan included in the process, nor will he have 2025 delegates, the number needed to secure the nomination without Florida and Michigan.
Premature victory laps and false declarations of victory are unwarranted. Declaring mission accomplished does not make it so.
While Senator Obama inaccurately declares himself the nominee, Senator Clinton will continue to work hard, campaigning for every vote in the upcoming states and making the case that she will be the best nominee to take on John McCain and be our next President.