I find Hillary's ongoing attempts at campaigning pretty cringe-worthy, and I think they're putting undue strain on the Democratic Party, but I think that people are being pretty silly when they conclude that she won't step up for Obama when she finally decides that he's the inevitable nominee.

People usually base this conclusion on the idea that she can't possibly win in November if she gets the nomination after a floor fight that leaves then Democratic Party a wreck. They either think she's in denial about the damage it'll do to the Party if the supers give her the nomination, or she just wants to see Obama lose and doesn't care if she loses too.

The first would be really stupid. I can think of a lot of unflattering adjectives that can be fairly applied to Senator Clinton, but "dumb" is absolutely not one of them. There's no question she's aware of the strain this would put on the Party.

The second would be extremely petty. Now, I know the Clintons have a reputation for being vindictive, but it sure didn't stop her from going and asking Richard Mellon Scaife for an endorsement, or running ads on Rush Limbaugh's show. Clearly holding a grudge isn't more important to her than winning.

So what's left? I think Clinton and her campaign must think that McCain is a laughably weak candidate. She thinks she can beat him even if the Democratic Party is a smoking ruin in the aftermath of Denver. This might mean she's preposterously overconfident, but after the sort of campaign she's run against Obama, I think "overconfident" is one of those unflattering adjectives we can apply fairly to Senator Clinton.

This also means that the attacks on Obama's electability are part of a huge scam, but we knew that already. It means that she probably thinks there's no way her attacks could actually make it so that Obama will lose to McCain, so there's really no downside to her continuing as long as she's got even a slim chance of being the nominee (and thus, in her mind, being a shoo-in for the Presidency).

Note: I originally posted this as a comment here, but thought it was long enough to merit its own post.