It's official: Michele Bachmann has suspended her campaign for President of the United States. Just moments ago she gave her concession speech in Des Moines after a dismal turnout at the Iowa primaries. Michele had been trailing her competitors for months and it was no surprise to see her come out in sixth place in the primaries last night.
I can't say I'm sorry to see her go. I was never thrilled at the prospect of Michele leading our nation. Without going into too much detail, let's just say we're on opposite sides of the political spectrum. But I also think the compassionate thing to do is to let her bow out gracefully. Now that it's over, let's not dance on the woman's grave.
The calls for Michele to quit got almost vicious, especially in the last couple of days. It wasn't surprising to hear Rachael Maddow saying last night that it was time for Michele to drop out of the race. But even Michele's former campaign manager Ed Rollings was grumbling that she should quit. Michele was pretty soundly defeated in Iowa. And she got the message! To pile on Bachmann now would just be a hollow, spiteful thing for us to do.
Listening to Michele's concession speech this morning, I was reminded of the reasons why I didn't want her to be my next president. But I appreciated the graciousness of her speech. Michele thanked her family and God. She acknowledged that she has been "blessed with a wonderful life." She said she would continue to fight for her political values, but she also admitted that the people of Iowa had spoken "with a very clear voice" and she would listen to them.
I thought it was interesting that Michele said, "I have no regrets. We never compromised our principles and we ran with utmost integrity." And you have to agree that however you feel about Michele's principles, she's no waffler. While some candidates appear to exaggerate their conservative leanings to appeal to Republican voters, Michele's conservative cred is for real -- maybe even to the detriment of her campaign. But she leaves with her soul intact, and I think we should respect that. It's time for us all to move on.
Are you surprised to see Michele Bachmann pull out of the race at this point?
Image via Huffington Post