In her charge to lead the free world, Hillary Clinton has claimed that she is the electable candidate. She cites popular votes and polls currently to plead her case. No matter that the popular vote argument is suspect, at best, and that polls vary greatly and mean little right now for the general election in November.

But let’s suppose she succeeds in convincing the superdelegates that she’s right, and by convention time she’s shifted them away from Obama. She becomes the nominee. She will claim that she represents a constituency that includes older voters, women (at least some of them) and blue collar working types. She will ignore two important constituencies completely in all her rhetoric, but I want to remind her that they exist, and they matter.

Young voters: Many of the people active in this political contest today are young, often first-time voters, who have been inspired by Obama’s message of hope and change, his demeanor, and his lack of political baggage. Many of them, such as my own son and his friends, are extremely cynical about politics – and with good reason. Yet these voters, who let’s not forget represent the future, are coming out in huge numbers for Obama. He has lit a fire under them in much the same way that JFK lit a fire under the youth of his generation, myself included. This is not trivial, because once they become involved, once they commit to their belief and hope, they can be lifelong participants in the political arena.

If Hillary Clinton somehow manages to win the nomination, the fire built within these young voters will dim. Some will remain, but I predict that many will be disillusioned. Personally, I am old and getting older every day. But I want to leave a legacy for my son and his generation, and generations to come. I want them to hope for change and to be involved and to work toward achieving a peaceful humanity and a chance for the human race to grow past our wars and sectarian struggles, unify our economy and evolve into a race founded on wisdom instead of greed and need. And we all know there’s work to do – it boggles the mind how much there remains todo. But clearly it is the young people of the world, including those in this country, who hold the keys to the future.

The other constituency that Hillary does not mention is the black community. It’s truly significant that they vote for Obama over 90 percent in primary after primary. This is all the indication we need to understand that Obama represents the first and greatest hope and vindication for African Americans that has ever existed. Hillary does not get anything remotely like 90 percent of the women’s vote – or of any constituency.

So I imagine that with Obama being widely declared the frontrunner and eventual winner of the nomination, this must be a matter of pride, hope and excitement among black Americans. And as an aside, I think the world is watching, and it would do a great deal to restore the respect of the world community that we could come so far from our past, and elect the first black president of our union.

So then, I imagine Hillary Clinton coming along and saying, “Sure, Obama got more delegates, but that’s not what matters. What matters is I got the popular vote. I got the important states. I’m more electable.” And what they hear is something like, “Screw Obama. I’m a white woman of privilege, a Washington insider. Vote for me. Nobody will elect a black man even if he does win the delegate contest.”

I can only try to imagine how that will affect those 90 percent voters for Obama. But what I truly believe is that it will not only cost us the election in November, but it will cause a lot of the citizens of our country to lose heart, to return to their cynicism and anger, and to drop out of participation in our democratic process for a long time – perhaps for a generation or more.

Maybe I’m reading more into it than there is. I’m open to that. But at least I’m noticing, and saying what nobody else seems to be saying. Of course I don’t expect Hillary or her supporters to listen, but it would be refreshing if they did.