The presidential primary season has gone on way too long. It’s now time to settle down and focus directly on the White House. It’s time to stop focusing on primaries. It’s time for Hillary Clinton to drop out.

Clinton is behind and she cannot catch Barack Obama in time. Her stubbornness is causing the party to cannibalize itself instead of working together.

Even rap artist Curtis Jackson, who goes by the name 50 Cent, has switched allegiances from Clinton to Obama.

“I heard Obama speak. He hit me with that he-just-got-done-watching-‘Malcolm X,’ and I swear to God, I’m like, ‘Yo, Obama!’ I’m Obama to the end now, baby,” he said in an interview with CNN.

It’s now at the point where a certain number of Obama supporters would not vote for Clinton if she got the nomination. The same applies to Clinton supporters if Obama won the nomination.

What the hell is going on?

While a lot of people just want anyone but George W. Bush in the White House, unfortunately the Democrats cannot even put anyone for the people to consider. If the party continues like this, the election is going to be handed to John McCain and the Republican party. What then? Another four, or even eight, years of Republican control?

How horrible that would be.

Former president Bill Clinton attended the California State Democratic convention last weekend and told party members to “chill out” and let the primary season finish. He reminded party members that when he was running for president, by June 1992 he was in third place behind then-President George H.W. Bush and third party candidate Ross Perot.

By the convention in August, Bill Clinton was in first in the polls and won the White House.

That was 16 years ago. Times have changed. This country is in permanent campaign mode. With McCain all but assured of his party’s nomination, the Democrats need to throw themselves behind Obama and let the real race begin.

With the conflict in Iraq being a huge issue on voter’s minds, Obama can challenge McCain and the Republicans successfully. Hillary Clinton voted for the war. If she brings up the war, the Republicans can bring up her voting record and that is the end of the argument. While Obama was not in the Senate at the time, he has spoken out against Iraq since the invasion started.

Democratic Party Chairman Howard Dean has publicly stated that he wants the nominee determined soon after the primary voting ends in June. Then the undecided super delegates need to put their support behind a candidate.

Let’s make it easier than that. Clinton needs to cede the nomination to Obama. It’s time to let the real race getting moving. It’s time for the Democrats to win back the White House.