Ben Smith of The Politico has written an astute piece on why Hillary keeps going, and going, and going, against insurmountable odds.

As Smith writes, "winning, for Clinton, has been surviving." Smith continues that Hillary's stalwart refusal to give up has created some confusion among her advisers and has in some ways muddled her message, concluding that the "last believers in the mythology of Clintonian invincibility appear to be the Clintons themselves." You should read the whole thing -- but there are many more levels beneath the surface here that are worth exploring.

Here's my stab at trying to answer the question of why this controversial and in some ways enigmatic figure has refused to quit the race. One key reason she has stayed in, I believe, is that it strengthens the inspirational power of Hillary's political narrative and persona, and, ultimately, strengthens her emotional grip on her supporters.

It's no accident that Hillary has compared herself to Rocky on occasion. Just as Rocky emerged as an iconic figure for blue collar whites disoriented and displaced by the wrenching demographic changes of the late 1960s and early 1970s, Hillary has presented herself as a kind of feminist Rocky, a heroine who refuses to lay down on behalf of millions and millions of women who have felt defeated or voiceless, or who have felt as if they quit too early, or who have felt that the odds have always been stacked against them.

Judging by her public statements, and her frequent claim that women all over the country urge her to continue hurdling forward against all odds, this has emerged as central to her political persona. Her political energy flows from it.

Before you start yelling at me, please understand that this is not intended at a defense of her decision to stay in the race. It's merely an effort to explain it. And the question of how sincere Hillary is about her role is not one I'm taking up here.

To be sure, the Hillary-as-feminist-Rocky is a note that she sounded before she ever recorded that now-distant YouTube that launched her campaign. The fact that Hillary endured severe and protracted public humiliation at the hands of the GOP and the media in the late 1990s, only to bounce back and launch her own political career by winning a Senate seat in New York, has been central to her political identity since the start of this millennium.

But this presidential campaign -- and Hillary's repeated come-backs after being written off as dead -- have elevated and strengthened this narrative for her enthralled supporters and invested it with a whole new level of emotional import and intensity.

It's not easy to speculate about the motives of politicians. And it's often not desirable. Did Hillary also stay in because she hoped Obama would somehow implode? Undoubtedly. Is she unable to accept defeat? Probably. Is she holding out to give herself leverage over Obama? Almost certainly.

Nonetheless, I think more is going on here. Politics is, emotionally, a high-stakes, high-risk venture. And I think it's a fair guess that Hillary also believes that seeing this campaign through to the end can only strengthen the emotional and inspirational hold her story has on her masses of supporters.

The supreme irony of this race may be that this fact is precisely why her staying in to the end actually benefits Obama more than her getting out early would have. There's no question that the legions of Hillary supporters who see her in these terms would have been far more embittered had her story been brought to an abrupt and premature end -- particularly if that conclusion were perceived, rightly or wrongly, to have been engineered by forces hostile to the historic dimensions of her candidacy.

Instead, in a topsy-turvy conclusion that befits this crazy race, Obama may paradoxically find it easier to unite the party if Hillary -- and Hillary alone -- is seen to be deciding on the terms and timing of her concession. Why? Because it is perhaps the only way to bring her supporters emotional closure -- or, at least, the closest thing to closure that that they will be able to obtain from this wrenching narrative.

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Late Update: One commenter above notes that Hillary continues simply because Obama hasn't won yet. Let me state for the record that I agree that she had an outside shot at winning for much longer than many pundits said. I was trying to probe another aspect of what drives her here.

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Late Late Update: I see from some comments that I wasn't clear enough on one point. I'm not at all saying that Hillary's support derives only from emotion and not from a reasoned appreciation of her talents as a public servant. I don't believe this at all. I think she's a genuine leader in many ways and has truly inspired her millions of followers. My point here is simply that good politicians, like good actors and artists, have an instinctual feel for what drives the emotional bond they have with their fans, and that feel partly drives them. And there's inherently nothing wrong with that -- indeed, Hillary's performance in the race is genuinely inspiring to her followers.