Barack vs. Hillary, Clinton vs. Obama

Francisco de Goya, Fight With Clubs

A few months ago, nobody thought the Democratic Primary process would go on long enough to reach Pennsylvania with more than one viable candidate. Hillary Clinton, the anointed candidate of the party bosses, would certainly by now have ground all of her opponents under foot with the aid of the full strength of the Party machine behind her.

Or: Barack Obama, the popular and charismatic upstart from Illinois, would have ridden a swelling wave of popular support that would have led all of his Democratic rivals to throw in the towel and jump on the bandwagon.

Or: Hillary Clinton, the one candidate certain to energize the Clinton-haters of the far Right, would have been advised by Party leaders to withdraw from the campaign, lest she create a backlash that results in a greater Republican turnout that there would be without her.

Or: ...well, you get the point.

Political Vocabulary Words
for Research and Reflection:
demagogue
platitude
cult of personality
Pyrrhic victory

But here we are. Sort of.

Once again, Pennsylvania doesn't really count. At this point it is mathematically impossible for either candidate to win the nomination outright through victories in the remaining contests. So whoever wins Pennsylvania will only be incrementally closer to having locked up the nomination. They will also have to get the votes of a sufficient number of "Superdelegates" in order to secure a win.

And winning the nomination will not mean that the fight is over. No, events have taken an uglier turn than that. Hillary Clinton is attacking Barack Obama on his qualifications; Barack Obama is attacking Hillary Clinton on her character. The attacks are working, and voters are becoming disenchanted with both candidates.

There is a new sort of madness taking root. I have heard it from both sides of this internecine conflict, though more often, and more vehemently, from one side than the other. People have become so enamored with and dedicated to one or the other of the candidates that they are saying "If (Clinton)/(Obama) wins, I'm voting for McCain. Or I'm not voting at all!"

So what is is this? Stupidity? Insanity? Immaturity? Ignorance? Embracing the cult of personality so strongly that the person matters more than what they stand for? Maybe a "Well, if we're not gonna play the game my way, I'm gonna take my bat and my ball and go home" mentality? (For a fairly intense and well-referenced discussion on this topic, see this entry on Adam Felber's Fanatical Apathy.)

I suspect the shrivelled claw of Karl Rove in this, but that may just be a touch of paranoia.* But there's a very real chance that these threats may be more than just threats - that Democrats will once again find a way to snatch defeat out of the jaws of victory and once again let the Republicans take the White House**, and maybe Congress in the bargain.

There's a hell of a lot at stake in this election. There was a hell of a lot at stake in the last two elections, but many people didn't see that as sufficient reason to vote for the Democrat- and look where two Bush administrations have brought us. Are you better off than you were eight years ago? Did this country run better with a Republican President and a Republican-controlled Congress?***

I will vote for the Democratic candidate, whomever that candidate may be. I will vote for the Democrat because I know that whichever candidate gets sworn in next January, they will not simply lead us further along the path that George W. Bush has sent us down. I will vote for the Democrat because I have listened to what both candidates have been saying, and I like them both. I wish I could vote for them both. And maybe, if one or the other is willing to swallow their pride and sign on as the other's running mate, maybe I will.

Both sides need to stop playing the politics of personal destruction that have long been the hallmarks of their ignoble opponents. Hillary Clinton and her people need to stop undermining Barack Obama, creating an argument that Obama is inferior to McCain. And Barack Obama and his people need to stop demonizing Hillary Clinton, need to stop making her out to be some sort of monster that she isn't.

And both Clinton and Obama need to rally their forces to pledge to give their support to the other candidate, when the time comes that one or the other of them is no longer in the running for the Presidency. If the people threatening to vote for McCain or not vote at all will not listen to either reason, moral suasion, or impassioned appeals to emotion, maybe they will listen to their chosen candidate.

This is too important to lose. Again. Eight years of a Republican at the helm steering the Ship of State into the rocks is long enough.

Be friends, you English fools, be friends: we have French quarrels enow, if you could tell how to reckon. - Henry V, Act 4, Scene 1

*That's the wonderful thing about being an evil genius: you can be in a million places at once, because people will suspect you of involvement in anything that bears any resemblance to anything you have ever done before. For all I know, Rove may be in the Marianas Islands with Jack Abramoff and Tom DeLay, enjoying the company of underage laborers who have been forced into prostitution to pay for the abortions they were forced to undergo by their sweatshop bosses. Or he might just be lounging around in his underwear, watching his collection of Girls Gone Wild videos. Who can say?

**I have a confession to make: Unlike many members of his own party, I do not hate John McCain. I think he is a man of honor and principles, though I believe his principles have often been compromised on behalf of political necessity in the past - and will be again in the future, regardless of the outcome of this election. But I believe he is the wrong person to put in the White House next January. And, for all his qualifications and experience, Republicans felt he was the wrong person to put in the White House in previous elections. They determined he was less qualified than George W. Bush to be President in 2000 or 2004. Do we really want someone in office who has been determined by his own party to be inferior to the guy who has brought this country to where it is today?

***Oh, it ran smoother, I'll grant you that, when the Republican Congress only had to churn out legislation for their beloved leader to rubber-stamp, and could easily ignore any dissent from the Democrats in Congress. Why, you would never see this nonsense about FISA courts and concerns about "privacy" if the Republicans still held Congress!