"Elected officials are the image of the people they represent" Gov Paterson, May 17 2008.

"If you don't like the people, dissove them and elect the new one" Bertold Brecht, 1953

 
Do you want a Democrat in the White House?


If you do, let's admit the stark truth (in the midst of our mutual vitriol): there is no all-out winner in this nomination. Neither will win in a landslide. The winner will have the votes cast on the convention floor, but the nomination will come without an overwhelming unified mandade.

So if we want to win, let's remember that divided we'll fall.

If we think only about the votes cast in the contests so far, Obama and Clinton each represents roughly half of the party (discounting the crossover vote, the primary vs caucus argument, and similar reality-altering details).

This should tell us a thing or two about who we really are as a party going into the general.

We can pretend that this doesn't matter. We can shrug it off and hope that the other side will come around, if our candidate is the nominee. We can withdraw to our spacious echochambers. We can look for fresh evidence in the "opposition research" to reinforce the talking points.

Or, we can recognize that this nomination is bigger than Clinton as it is bigger than Obama.

There are several ways we can analyize the primaries. So far we have done it by discussing and defending the character, record and qualifications of our candidates. But there is another way.

Historically, roughly 40% of Democrats identify themselves as liberal or liberal-leaning. Roughly 60% identify themselves as working class, low income, etc. The way the cards fell in this nomination, Sen. Obama attracted the former and Sen. Clinton the latter. Obama used the netroots to mobilize new voter registration, so it's very possible that this balance has shifted. We don't know by how much and we don't know how reliable the new voters are, but they are there for Democrats.

So, it's clear that that both Obama and Clinton represent two different constituencies within our party and that the candidates are now positioning their campaigns to reinforce these constituencies and make inroads into each other's.

Let's remember, too, that our nominee (whoever it is) will be running against a Republican. It's tempting to shrug them off as broken and unelectable, and our party has done it many many times before, only to pay the price for being unprepared.

I would be great if we could come together in one big happy family. We could at least try to find a way to co-exist.

But since this nomination is now entering its most painful phase, with risks and consequences either way, I think it's vital that we continue to talk each other and not get too distructed by the trolls.