« previous | TPM CAFÉ READER POSTS HOME | next »
Suspense Builds as Primary Season Ends
Tuesday's primarys aren't likely to help Obama -- or make any real difference to Hillary Clinton. The Rules & Bylaws Committee meeting on Saturday will bring delegations from Florida and Michigan into the convention -- but the likely result will not make any real difference to either Obama or Hillary.
So where are we?
Neither candidate has a clear majority and a substantial portion of the Super-Delegates have gone AWOL --content to watch the festivities from the sidelines. Obama, believing that he is the likely nominee and that he must avoid alienating Clinton's supporters, stands frozen like a deer in the poacher's spotlight. Hillary, believing that any Democratic nominee will be elected and that she has nothing to lose but the nomination, is giving new meaning to scorched-earth politics.
The plain truth is that the Super-Delegates will annoint the nominee -- and they should do so soon. The corrosive combination of Hillary's continued assertions that Obama cannot be elected and Obama's protracted inaction are likely to make Hillary's prophecy of an Obama loss to McCain self-fulfilling -- unless the Super-Delegates realize that the time has come to end the primary season and begin the campaign for the White House.
Although I have taken the position that, if necessary to elect a Democrat, I will pinch my nostrils and vote for Hillary, I am beginning to wonder whether I actually will do so. The continued inaction of the Super-Delegates convinces me that the elected official considered to be the leaders of the Democratic Party are unable or unwilling to take a stand for one nominee or the other.
Maybe, just maybe, I'll hold my nose and for the first time in my life vote for a Republican presidential candidate to send the elected leaders of the Democratic Party the message that the time has come to end the era of bitter partisan warfare that delights in electoral politics but despises the principled and reasoned action need to lead and govern effectively.
Comments (2)
No man, pinch your nose and vote for Hillary. If she gets it, I'm going to do the same and I urge all dems to do so. What I always thought was the reasonable position was to just not campaign for her, but rather against McCain. So the old man gets bad press and goes down, but we don't have to get involved in the HRC pile. I think that's a reasonable position for HRC folks as well, if Obama gets the nod. He gets people attacking McCain, but they're not really "his" people, just Dems with an agenda - get a Dem in the white house.
All this talk about voting for McCain is stupid. At the very least just don't vote, or hit up the green party.
May 29, 2008 1:56 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'm frustrated with the lack of leadership by elected Democrats. Here is my previously publish comment on McCain.
Ron Alley
From: Cafe
Not Worthy of My Vote
April 2, 2008, 4:45PM
John McCain's appearance on the David Letterman show last night brought my concerns about McCain into sharp focus. My admiration for John McCain's service in Vietnam and his personal sacrifices remain as strong as ever. I still think that if I could ever vote for a GOP candidate for President, I could vote for John McCain. He was a thoughtful, funny and a great guest for Letterman. He even made some provocative statements. But in the final analysis McCain is merely an apologist for the GOP, the Bush administration and their failed policies.
McCain's most provocative statements were on the Iraq war and the practice of torturing prisoners. Unfortunately, David Letterman's questions about the Iraq war showed more insight into the reasons underlying the Iraq war than John McCain's responses. We invaded Iraq in the aftermath of 9-11 because we wanted to strike out at an Arab country supportive of terrorist activity. Saddam and Iraq were obvious targets. Saddam was so odious that no Arab country could effectively criticize a war aimed at removing Saddam from power. Letterman's question to McCain clearly stated the basis for the war with Iraq. McCain, Clinton and Kerry all voted to give Bush the discretion to invade and Iraq. Not one of them stopped to consider whether George Bush had shown himself worthy of such unbridled discretion or whether Bush had shown the foresight and judgment needed to install a functioning government to replace Saddam.
McCain handily blamed Rumsfeld for the failure of the Iraq war during the first four years. Rumsfeld may have been a villain and his strategy for occupying Iraq surely was a failure, but Rumsfeld was not the Commander-in-Chief and Rumsfeld was subject to the oversight of the GOP dominated Senate in which John McCain served. McCain gave no explanation for the failure of the Senate to exercise its oversight authority and he offered no explanation for his support of Bush in 2004. Until John McCain can provide a credible explanation for those failures, he is not worthy of my vote however great my admiration for his personal sacrifice in service to his country remains.
May 29, 2008 3:54 PM | Reply | Permalink
Post a Comment