Monday, March 24, 2008

When Wishes Come True

The DNC leadership has put itself into a jam. After fighting tooth and nail to defeat the most popular candidate running, Hillary Clinton, it has found that it has only succeeded in delegitimizing itself and its preferred candidate with a growing number of Hillary supporters.

Unlike the Obamacans, these voters are lifelong Democratic stalwarts, like me. I'm willing to bet that the majority of us were very favorably disposed to The Precious a little over a year ago, and looked forward to a contest of great ideas on progressive programs for the next President. (Hell, I wrote several blog posts defending the guy from attacks on MyDD and FDL (among many places), back when Left Blogistan said Obama was a "DLC shill".) Then we hit primary season, which has become open season on Hillary. I said long before the Iowa caucuses that Hillary was running for president and all the others were running tro beat her. We watched, slack-jawed as Golden Boy Barry and Mr. Goodhair joined forces with Tim Russert and Chris Matthews to trash her with right-wing talking points, as the A-List Blogger Boyz cheered from the peanut gallery.

The decision to disenfranchise Michigan and Florida in favor of Iowa should have set off more warning bells. The Precious has nothing to stand on from a policy perspective, having stolen it all from Hillary and Edwards, only the argument that he is the white knight (ahem) to defend us agains the evil Hillary Mommy Monster. His gutter tactics are justified because "we all know" she'll do anything to be elected, including getting the votes, that bitch! How dare she win New Hampshire and upset the coronation! Time to take her out. When Barry's campaign, with the tacit approval of the DNC, went out in force trashing the Clintons as racists to drive up margins in southern states, HRC supporters knew the fix was in.

A funny thing happend on the way to the honor killing, though. Hillary kept winning the big states and kept garnering the majority of Democratic votes. The Democrats for Life are strongly behind her, and she is drawing an increasing number of Republicans and Independents who appear to actually be voting for her, rather than voting against an opponent. In contrast, the Democrats for a Day TM tactic was never anything other than Vote Your Hillary Hatred, and has done nothing to build the party. It was purely strategic and it has run out of steam.

The interesting number to me is the steady increase in the number of Hillary Democrats who are taking the brutal treatment of their preferred candidate and the deliberate and cynical disenfranchisement of Michigan and Florida very seriously, enough that they will not vote Democrat in November. It is the combination of the two that has created the backlash conditions, I think. If The Golden One was simply getting more votes in the same contests, then, yeah, sucks to be on the losing team, but the votes are the votes. However, the fact that the inclusion of these two states changes the math completely and that the votes are being blocked by Obama and that the press is brutalizing Hillary and making shit up and that we need both those states in our column come November and, well, yeah, we're getting pissed.

As I have also said time and again, it all comes down to political legitimacy. A nominee who will not willingly face the voters in all 50 states is not considered the legitimate nominee by a substantial (and growing) portion of the party. As long as The Golden One prevents the revotes, he is the one responsible for delegitimizing the process and will not win in the GE, even if he can bully his way to the nomination.

Thus, Dean has painted himself and the party into a corner. The only solution that will be seen as legitimate is a revote of Michigan and Florida, and Dean is allowing his preferred candidate to block that option. As I've said before (dang, but I'm prescient...) if Obama has popular support, he would welcome the revotes. The fact that he is fighting hammer and tongs to prevent this from happening, despite the support of the party leaders, the pundits, the MSM and an alleged huge advantage in cash, tells me that he knows he will bomb. The frontrunner is on his way to being a has been.

To keep from losing everything in November (and I'm beginning to think we may lose control of the Seante at our current rate), Dean and the DNC leadership are trying to beg/cajole/threaten Hillary into conceding the nomination before she becomes any stronger.

Somehow, I don't think she will.

I want her to make The Precious fight every step of the way in order to teach Howard Dean that a 50 state strategy includes all the voters of all the states, not just those who support Howie's favorite. I want her to continue to stand up for the millions of voters Golden Boy Barry has declared to be untrustworthy and undeserving of a vote because they may not vote for him. And, after Obama's forces descend on the Denver convention in buses chartered by Obama to haul half of Chicago accross the plains, and hold a made-for-the-media "riot" (kind of like 1968 crossed with the Florida recount), and threaten the super delegates into voting for The Precious, I will grimly watch the crushing defeat of Obama, Dean, Pelosi, Brazile, Richardson and all the other idiots who succumbed to Clinton Derangement Syndrome.

This is what the DNC deserves for having turned a campaign to promote our party into a witch hunt to politically murder the person most popular with the Democratic rank and file and the most qualified to lead the nation in a time of growing crisis.

Be careful what you wish for. You may just get it.

Anglachel

17 comments:

Shainzona said...

I LOVE this column...love it...love it...love it. I became a Democrat for Life after my first 6 voter years as a Repug in the midwest. And I have never waivered from supporting the eventual nominee.

If Barack Obama is the Dem candidate this year, I will, for the first time in my adult life, not vote - and no, I won't vote down ticket either. I want the fuckers who did this to our party and our country to feel the heat they so deserve.

OK, let the trolling begin...I know all about the Supremes. I know all about the war in Iraq. And I also know that Hillary Clinton must/should be the Democratic candidate for POTUS in 2008.

So sad what the DNC and Obama's ego is doing to this country.

Common Sense Gram said...

Right on the mark.
Way back when Kerry caved, I wondered if he was a closet Republican.
The DNC will get what it so richly deserves.
Hillary will not quit- not until every voter has had a chance to speak!

Anonymous said...

I like your post. DNC and Dean are ignoring Democrat voters. I don't feel that the party care about my voice anymore. I'll become ex-DEM after this primary if DNC shoved Obama down my throat.

Pat Johnson said...

Thanks for providing some measure of balance. I get so tired of listening to those pundits telling Hillary to step aside so that the coronation can begin. I would love to meet the genius who put this primary together. The caucus system is very unfair to most voters and that seems to have been his strength. Let all states vote then we can determine the outcome.

Cathy said...

I'm in awe. Not much time to say more tonight, but Riverdaughter was right. This is an AMAZING POST.

Please keep it handy so we can reread it after the end. (Hopefully an end where Hillary triumphs. But if not, hell we all tried.)

Anonymous said...

Richardson really is Judas. How dare he or any of the Dem leadership try to get Clinton out now? I thought we all agreed that as long as she won both TX and OH she's in the race until the end. Every time she wins an important primary it's time for her to drop out according to the pundits, the Obamabots, and the Dem leaders. What if she wins PA and NC and SD and PR? It's like they get angry at her because it's her fault millions of voters like her and still prefer her over Obama! I just hope that more superdelegates don't follow Richardson and bully Clinton into dropping out before the convention when she has every right to continue on especially since it looks like she has a very good shot at winning most of the remaining primaries.

Anonymous said...

Excellent and much appreciated post. Obama is a Wall Street darling. Please read this:

blackagendareport.com - The Obama Bubble: Why Wall Street Needs a Presidential Brand

http://www.blackagendareport.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=548&Itemid=34

It explains a lot.

portia said...

Some others said they hadn't seen much evidence of Obama's desire or ability to cut deals, bring together disparate forces or engage on legislation that didn't fit into the political narrative he wants to shape for himself.
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/227/story/31424.html

Understatement of the year.

Hyacinth said...

This is a great column - thanks for reality. Re New Hampshire - while Hill was getting the voters out Obama was on his phone (expecting victory of course) talking to his cousin in Kenya: Raila Odanga - Yes the radical whose supporters went on a rampage when he didn't win - killing burning and decapitating hundreds of Christians. He has made a deal to become Prime Minister and bring Sharia to all the districts of Kenya. Also Barak campaigned for him in Kenya. http://thedailyblogster.blogspot.com/2008/02/barack-obama-and-jihadist-raila-odinga.html http://caosblog.com/7071
All this, coupled with the Anti-American Wright makes me very worried and questioning of the media at large for their ignoring of these issues. For America and the World at large's sake we have to get Hillary the nomination.

Anonymous said...

Great post. If Obama is given the nomination without FL and MI, this whole election will need an asterisk after it - just like Barry Bonds and the home run record.

gendergappers said...

Yes, great insight here as usual. And note how pious Richardson starts off his interview saying he will not get down in the mud. Then directly afterwards he does by trashing both the Clintons with Republican spin from the 90's.

Hillary said she was in it to win it and we all must support her for giving us such a strong and courageous role model even tho money is tight. How a positive statement from a mere woman frightens the boyz! It probably has the same effect on their "brain centers" as a cold shower or a dive into an icy pond.

Optixmom said...

Fabulous Blog, my sentiments exactly. I enjoy your use of "The Precious" as a descriptor.

I am waiting for look on Kerry's, Kennedy's, Dean's, Richardson's, etc. faces when Hillary wins the Nomination in Colorado. It will be the biggest Kodak moment of the millennium!

Boo Radly said...

Awsome post - again! You are now my first stop online in the morning. DNC/Precious are going to be feeling a world hurt - they have no idea being in a "fog" of hubris.

show me said...

Thanks for another great piece. I have been mentioning your site in other threads. So glad I heard about you on Taylor Marsh.I have taken all of the envelopes from the DNC,DSCC and all others and put a letter in them telling them not another dime or minute of my time until FL and MI get to revote.I hope others do the same.

Anonymous said...

Thank you so much for this post!

Blackdogred said...

I have voted for Democrats since reaching voting age in 1977, and I have donated money and time towards Democrats since.

How dare you imply that because I support Obama in this campaign I am somehow not a real Democrat.

I read your blog so I can get the perspective of a Hillary supporter, because I think it's important to keep some perspective. I disagree with your assessment of her, I disagree with your disparaging of Obama (as you would disagree with my assessment of Obama and opinion of Hillary), but it would never have occurred to me to question whether you are a real Democrat.

Anonymous said...

Newsflash to all of the Obamazoids: This is Anglachel's personal blog space. Apparently the only people who have a problem with this blog are Obama supporters. Get a life. I don't go over to TPM or DailyKos to rant and rave about how they diss Clinton on a daily basis and continue to pressure her into conceding the race. This blog is written by a Clinton partisan. If you hate her opinions on the election then leave and go to an Obamabot website. There are plenty more of those on the web than Clinton blogs.