There's growing sentiment that this protracted Democratic nomination process has become "a two-way Democrat suicide pact" that is making John McCain's chances of winning the White House significantly stronger.Today's Globe mentions polls that show the GOP's presumptive nominee has grown even among voters nationally in a showdown against either Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton, and -- sadly -- that a chunk of either Democratic hopefuls' supporters would jump parties in November if their candidate loses. Party leaders, the story says, are concerned.
New York Times columnist David Brooks writes that developments over the last week have doomed Clinton's campaign, and he wonders whether she is capable of doing what is best for the party and stepping aside. Meanwhile, another Times columnist, Maureen Dowd, speculates that it may be in the New York senator's persona to take down everyone around her. Dowd makes reference to “'the Tonya Harding option' — if she can’t get the gold, kneecap her rival."
9 comments:
Barack and Reverend Jeremiah Wright have already kneecapped themselves. Regardless of whether you believe Obama should be held responsible for his minister's comments, like these about "garlic nosed" racists, the 20-30% of American voters who could vote either Republican or Democrat will not vote for Obama. This fact ought to disqualify him from contention. If Obama is not the Democratic nominee, large portions of the democratic base will stay home. If Hillary is the nominee, the Republican base will be highly motivated and come out in droves.
McCain will be our next president. The Democrats have been hoisted by their own petard and they cannot win the presidency.
John,
The area of most concern about this presidential election and even most of our own local elections as of late, is that the voting public does not seem to have their own mind. Locally, people need bumper stickers and signs to tell them who the popular candidate is. Nationally, we need to have staggered primaries and caucuses otherwise Iowa will have no idea how to vote unless New Hampshire gives them the heads-up.
The reason why you bother to post here is for the opportunity to influence someone's opinion and, in this instance, vote. That's why we all post whether we want to admit it or not. I'm sure that's why Jimbo hosts this blog - to cast his pebble into the sea and watch how far/if the ripples will spread.
Back to the topic - the Democratic party needs to decide for themselves, by the primary, who their nominee will be. The sentiment that some Democratically leaning independents may jump ship if their candidate is not nominated, although highly possible, will hardly be impacted by moving the decision up a few months.
Romney is no hero for withdrawing his candidacy. He was reluctant to continue to fight for what he wanted. I'm not sure that's the type of president I want.
Let the Democrats select their candidate. As an independent, all of the candidates still have a long way to go to win my vote.
Correction:
I meant to say that the Dems need to select their candidate by the Convention not the primary.
It is not Hillary who is ruining the chances for Barack. That is yet another sad story-line being peddled by Obamabots and the media that just adores him. I get that people hate Hillary, but the veracity with which they do so is embarrassing even if we have come to accept that the media is not independent or objective. If Barack was such a run away candidate then why hasn't he won a single large state besides his home state? Why is that he can only win on the backs of poorly attended caucuses or places that are heavily African American? There are all states also unlikely to vote Democratic in November regardless. The answer is that Barack isn't that convincing of a candidate. So the idea that Hillary should just "step aside" is silly. If Barack or Hillary win the nomination, and presumably don't join together, they will both have the least number of wins of any nominee in recent memory. It'd be great if people stopped blaming it all on Hillary. It's like saying well if we don't need elections. We don't need to care if at least half the country feels different and more than 20% still haven't voted (or haven't had their vote count).
So stop it! If you don't want democracy go live in China. Otherwise stop insisting that the only way to nominate someone is if only one person is running. So stupid.
Eastie Girl you are way off base with your comments. Our election process is centered around democracy and I feel as though it functions very well. People do have their own minds and they think very hard before choosing their candidate. People use signs and bumper stickers to express their support of a candidate not because it unfluences other people that is an absurb thought. I mean lets no bash democracy which our whole nation is based on. Maybe you prefer communism, but as an American I sure like the way our system is. Jimbo I hope all is well and thanks for giving me and so many others the chance to voice our opinions.
This Democratic race isn't really that bad - as far as mud slinging is concerned. It's not even the dirtiest one I remember and I'm not that old. People need to stop listening to what the 24-hour "news" media. They have taken every chance it can get to hype it so out of proportion you'd think if Obama and Clinton met in a back alley they'd tear each other's eyes out.
As for prognostications about the election being a "sure thing" for McCain, i'm not so sure. He's a good politian, but he's up against some serious hurtles with the War and the Economy. Being the incumbent party nominee during a recession is generally the kiss of death. Being for a prolonged war that is unpopular isn't much help either.
John B.
Anon @ 2:28 I think you need to re-read my comments. I did not bash democracy but rather endorsed the utilization of the democratic process to it's fullest extent.
I think you should be looking to the folks who would undermine the process by calling for any candidate to stand down before exhausting every mean afforded to them through. It is that type of sentiment that smacks of communism.
But - fyi signs and bumper stickers have nothing to do with democracy.
I think Eastie Girl is more correct than Anonymous gives her credit for. During the state representative special election campaign last year, the most frequent comment that I heard was, "Where are so-and-so's signs?" or "I haven't seen so-and-so's signs. Are they really running?".
Signs and bumper stickers have an important psychological effect on people. They are often interpreted as a signal about the electability of an candidate, which is one factor many people consider when they decide who to vote for, especially in a primary. If signs weren't important, then the campaigns would not spend as much money as they all do on them (it's one of the top expenses on any campaign - often the number one expense in any given election cycle).
I would like to believe in the vision of democracy Anonymous describes. But my experience has been closer to Eastie Girl's description. I don't think this is exclusive to East Boston, though. I've seen the same thing in every place that I've lived or worked in.
I don't think that it necessarily means that we don't have a functioning democracy. A functioning democracy has mechanisms that allow people to influence the decisions, including voting decisions, of other people. In my ideal world, we would have forums like this one, fair and unbiased media reports, and respectful discussion to try to persuade our neighbors about who to vote for. I think we can still make that happen. It doesn't mean that decisions made will be better or that your favored candidate will get elected. But these are necessary conditions to make Anonymous' view of democracy a reality.
Obama practices reverse racism while he and his wife benefit from our country. All they want to push is their own agenda. They brought "race" into this election and nobody else. Anyway Obama is inexperienced and will divide this country. He is causing traditional democrats to lose faith in the party because he is not a true patriot.
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