The bitterness of the fight for the Democratic nomination is, on the face of it, bizarre. Both candidates still standing are smart and appealing. Both have progressive agendas (although I believe that Hillary Clinton is more serious about achieving universal health care, and that Barack Obama has staked out positions that will undermine his own efforts). Both have broad support among the party’s grass roots and are favorably viewed by Democratic voters.
Supporters of each candidate should have no trouble rallying behind the other if he or she gets the nod.
Why, then, is there so much venom out there?
I won’t try for fake evenhandedness here: most of the venom I see is coming from supporters of Mr. Obama, who want their hero or nobody. I’m not the first to point out that the Obama campaign seems dangerously close to becoming a cult of personality.
I'm sorry, but there just aren't enough significant policy differences between our two leading candidates for there to be this kind of intensity and antagonism. I am a strong supporter of Senator Clinton, but if Obama is the nominee, I will support him strongly as well. We all need to agree that we need a Democrat in the White House. I expect Obama's supporters to return the favor. To not do so reveals a selfishness and a lack of understanding of the political situation in this country. It reminds me of the catastrophic mistake made by left-leaning voters in 2000 to turn their backs on Al Gore, and look what that wrought.
We've already had Barack stating publicly that his supporters "might not support her in the fall," and Michelle Obama said in an ABC interview that she might not be able to bring herself to vote for Hillary. What is this nonsense? Could it be policy based or is it really just about personalities and pettiness. I keep hearing Bill Clinton talk about all the great choices in this primary season and how they would all make great presidents. Imagine the outburst of Clinton-hating that would occur if Bill said he may not be able to support Barack in the fall??? This brings me to another excerpt from Krugman's column about 'Clinton rules' that the Obama supporters better keep in mind, because the MSM will turn them in to 'Obama rules' soon enough if he is the nominee or President at some point:
What’s particularly saddening is the way many Obama supporters seem happy with the application of “Clinton rules” — the term a number of observers use for the way pundits and some news organizations treat any action or statement by the Clintons, no matter how innocuous, as proof of evil intent . . .
During the current campaign, Mrs. Clinton’s entirely reasonable remark that it took L.B.J.’s political courage and skills to bring Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream to fruition was cast as some kind of outrageous denigration of Dr. King.
And the latest prominent example came when David Shuster of MSNBC, after pointing out that Chelsea Clinton was working for her mother’s campaign — as adult children of presidential aspirants often do — asked, “doesn’t it seem like Chelsea’s sort of being pimped out in some weird sort of way?” Mr. Shuster has been suspended, but as the Clinton campaign rightly points out, his remark was part of a broader pattern at the network.
I call it Clinton rules, but it’s a pattern that goes well beyond the Clintons. For example, Al Gore was subjected to Clinton rules during the 2000 campaign: anything he said, and some things he didn’t say (no, he never claimed to have invented the Internet), was held up as proof of his alleged character flaws.
For now, Clinton rules are working in Mr. Obama’s favor. But his supporters should not take comfort in that fact.
For one thing, Mrs. Clinton may yet be the nominee — and if Obama supporters care about anything beyond hero worship, they should want to see her win in November.
For another, if history is any guide, if Mr. Obama wins the nomination, he will quickly find himself being subjected to Clinton rules. Democrats always do.
That's it for now. I'd love to write more about the sexist coverage at MSNBC, but I'll save that for another day.
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