Rabid Yellow Dog

The Myth of Destruction

Written by admin on February 20, 2008 – 1:53 am -

I recently received a link to the following post from a progressive list I’m on:

An Open Letter to Senators Clinton and Obama
February 19th, 2008

Dear Senators Clinton and Obama-

You’re both talented, experienced, inspiring, accomplished individuals. However, as the last few months and few dozen primaries have shown, voters are divided about which one of you should be our presidential candidate. But we all agree: both of you are far better than the alternative.

We need a Democrat to take the White House. But if we spend the next months fighting each other over which of you is the best candidate, we’re going to lose this fall. That loss will be devastating not just for the next four years but for decades to come.

Don’t divide our party the way the last two elections have divided our country. Work together. Make the Democratic ticket as strong as it can be. Show us that you’re capable of leading the party — and the country — together.

Clinton-Obama. Obama-Clinton. We don’t all agree which ticket would be best, but what we do know is that our party and our nation will be much better united than divided.

Sincerely,

Your Party Members

Honestly, I don’t understand this kind of talk. A few things should be keep in mind:

1. Primary voters should have a chance to vote.

2. The primary voter totals show that:

With 99 percent of the vote (in Wisconsin), both Obama and Clinton received more votes
than ALL THE REPUBLICANS COMBINED! If it was only on votes and you stripped all party affiliation (of those that are still running), the order would go:

Obama 645,554
Clinton 452,590
McCain 224,122
Huckabee 151,114
Paul 19,129
Gravel 596

How is this election process ripping the Democratic Party apart?

I felt attacked by friend who is a supporter of Clinton, when it was obvious that Obama actually had a shot at winning. Other than that episode, I’ve not experienced any kind of hatred between the Clinton and Obama supporters (my friend and I are still on good terms). I think that her pain came more from frustration and shock, than actual disgust at me for being an Obama supporter.

There is hatred of Obama supporters in the media (we’ve been compared to followers of Charles Manson and Hare Krishna, we’ve been called cultish), but I’ve not felt that same hatred anywhere else.

As far as the money goes, the trends go along the same lines.

Jan 2008
Obama $31 million
Clinton $13 million.

October-December 2007
Clinton $26.5 million
Obama $22.8 million ]

Clinton and Obama raised almost as much together in January as they did in Oct, Nov, and Dec combined. There is absolutely NO proof that the primary elections are having ANY negative effect on the Democrats chances in November. In fact, both candidates are surging in voters and money.

Texas and Ohio are vital for Hillary. If she loses either state, I doubt she’ll be able to recover. If she loses both, it’s essentially game over. But if she wins (as she is projected to in both races), she’ll be on track to win the nomination. If they go into Denver essentially tied, Clinton will win. She is the establishment candidate, and has 30 some years of political ties to cash in.

Any movement to somehow neuter the voting process and pick a candidate now will do more harm to the party, than ANYTHING the primaries would do. Imagine if we “united the ticket” before Wisconsin! We would have disenfranchised more Democratic voters than ALL of the Republican voters combined. If you want to destroy the Democrats chances at victory in November, forcing a choice now would be the way to do it.

Tags: Clinton, Democratic Party, election victory, Obama
Posted in Clinton, Democratic Party, Obama |