|
||
While all the polls had eggs on their faces after this real head-scratcher on Tuesday -- Zogby, for example, seemed to be giving it to Obama by a nose in Texas and Clinton by a nose in Ohio, or it may have been vice versa, so many conflicting predictions filled the airwaves -- I was the only pundit who managed to escape without a drop of the yellow stuff.
My scenario said it didn't matter whether Hillary won or lost in Ohio and Texas by a nose or an ear. She would emerge victorious when those hack politicians would go into a phone booth in Denver and have a miraculous transformation. Faster than a speeding bandwagon, stronger than a steamroller -- no, it's Superdelegateperson!
Whatever position superdelegates were taking, as they faced the wonderful third-degree spotlight questioning by the media about where they stood or lay down on Obi and Hill, the old dropping-the-file-on-the- desk trick would determine their eventual vote. Harold Ickes and his crack team of fact-finders had been gathering raw material on the politicians' anointed superdelgate-ship. When push came to shove, they would be shoved to give Clinton the nomination, if not by acclamation. There are those who say this scenario is poppycock. "The Clintonistas will not able to use the no-holds-barred tactics," explained R. B. Bernstein, Adjunct Professor of Law at New York Law School. "The Old Guard will step in and disarm them and turn reluctantly to the rising young kid. They are so fixated on the goal of getting Bush out of the White House they will use it as a lodestar to guide their behavior."
Okay, so you also don't like my scenario. Here is another one.
The premise of scenario number two is the Democratic Party has the misfortune to be facing its own worse nightmare in the gang of 10 Republicans who began the race. Pastor Huckleberry, the strict constitutional scholar; Il Duce Rudy, the family values man who had more wives than Mitt the Mormon Romney and the other wannabees, all withered away.
They are left to duke it out with John McCain, a tough old bird.
McCain just ran a race where he thought he was facing his old Vietnamese jailers. "Here they come," he would say to himself every morning. "Okay, they will beat the shit out of me. If I'm still alive tomorrow, I'll be fine."
"I have no money," his mantra went. "Have no staff. No friends. Have no support in the media. My own party hates me. I'm fine."
He has taken the abuse from the right wing loony talk radio prison campers who said he wasn't conservative enough. They would rather lose with a Robert Taft-type candidate than win with an Ike Eisenhower who appealed to independents, the way Republicans ended their long losing streak in 1952.
Old John McCain is a tough grizzled fighter pilot, a little intemperate at times, a character defect that might be valuable in the world today. For example, he is a little nuts when he suggests we have to stay the course in Iraq for 100 years. As I was explaining in my first scenario, the Democrats will be tearing each other apart until they get to Denver. It's a party that is Balkanized, a party where everybody seems to hate each other. Young people hate old people; black people hate white people; women hate men; women hate other women. This election the Democrats reap what they seem to sow. Absolute hatred by one group for every other group.
Obama people are so angry with Hillary people now, you would think she was a Republican. The worse thing is should Obi lose in Denver, as I am predicting, his supporters will not be rallying behind the flag bearer. They will not be saying, "Okay, Hillary goes first. We're ready to carry the flag eight years from now." That's the way it's usually done in traditional American politics.
Instead the Democrats are about to the drink the grapes of wrath, a Hemlock 2008 vintage, unless they do something to heal the wounds or wound the heels, depending on which side of the trench you're in.
In my scenario number two, the Democrats situation is further complicated by doubts about both the remaining candidates. So many Americans either overtly or covertly still hate the Clintons. In the privacy of the voting booth, will Americans actually vote for a black man for President? I may be paranoid, but I think it's a lose-lose situation.
The party, I further predict, will eventually come to its senses enough to put principles aside. It's time for a compromise third candidate.
It's hard to remember anymore, given our being historically-impaired as a people, but there have been conventions in which a third candidate emerged, a dark horse, if you'll pardon the expression.
They can slug it out this summer with delegates engaged in wheeling and dealing horse trading votes, until they finally realize the law of diminishing returns is in play.
The Democrats, you've probably forgotten, went to 103 ballots in1924 before turning to an obscure former West Virginia congressman, John W. Davis, to face Calvin Coolidge. This was the state of confusion and disarray that led to Will Rogers' truism, "I'm not a member of any organized political party. I'm a Democrat." Silent Cal still won 382 to 136 electoral votes by keeping his mouth shut
The Old Guard will finally realize they need a compromise candidate, a man who has real experience in high office, not somebody who deals with hypotheticals about what they would do when the phone rings at 3 a.m.
A man who is a proven winner. A man who has actually won a national election in 2000.
A man who can call our attention to what's really wrong in the country. He knows, since he helped cause some of it as a vice president.
A man who can split the Republican Party into those who accept the inconvenient truth and those who think global warming is a left wing loony hoax, and won't believe otherwise even when the Missouri River turns to sand.
A man who is not worn out from the increasingly ridiculous primary and caucus system. A man who has not been hit by any of the arrows or epithets or mud being thrown.
A man who can energize the party.
A man who has won both the Nobel and an Oscar.
I'm talking about the all-new, improved, slimmed down animated version, the Inconvenient Truth man himself, Al Gore.
He can walk on water now.
Saint Al is the man who can save the Democratic Party from itself, and the country.
In conclusion, I want to assure you that I have not been promised an ambassadorship or judgeship for calling for the return of Al Gore.
And if I am wrong about any of this, I will be joining the ranks of the pundits and pollsters who this week are finding new ways to say, "I told you so!" no matter what happens.
Want to reply to a comment? Hint: Click "Reply" at the bottom of the comment; after being approved your comment will appear directly underneath the comment you replied to
If we're headed for a deadlocked convention, which we likely wont know until at least after Pennsylvania, this would be the Democrats' best option. Gore is tanned, rested, and ready, has celebrity status and a Nobel and Oscar by his side. Oh and not to mention he was the FIRST (before Obama) to come out against the war.
Gore/Obama '08 secures the White House for 16 years.
Look -- Al Gore would make a great president. And he'd almost assuredly win the general election as the Democratic nominee. But to nominate him this year would be wrong.
Here you have two candidates -- historic candidates -- who have generated record turnout, raised record funds, caused record levels of excitement and enthusiasm, and you're going to undo the efforts of their supporters and the votes of millions of people at the Convention? Yes, the contest is close and some voters are having a hard time making up their minds. And if that was because they weren't particularly happy with their choice, then, yes, I'd say have Al ride to the rescue. But most Democrats really like both candidates -- at least they did before Hillary started saying that McCain is more qualified to be president than Obama. Whichever one has the most delegates heading into the convention should be the nominee.
Personally, I think Barack Obama, if he can sustain his delegate lead and fight back against Hillary's cynical and shameless attacks that are only helping McCain, would be a transformational nominee and president, far beyond what even Gore could do. But had Hillary won the nomination fair and square without doing McCain's dirty work for him, I could have supported her, as could most of Obama's backers. And we may yet do so anyway. My main point is much as I think Al Gore's great, the primary campaign should not be negated at the Convention.
Speaking of Gore, what I think he should be doing now, without breaking his neutrality, is decrying the unprecedented effort of a Democratic candidate for president to undermine her opponent and help the presumptive Republican nominee win election. His silence on this matter is unfortunate.
Let Gore be kingmaker. I want him to suggest that Hillary offer to be Obama's Veep. He's a better elder statesman than Carter.
As long as he picks Obama as VP I'm cool with that.
Gore/Obama '08! (?)
Al Gore is STILL the guy who thought Joe LIEBERMAN was the best possible pick on the DEMOCRATIC ticket.
Al Gore is doing fine right where he is. Let's move on and at least make new mistakes instead of repeating the old.
I had hoped that Gore would throw his hat in the ring. I think he's the best qualified, hands down. But Obama is ahead in pledged delegates, and should be when the primaries and caucuses have ended. At which time, the Superdelegates had better throw their support to Obama BEFORE the convention, thus averting a nightmare for us all. People in the Democratic Party need to face the fact that Hillary represents the past. Obama will help to build our party back up. And if people won't vote for a black man, then they can live with 4-8 more years of hell, plus how ever many more years until the McCain Supreme Court members step down. Gore could have jumped in if he was interested. I would've loved it, but now it's too late. Obama '08
A Man who Chose Crazy Joe Lieberman as his running mate does not have the judgement to be president.
Gore's time has come and gone. His level of achievement was in compliance with the "Peter Principle."
Sounds like a great idea, but I don't see it happening. This is not 1924 and we have people like
Howard Dean to thank for this fiasco. You guessed it, I'm from Michigan. If Florida and Michigan
voters are disenfranchised, we will have Howard Dean, the Michigan Democratic Party and the national DNC to thank for the election of John McCain. Actually, I agree with this writer. racism is
alive and well in this country and Obama will not be elected in November. There is a great deal of
difference between the way votes were tabulated in the caucus states which were strong for Obama, and the way things will pan out in the national election. I wish Zogby and his partisan pollsters would stop putting out false information. I find it disingenuous that the pollsters and the media are trying
to rig this elections and nothing but division and chaos has erupted.
Al Gore redeemed himself with the Global Warming issue.
Hillary needs to admit her loss, go back to the Senate and fight for a reasonable solution to the healthcare crisis.
People might actually like her again if she did that. Fight for "We, the People", not "Me, the Inevitable"
Loading comments…
Related Blog Posts
|
||
Posted March 10, 2008 | 05:23 PM (EST)