Many Democrats have expressed grave concern over the continuing battle between Barack and Hillary. Their reasoning suggests that the longer it goes on--perhaps into the convention itself--the more likely it is to divide the party, with the result that McCain will triumph in the fall. Nonsense. Quite the opposite. The party will benefit from the fray, and here's why. First of all, the intra-party conflict will attract enormous press attention to both, and indirectly to the Democratic Party. There will be a corresponding loss of focus on the Republicans and their standard bearer. Second, they will not carve up each other because the stakes are too high. Obama cannot afford to alienate Clinton's base and she cannot offend his. Third, as there is no major difference between them on issues of substance, such as Iraq, the economy, and health care, there are no grounds on which the party might divide ideologically. This fact alone distinguishes the current fight from others in the past, such as 1968, where Viet Nam separated the left from the center of the Democratic Party. This contest is rather about gender, race, style, experience, and personality. It separates young people from older folks, African American voters from some whites, middle aged and older women from men and younger women. blue collar workers from highly educated white collar workers.
To be sure, there are some large questions about each candidate. For example, does Hillary suffer from so many negatives that she won't be able to woo the independent swing voters in November? Is Barack sufficiently vetted to withstand withering attacks from the general election opposition? But these are not the kinds of questions which will permanently split a party, nor are preferences for a woman, a Black, an experienced hand, or the vigor of youth.
Differences there are, that's for sure. But insurmountable ones? Nope. Each candidate possesses great strength, and each one assiduously avoids the missteps which could cause an irreparable breech. This is one civil war which is indeed civil, and it will benefit the Democratic Party.
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Hillary, Barack, and Party Divisiveness
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That's fine and dandy, but at the end of the day, Barack the vote brings home the victory for Dems this fall. Hillary is talking about bringing home the bacon, but really we know you can only get so much done no matter who's in the oval office, especially comparing two candidates with similar positions on all the major issues, like you said. Like secretary Gates said when asking for the defense budget this year, his branch of the government (like any other branch , and like the entirety of the combined branches as run by a president,) cannot turn on a dime, it is not a nimble mechanism, but rather government is what it is. Barack levels and says look, I'm gonna do things like this and we'll get what we can out of doing things this way. Hillary is saying let's get this done and that done. She's starting at a disadvantage. I dunno, that's just an outsider's perspective (JUST KIDDING, I AM A BARACK SUPPORTER) of how it seems to be working out.
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