Posted by
Andrews on Tuesday, March 04, 2008 11:49:19 AM
I have been seeing more and more news reports about the Democrats, and their unofficial mouthpieces in the media, beginning to "get tough" with Senator Obama. I have not been watching as many Sunday morning talking head shows as usual, but it appears that the usual softball questions and Obama love fest have been replaced with actual substantive questions and even some criticism.
All of which makes me think that some Democrats have reached the
same conclusion I did some time ago. I think the powers that be among the Democrats, or at least some of them, have taken a hard look at their presumptive nominee and started to worry. They see that Obama is a bit too far left to appeal to the independents, and that any move he makes to "triangulate" for those votes in the center will destroy his messianic image among his most devoted followers, as that adoration depends almost entirely on him
never taking a firm stand.
As Obama's only choices are to continue to lead a personality cult that will never appeal to more than 25% or 30% of the public at most, or trying to disavow an unabashedly liberal record to gain some small percentage of the center, I think the Democrats have realized that Hillary is actually more electable than Obama. And so, regretting their earlier decision to toss her aside in favor of the "charismatic" flavor of the moment, I think the Democrats, or some faction within the party, is trying to deflate Obama early, to give Hillary a final chance to win the nomination.
Since the alternative to deflating the Obama candidacy now is to let McCain do so in August or September, this may actually be the smartest move open to the Democrats. Then again, Obamania is still running strong as well, so it may backfire. Those Democrats who have realized what an empty suit they are nominating may be doing what they think is in the best interest of the party, but it is very likely that those idolizing Obama will see it as treachery and turn on those party members with the most realistic and sensible perspective on the election.
It will be interesting to watch what happens. Just as the left has been predicting a Republican fracture between McCain supporting "compromisers" and "hard-core conservatives",* I predict that there may be a Democratic Party fracture between the Obamaniacs and the realists who are trying to derail him at the last moment.
Whatever happens, it will certainly not be a dull election.
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* Actually, as McCain begins to realize his
need for support on the right, he may move even more strongly to the right and head off any such fracture, or at least reduce the harm done. On the other hand, I don't see any way to keep the Democrats from having a major division if my prediction proves correct. The Obama supporters are just too ardent, and take the issue too personally, for any perceived "treason" to be smoothed over. Should any higher party members appear to push for Hillary, the cost for them will be quite high among Obama supporters. In fact, this has already started with criticism being leveled at black politicians who have supported Clinton over Obama.
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UPDATED 03/06/2008
In the comments I promised reader Kuna (apparently a fan of Obama) that I would supply a link to the Best of the Web article which mentioned Obama's supporters calling Clinton's black superdelegates "Uncle Toms". I did not find the Best of the Web link as their new archiving policy (there is none) makes that hard. But I found
this article on the Huff'n'Puff Post.
So, yes, Obama may be "staying above the fray" and "not engaging in negative campaigning", but his followers certainly are not.