That small gaggle of small minds we Americans lazily grant so much electoral power - that is to say, the national political media - is trying desperately to pick at the scab of the nearly ancient Clinton-Obama wars, a smallish wound from a fierce fracas that is healing quite nicely, thank you.
Certainly, there are former Clinton supporters whose suppurative anger at the Democrat who beat their Democrat leaves them incapable of support for the winner. But I believe that condition, messy as the bandages can be and so often in need of clean dressing, is a generally temporary one. Little items like the direction of our national energies and the future we shall carve out (or fail to carve) for our children and their children are at stake in a few short months, and I cannot conceive of a real hard-core Clinton supporter going for McCain.
I will very happily vote for Senator Obama, and I believe firmly - despite some poll dips of late, and the general breaking out of worry beads among Democratic chatterers - that he will dispatch Senator McCain by some comfortable margin in November, and thus vanquish the disgraced party that McCain now leads. Oh, point me to the Pollster numbers if you have a mind. Sure, show concern for those Wisconsin charts. Worry aloud about the wild variations in Ohio polling. I'll pay a bit of attention, but not too much.
Truth be told, I've cut my political intake this summer in half at the very least, possibly more. The requisite attacks by the Republicans, the responses by Democrats, the hand-wringing over VP choices, the general pontification all have their place on a long summer's day. But my jets have cooled. I have my candidate, though a second choice. The conventions are generally a sad bore, a spectacle of B-minus stagecraft what would scarcely credit the WB's overnight programming. Wake me after Labor Day with some state-by-state polling.
It remains a complement to both Clintons that the media's obsessions continue, though neither stands nearer to greater power this summer. The President's wounds are still evident, even in so old a warrior - what liberal likes to be called a racist? (I do not, yet so many of those who supported his wife's campaign were tagged with that epithet this year). Even so, Bill will get his primetime convention speech - and how smart of Obama to immediately deal with that issue just as it threatened to become a larger controversy. Of course, the most successful Democratic president of these last several generations must speak, and at the right hour. No, Obama's acquiescence was right on.
As for Hillary, well, I do believe her delegates should have an opportunity to cast their votes for her in Denver. There would seem to be no downside; I endorse the "catharsis" notion of allowing the long process to complete itself wholly, then moving on as single party afterwards. But that's for Senator Clinton and her staff to decide, in talks with Senator Obama and his team. I, for one, won't kvetch should it not occur. Nor will I join the chorus of "foul!" when Obama fails to name the close number two finisher to his ticket. The man's calculus has been different from mine for a year now, and it's no secret whose was the more accurate.
Further, Senator Clinton has clearly moved on - at least to anyone paying attention. Her tough-minded op-ed piece in the Wall Street Journal on the former Halliburton subsidiary KBR, and its use of of offshore tax havens to avoid paying hundreds of millions of dollars in federal taxes, is the clearest sign yet that she means to lead from the left in the Senate - and she has the list and the star power to do so. If she is not named Obama's Veep - and who's to say he won't make a surprise choice - then she is poised to provide the loyal opposition to a centrist Obama Administration, building her own movement. And we should all wish her Godspeed with that.
No, the "drama" on the pre-convention jockeying does not move me as much as a Jose Reyes triple. As Al Giordano points out, it plays to the Democrats' favor to allow a little semi-tragic where-for-art-thou storyline to develop pre-Denver. Works wonders in the ratings book. Besides, Obama likes his dramas small - like gray-scaled summer replacement series that pack very little wallop and never get added to the full network schedule. Who didn't smile when reading the story of the Senator being heckled at an Ohio college, challenged loudly to say the Pledge of Allegiance. Damned if the O-man didn't stop the Town Hall meeting and lead one and all in the pledge. Probably had his flag pin on, too.
No, if you want real drama, another Democrat's waiting in the wings by name of Edwards, John - a candidate who I soured on early when he allowed the brilliant feminist Melissa McEwan to be sacked from his blog team. And it was creepy strange when Edwards seemed happy to tag-team Clinton on behalf of Obama last fall, despite his own campaign for the Presidency. In an empty subway car, Edwards is the guy who still stands just a foot away. And his summer turn on the stage is so damned well-timed, as well.
Denver, at least, will be more interesting than the smog-laden Olympic opening ceremonies in China - what a dreary digital non-culturefest that is - and come to think of it, Minneapolis may be the most compelling must-see summer TV of the three. Sure, the Clintons give the Obama team some degree of challenge - but it's because they're so damned good, even in finishing second. The Bush legacy on the other hand - phew, I'd hate to to program that mess. Where can McCain possibly stash GWB, and what do you do about Cheney? Or the Lieberman embarrassment? If you want trainwreck-like reality television, the GOP's the place to be.
UPDATE: I can't help but quote Skippy: the Edwards story does indeed blow the Gingrich narrative.
