Stop Planning For Defeat Already!

Democratic strategist Donna Brazile, who managed Al Gore’s campaign for president in 2000, wrote this column that appeared in the Bucks County Courier Times yesterday, including the following…

As a neutral superdelegate who is becoming increasingly frustrated at the campaign's divisive attitude and growing animosity between the Clinton and Obama camps, I don't have a clue what the outcome will be. Nor do I have the power with my one vote to change the trajectory of this race. What I do know is that the tone of this campaign must change or the party will be torn apart — and President McCain will be sending thank-you notes to the Democratic Party.

So upon what does Brazile base this dire claim that all of this back-and-forth is so terrible to our party’s chances in November?

The Geraldine Ferraro mess. And that’s it.

Now, if Brazile had a case to be made about anything untoward from the Obama side, she didn’t make it. And I’ll admit that I’m pretty fed up with this soap opera also. However, I see Hillary continuing to be led by people who either have no clue about how to win the primary campaign, or are purposely leading her to electoral oblivion for reasons of their own.

Obama, on the other hand, accepted the resignation from senior advisor Samantha Power soon after she called Hillary “a monster,” which is laughably tame by comparison.

But I think Brazile has a questionable pedigree when it comes to analysis of her own party anyway; I tend to believe much of what is said here in this kos post since it seems to fit into what I’ve heard and read about recent Democratic national campaigns, and almost as if to emphasize that, here is an NPR article with Brazile telling anyone who cares to listen that she’ll quit her position at the DNC “if her superdelegate colleagues decide the party's nomination.”

Uh…is that supposed to be some kind of a threat? And isn’t this a bit presumptuous anyway? And why exactly should I care again?

I suppose there are a bunch of well-heeled and appropriately connected insiders like Brazile who find themselves growing anxious over the continued competition between Hillary and Barack Obama for the nomination (which is – and this is really important to remember for the benefit of anyone who never studied civics – after all, a good thing), and I don’t know whether or not this is causing them to “lose it.”

However, these people really do a disservice by assuming some position of authority within the Democratic Party and trying to tell both sides to play nice (especially when evidence indicates that the “mud,” as opposed to the legitimate questions about qualifications, appeared to be coming primarily from one side). It’s not as if they’re going to listen anyway (and besides, our dear media cousins will present it as “more good news for Republicans” regardless).

Update 1: No sooner did I press the ENTER button on this post then I got an Email from Jim Dean from Democracy For America asking me to sign a letter to be sent to the Clinton and Obama campaigns telling them to “fight McCain, not each other.”

This is absolutely surreal; all of the corporate, Repug-friendly media must be laughing their asses off over this.

This is the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard of! Let both sides go at it and back off! It’s called “fighting to win the nomination” (and as someone else once said, “this ain’t beanbag”).

And call me naïve, but somehow I think most of this country will see that, even with the “below-the-belt” stuff from Ferraro and possibly the odd Obama mailer or two, this does not mean that the Dems won’t come together in some fashion when all is said and done for the general election (this ain’t Ted Kennedy vs. Jimmy Carter in 1980; the senator deserves plaudits now, but he was a tyrannical little baby back then).

Besides, as John Edwards once said (can’t recall the exact quote), what Clinton and Obama are doing are exchanging love taps compared to what the Repugs will do to the nominee of our party after the convention, regardless of who it is.

Update 2: This is kind of related; looks like the man who once sang "I thank the Lord for the people I have found" is taking sides, which is fine by me. He's been a friend to Philly, and I think he's a good dude - I wish I could point out how he can't possibly be right about what he says, but I can't.