This Democratic nomination fiasco is not about electability. Although the campaigns would both like you to think that their candidate has a better shot at beating McCain, this is not their reason for fighting. If it was truly about electability, the campaigns wouldn't be throwing potentially damaging arguments against someone in their own party who has a possibility of running against McCain!
The blame should be placed on two entities. First of all, and this has nothing to do with my support of Senator Obama, the blame lies on the Clinton campaign. In an article on Politico.com yesterday, some advisors on the Clinton campaign put her odds of winning the nomination at 10%. I think Hillary Clinton is a great candidate. I think that if Barack Obama wasn't her competition, she would have run away with the nomination. But the Clinton strategy is flawed. They are seemingly keeping her around in case something huge happens to Barack Obama to knock him out of the race. At the same time, they are saying things and doing things to try to knock him out of the race. In this situation, you run the risk of knocking Obama down instead of knocking him out of the race. If he is knocked down, and still wins the nomination, he runs a serious risk of handing the presidency back to the Republican party.
For the past several weeks, we have seen both Bill and Hillary Clinton praising John McCain. Just yesterday, Bill stated that if we get John McCain and Hillary facing off against one another that we would have "an election year where you had two people who loved this country and were devoted to the interest of this country, and people could actually ask themselves who is right on these issues, instead of all this other stuff that always seems to intrude itself on our politics." With this statement, he is seemingly insinuating that Obama vs. McCain would not have two candidates that both loved and were devoted to our country. The only element different is Obama, so he must be insinuating that Obama does not love our country nor is he devoted to the best interests of our country.
This is one of those little jabs meant to try to knock Obama down instead of knocking him out. This is damaging to the party. In my opinion, if Hillary Clinton truly cares about the democratic agenda and the democratic voters, she will step aside. She can continue to serve the country by being a wonderful senator. Let the Democratic party throw Obama at the Republicans. Stand behind him and support him on his way to the White House. It is more important for the state of the Democratic party that you get someone in the White House than it is to fight an uphill battle against someone who has the same ideas as you, save small differences in health care policies.
The other party I blame is the media. The media loves a horse race. Clinton vs. Obama is providing this horse race. I turn on the news and I see every statement, mannerism, and breath critiqued. Yet, John McCain, this week got away with making some crucial errors. These errors weren't about his personal life. These errors were about the basis of his campaign, his foreign policy experience. The media was too busy targeting Obama on the Rev. Wright issue than to bring up how important these gaffes were by McCain. Even today, Bill Clinton got coverage for questioning Obama's patriotism. While I think that is an important issue, it is a Democratic party issue. If the news media's goal is educating the American people, they are failing miserably. What McCain said, and apparently believed since he said it four times, is extremely important. If McCain makes people think Iran is training al-Qaeda, then people are more likely to support military action against Iran! This deserves more coverage than Bill Clinton taking small swipes at Obama, or Rev. Wright's comments on race and 9-11. If McCain convinces the American people that Iran is training al-Qaeda, the same thing that happened with Iraq will happen. Only we will still be in Iraq.
The media has a responsibility. Instead of talking about what Obama meant by 'typical white person', they need to focus on issues that have a direct impact on the lives of the American people. If McCain is setting up another war, as of right now, the media is not doing enough to hinder his cause. I don't know if McCain is trying to do this, so don't get me wrong. But what I am saying is that if Americans turn on the news and see McCain say 'Iran is training al-Qaeda in Iraq', some are going to believe him. And they are going to think that it is in our country's best interest to take out that threat.
I got a little off subject there, but I thought it needed to be said. The media is also keeping Clinton alive in this race. If it would have been Obama and John Edwards at this point, Obama would be the nominee. The same way the media stopped giving coverage to Ron Paul on the Republican side, they would have done to any other candidate. They are making it appear as if Clinton has more of a shot than she does. This does two things. It allows Clinton to keep jabbing at Obama, trying to knock him out. The other thing it does is raise false hopes in the Clinton supporters minds. By raising these hopes, you are setting them up for a fall. This fall could take the Democratic party with it. This fall could bring feelings of blame towards Obama for ruining their chances. There is a huge risk with making voters think Hillary is just as much in this race as she was before February. The reality is, she isn't. The Clinton supporters are now facing much more of a disappointment. This disappointment could make people stay at home on election day. And that is not the American way.
