It’s no secret that Hillary has failed miserably at currying the favor of the progressive blogosphere – something about which she could probably not care less.
It’s also no secret that the progressive Netroots heavily favors the glimmering stars that are Obama and Edwards. The November Kos Straw poll showed a combined strength for Obama/Edwards at 61% of the vote, while Hillary barely squirmed past Dodd to secure 9%, whimpering her way into 4th place behind Dennis Kucinich! Yikes!
Unfortunately, neither of them are threatening Senator Clinton on a national level – a point that matters more this year than in years past since a win in the very early, and very sparsely populated initial primary states – something that might have catapulted a laggard to the national forefront in years past -- will be overshadowed more hastily than ever by the ever-encroaching figures of the larger state primaries.
So the question is, how do we overcome this obstacle to an Obama or Edwards White House?
We don’t.
In fact, it is our love for Obama and Edwards that will ensure Hillary’s victory in the Democratic primary – (a victory that will hopefully extend straight to the White House).
As with Perot in ’92 and ’96, and Ralph Nader in ’00 presidential elections, the presence of two anti-Clintons in the ’08 primary will help Senator Clinton become President Clinton II whether we like it or not.
The unthinkable and surreally unpalatable solution to this dilemma would be for the Obama and Edwards forces to unite behind EITHER Obama or Edwards, but of course that thought is both idealistically reprehensible, and logistically impossible, even if it is the most strategically sensible.
Is that enough?
Even then, a united front may not be enough. A new Wall Street Journal/NBC poll Has Hillary dominating the democratic field nationally, boasting 45% of the primary vote while Obama (23%)/ Edwards (13%) combined support is only 39% -- and that’s using the grossly unrealistic assumption that all Obamans would filter into the Edwards camp or vice versa. No doubt some percentage would filter over to Camp Clinton.
Whatever happens, I hope we keep our sh*t together, put our differences aside, and support the ultimate Democratic nominee whomever that might be.
And anyone who decides to stay home from the ’08 presidential election because ‘their’ candidate didn’t make it to the general election should think twice...nay thrice before making such an unforgivable strategic and ideological blunder.
United we stand. Divided we fall