Re: Who'll Stop the Pain?
Reg
location: back to the wilderness
listening to: static
registered: 1999.11.22
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It's a good article, Cass, but one thing I would say is I don't think it's a mystery why "party elders" prefer not to step in. I think it's simple:
1. The Clintons are not nice and don't play nice and just like Republicans never stepped up to the plate against Bushco the reasons are clear...these are "with us or against us" people and if you are not for the Clintons you are their enemy. I don't think Al Gore or John Edwards, or anybody else for that matter, wants the Clinton guns aimed at them. The Clintons do have supporters in the party and to be on the wrong side of Hill & Bill means you face the full wrath of these people.
Edwards may be sitting it out because he wants to preserve the possibility of becoming AG. I think it's a job he would want and the only thing he may have an interest in other than becoming president. I think he feels it is the other job where he may have a huge impact. I don't think he wants to be VP. I think he's smart and correct not to get himself listed on the Clinton enemy list. The other thing is Edwards made clear that he was not going to be endorsing anybody when he left the race, likely until a candidate was chosen, so I find the author's comment that "it was expected he would endorse Obama right away" very questionable. I think people knew he preferred Obama but I followed things with Edwards pretty closely and he said specifically he was not going to endorse anybody and indicated he was going to let the process play out and then back the winning Democrat. I think after what was done to him in his final debates it was understandable that he would not feel any need to endorse either one of these candidates.
2. I think there are many Democrats that have doubts about Obama and the Clintons are still the big fish in the Democrats pond. They have a lot of pull and they are using it. I think they want to force Obama to weather the storm and see what happens. So, they will let this play out and see if he becomes too damaged and or force him to add Hillary to the ticket to bolster his campaign.
I think the Clintons are being allowed to bully a spot on the ticket if they can. Hillary is saying outright that the Democrats can't win this race without her. She says she brings the female vote and all the big states to the table. I think there are many "party elders" that agree with her and or don't want to get on the Clintons bad side.
The last thing I'll add is I think the Clintons are expressing an open threat to burn Obama to the ground rather than let him win without them. The logic there is simple too, Hillary can really only run now or one last time in 2012 if McCain wins. The Clintons clearly prefer McCain win so they can run again in 2012. If Obama is elected without the Clintons they are done with this unless they help Chelsea run someday.
Listen to Hillary playing with fire:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/audio/2008/03/31/AU2008033100712.html?wpisrc=newsletter&wpisrc=newsletter
–--
'The only way to avoid getting crushed by absurdity, is to humbly include the absurd in our calculations.'
'The only way to avoid getting crushed by absurdity, is to humbly include the absurd in our calculations.'
Reg
(view)
It's a good article, Cass, but one thing I would say is I don't think it's a mystery why "party elders" prefer not to step in. I think it's simple:
1. The Clintons are not nice and don't play nice and just like Republicans never stepped up to the plate against Bushco the reasons are clear...these are "with us or against us" people and if you are not for the Clintons you are their enemy. I don't think Al Gore or John Edwards, or anybody else for that matter, wants the Clinton guns aimed at them. The Clintons do have supporters in the party and to be on the wrong side of Hill & Bill means you face the full wrath of these people.
Edwards may be sitting it out because he wants to preserve the possibility of becoming AG. I think it's a job he would want and the only thing he may have an interest in other than becoming president. I think he feels it is the other job where he may have a huge impact. I don't think he wants to be VP. I think he's smart and correct not to get himself listed on the Clinton enemy list. The other thing is Edwards made clear that he was not going to be endorsing anybody when he left the race, likely until a candidate was chosen, so I find the author's comment that "it was expected he would endorse Obama right away" very questionable. I think people knew he preferred Obama but I followed things with Edwards pretty closely and he said specifically he was not going to endorse anybody and indicated he was going to let the process play out and then back the winning Democrat. I think after what was done to him in his final debates it was understandable that he would not feel any need to endorse either one of these candidates.
2. I think there are many Democrats that have doubts about Obama and the Clintons are still the big fish in the Democrats pond. They have a lot of pull and they are using it. I think they want to force Obama to weather the storm and see what happens. So, they will let this play out and see if he becomes too damaged and or force him to add Hillary to the ticket to bolster his campaign.
I think the Clintons are being allowed to bully a spot on the ticket if they can. Hillary is saying outright that the Democrats can't win this race without her. She says she brings the female vote and all the big states to the table. I think there are many "party elders" that agree with her and or don't want to get on the Clintons bad side.
The last thing I'll add is I think the Clintons are expressing an open threat to burn Obama to the ground rather than let him win without them. The logic there is simple too, Hillary can really only run now or one last time in 2012 if McCain wins. The Clintons clearly prefer McCain win so they can run again in 2012. If Obama is elected without the Clintons they are done with this unless they help Chelsea run someday.
Listen to Hillary playing with fire:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/audio/2008/03/31/AU2008033100712.html?wpisrc=newsletter&wpisrc=newsletter
–--
'The only way to avoid getting crushed by absurdity, is to humbly include the absurd in our calculations.'
'The only way to avoid getting crushed by absurdity, is to humbly include the absurd in our calculations.'
