Since Barack Obama reached the delegate count necessary to earn the Democratic Party nomination, there has been considerable strife within the party… and it makes no sense.
I understand that many of the Hillary Clinton supporters had invested much time, energy and passion to her nomination campaign, and I can understand how they are saddened by her defeat. In the end it comes down to one thing: ‘He’s a democrat, stupid.’
Clinton supporters have come to the ludicrous conclusion that Obama does not deserve the nomination, for a host of reasons.
Many argue Clinton is a “better” democrat and will be a better candidate against McCain. The most popular argument for the Clinton nomination is that she had more people vote for her during the primary season.
There are two problems with this argument, the first being that delegates, not popular vote, select the nominee. And second, there are no solid numbers for how many people voted for Obama due to the fact that he tended to win in the caucus states where there is no exact figure on the number of individuals who attended the caucuses.
Despite all of this, a near hatred of Obama has developed in the Clinton camp.
The amount of hatred some Clinton supporters feel toward Obama is verging on ridiculous. Some dislike him so much that they have pledged to vote for McCain, and others are going as far as pledging to work for his campaign.
This is really the exact opposite of what Clinton would like to see. I’m sure she is more than a little miffed that she didn’t get the nomination, but I’d be willing to bet my refund check that she will not vote for McCain come November. And why would she, he’s a republican.
Obama is not Hillary Clinton, but he is much closer than McCain. After all, ‘He’s a democrat, stupid.’
For Clinton supporters to work and vote for McCain will undermine everything that she stood for during her historic bid for the democratic nomination. Voting for McCain is a slap in the face to the party that gave Clinton a good opportunity for the nomination and will likely do so again.
Clinton is working with Obama to unite the divided party, but many in her camp will not listen to “their” leader. After Clinton’s Tuesday night DNC speech, many of her supporters accepted her defeat and recognized Obama as their party’s nominee.
Others still exist in the Democratic Party who refuse to accept Obama and have vowed to work against him during the general election.
Despite the best efforts of the Democratic Party leadership, reconciliation between the two democratic camps will not likely come out of this convention. The only thing that will bring reconciliation is the performance of McCain and Obama during this fall’s presidential debate.
Once Clinton supporters realize that Obama really isn’t all that bad compared to McCain, the democratic faithful will return to the party’s candidate.
Until this happens, I will continue to yell at my TV, ‘He’s a democrat, stupid.’