The Clinton Trap

There are a lot of opinions about the Democratic primary. I have made my feelings known about this from time to time as well. But one thing remains certain: public perception sucks.

In yesterday's primary in Pennsylvania, nothing truly surprising happened. A month ago, Sen. Clinton had a 20 point lead over Sen. Obama; she won by 10. This reinforced certain realities:

• Clinton cannot take the delegate lead without winning by 16-20% margins on ALL remaining contests.
• Clinton cannot win the popular vote without running up the score in Puerto Rico.
• Obama makes up ground in every state in which he directly campaigns.
• Clinton's only hope is for superdelegates to go against public opinion.
• Superdelegates are looking increasingly unlikely to go against public opinion.

So, therefore, Clinton can't win. Oh, I know, there's always a chance.

• Like her presence in a radical right-wing prayer group with political aspirations alongside braindead colleagues such as Sam Brownback and yet, she wouldn't support her pastor if it were revealed that he believes in a gospel of inclusion, of the present kingdom, and (gasp!) that Americans often make mistakes!
• The consistent race-baiting coming from her campaign, especially (and disturbingly) from former President Bill Clinton and VP candidate Geraldine Ferraro.
• The Clinton campaign staff's ugly demonizing of Obama with scorched-earth rhetoric if the people had the audacity to prefer him over their candidate.
• The recent report that the North Carolina Republicans are putting out an ad that uses race arguments to encourage white Democrats to vote for for Sen. Clinton.

I had a conversation recently with a close friend that is a Clinton supporter. I was genuinely surprised by it, because I thought Clinton's bad behavior was so obvious, so poisonous that it was evident to everyone. And more so, that this would make her fall out of favor. This was my own experience, after all. If you read one of my entries from late 2007, I was talking up the entire Democratic field. I would have been pleased with any of them, especially Obama, Clinton, and Edwards (and Kucinich). Over the course of several months, a plentiful position now looks horribly disfigured. Clinton is managing to alienate and drive away some of her most ardent supporters. Her disturbingly negative campaign is so witless that it cannot conceive anything but victory--something assuredly less likely today than two months ago. The question is not about what Clinton brings up about Obama and whether or not she does the work for them (which she is), but rather the soundbites McCain and 527 groups will use against Obama that involve Clinton. Has it occurred to no one in the Democratic party the danger of a late October TV spot with a darkened picture of Obama and voice over of Sen. Clinton? Then you here the announcer say: "If another Democrat can't even trust him, how can we?" It isn't the drudging up scary stuff from Obama's past that worries me, but what the Clintons are doing with it that scares me.

Truly, I don't expect Clinton to drop out, not because she's "a fighter", but because she's a scavenger; she's like a carrion bird. I long ago expected, however, that the Democratic leadership to make it stop. Oh well.