interesteddad

Lax:

He's got it in the bag. Howard Dean, Donna Brazille, and the entire DNC will make sure of it. Dean's already stacked the rules committee. If it comes down to it, the DNC will simply pass a rule refusing to seat any Clinton delegates at the convention, just like they threw out the DNC's rulebook in refusing to sit Florida and Michigan.

interesteddad

Really? Now, Barack...wasn't that disowning him this afternoon?

dke

Interesteddad, from what I'm hearing the Clinton superdelegates are saying, "She's in. The Obama followers will have to vote for her. They won't vote for McCain." I think they could very well just sit out this election in protest, don't you?

interesteddad

Clinton would have won handily with a unified Democratic Party and women's turnout. She's been attracting a lot of support from women "Reagan Democrats" in all of the big key electoral college states.

Now, I honestly don't know. The DNC and the "leadership" (losership? Brazille, Kerry, Kennedy, Dean) of the Democratic Party has participated in painting both Hillary Clinton and her husband (the Party's biggest assett) as racists. The Party has driven a wedge between the African American voters and the rest of the Democratic coalition: women, working whites, Latinos, Asian Americans, etc. I'm not sure that the fractured party can be put back together before November. Heck, I'm not sure it can ever be put back together. I think it's quite likely that the Democratic Party is finished as a national party. They've driven working women and moderates out of the tent. Tough to win with just college students, aging hippies, and African Americans...just like it would be tough for the Republicans to win if all they had were the Christian Coalition crowd.

---------

Having said that. It is now clear that Obama would crash and burn in November, so it's up to the poobahs at the DNC to decide if they want the Party to go up in flames with him. If not, then a concerted effort by the Party leadership would help heal the racial fracture Obama's people caused. The problem is that the poobahs hate the Clintons for being to "centrist". The Dems are only comfortable with wacko loser-libs like Kerry and Kennedy. They'd rather crash and burn with another Dukakis than win a national election and seize a centrist majority.

Christcorp

interesteddad; excellent posts. Even though Obama is now disowning Wright, he is going to have a difficult time gaining the support of independents and conservative democrats. Especially if Wright keeps talking. The question is STILL going to be asked however; how can Obama claim that somehow this is a NEW PERSONALITY of Wright and not something he's been aware of for the last 20 years. Oprah and others had no problem leaving that church because of Wright's position on the government, whites, etc... Why has Obama been condoning it for 20 years and now is trying to say it is wrong?

Obama is not going to win if it's him against McCain. Currently, Clinton has more super delegates than he does. I wouldn't be surprised if she maintains that lead. If Obama gets the majority of the traditional pledged delegates and Clinton gets the majority of super delegates, they're going to have to convince the voters that Hillary should be their choice. Especially if they want to win. There is absolutely no way; with his CURRENT issues, that Obama can win. Hillary has a good chance.

1of42

I must say, I thought that the Wright issue was vastly overblown the first time round - I can and did believe that a single inflammatory speech like the one he made might not have been indicative of his general preachings, and that Obama might very well have not known.

However, in light of his recent speech, I am finding it extremely difficult to believe that Obama did not know this about Wright, when it has shown to be such a defining and deep aspect of his persona.

interesteddad

How can he "disavow" Rev. Wright when Obama has been campaigning to black audiences with the same racist Malcolm X rhetoric since he slammed the race card on the table in S. Carolina?

interesteddad

Obama knew. It suited him politically in his black-majority South Side district, to endorse Wright's firebrand racism.

Anyone who has followed Obama knows that he plays a different character for black audiences and white audiences.

Do a Google search on "Obama Praises Rev. Jeremiah Wright You Tube" and click any of the videos showing Obama heaping praise on his pastor (while speaking a dialect seldom heard by white audiences on the campaing trail).

Schmoomcgoo

I think you mean the "plump" lady. The lady is not exactly "fat".

applejack

I thought Rev. Wright was doing alright with Bill Moyers and the NAACP Detroit speech. Now he's tipped the scale. I'm an undecided but leaning Hillary.

I also used to think the Superdelegate system was absurd. Now I see its brilliance. It is the only way to save the Democratic Party this Fall. There is no way the Barack of today would even be a contender - without the caucuses of upper middle class people free from job commitments he would have never gotten this far. Barack has proven he simply doesn't understand middle America enough to know what to say or how to say it to capture them. He keeps talking about big picture revolution (which appeals to the educated classes who are above the fray of daily life) but doesn't understand that the working class just wants cheap gas and a decent job. If he does understand that, he's not conveying it.

I also think Hillary's tenacity has earned her a degree of respect amongst the more conservative swing voters. I don't suspect she's as devisive as she used to be in many voters' minds.

The DNC needs to get her as president, Barack as VP and let him mature in the system for the next 4-8 years.

lmpw

interestededdad, I studied white missionaries when I was in college - they do all these things for the poor downtrotten Blacks. As only as Blacks are grateful and stay in their place, people like you are fine. When you can't stand to hear the truth you retreat back to your white comfort zone. There is NOTHING compassionate about a person who would vote for McCain -the guy who voted against MLKing birthday, anti-choice, etc. I'm off this post. You are the reason that people like Wright still exist. I suggest you educate yourself. I've lived in Boston - one the most racist cities in the country.

interesteddad

I make no claims about compassion (after all, I'm a racist in your book because I don't support Obama). It does strike me, however, that a mercy killing of the Democratic Party could be considered an act of compassion. Blow it up and start over.

1of42

idad: Those videos were very interesting. I'm kind of upset with myself that I didn't find this stuff myself...

stockmarket

I thought Obama was for Change and hope. He was a differnt kind of politician. First claiming that he was a father figure to him the giving Rev Wrigh a boot, I hope I am wrong as this will damage democrat big time. I find his speech very disturbing and very disappointed that he will be painted like any other polticians. I had hoped that he would have stick to his theme of not going to the level of Rev Wright but saying he disgreed with him. Now I hoperev wright does not come swining back. Boy o boy what a mess.

tega

I did my research on Obama, and he is not whom he says he is. I blame the media and the perennial all looser team Ted Kennedy, flip-flopper John Kerry, Fake Nancy Pelosi, ultra liberal Patrick Leahy, I have no clue Howard Dean and the rest of the bench warmers.

This group is destroying the Democratic Party. There is a reason why Bill Clinton is the only democrat to win the white house twice in the last 30 years. You have to be a centrist to win the WH

Obama/Wright 08