by Michigan reportedly will be holding a caucus in order to re-enfranchise the state’s Democratic voters. Hopefully Michigan Dems will come to their senses and hold a proper vote. Seems that Barack Obama has figured out exactly how to win caucuses. It ain’t pretty, but it is the Chicago way, and it’s bad news for Hillary Clinton and bad news for America.
Barack Obama is the Ron Paul of Democratic politics.
His young, inspired, and vocal supporters, whipped into a change-o-matic frenzy, out-number and out-shout their more sedate rivals at these face-to-face confrontations like Paul-bots hijacking an online polling site. Strange that when voters are free to vote on their own, Obama’s barely breaking even with a mismanaged Clinton campaign.
The fact is Hillary’s 3:00 AM advert was dead-on: If a Democrat has to be elected, I want Hillary picking up the phone. Worst case she hands it to Billy-boy and rolls back over to dreamland. Could be a lot worse.
In fact, I expect it to be. Obama is raking in the dough – $55M in February alone. He’s become a fund-raising animal, bringing in and spending so much money that I don’t see any way for him to break the habit and accept public funding of his general election campaign, should he hold onto his lead in the primaries. He should defeat Clinton given his current lead and will have to cash to steamroll over McCain too.
Meanwhile, Samantha Powers, one of Obama’s top advisers, called Hillary Clinton a "monster" who "is stooping to anything" in order to win the nomination. That’s a term of endearment that deserves a little more exposure, IMO.
Powers is supposed to be a foreign policy whiz. That being the case, she ought to know what real monsters act like and to use more appropriate language about a woman whose antics are much more like her boss’ than those of a terrorist.
But what fun would that be? After Hillary thumps Obama in Pennsylvania and wins yet another big state, watch for Obama’s hooligans to go all out in the Michigan caucuses, doing whatever it takes to win another of these most un-democratic of electoral contests.
Whatever the outcome of 2008, I think that Democrats and Republicans alike would be well-advised to abandon the caucusing process. Caucuses clearly favor better-funded, better-organized campaigns, further empowering the powerful and devaluing the votes of ordinary citizens who have too little time, too few connections, or too shy a temperment to participate in such an uncouth process, one that brings the monsters out in all of us.
