Primary Circus

In what is suppose to be the year of the Democrats it is now turning out to be one of the most disastrous presidential campaigns not see since, well, probably ever. Why is this so? 1. the rules that give most states proportional delegation has prolonged the race to where no clear winner could ever emerge. 2. super delegates are party insiders that will determine the ultimate winner thereby rendering the whole process meaningless not to mention the specter of disenfranchising the voting of all the state primaries and Caucasus. 3. since there is virtually no philosophical difference in governing between Obama and Clinton the campaigns are stuck defending and making charges of racism, experience, lies and guilt by association and if this is not indicative of the campaigns themselves, campaign aids, surrogates and media pundits are making these issues front and center.

While either of the Democratic candidates has not gained much of an edge nationwide throughout this mess John McCain has been gaining when matched against both in nationwide polls. These sort of polls are meaningless this early on since there is a lot of campaigning to do between now and November but time is not on the side of the Democrats if no clear winner emerges by convention time. No sooner has Obama's pastor debacle ended, Hillary Clinton is caught in yet another lie, this one about evading gunfire in Bosnia as first lady when news footage shows that this simply wasn't true, an ongoing trait of Ms. Clinton. In fact the Democratic electorate has as much culpability in all this since it has given Ms. Clinton a free pass whenever these untruths are uttered. To give one example during the 9/11 atrocity Clinton stated that her daughter Chealsea was jogging in and around the Trade Center when they collapsed and was scrambling for cover all the while she was home in bed. Another example was lying about her name saying her parents named her after Sir Edmund Hillary the man who climbed Mt Everest when the climb happened years after Hillary was born. That she is immune to discredit within her own party (until now, presumably) it only enhances her negative ratings with the general population which hovers around 49%. She probably never should have gone this far to begin with.

But the same could be said of Barak Obama. Of the entire field of candidates before the primaries kicked in Governor Bill Richardson, senator Joe Biden, former VP candidate John Edwards or even Connecticut's Christopher Dodd had more knowledge and experience in Washington and governing. Why none had gained much traction could be attributed to the parties infatuation with race and gender as though these are defining attributes of character. It is abhorrent to judge a person on such criteria in a negative sense since it is racist and sexist, but isn't it equally wrong to judge positively because in both judgement is based on what a person is and not who?

Unless there is a resolution between now and convention time dark days lie ahead. Both candidates have little reason to drop out and so the circus will continue much to the delight of the media and Republicans. The downside is that McCain could win as the default candidate when victory could've been determined on the merits of party differences. Even after the convention is over and super delegates have had their say Obama and Clinton could split the party even further by not bowing out gracefully and making the case that a loss for either was hatched through non democratic means. After all that has happened till now far more trouble is yet to come.