David vs. Goliath by Kyle E. Moore

David vs. Goliath
By Kyle E. Moore | January 21, 2008 - 11:37 am -

This has been what the story was all about, the rest of the candidates merely just supporting cast. Biden, Dodd, Richardson, Kucinich, Gravel, even Edwards, all of them were just recurring characters compared to the two stars of the piece; Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and Bill Clinton.

Nor, has my first assertion yet to be proven wrong, the reason why I was initially opposed to the Clinton campaign when she first announced. That being that her run is essentially a vanity run, a “it’s my turn now” run, and one that is fixed with a tragic fate. It is not enough that Hillary Clinton is meant to lose, but before she does so, the greatest tragedy is that she would knock out other candidates, better candidates. These candidates might be better qualified to be president such as Biden, Dodd, and Richardson, or they may be at least pure enough in their ideology like Gravel and Kucinich, or they may just be better suited to win the General Election like Obama or Edwards, but Clinton’s blinders prevent her from seeing any of this.

It’s her turn, everything else be damned.

And so she entered the melee a giant, and not just a giant but a giant perched atop an even greater giant; the only Democratic president in almost three decades, a two termer who left office with high approval ratings. The not so secret weapon of Hillary Clinton has been her husband, a man that has enjoyed a great deal of respect among Democratic circles.

I don’t think Barack was ever supposed to last this long. I believe he was supposed to fade away, perhaps make strong showings in Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina, but after having lost all three, he would drop out, support the front runner, and maybe even agree to be the running mate. But that’s not what happened, and a win in Iowa and strong indicators that he’ll win in South Carolina have changed the script entirely.

Which led to the entrance of Bill Clinton into the arena, a move not unlike dropping a nuke on a people who have yet to figure that electricity thing yet. In a battle of politics and ideas alone, Barack Obama has a fair fight against Hillary. Throw in the organizational heft and support that she inherited from her husband, and it’s heavily skewed in Hillary’s favor. Now add the actual face of the Democratic movement of the 90’s, the man who embodies political success amid a party that has remained stagnant for some times in many venues, and the unlikely underdog finds himself pitted between Scylla and Charybdis.

He can ignore Bill’s attacks, a move that is not without political merit as it would prevent him as being seen getting into it with one of the more highly regarded members of the party, or he can defend himself. Unfortunately, both options carry with them terrible political consequences. On the one hand, not only do letting the attacks go unchallenged allow more of them to stick, but it also portrays Obama as weak and unwilling to fight. On the other hand, if he should choose to defend himself, he finds himself waging war not only against one of the more popular political figures of the party, but in a way, the party itself.

There is no safe ground.

This may seem like political brilliance, and on the surface it is. That would be why, despite prominent leaders of the party beseeching Bill to back off, the Clinton campaign has decided to carry on; the math works out in their favor. But this is no more brilliance at work than watching a military super power turn a third world nation into a glass parking lot, or a school yard bully and his gang pounding some bookworm for his milk money. It’s not political shrewdness; it’s political thuggery.

It is merely asking Obama how he wants to lose the election, as a wimp, or as someone attacking a former Democratic president? Obama is choosing the latter.

This is not, might I add, a winning strategy. As Carrie Brown aptly points out, the Clinton’s most likely have the math on this just right and pitting Barack Obama against Bill Clinton, not Hillary Clinton, will put the Illinois Senator in his place. Obama will win South Carolina, but he won’t win enough to even ensure a brokered convention, not against Bill.

And the plan will likely work, and Hillary will be the nominee. But that is where the rest of my prophecy sees itself fulfilled.

In the Republican contest, John McCain is becoming more prominent than ever. He won the state that knocked him out of the race in 2000, and with two prominent primaries under his belt, his stock is soaring. Also, too, comes Mitt Romney, someone with three primaries under his belt and a political tenacity that is to be admired.

For McCain, who has always garnered much of his support from independents and Democrats, it’s not difficult to see how he could make a successful bid for the White House. As for Mitt, if you don’t think he can do it, you’re underestimating him. From the first time I watched him in the debates, I knew he had the political acumen to be a true General Election threat, and a history of a somewhat socially liberal past grants him a perfect springboard to drive back to the middle after the nominating process.

And in a contest against Hillary Clinton, you can bet your last dollars that Republicans will come out in droves to vote for either of them.

But losing an election is not the only risk that Clinton runs; far from it. She also risks breaking the party. There are an awful lot of Obama Democrats out there, and many of them I’m sure are not fond of Clinton in the first place. This is to be expected, and in a party of ideas where people disagree, this confrontation alone is not so damaging that there can’t be reparations afterward.

But when Bill Clinton attacks Obama as though he were no different than Rudy Giuliani or Mitt Romney, to show the ugliest side to one’s own, that’s a deal breaker.

The fact of the matter is simply this; Hillary has a strong base of support within the party, but she doesn’t outside of it. Independents and Republicans are not going to flock to her in the General Election, and by bloodying up her number one opponent so badly in the primaries, I think she can expect a good portion of the Democratic party to abandon her as well.

It’s a terrible thing to watch; all this distruction Clinton is willing to wage on her own party just because it’s her turn.

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