Monday, April 7, 2008

Silly political putty

This Democratic nomination campaign is getting sillier by the day.
In Sunday's Boston Globe columnist Joan Vennochi goes off on the Obama campaign -
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2008/04/06/fired_up_and_ready_for_a_nomination_battle/ - for being male dominated, including this passage:
"Earlier this year, (Mass. Senate President Therese) Murray, the first woman to hold the Senate president's post, chastised (U.S. Sen. Edward) Kennedy and other prominent men for abandoning Clinton to support Obama."
The underlying accusation is that they did so simply BECAUSE Obama was a man. Were it true - which is a bit of a stretch - how would that be any different than Murray, and other women mentioned in the story, supporting Clinton BECAUSE she's a woman. Can you say "double standard" boys and girls?
Then there's this whole non-story about the Clintons' income tax returns and whether making that much money disqualifies them from feeling the pain of the average American.
What hog wash.
Ask any Rhode Islander if they think having money made Claiborne Pell less empathetic to the little guy. It hasn't prevented Teddy Kennedy from builiding his legacy as perhaps the most influential U.S. senator EVER and one who constantly fought for those who were on the underside of the American economy.
Hillary Clinton is smart and ambitious and would be infinitely more attuned to the struggles of the average American than the Republican nominee. So, too, would Obama.
Finally, there's the whole Florida-Michigan primary mess. How can the party possibly seat the delegates as elected in the two primaries? Neither candidate campaigned there and Obama wasn't even on the Michigan ballot. Both states went ahead with their primaries despite advance notice of the consequences. Now they would like to ignore those consequences. That'd be like telling your child he if he doesn't eat his supper he'll have to go to his room and then, when he doesn't eat, allowing him to go out and play.
The way out of the mess would be to seat the elected delegates but require both state's votes to be split down the middle for the first ballot, if the race is not already over.

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