So Super Tuesday came and went: my open heart surgery did likewise. I was able to pipe in CNN round the clock, but perhaps fortunately don't remember much of the blather. Anyway, I'm home now and recovering nicely, just to keep all those Kossacks who asked informed. But I am now wondering whether the heart of our party can be so easily mended.
As a former Edwards supporter (and one who voted for him by absentee ballot before he suspended his campaign), I am now a more neutral observer of the unfolding scene. I have a lot of catching up to do, but am more than a little dismayed by the kind of bitterness I see in today's column by Frank Rich. The opposition to Hillary Clinton seems out of all proportion to me, and that fact embroils me in the kind of identity politics I don't like (in other words, I feel the pull of gender more strongly when I feel she's being attacked unfairly). So I wish Obama would stop saying things like "Hillary's supporters will vote for me but my supporters may not vote for her." This sort of thing suggests poor sportsmanship and seems to elevate personality over sound political strategies.
And I wish Rich could see that if there is a civil war among democrats, the blame must be shared by both parties. And also by the party apparatus. Using a purely proportional system to allocate delegates SEEMS to be fair and democratic, but it may also turn out to be our party's achilles heel. With the process we have in place, we are unlikely to get to consensus. Relying on the super delegates to resolve the issue seems both too slow and too elitist. But any kind of backroom deal at this stage is going to seem unpalatable. So we've pretty well boxed ourselves in. Are we suffering from a surfeit of good things -- outstanding candidates plus an open and "fair" process that dooms us? It's beginning to look that way.
I'm not astute enough to see a clear way to avoid setting ourselves up to lose to John McCain, of all people. So I am left merely with the hope other Kossacks and other democrats can come up with some way past the looming impasse, one that leaves everyone feeling like a winner. Now THAT would mend anyone's heart.