Losing sucks. We've all experienced it at various points in our lives, and as much as we all try to live up to the professed societal ideals of sportsmanship, which dictate that we should be "good losers" when the unpleasant occasion arises, we still mostly feel like hurling heavy objects around the room when we're faced with the agony of defeat -- in any competition, be it sports, politics, or beer-drinking. Sometimes we act upon these feelings, and sometimes we can successfully suppress them. But they're there.
So it's perfectly understandable that in light of Hillary Clinton's imminent loss in the Democratic primary, many (not all) of her supporters are lashing out in anger. And it's perfectly understandable -- anger is a very normal reaction to losing a competition, particularly if one expected to win it to begin with. I've been there myself -- after Howard Dean's campaign flamed out in 2004, I sulked for a week or two and only got around to embracing John Kerry around convention time. And I started out 2008 as a John Edwards supporter, later switching to Chris Dodd.
As an expression of this anger, we now see the spectacle of "Clinton-supporter" groups, led by Geraldine Ferraro and her ilk, now forming and mobilizing to undermine Barack Obama's general election campaign. I must say that as disappointed as Howard Dean supporters were in February 2004, I never met or heard of anyone who tried to pull something like that. But I digress.
Clinton supporters cast blame for Hillary's defeat all over the place -- at Barack Obama, at Obama's supporters, at (laughably) the media, at Democratic superdelegates, at Howard Dean, at the DNC Rules committee... everywhere imaginable. Like I said, it's hard to blame them for being angry.
But conspicuously absent as a target for this anger is... Hillary Rodham Clinton herself. And if anything, she is the one person most responsible for her campaign's failure.
It was Hillary Rodham Clinton who made the decision to vote for the Iraq war.
It was Hillary Rodham Clinton who supported NAFTA and other job-killing trade agreements, and then pretended she didn't.
It was Hillary Rodham Clinton who voted for the Lieberman/Kyl bill, a war encore with IRAN after the NIE reports showed the "threat" to be greatly overstated.
It was Hillary Rodham Clinton who affiliated herself with the DLC faction of the party.
It was Hillary Rodham Clinton who staffed her campaign with anti-union Republican hacks like Mark Penn.
It was Hillary Rodham Clinton who mounted heaps of praise upon John McCain, pronouncing him to be a better candidate than Barack Obama.
It was Hillary Rodham Clinton who sank into the ugliest forms of race-baiting in her campaign, culminating in her "hardworking white people" comment.
Hillary Rodham Clinton made a bevy of conscious, deliberate decisions that alienated a large portion of the Democratic base. With each of the above, Democratic voters across the nation lost faith in her, and began to look for another candidate. And they found him in Barack Obama.
If Hillary Clinton had run -- and governed -- as the progressive Democrat her supporters keep claiming she is, she'd be the nominee today. By a mile. The party would be unified, she'd be reaping an enormous wave of goodwill and enthusiasm, and Barack Obama would be a footnote. Heck, Barack Obama might not have even run.
Citing "sexism" as the reason Hillary failed is a weak and flabby excuse. Sexism isn't the reason Hillary put her trust in George W. Bush and voted for the AUMF. Sexism had nothing to do with her free-trade stances. Sexism wasn't behind her Mark Penn hire.
Millions of Democrats, male and female, black and white, would have been thrilled to support Hillary Clinton if she'd just laid off the right-wing crap and acted like a Democrat. Even if she can't take back her AUMF vote, she can apologize for it, and not repeat the same mistake with Iran. Political moves like those betrayed a deep contempt for major components of the Democratic base -- and the base noticed.
So Clinton supporters -- I don't blame you for being angry. But you might want to direct some of that anger at the choices your own candidate made.