Yes, this diary is going to piss off a lot of you. It will piss off rabid Clinton supporters for the premise I'm about to give, as in "How dare I" make such a claim. It will piss off rabid Obama supporters who will say "please don't make that argument...we haven't won yet."
But I'm going to make it anyway. Here goes...
The Clinton machine, and by extension, the DLC, is dead.
There...I feel much better now, even as I wait for the rotten tomatoes to come my way.
How can I support this claim? Simple, actually. The events of the past few days demonstrate it for me.
First, let's start with the fact that the Clinton's needed to loan $5 million to Hillary's campaign in order to compete on Super Tuesday. In bare terms, that means they went "all in" on Super Tuesday just to fight to a draw with Obama. That's startling.
Add to this the other revelation associated with the loan...that Clinton's senior staff are now working without pay. Sorry, you can't spin this away. The Clintons, the so-called best politicians of our generation, are riding on fumes. And it's because they didn't expect to be in this fight.
Meanwhile, Obama answers with $7 million raised after Super Tuesday alone. 90% of his donations in the month of January...when he raised over $30 million...were less than $100. Ninety frickin' percent.
Do I hear the words "people-powered," anyone?
Next, take a look at where Obama is positioning himself vis a vis the other side. Notice what he is doing, when he said most recently in the debate:
I will be the Democrat who will be most effective in going up against a John McCain . . . because I will offer a clear contrast as somebody who never supported this war, thought it was a bad idea."
Now, I've heard all the stuff about the "right-wing" talking points, etc., that Obama supposedly has said. I find it bunk, frankly. Here, to me, is the important part. Notice what he says here. He wants to offer a clear contrast between himself and McCain.
That's not the DLC way. That's not the "Republican lite" way.
Remember when Democrats were afraid to put up a "clear contrast" between themselves and the Republicans? When we could only "win" when we seemed "slightly less radical" than them?
We know the contrast Sen. Clinton will give McCain. Indeed, Bill Clinton has already said that Senators Clinton and McCain agree on a lot of issues.
Regardless of how this nomination fight turns out, the party needs to take notice now of the tremendous people-powered, grassroots campaign Obama has run. And that the old DLC way of doing things is hereby dead.
They need to take notice, if only for the fact that a one term Senator went up against the "inevitable"...and could beat the Clinton/DLC machine. They need to take notice that it IS possible to raise the money not only to be competitive, but to be in a place of campaign power, without relying on big donations. They need to take notice that offering a stark contrast to Republicans isn't something that should be shunned, it should be embraced.
Again, regardless of the result, the party will need to take notice. This is a new era -- and an exciting and dynamic one -- for Democrats.
We cannot rely on the old ways any more. Time to open a new chapter.
And I think we can all thank the Obama campaign for that.
Or pat ourselves on the back for a job well done. It's several years in the making, after all.
UPDATE: HAH! The Clinton campaign just helped to prove my point. They are claiming they raised $6 million in a day on the web. If true, it means they've co-opted a new way of doing things...and have stopped relying solely on their corporate donors. Welcome, Terry and gang.
UPDATE II: Some have pointed out, and rightfully so, that my original diary did not give credit where credit is due in terms of a "people-powered" movement. So let me give my kudos, here and now, to HOWARD DEAN to demonstrating what it can look like, and to being the godfather of a new kind of movement politics.