The Triumph of Hope Over Experience?

I’d like to ask first and foremost that if anyone is going to threadjack, abuse troll ratings, insult, or otherwise be obnoxious, that you do it elsewhere.

I’m an Obama supporter.  Have been since the start of the primaries.  Voted for him proudly.  At times I’ve been very upset with Hillary.  Check out my somewhat gloating diary from just a few short weeks ago---“Goodbye to All That”---if you don’t believe me for some reason.

But I am troubled lately.  I don’t see the fire in the Obama campaign and the will to win.  I see him getting slapped around by Hillary and doing nothing much in return.  I see one of his advisers, an intelligent woman who has done great work, cast aside on the basis of a stupid but minor comment.  I see weakness.

I see him losing the expectations game over and over.  The man won 12 primaries and caucuses in a row, and has had at least two chances to put the nomination away.  But he hasn’t shown he can play hardball when it’s necessary.  

I see John McCain at risk of being completely broke between now and the general election, and Barack Obama looking like he’s two steps away from agreeing to handcuff himself as well.

I see the very real possibility that Hillary wins the popular vote tallies, Obama wins the pledged delegate count, and we go all the way to August without a nominee.  And then whoever gets the nod there limps into the general election with half the party angry at him or her.

I truly hope that Obama bounces back, and surprises me.  Yes his message is one of hope, and Hillary’s is a grating mantra of “experience.” But the idea of the “triumph of hope over experience” is supposed to be ironic, as in, a bad strategy.  (I am certain Hillary’s people have been counting on this turn of phrase.)  Hillary has retained some of the most conniving, twisted, unscrupulous people, and her campaign has been at each others’ throats for months.  There are times when I’ve told myself I’d vote for McCain over Hillary in the general election.

But I am intentionally not listing all of the things she’s done or said that have grated on me, because that’s not the point of this diary.  Right now I feel like the Democrats could very easily blow what should be the easiest presidential election win in modern times.

In my most practical speaking, cynical heart of hearts, I can envision Obama getting the nomination, and then being eaten alive in the general election.  And then were are we?  Four years of McCain being succeeded for eight years by someone like Vice President Rob Portman.

I’m not convinced of anything for sure, but I’m open to possibilities.  Frankly part of this is being boxed into a corner by the Hillary campaign.  I sincerely doubt she will quit fighting for the nomination no matter what, while I believe Obama might be willing to put the sake of the party and the nation about his own personal ambition.  Yes, this sucks, but in a way I’m buying into the most negative aspect of Hillary’s persona as an argument why we should be open to the idea of that actually coming true.

So here’s my idea, something I can barely believe I’m proposing.  And I’m not really proposing it, just putting it out there:  Clinton-Obama.  

Let him negotiate some extraordinary conditions.  Maybe he heads the search for Supreme Court justices.  Maybe he has veto power over all cabinet heads.  Maybe there’s something else.  Maybe they work out a private deal in which Hillary serves only one term, and then we get eight years of President Barack Obama from 2012 to 2020.

I know this diary is going to piss some people off.  It pisses me off, frankly.  But I look over at the Republican side and see them all coalescing around a guy who was not anybody’s first choice, and realizing that 60 percent of a loaf is better than none.  

So here’s the point:  It’s a trial balloon from an Obama supporter (albeit one with absolutely no connection to his campaign.)

Clinton-Obama 2008

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