While Mrs. Clinton undoubtedly was — and still is — the clear favourite in the 2016 primary season and still remains quite well on track to win the Democratic Party’s nomination for President this year, Kos’ eulogies for Sen. Sanders might have been not only a bit premature, but also quite foolish as well.
Why?
- If Kos intends to broaden the Democratic party and energize its base (which would be necessary for being successful this November), it would be very unwise to tell the “later half” of potential voters that their primary or caucus votes do not really matter if they happen to live in states that vote after March 15 (which is nearly half of U.S. population)
- If Kos intends his site to be a positive engine for debate of progressive ideas and ultimately electing as many Democrats as possible up and down the ballot, it would be very unwise to even just give the impression that he or his team strongly prefer one candidate over the other fully being aware that there is a big chunk of users who does not share his preference in the Presidential primary.
Let me be clear: It would be one thing to write about the intention to shifting to general election mode after let’s say 3/4 or maybe 2/3 of the electorate could express their choice, or after a clear frontrunner has built up an insurmountable lead of pledged delegates (e.g. Kerry after Super Tuesday in 2004).
But writing a blog entry regarding “wrapping up our primary season” and publishing said entry on the front page exactly one day before Super Tuesday would be outright stupid, for at least two major reasons:
- It would essentially amount to giving a big middle finger to the “tiny minority” of approximately 96% (i.e. 24 out of 25) of voters who do not live in the “early four” states (IA, NH, NV, SC) by implying: “We already have our clear winner after the first 4% voted (completing with South Carolina). If you happen to be part of the other 96%: Bad luck, your votes won’t really matter anymore, because the coronation is already scheduled for tomorrow.”
- It would essentially be a hard punch in the face not only for Democrats, but also for progressive leaning Independents, and for Democracy itself as well. Why?
Because this tactic clearly amounts to a pre-emptive strike: Expressing the intention to start “wrapping up the primary season” soon after tomorrow’s (Super Tuesday) voters had their say — and publishing that intention exactly the day before Super Tuesday — is clearly aimed at depressing the vote of supporters of the candidate who is currently not in the lead, implying there will be a landslide for the frontrunner on Super Tuesday. Therefore resistance is futile, the result is already set in stone, so your votes won’t really change anything anymore.
While Kos might sometimes overreact or throw some foul language every now and then (I for myself don’t mind that very much), he certainly is neither dumb nor a fool. Therefore I imply he knows exactly what he is doing, and why he is doing it.
What I really don’t get:
If Kos at least had tried to remain roughly neutral for a few more weeks while his preferred candidate was and still is on track to the nomination, maybe it would have been appropriate to write something like “wrapping up the primary season” in Mid-April (after Mrs. Clinton might have won New York decisively), or maybe earliest on March 16 (if she had won an overwhelming number of states and delegates between March 1 and 15).
But apparently he could not wait so long (why?) and chose deliberately to publish his intention of “wrapping up the primary season” on the day before Super Tuesday, thus creating a major backlash on this site, which he — in this case, in my humble opinion — rightfully deserves.
A major self-induced backlash which he could have easily avoided by waiting until April, or at least until March 16.
But apparently his fear of his favourite candidate maybe not being able to crush her opponent decisively enough on Super Tuesday (and finishing him off completely by March 15) seems to have overridden his patience, therfore he simply could not wait two more weeks, but rather had to blatantly step in like an elephant declaring openly for all of us to see when this primary season — according to him — will be over.
While after being a dKos user since the 2003/04 season I fully expect to be banned very soon for this critical diary, I really hope Kos at least realizes that his preferred candidate will need a united Democratic party to win in November, and in order to win the general election she will need many — not all, but a lot — of the votes of her opponent too...
...IF she ends up being the nominee, which may very well be, but is not set in stone, at least not yet!
P.S.: A final reminder regarding pledged delegates:
In the first three primaries and caucuses (IA, NH, NV) the current frontrunner has built an “impressive” lead of 52 to 51 delegates. Undoubtely she expanded her lead decisively after SC to a lead of 91 to 65 (approx. 58 to 42 percent).
That means if someone is calling for “wrapping up the primary season” after the “early four” states have voted, this call would be based basically on one single state (South Carolina) alone.
Democrats and Progressives should know better that allowing one single state (which will go for Republicans in November anyway) to effectively choose the Democratic nominee while declaring all other states less relevant (and those after Mid March de facto irrelevant) will probably be not the best way to inspire the base and attract new voters to the Democratic party and her candidates...