Polarization of the Democrat Party
Hillary Clinton has done a bang up job of polarizing her party for the 2008 election. The fight that she refused to concede helped to pit Hillary supporters against Barack supporters. It's so bad that even though Hillary tells all of her supporters to vote for Barack Obama, even her brother is considering voting for Bob Barr. That, my friends, is pretty funny.
There's nothing Obama could have done to prevent this polarization. He was leading in the polls, and he wasn't going to drop out when he was clearly going to win. It all falls on Clinton's shoulders with her power hungry attempts for power. I don't know what made her think that she actually had a shot, but I certainly do owe a thanks to her for the result of her actions.
I enjoy seeing the Democrat Party start to polarize because then it opens up a gaping hole for the Libertarian Party to come in, scoop up some disgruntled Democrats and show our presence in the national elections. We have the principles to do it, and this polarization makes it that we don't have to show quite the showing in numbers to get the same showing otherwise. That makes it all the easier for us to make a splash.
As far as I can tell, we're going to be needing that polarization of the Democrat Party, too. Unfortunately, there seems to be the same polarization among the Libertarian Party, as well. The controversy over nominating Bob Barr is absurd. Even if Barr isn't the embodiment of what libertarians want, he desires to shrink the government, and any shrinkage, no matter how small, is infinitely better than the expanding of our government's powers. I think that's what we, as libertarians, need to remember. Rome wasn't built in a day, and it wasn't toppled that quickly, either.
June 13th, 2008 - 12:50
I think to say that Clinton is power hungry is a gross exaggeration. She led in the popular vote and received the highest vote for a primary candidate–in any party–in this history of this country. I think that was reason enough to stay in the race.
As for polarization in the Party: yeah, of course. Obama will court the hell out of Clinton's supporters at the same time that she actively expresses support for him, and that will, if nothing else, secure a whole lots of Clinton votes his way.
Besdies…we're still choosing veeps, and that, above everything else, will probably decide the issue of polarization on any large general election scale.
June 13th, 2008 - 13:50
An exaggeration? I'm not basing my opinion off of just this election. She's been power hungry for years, and this campaign has just further proven it. Sure, she led the popular vote, but once that was clear it wasn't going to be enough, she should have given in.
Obama has quite the uphill battle to win over Clinton's supporters. People hold grudges for far too long, and I believe a large portion will vote independent or abstain from voting. Of course, this is just speculation, but Clinton's persistence has only given Obama less time to work with.