How they’re Preparing us for NObama (is it time for a third-party threat?)

March 9th, 2008 Posted in Clinton, Obama

The tenor of current political discussion suggests that the masters our preparing us for the possibility of undoing Obama’s win:

The superdelegate freeze (why not decide this now and spare us the pain?); claims by Gov Rendell and others that party officials need not respect the pledged delegate count; superdelegate claims in a New York Times article to the same effect; despite the fact that Clinton will need 65 percent of superdelegates to overturn the popular vote; the bizarre talk of “buyer’s remorse” and “electability,” as if elections can be undone and despite the fact that all the data shows that Obama is a far better candidate in the general election
The “dream ticket” line–where Obama gets to be VP as prize for winning the superdelegate count, state count, and popular vote
Talk of seating Michigan and Florida as-is because re-dos are too expensive or may lead to lawsuits, despite the fact that Obama was not on the ballot in one state and the candidates didn’t campaign in the others
The overwhelmingly negative Obama press coverage in the last two weeks: the hysterically positive coverage of Clinton’s marginal Texas and Ohio wins according to the lame “change of momentum” narrative; the attempt to Dean and Whitewater (Rezko) Obama, pretending an issue in which there is not even a theory of wrongdoing, much less a question, is a scandal; the bogus NAFTA story; hit-jobs in the New York Times parroting the Clinton experience argument; the gleeful (and delusional) anticipation of Obama lowering himself to Clinton’s level; the scant acknowledgment of Obama’s caucus and delegate victory in Texas; the downplaying of Obama’s 11 wins, the significance of Mississippi, and then the Wyoming victory (Clinton “almost split” the delegates in Wyoming is a line worth pushing, in contrast the silence on Obama’s delegate victory in Texas); the press’ parroting of the Clinton line on the election as a whole–”it’s essentially a tie,” “superdelegates will decide the nominee either way”