The Pennsylvania Democratic primary is today. I could be slightly more enthused.
In case you haven’t noticed, I’ve more or less dropped out of campaign coverage. The answer is simple: things have gotten ugly. And with apologies to Clinton supporters, I don’t understand why she is still in it (yeah, I know: “to win it”).
I wrote a bunch of other crap about my frustration with the fact that the primary process is still going on, but I really can’t get into any of it without appearing as though I’m Hillary-bashing. Granted, I’m not pleased with her campaign at all right now. And I’m a strong Obama supporter, despite the fact that he admittedly has his own problems. But the reason I’m pissed off at Clinton for still being in — despite the fact that she cannot catch up in delegate count, probably won’t get super delegates to overturn the popular vote and therefore is serving only to make Obama look bad — is because of the shittiness between the candidates and their respective supporters. Things seem to have gone from “I’ll be happy with either candidate” to “I hate that asshole, and I’m not voting for him/her if they get the nomination.” The attacks from Obama’s supporters and Clinton’s surrogates are only going to serve to help McCain in the general.
Honestly? If our choices were between waiting until the convention and having Obama become the nominee, and ending the whole damn thing today with Clinton as our candidate . . . buy my a Hillary bumper sticker. Sorry Obama, but as much as I love you, getting a Democrat in the white house is more important. Of course these are not even remotely our options and I don’t think they ever will be. The thought of taking this all the way to the fucking convention makes me nauseous, but I’m pretty sure that means I ought to go buy some Pepto-Bismol to help me through the next few months.
So I’m kind of tuning out. I’m having a hard time watching the political party that most aligns with my views hang itself, and I’m tired of watching my fellow Americans act like a bunch of jackasses. I’ve had enough of that over the last seven years.
What are your thoughts?
{ 20 comments }
“But the reason I’m pissed off at Clinton for still being in … is because of the shittiness between the candidates and their respective supporters.”
So you’re not frustrated with both candidates and their campaigns? Just Clinton? Is it because she’s behind (though marginally)?
And her being in it to “win” is not entirely self-serving. More Dem voters support her, and the two candidates have roughly similar numbers. Also, polls indicate most Dems or voters (I forget) think she should stay in, and that the superdelegates should vote their conscience. Also, other blogs – Donna Darko and elsewhere – have shown that we’ve gone to the convention plenty of times in the past, and that the calls for her to drop out are unprecedented.
I hear you on the fatigue, I’m feeling it myself, but perhaps if both candidates would turn their attention to McCain, then we could get away from some of the crap that’s making us nuts. I also find the vitriol to be mainly an internet phenomenon, so I mostly try to check out from the web, vs. the primary itself, which I still find tremendously exciting.
Sigh.
Yes, I am annoyed with Clinton’s campaign primarily. And no, it’s not just for staying in — it’s for the attacks, particularly those that denigrate Obama’s qualifications in comparison to McCain’s. Obama has lately started hitting back, and I’m disappointed by that. I also think that he was left without much choice.
I’ve said many times that I’m okay with her staying in as long as she likes, so long as she does so responsibly. And that means not giving Republicans ammunition.
I think the difference in opinion comes down to a difference in views on super delegates. I haven’t seen the polls you’re referring to, but I think that super delegates are bullshit. This candidate is going to be decided by party insiders, and I don’t think it’s right. And I have said that from the beginning, back when it looked like Clinton was going to win the most pledged delegates.
I also think that Clinton’s campaign would be making the same damn call for Obama to drop out if the situation were reversed. Whether or not that is the right thing to do is up for debate, but I think it’s silly to suggest that the candidates would not be acting similarly to each other in reversed rolls. If the situation were reversed, and Obama stayed in, they’d be doing the same shit that they’re criticizing the other for now. And if they were? I’d be fucking pissed at Obama.
Hey, Redstar! And Cara!
The truth is the media/netroots chose our candidate. If you go back to January, Chris Bowers said Clinton won Nevada. The next day, he said Obama won Nevada based on pledged delegates. No one else on the planet said this. Obama latched onto this bean counting business we’ve been slaves to ever since. Clinton lost her momentum going into SC and Super Tuesday. She would have wrapped up the nomination February 5 and we would have spent the next 8 months preparing to win the general. That’s why she is pissed. The media/netroots should not choose our candidate. Let the voters especially Democratic voters decide.
I’d also like to add that I am VERY pissed and disgusted by those Obama supporters who have argued against Clinton with blatently misogynist attacks. But setting aside smaller amounts of sexism that have been displayed, that’s not the Obama campaign. Obama’s campaign has been sexist. Clinton’s campaign has been racist. I decided to discount that a long time ago, because otherwise I wouldn’t be able to bring myself to vote for either of them.
So all this torture Democrats are going through is Chris Bowers’ fault. If Obama loses in November, the buck stops at Chris Bowers. It should have ended Febrary 5.
Make it stop, make it stop, make it stop!!!!
I wish Obama would win tonight by 20 points or alternatively that Obama would decide to become a Buddhist monk and withdraw from the race. At this very moment…I don’t care…I just want them both to stop making me ashamed to be a dem.
I am with you, Kristen. I have my opinions about both candidates, but Jesus, they are really making it hard for me to like either one of the right now, with the honesty (or lack thereof) and their constant sniping and bickering….for the greater good and by that, I mean, that we have to MUST keep McCain out of the White House, something needs to happen tonight to put an end to this bullshit.
I think fighting it out until the convention is a good thing. However, I also think that airing dirty laundry is a good thing, so that’s what’s primarily influencing my opinion. I think that ever since the campaigns kicked into high gear with the start of the primaries, issues of racism, sexism, homophobia, privilege, reproductive rights, etc. have been tossed into the air and revealed, and while the discourse has been painful, it’s also been productive in terms of forcing people to confront these issues head on. Or at least sidelong. The extended campaigning also allows for more thorough examination of the candidates’ policies (on the part of the voters; in the MSM, not so much).
“it’s also been productive in terms of forcing people to confront these issues head on.”
Actually, I don’t agree with this part. People aren’t confronting they’re hurling insults. No one is talking openly and honestly about sexism, homophobia, privilege, etc. They’re just using those things to beat the crap out of each other with.
It’s like the difference between telling a sexist joke and discussing a sexist joke. Right now we’re in the telling not the discussing and that its the dems doing it…just makes me want to emigrate.
getting a Democrat in the white house is more important
What’s important for me is getting someone in the White House who won’t be beholden to christofascist and corporocratic interests, and who considers people who don’t fit the white, middle-class, cissexual, hetero demographic as people deserving of an equal place in society, rather than just a population to demean / fetishize / manipulate / pick the pockets of, by the candidates.
None of the three major candidates fit the bill by a long shot; I gave up on the Dem party months ago, and of course, McCain is a joke.
I’m voting third-party (hang in there, Cynthia McKinney!). If that opens me to accusations that I’m “voting away Roe v. Wade”, so be it. I’ve voted for the expedient for decades, and gotten nothing for it; I’m still living a life of fear as a queer / trans woman. It’s time for me to vote my conscience.
People aren’t confronting they’re hurling insults. No one is talking openly and honestly about sexism, homophobia, privilege, etc. They’re just using those things to beat the crap out of each other with.
I suppose that depends on whom you’re talking about. In the blogosphere, I’ve encountered people hurling insults, but I’ve also encountered people confronting their own privileges and honestly examining it and talking to one another. The TV pundits by and large are happily slinging mud, but some print/online journalists have begun to more critically examine issues (e.g. Rebecca Traister, Amanda Fortini – I have quibbles with both their articles, but they’re a start) even while others (about 1/2 of the NYT columnists) refuse to.
I’m of the opinion that we are well past productivity. I find the people who are actually taking the time to discuss issues, examine privilege etc. are mostly the same groups who would do so anyway. Maybe I’m wrong about that, but that’s my personal experience.
Again, I in no way deny that I am biased in Obama’s favor. But like I said in the post and like Kristen said, if we could end all of this ridiculous ugliness right now by somehow determining Clinton to be the candidate, so be it. It’d suck, but it would make me feel a lot better than this. I’m still of the mind that either of them will be satisfactory, even as I’ve grown to like both of them less over time. I’d like to get that resolved before I lose that feeling . . . and since I know that I’ll vote anyway, definitely before other people lose that feeling.
I don’t think any of us would be so exhausted with the primary season if all the hype and debating and everything hadn’t started so much earlier than ever before. In our impatience to bring an end to the current president’s term, we started everything way too early. Now, we’re just sick of it all, and it doesn’t help that the GOP already has their candidate and we still have to wait and see.
Call me overly optimistic, but I still think they’re both decent candidates, and I think it’s cool that they both still have so much support. The pervasive idea floating around that Hillary should “step aside” and leave the race is so deeply offensive to me that I don’t even know how to respond to it. After all the service and hard work she has put in, and after receiving the votes of so many dedicated supporters, leaving the race just so we can have a candidate would be ridiculous.
Why can’t the candidates just focus on progressive policies, values and why they’d be better than McCain? They’d win over the whole country (except the truly insane 22% that supports Bush).
Ugh. I couldn’t agree more. I used to watch every debate with a beer and popcorn, every primary results coverage with bated breath…now, I’m just watching reruns of Rock of Love with Brett Michaels and praying that one of them just creams the other and ends this thing while I’m not looking.
“probably won’t get super delegates to overturn the popular vote”
This is the only part of what you wrote that annoys me – and it’s not just you. It’s a lie promoted by the Obama campaign. If every superdelegate in every state that has already held a primary/caucus were to vote according to which of the two got the majority in their state, it would be over. Senator Clinton would have the nomination by a very comfortable margin. It isn’t going to happen. Senator Obama is the candidate of the Democratic Pary Machine and it’s not likely she will be able to overcome that disadvantage.
He won’t make a bad President. I won’t have any trouble voting for him come fall. But “different kind of candidate” he’s not – not even in your dreams. He hasn’t won it, and he should be made to win it.
Kit, I suppose that depends on how you count superdelgates — I was referring to overall popular vote, not the vote of each individual state. Two different things, though I can see how there may be some confusion.
I also strongly disagree that Obama is the candidate of the Democratic Party Machine when Clinton is the one who began with more money, more establishment support, a sense of inevitability, last time I checked still had the lead in superdelegates, and has a name that basically amounts to American political royalty.
But you’re right that Obama hasn’t yet won it. And I believe that he can win it. The question is what this mess, as it is playing out, is risking us in the general election.
– it is my impression that Obama has a lead in overall popular vote. If this is incorrect though, please let me know.
According to everything I’ve heard and read neither one of them is statistically able to win the nomination at this point. So why should she drop out? I don’t want an answer. It’ll just be more Obamabot-ese. *That* is something I’m tired of already.
I should have known that I couldn’t write a single word on this topic without people getting pissy. So whatever. Apparently, my proclamations that my issue with Hillary is not that she’s still in the race but that she is attacking Obama in a way that builds up McCain, and my very genuine assertion that I would rather have Clinton as our nominee today than have this continue as it is means that I’m compulsively humping Obama’s leg. Good to know.
By the way, this is precisely the kind of shit that is making this process so excruciating. Women cannot support Hillary without being told they’re brainwashed feminist zealots voting with their vaginas, and women can’t support Obama without being told they’re self-loathing brainwashed misogynists. Either way, women can’t actually have an opinion — they’re just political regurgitaters. What a bunch of fucking crap.
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