Great for Democracy, Doom for the Democrats

Are you sick of the Democratic primary? Does your formerly high opinion of Bill Clinton keep sinking? Don’t worry you’re not alone. While the media focuses on flag lapels and the horse race, the key factors that are better indicators of popular support – fundraising and likeability – tell the better story.

Here’s the latest tabulation from the Washington Post. Head down to question four, and notice the whopping unfavorable numbers for Hillary AND Bill Clinton. Hillary’s are unsurprising, as her unfavorable rating has never been below 40%. Bill Clinton, a president I used to hold in high regard, has now hit 51% unfavorable. Both Clintons are faring worse the longer the campaign drags on.

This long primary is good for our overall democracy. It is horrible for the Democratic Party. There are two possibilities left. The first is Hillary Clinton will be the nominee and Democrats will once again have nominated a terrible candidate that is disliked by most of the country, and all the new voters and energy Obama has brought to the Party completely dissipates. Americans obviously will not vote for someone they don’t like. You can call the race over right there.

The other possibility is Hillary refuses to fall on her sword and fights and scratches all the way to the convention. The gulf between the candidates and their supporters grow wider. Some delegates refuse to support Obama if he becomes the candidate, and many supporters refuse to unite and help their Party’s candidate win. Superdelegates meet behind closed doors to determine the final outcome. It could get worse before the smoke clears out of that room.

In some twisted sense, I admire Hillary’s determination and refusal to quit. But she’s not running for sixth grade president here. The damage she’s done to both herself and her husband’s legacy is enormous. Her campaign has been horribly managed from Day One. She’s never met an unverified rumor or public opinion poll finding she didn’t try to co-opt or plagiarize. And worst of all if you’re a Democrat, she is very capable of pulling a Carrie White and destroying the whole party if she doesn’t get what she thinks she deserves.

Debate Disgust

Last night I did something I hadn’t done so far this year – watch a Democratic debate. I expected someone (I won’t say who, but you can guess who she is) to completely disgust me, insult the American people’s intelligence and leave us all with a feeling of upcoming doom. That happened, except it goes to George Stephanopoulos and Charlie Gibson for asking the most vapid and worst questions possible. Most people would want to know what these candidates would do about the economy, Iraq, health care, the environment, terrorism, inflation and a host of other issues.

Here are the questions these two formerly esteemed “journalists” asked:

· Why wouldn’t one of them be the other’s VP choice
· Addressing Obama’s recent “bitterness” comment on rural voters
· Asking Clinton if Obama could beat McCain and if he could win at all
· Two questions asking Obama about Rev. Wright’s comments from Gibson
· Two more questions asking Obama about Rev. Wright’s comments from Stephanopoulos
· Asking Clinton about the Bosnia trip where she falsely claimed to be under enemy fire
· Asking Obama if Clinton was being truthful about her past
· Asking Obama why he doesn’t wear a flag lapel
· Asking Obama about William Ayers of the Weather Underground
· Asking both candidates about potential withdrawal from Iraq (we are now at about the 50 minute mark)
· Asking about how they would respond to an Iranian attack on Israel
· Asking about raising taxes on the middle class
· Asking about the capital gains tax
· Asking about the payroll tax
· A couple of questions about gun control
· Asking Obama about affirmative action
· Asking about gas prices
· Asking about energy independence
· Asking about how George W. Bush could help them
· Asking how they would talk to the superdelegates

No substantive questions until 50 minutes in. One question about Iraq. Cursory questions about the environment and the economy. Repeated questions about gun control and affirmative action, which don’t even come up in the polls. And nothing on health care. I consider myself pretty knowledgeable about history, and I don’t have the slightest idea who William Ayers is (how many regular people watching do?) But of course the flag pin issue was brought up. Thank God Gibson was booed at the end.

I’ve ranted before about the ineptitude of the mainstream media, and also how the media is aiding the overall superficiality of our culture. But this was not a reality show or entertainment update. One of those two people onstage last night could be our next president. To serve them a bunch of softballs while so many Americans are looking for leadership in a time of war and economic downturn was insulting. Nobody who watched last night ended up with anything of substance, we did not learn more about the candidates and I don’t think it helped make up anyone’s mind in Pennsylvania.

Fortunately, George and Charlie will have trouble sitting today thanks to the new ones everyone has ripped them. Here’s Tom Shales, and the comments on ABC News. As of now there are 16,683 comments and skimming around I saw one positive one. Some people say Stephanopoulos was fed comments by FOX News. I think FOX would have done a better job, because it may have had the nerve to actually ask candidates some hardballs on the issues. They certainly would not have been worse.