Can we sum up? Not really, of course; not 'till the fruitful mellowness of early November can we gather the full impact of this brother-against-sister scrap. But here's at least an interim tally.
The electoral prison house of oppressed identities known as the Democratic party has managed, over the last 5 months or so, to contrive a vicious hand-to-hand intramural scrumble between the young and the restless, the arrogantly high edified, the black, the bright and merited -- all these types find themselves arrayed on one side, while on the other range the old, the skill-ess, the rule-following, the job-hobbled, the hopelessly kitchen-fried and female, the Hispanic, and last but not least, the folks that figure they got nothin' worth shit but their white skins.
And this internal riving has proved nastier, hotter, deeper, and more social plate-shifting than the mid-Pacific trench.
But over what have they battled? What of substance, I mean. Not much, eh? One is reminded of the Lilliputians and their ancient enmity over which end of a boiled egg to open
Prospects for a winning unity after all this?
I'll make it into a question of action/reaction, and profoundly NOT a contingency pivoting on the tussle between our two sides -- between our better and our lesser natures. Nope it'll hinge on the threat of attack by the air pirate McCain on all our tribal villages. Can flight deck Johnny scare up a fools' unity? His imagined reign of rockets and pink slips -- is it scary enough in prospect to make it happen, make the now viciously divided into one, like us Earthlings united in the 50's to fight space reptiles -- at least at the drive-in.
Of course we noticed recently the 40th anniversary of another bruising contest without a serious difference -- the battle for the peace vote between clean Gene and Bobby the K.
That one at least ended with more of a bang than a whimper -- not with a pair of desperate narcissists trapped in a hall of mirrors, but in one of those bloody moments that give birth to endless sappy regret-soaked might've-been's.
Comments (4)
...But over what have they battled? What of substance, I mean. Not much, eh? One is reminded of the Lilliputians and their ancient enmity over which end of a boiled egg to open...
op, that's so beautiful. I think I'm gonna' cry.
The prospects for unity are, alas, quite good. The alternative parties don't have the resources to reach the disaffected, and the disaffected in genuine lack the will and imagination to seek out alternatives. (Witness poor Stan Rogouski's recent crack-up, for instance.)
The only suspense left at this point is which victorious stuffed shirt will be around to dismantle Social Security and call for a draft, and how soon into the New Era he'll be bold enough to do it. In a bipartisan way, of course.
Posted by ms_xeno | June 7, 2008 2:20 PM
Posted on June 7, 2008 14:20
"18 Million Cracks In The Glass Ceiling"
What tha'... >whank!< >)SMASH(< Bzzzzzzzzzzz-zzzz-zzztttt...
Sorry, that was the sound of my personal Smarmometer™ pegging its meter and self-destructing as I read this Dana Milbank column in the Hillary...uhh, Washington Post this morning. And, here I'd thought Amerikan Feminism had jumped the shark that May afternoon in '04:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/07/AR2008060701879_pf.html
A Thank-You for 18 Million Cracks in the Glass Ceiling
By Dana Milbank
Sunday, June 8, 2008; A01
During the campaign, it was her opponent who owned the lofty rhetoric. But on the day she finally conceded defeat, it was Hillary Clinton's words that soared.
"As we gather here today," she told her supporters and staff members at the National Building Museum yesterday, "the 50th woman to leave this Earth is orbiting overhead. If we can blast 50 women into space, we will someday launch a woman into the White House."
Two hundred forty miles below the international space station, the midday sunlight pouring into the 100-foot-high atrium illuminated the thousands who had come to bid the Clinton presidential candidacy farewell: most of them women, many of them with young children, some of them in tears.
"Although we weren't able to shatter that highest, hardest glass ceiling this time, thanks to you, it's got about 18 million cracks in it," the former candidate continued. "And the light is shining through like never before, filling us all with the hope and the sure knowledge that the path will be a little easier next time..."
Posted by Mike Flugennock | June 8, 2008 9:59 AM
Posted on June 8, 2008 09:59
Granted that we are only talking about roller-ball or professional wrestling here, I have actually come to admire HC as a formidable gladiator. Maureen Dowd remarked awhile ago that Hil's role has been to show BO how to be tough.
People are beginning to see that Hil is now angling for an advantageous place in 2012, betting that either BO will lose to McCain, or be buried under a mountain of insoluble problems coming down the road.
From the Olympian viewpoint of the left intelligentsia, of course, none of this makes any difference. Just good soap!
Posted by plato's cave | June 9, 2008 12:54 AM
Posted on June 9, 2008 00:54
I suspect ( to the point of near certainty) that Senator Clinton did everything she thought she could get away with, in the last few months, once it became clear she had no chance at the nomination, in order to give Senator McCain a better shot at beating Senator Obama. She took on the spoiler role -- an extreme version of the DLC's pyrrhic agenda. No firm nanny, toughening-up exercises going on with that. Obama's loss is her gain, even if the only gain from it is making sure she puts a little fear into institutions dedicated to a broader program of electing Democrats. The drain on resources she imposed will necessarily be a factor their future decisions.
She looks like one of those people who would sooner rule in Hell, and failing rule, at least make aspirants pay a heavy toll to her personal machine.
Plato, for those reasons I think her status as a formidable gladiator does make a difference and should be considered by the left, intelligentsia and everyone else. Especially by those who hope to make some use of the Democratic Party to advance any left or leftish policies.
Posted by Al Schumann | June 9, 2008 6:52 AM
Posted on June 9, 2008 06:52