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Hillary-Obama Expose the ‘Germ of an Identity Crisis’

Posted by WILLIAM KERN in Politics.
Feb 12th, 2008 | Comments

[The Telegraph, U.K.]

Is the Democratic Party about to rip itself asunder just before the general election begins? Pierre Rousselin of the Le Figaro warns, ‘For a party that thought it would prevail easily, in this division there is the germ of an identity crisis even more menacing, given that the Obama-Clinton duel risks deepening the fissures.’

By Pierre Rousselin

Translated By Kate Davis

EDITORIAL

February 7, 2008

France – Le Figaro – Original Article (French)
The first stage in the race for the White House just ended on a Super Tuesday that, as expected, turned the dual competition in a new direction.

In the Democratic camp, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton essentially tied. To break the tie, they’ll fight it out for a long time yet, perhaps up to the convention in August. In the interval, they are likely to divide the party, making it more difficult to mobilize voters when it’s time to win the battle in November.

Among Republicans, in contrast, John McCain rose to the top. He can begin preparing his strategy for a head-to-head with the man or woman who will prevail among Democrats. On both sides, the spectacle continues.

The first act was played under the banner of change. Very far behind and confronting a candidate who a bit too early had presented herself as inevitable, Barack Obama has surfed on the need for renewal, which is breaking over the United States at the end of two terms under the unpersuasive George W. Bush.

With panache, the Black candidate has emerged as a serious challenger capable of lifting peoples’ enthusiasm. On another note, Hillary Clinton has demonstrated the strength of her organization and the seriousness of her program. She has stood up very well. For these two, the second act will be as hard fought as the first.

For the Republicans’ part, they have taken up the battle in great disorder, without really believing in it. The game had been very wide open before John McCain turned out to be the best. Despite his 71 years, he’s the one considered the new man, with an atypical candidacy that doesn’t really conform to the orthodoxy of the Republican Party. With no serous rival, he can begin organizing his camp.

READ THE REST ON WORLDMEETS.US, along with continuing translated foreign press coverage of the U.S. elections.

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DLS

It's identity politics and Dem special-interest-group competition, certainly.

Huck made a comment about Religious Rightists that's appropriate here -- not any kind of victimhood remark which some Religious Rightists engage in (they are definitely the objects of discrimination and hatred, but as with lefty interest groups, though much less frequently, they sometimes exhibit a true persecution complex, even when and where they are dominant in their local society). The remark Huck made was about how Religious Rightists were "allowed onto the" [GOP] "bus" but expected to go to the back of it, never to have a real say in where the bus was going or to drive the bus.

To some extent we may be seeing this, this year with Obama versus Clinton, for in the past, black Americans have remarked that the Dem leadership takes them for granted the way the GOP takes R-Righties for granted -- or more specifically, their votes. Obama is well left of center (as is Hillary when unmasked; the two hardly differ at all in their policy objectives). Yet he is within the Dem mainstream and is a viable, serious alternative to Clinton among Dem voters this year. Obama has already made more progress and expectations now are or should be higher among black Americans than they can be for the Religious Right. Why should the Obama crowd (most importantly black Americans, but also the youth vote and the affluent "progressive" stereotypical left-Dem vote) accept simply being ordered and expected to vote for Clinton? Obama is not outside the Dem mainstream.

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