I'm Totally Burnt Out on the Presidential Campaign

I’m Totally Burnt Out on the Presidential Campaign

March 27th, 2008 by MARK DANIELS

The way I see it, on the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton cannot win the nomination and is unelectable…too many negatives…and Barack Obama has been rendered equally toxic by the Jeremiah Wright debacle. But those uncommitted superdelegates just might save the day for Dems, after all.

Here’s how: The superdelegates could remain uncommitted through the first ballot of the convention. Neither Obama or Clinton would then have enough votes to win, freeing their delegates to go elsewhere on the second ballot. The sd’s, ostensibly leaders of the party, then could reveal their choice, maybe Bill Richardson or Joe Biden. The convention could spend a ballot or two moving in that direction and then, after nominating the sd choice, give the vice presidential nomination to, say, Dianne Feinstein.

Of the three finalists on the Democratic side–Obama, Clinton, and John Edwards, the Senator from Illinois had the most substative experience, both in terms of time in elective office and relevant leadership experience. But the credentials of all three can’t compare to those of Richardson, Biden, or Feinstein.

I shared this bizarre scenario with my son on Tuesday. Yesterday, in a comment on one of my posts at The Moderate Voice, someone else mentioned the same fantasy.

It isn’t likely to happen. But, to quote the Animals, “we’ve gotta get out of this place” and this scenario may be the only thing to free us from this crazy, nasty, brutish campaign.

Last year, before the presidential campaign turned him once more into a Clinton attack hound, James Carville lamented his party’s penchant for stealing defeat from the jowls of victory. By this pre-convention campaign, the tone of which both he and his former boss so sanguinely endorse, the Democratic campaigns seem intent on giving John McCain a pass to the White House and making Carville look like Kreskin.

Assuming that neither Obama or Clinton go to the convention with enough delegates to win, an intervention on the part of the superdelegates may be the only thing that can salvage Democratic prospects.

Until then, as it relates to the presidential campaign, I’m tempted to go on sabbatical. Maybe I’ll go to Australia.

[UPDATE: Keep in mind that this post was fantasy. I’ve been on record since the day after the Iowa caucuses, saying that Obama would be the nominee. Of course, I had no idea of the long and strange road that would follow from then.]

[This has been cross-posted at my personal blog.]

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 27th, 2008 at 11:43 am and is filed under Newsweek Blogitics, 2008 Elections, Politics. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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