Rhymes With Really, Deeply Inappropriate

As the primary winds down, Erica Barnett at I’m Sick Of Your Insane Demands (which, let’s face it, you should be reading for the title alone, never mind all the amazing content), maps out some of the really nasty background chatter to this primary season. This is, in part, why I thought it was fair to push back a little on the anti-Hillary commentary I have been hearing online and in my own social circles. The way some people say, almost spitting, “I hate Hillary Clinton,” just strikes me as a little too easy. Personally, I find when you look closer a lot of the offhand criticism doesn’t actually align with what she said or did and why she said or did it. Has she done lots of rotten stuff I’d rather no politician ever did? Absolutely. Just as Barack has done and will continue to do. And he will also get this treatment, as he has already done, though so far it hasn’t been as pervasive in the mainstream media and on the left as the stuff Erica is talking about. (And it is absolutely on the left, as well.)

So I welcome the end of the primary, the end of a lot of desperate, terrible decision-making on the part of the Clinton campaign, and the end (I hope) of these great rivers of spiteful blogging. I also welcome the beginning of a period of stepping back and concentrating on the next phase. There’s lots to be angry about, rightfully, on both sides. And it will be worth remembering and addressing the issues that this primary brought out; we obviously still have a lot of entrenched animosity toward one another based on fundamental identities, and we also feel free to cultivate and perpetuate an atmosphere of vitriol and vindictiveness. That’s disappointing, for sure.

But I am eager to move on and to get into what should be a really fun and informative general campaign. We’re going to nominate a historically important and very charismatic candidate in Barack Obama, and we have the winds of reason and hope at our backs—usually we go with the one; it’ll be nice to have both. We have a ton of new voters and we have the responsibility to bring along supporters of both primary candidates. Now let’s make sure that the media, the puppet masters, the hatchet men (and hatchet women) and the Orc armies of bigotry don’t get to tear down a good campaign. Let’s go get the government we deserve.

UPDATE: Adding, I recognize that trying to be dispassionate about politics is exactly bass-ackwards to the way that most people experience it and is, in fact, the major liability of the party. But in trying to be dispassionate, I am trying to see clearly, to see more moving pieces, so that I can understand where we might be blindsided as we have been in the past. I don’t discount any emotional relationship to the political; that’s all very, very real. But I also want to see beyond the emotion, see what’s happening, and make sure that the emotional appeals we’re designing are the right ones. I’m pro-hope, I really am. But mostly I hope that we can repair a damaged party rather than simply throw it out and start over under some new brand. I suspect a lot of the Hillary supporters felt—rightly or wrongly—that Barack’s anti-Washington message is an anti-party message, and parties, for all their faults, are still important to millions of voters. Less so to younger voters, new voters, highly educated voters; that is, Barack’s constituency. But still, many people have powerful emotional ties to the party of FDR and JFK, of civil rights and long-lost protections of unionism. The difference between the delegate counts at the moment is about five percent of the total (give or take a half percent depending on whether you count superdels). That’s an amazing accomplishment by the Obama campaign, but he’s still got a huge traditional Democratic base to integrate into his message. If he simply counts on their vote, he will be missing an opportunity to consolidate his power and his party.

Barack has walked many fine lines with a great deal of skill to get to the nomination. But I would like to see an emotional appeal to all Democrats, not just those who are critical (though many of those criticism are certainly valid) and who are new to politics. He has some baggage—some people see him as Kerry-esque in a pejorative sense—and he needs to turn some of that around. He can do it if he wants to, and I really want him to want to. He’s not going to get any help from the media. So, as I’ve been trying to say since last year, everyone will be needed to win in November. We need unstealable margins. It’s time to start weaving us back together. I presume Barack wants to do it and I presume that Hillary will help. But I think he needs to offer more than just a “change” message. His change theme is urgent and appealing, but perhaps it fails to recognize the emotional, cultural and political capital that the party—a party we can and should be proud of—has fought for an earned over many decades. Is the party faultless? Are any candidates pure? Of course not. But there is heritage there and it shouldn’t be abandoned. Barack should turn his eloquence toward an appeal to the best of the historical party as well as the best of his own vision. I’m not sure what, precisely, his vision of the future is, but I know what liberals, progressives and Democrats have fought for in the past, and that’s real, too. If we bring those two emotional narratives together—and stay three steps ahead of the millionaire Swiftboaters—that will be a winning strategy. The potential is immense. If we really want to achieve a shift in the political landscape, that’s how it will be done. Building those rhetorical and intra-party bridges should be our priority starting now.

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