Democrats Are Starting To Realize the Mess They're In

I've written basically the same thing in other posts, but I thought I'd give you this Democrat's concerns about the state of the Dem race:

Once again the Democrats seem determined to steal defeat from the jaws of victory.

Consider the possibilities after the Pennsylvania primary. Let us assume that Sen. Hillary Clinton wins it. However, Sen. Barack Obama still has a lead in election delegates and a slim advantage in popular votes.

There are two courses the party can take. They can leave the final choice to the so-called "superdelegates" whom the party has chosen to represent office holders -- mayors, governors, senators and such like. Having read the polls and noting that Sen. Clinton consistently loses the general election to almost any Republican candidate, the superdelegates, many of whom have no great love for the Clintons, tip the scales in favor of the Senator from Illinois.

What happens in this course? Many women who believed that it was "time for a woman president" are furious.

Sen. Clinton was a competent woman with great experience and a tough fighter for women's rights. All through the primaries she has been beaten up by males, both political and media males. They paid no attention to her "moral" rights to the nomination and left the decision to political hacks, mostly men. Moreover, they have not granted the voters in Michigan and Florida the right to express their support for Senator Clinton. The election has been stolen.

The opposite choice has two possible scenarios. The first is to change the rules and let delegates from Florida, selected against the rules, vote. Ms. Clinton is nominated to great acclaim. In the second scenario, Sen. Clinton wins a fierce and close battle among the superdelegates with many charges of dirty tricks and dubious promises.

How do the losers react?

If it was time for a woman president, many also believed it was a time for an African-American president. Sen. Obama was not only black, he was a brilliant young man with wide experience in American life, a charismatic speaker, and a gentleman who would not throw the kitchen sink back at Sen. Clinton. With help of Mexican-American voters who hate African Americans (and vice versa), the white power elite has stolen the election from a candidate who would have won easily if he were white. Bitter Blacks would go fishing on election day and the youthful supporters of Sen. Obama would return to their computer games. The Democratic party would implode for the next decade.

The Democrats need both massive African-American support and a gender gap among women to win a presidential election. Is there any way they can appeal to both against Sen. John McCain? Will not all Democrats rally against the war and the Bush recession? Given the bitterness of the primary, especially of its final battles, this does not seem likely. Nor does a joint ticket of both senators seem probable. Sen. Clinton clearly feels that she has the right to be president. She would hardly accept the number two spot. Unless he has lost his mind, Sen. Obama knows better than to get trapped in a Clinton White House.

He may call it lose-lose, but I call it win-win. Some folks are concerned that after the fighting is over the Democrats will come together in a great fit of unity.

No way. Regardless of who wins, there will be a great disturbance in the Dem force and large blocs of voters will be very disappointed and discouraged. McCain may not be enough of a threat to them to suck it up and join together to fight him.