In an editorial entitled “The Long Defeat” (emphasis on “defeat”, I hope), David Brooks discusses some harsh truths of the next few months in the nomination process— harsh truths for everyone involved: the country, the party, and Hillary.
Let’s take a look at what she’s going to put her party through for the sake of that 5 percent chance [of securing the nomination]: The Democratic Party is probably going to have to endure another three months of daily sniping. For another three months, we’ll have the Carvilles likening the Obamaites to Judas and former generals accusing Clintonites of McCarthyism. For three months, we’ll have the daily round of résumé padding and sulfurous conference calls. We’ll have campaign aides blurting “blue dress†and only-because-he’s-black references as they let slip their private contempt.
Naturally, he takes the Clinton campaign to task more than Obama’s:
When you step back and think about it, she is amazing. She possesses the audacity of hopelessness.
Why does she go on like this? Does Clinton privately believe that Obama is so incompetent that only she can deliver the policies they both support? Is she simply selfish, and willing to put her party through agony for the sake of her slender chance? Are leading Democrats so narcissistic that they would create bitter stagnation even if they were granted one-party rule?
