The deal approved yesterday by the Democratic National Committee should be the end of the party's presidential nominating process. By half-ing the delegate votes in the contested primary states of Florida and Michigan, it become almost impossible to create a scenario whereby Clinton can secure the nomination barring a complete collapse of Obama's super-delegate commitments.
That should be, right? It's game over and time for Hillary to come stage and do the old "it's been a good battle, and I support Obama" speech. Yet, nothing this year has gone remotely according to script and there is a sense that the end game of the Democratic nomination campaign will not as well.
With her concession speech, the night of the long knives will begin in earnest. There are Democratic politicians and operatives who have been biding their time for 16 years to rid their party of Bill 'n Hill as well as their sycophants. Obama's supporters will clean out and fumigate the party headquarters. In the end, if one has a Clinton line on one's resume, one better start looking for a new line of work.
The Clintonistas know this. They have been ruthless to enemies both within and without the Democratic Party. They understand what a bitch pay-back can and will be. As power fades, the news media will start their own pawing over the carrion, feasting on scandals both known presently and to be uncovered. The process, as anyone who has been watching Showtime's "The Tutors" has seen, is brutal and complete. The only open question is whether salt will be sprinkled around their Scarsdale home.
Is it therefore in the Clinton's interest to have Obama succeed? Would they be better off having the 2008 nominee fail and fail horribly? Yes. It is. If Obama loses to McCain in this current political environment the thirst for blood will against him and his team will turn the activist's attention away from their desire to purge Clinton people.
But how to do this without leaving fingerprints? For Hillary to have any future in politics she must be able to say "I told you so" to the party. To do that also requires, however, that she and her people cannot be seen as complicit in leading to his loss. So, no. There will not be any third party run. Bill will not publicly endorse/embrace McCain.
They will leave it to feminists and others to carry the burden here. They will quietly make sure that McCain and those 529 committees favorable to him are funded fully. Unions who have problems with Obama's elitism will only work in a perfunctory manner to get out their vote.
It may not be the night of the long knives, but a season of continuous small, well placed cuts can be very very damaging as well. Anyway, I've heard her sing karaoke. She doesn't have much of a voice.

She will not go gently into the good night. Witness Geraldine Ferraro and her fellow travelers who have explicitly stated they they will vote for McCain and sacrifice what seems to be a likely Democratic victory if Hillary is driven out by the "sexist" Barrack Obama.
Posted by: Aunchient | June 01, 2008 at 11:46 PM