All is not well in the house of the Democratic
Party and as much as the party leaders would like to overlook the
schisms boiling below the surface, here is a warning: DEM DI DUMB DUMB –
DON’T!
There are some pretty ticked off Democrats out there, all those women
and others who voted for Hillary Clinton who are just not buying the
party line, “Get over it!”...it, of course, being the selection of
Barack Obama as the Party’s presidential nominee.
The
party meme is that these folks will come home to the party come the
fall, but don’t be so sure.
But
be sure of this: Barack Obama cannot win the presidency without these
voters, no way, no how, no matter what kind of “new” coalition the Dem
Party’s presumptive nominee tries to build.
Groups such as PUMA (Party Unity My Ass) and The Just Say No Deal
Coalition, and websites such as Larry Johnson’s
NoQuarterusa.net, aren’t
bending under the weight of the Democratic Party’s pressure to come
home. And, despite Hillary Clinton’s personal appeals, “I strongly urge
you not to vote for John McCain,” in her unity appearance in Unity New
Hampshire last week, these voters aren’t buying into the party line. “We
are a coalition of millions with one thing in common: Nobama,” says the
headline at the website of
JustSayNoDeal.com.
Posts on the Puma Party Blog Network have these headings, “Real Dems,
Real Change,” “From Hillary to McCain,” “Stink on It,” “Refuse the
Public Humiliation.”
These disaffected voters are seething with rage over the Party’s
presumed “fixing” of the selection of Barack Obama as the Party’s
nominee, furious over the silence of the Party over the misogynistic
attacks on Clinton during the primaries, outraged over what they see as
an unfair primary voting process, and simply not buying into the Change
idea of the Obama candidacy.
Obama’s lack of experience, a basic distrust of the candidate,
particularly now that since his clinching the Party’s nomination he has
flipped-flopped on a host of issues including those having to do with
Israel, NAFTA, campaign finance, FISA, and is even signaling a change in
position on his signature Iraq War issue, seems to have cemented the
hard feelings of these voters that Hillary Clinton isn’t the Democratic
Party’s nominee.
Brewing as well is a troubling discontent amongst Obama’s own base. Some
supporters worked furiously over the weekend to organize a campaign to
protest and pressure Obama over his FISA backtrack. The progressive
blogosphere, which was so influential in the legitimizing of Obama’s
candidacy, are having second thoughts.
Opposition to the opposition is building, but not getting heard as are
PUMA members and Just Say No Deal members on cable news stations like
MSNBC, CNN and Fox News.
YestoDemocracy.org bills itself as the
Anti-Puma website. “This website was created in an effort to STOP PUMA,
before they get any bigger. The anti-Democratic rogue coalition of
closeted Republicans posing as Democrats, leading a flock of angry women
supporters under their wing must NOT continue to brand our party as
‘divided,’” the website says.
Outspoken Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell and Hillary Clinton supporter
who has embraced Barack Obama as the Party’s nominee has leant his name
to HOUND (Hillary-Obama-United-Not-Divided). “We have formed HOUND in
response to the creation of PUMA (party unity, my ass — or its cleaned
up moniker, People United Means Action). Hound was not formed to be
Anti-PUMA according to Rendell who says “We agree with many of your
grievances.” He calls the Democratic Party’s nominating process “unfair
and undemocratic” and calls for the elimination of the caucus system in
his posting. The Pennsylvania Dems website hosts a HOUND petition under
the heading: “Hillary Obama United Not Divided.”
Rendell’s response to PUMA tells me that the Democratic Party may
actually be concerned about these angry Hillary voters despite the party
line that they will eventually come home and vote for Obama.
Good, because to ignore the problem would be
DEM DI DUMB DUMB for the
Party.