The Democrat party in a nutshell
For over a year now the media has been churning out story after story about the moribund state of the GOP and the vibrant state of the Democrats. There was no way that the Democrats, a party not exactly known for seizing opportunities, could screw this one up. But with the protracted primary in which Clinton seems content to wait things out in the hopes Obama trips up it is seeming increasingly likely that the party will once again snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
Even the spiritual advisor of the nuttiest of them all, Markos Moulitsas, admits that Clinton is deeply wounding the party and risks breaking it outright (emphasis his).
First of all, the only path to victory for Clinton is via coup by super delegate.
She knows this. That’s why there’s all the talk about poaching pledged delegates and spinning uncertainty around Michigan and Florida, and laying the case for super delegates to discard the popular will and stage a coup.
Yet a coup by super delegate [sic] would sunder the party in civil war.
Clinton knows this, it’s her only path to victory, and she doesn’t care. She is willing — nay, eager to split the party apart in her mad pursuit of power.
Clinton’s only card is that Obama is not electable in the general election. With the Obama campaign reeling from the Jeremiah Wright scandal she is only going to sharpen her attack; she’s like a shark in bloody water now. If Obama can’t withstand the barrage of attacks then the perception will be that Clinton resorted to staid dirty tricks to “steal” the election. On this I eagerly agree with Moulitsas that it will fracture the party badly. If Obama can weather the storm the end result will be a demonstrably weakened candidate with an exposed Achilles heel.
The whole scenario is just delicious – and so predictable.
It’s not as though an Obama victory isn’t going to fracture the party, either. This is just bad luck and bad timing for the Democrats – like you said, not exactly an unprecedented happenstance.