To save the Democratic Party from a humiliating implosion that's why. To ensure that the glass ceiling is shattered into a million little pieces in one fell swoop. To present a stark contrast for the voters between incremental change and significant change (contrasted with the intra-party duo of Edwards/Kucinich).
More below.
I'm not kidding. I used to be enamored of the idea that the end result of the Democratic Party primary process would be Sen. Obama and Edwards teaming up as a true force with a mandate for change. A couple of skilled orators leading the charge for change. Two people-sided lawyers fighting the good fight against the entrenched powers that can't envision the world without the socially darwinian tint of class heirarchy and unequal opportunity.
Somewhere deep down I still long to see that dream realized but I'm also watching it blink out in the time it takes to say "dogwhistle." Make no mistake, if this primary continues the way it has gone thus far the Democratic Party will fracture. Maybe not as to votes come general election time, but as to money, volunteerism, and passion. That's just how vitriolic and poisoned some of the dialogue has become. Sad.
That's what brings me to the title. Assuming both Senator's Clinton and Obama truly care about the future of America and not personal ambition they could simultaneously crush this cancer and unite the party. Not necessarily by winning but in how they win. If they win via combined vision, ideology, personal histories, legislative histories, charisma, rhetoric, and their unique personalities and immutable traits then it's a legitimate unifying win.
On the flip side for Edwards and Kucinich (long shots at best given their true progressive rhetoric and vision--though I concede Edwards as a legislator was less of one than he purports to be now) to join it offers a stark choice. Two white guys running on a platform as close to what could be considered "progressive" as we've seen in 50 years. A platform that, if it wins it, must necessarily appeal to all regarding what I believe is the root problem America faces--a flawed economic model. At the very least an unsustainable economic model that taints everything from the political to the cultural to the worldwide environmental. If Senators Obama and Clinton win based upon safe economic centrism that has the added value of shattering glass ceilings then I can live with that. It would be of monumental importance to our cultural narrative having incredible cultural and emotional value in and of itself as a promoter of change in the way we see ourselves and in how the world perceives us.
I have no problem with whichever side wins because deep down I understand that people are more comfortable with incremental change. Significant change is very unsettling to some. I can empathize but that doesn't mean at a personal level I can settle for going along to get along. It takes great courage to make significant change and I'm just not sure most of America has the fortitude or desire. I wish it did but it's going to take 30 years to undo the cultural brainwashing that equates monetary success with moral superiority.
It's going to take 30 years or more for America to see that we are human first all else second. It's going to take 30 years or more to see LGBT as a civil rights issue and one that at its core is no different than race or gender. It's going to take 30 years or more for America to see that striving to make those around us better is the only true measure of a human life. It's going to take 30 years to dismantle the military industrial complex and restructure our military to function as a defensive force, to be used only to stop genocide and defend our and our allies borders rather than as the tip of the economically imperialist culturally hegemonic sword that it currently is. Either international markets work or they don't but gunboat economics cannot be argued to be anything but a distortion of market principles--unless of course you're a neocon. It's going to take 30 years or more to see that how America consumes matters. We can't give lip service to reform without being willing to reform how we consume.
We are part of a worldwide class struggle whether we see it or not. And our enemies aren't the workers of the world who simply want to live in peace, raise a family, and practice whatever religion they see fit. Does that mean we shouldn't promote participatory models of political self-governance or workers rights? Of course not. But it doesn't also mean we impose our materialism and supposed cultural superiority on millenia old civilizations without so much as a "by your leave." We should stand peacefully with those in other cultures who agitate for change. Forge economic policies that don't support dictators. Forge economic policies that reward other nations for taking concrete steps toward empowering and protecting workers creating a race to the top rather than bottom (of course we would have to start enforcing our own labor laws in this country as well).
Which brings me to dogwhistles. It's very interesting to me how a country's cultural narrative begins to be inculcated almost from birth. A very compelling yet inaccurate narrative is used to teach us to believe that our nation always acts with the best intentions and is therefore culturally superior. The first thing we point to is our material well-being as an example. Unfortunately, that little myth is unraveling as we speak. Krugman pens another missive that hits the nail directly on the head. While the EU model and European socialism generally does have some flaws, it is much closer to being what is best for the most than is the American model. And until we understand and internalize that all else is misdirection and dogwhistle politics meant to divide and we can't effectively combat what's wrong with America--the myth that there is no class divide and that everyone has equal opportunity to succeed. The greatest myth ever perpetuated as part of the American narrative. Well, that one and the one about the founding fathers being revolutionaries instead of rich land grant white guys who through historical accident, geography, and a lot of help from the non-landholding masses helped birth a new nation because they didn't have a say in tax policy.
America is about choices. I wish we had real ones instead of illusory ones. Here's hoping that Senators Obama and Clinton join forces so we can have real choice and a stark differences to trumpet come November. If not maybe they'd both be willing to step aside and let the Edwards/Kucinich juggarnaut blow through the big gaping hole being created by the divisive campaigns the honorable Senators and their supporters are waging. Because it just might be the sand in the ointment come November that lets some crackpot on the right steal another election.