Barack Obama is now the presumptive Democratic candidate for the President of the United States in 2008. After a close, and at times acrimonious race, it has become clear that Hillary Clinton will not be able to collect enough delegates and super delegates to claim the nomination.
Unfortunately, due to closeness of the race (both real, in the beginning and as exaggerated by the media during the last few weeks) many Clinton supporters will find it very difficult to accept this outcome. The Democratic Party faces a serious challenge over the next two or three months: the need to reconcile Clinton supporters to Obama's candidacy and unify the party so it can devote its energy to the campaign from August through November. There is a lot at stake here: a Democratic civil war at this point would not just jeopardize Obama's chances at the presidency, it would interfere with our opportunity to expand our margin of control in the House of Representatives, obtain a working majority in the U.S. Senate, and to adjust the balance of the U.S Supreme Court.
I believe that all Democrats--not just Obama supporters--must approach the next few months with a mixture of patience and vigilance towards the hard core of Clinton supporters.
Let's concede something at the outset: Hillary Clinton's supporters are sincere in their belief that she would be a better president than Barack Obama. Many of them feel this deep down in their bones. When they fight hard on her behalf, it is a reflection of that strong belief, and not as some have suggested part of a conscious desire to destroy the Democratic Party. Under other circumstances, fighting hard against Republican opponents, many of these people have been my friends and allies. I am deeply sympathetic to their sense of loss and disappointment. Obama supporters and other Democrats who were not strongly aligned one way or the other need to be sensitive to strong sense of loss and even betrayal many of these people are feeling right now.
Being sensitive is the patience I referred to above. When people are grieving, they can often act out in very negative ways, and we can fully expect a wide variety of negative behavior from Clinton supporters online as the inevitable plays out: Obama will soon be able to get enough delegates and super delegates he needs to get to 2,024.5, and barring some unforeseen event, he will be the Democratic candidate for President. We have already seen Clinton's supporters at every stage of the grieving process described by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross:
- Denial: "It can't be happening." - Many Clinton supporters simply refuse to do the math and acknowledge that Obama took an almost insurmountable lead in elected delegates in February. It has been all uphill since then for Clinton and her last real chance to capture the nomination was to win big in the Texas primary and caucus. To be fair, Clinton and the media have done much to mislead her supporters, painting an unduly rosy picture of her chances.
- Anger: "Why me? It's not fair." - We see a lot of anger out there about many different things. It wasn't fair that Obama had more money. It isn't fair that Obama was better organized in caucus states. It isn't fair that Michigna and Florida are not going to count. It isn't fair that Obama got better coverage from the media. The reality is that Hillary Clinton had more than enough money, more than enough time, and more than enough skilled advisors to plan and run the kind of campaign she wanted to run. If she squandered her money, failed to plan adequately, or ran a campaign that was a poor match for the national mood during the first months of 2008, then she has no one to blame but herself (and possibly Mark Penn).
- Bargaining: "Just let me live to see my children graduate." - This behavior has manifested itself in many ways, several of them potentially quite harmful. "If Obama is the presidential candidate, then he has to pick Clinton as his running mate." "If Obama wins, then I'll vote for McCain!" Threats to super delegates. Threats to Nancy Pelosi. Threats to the DNC.
- Depression: "I'm so sad, why bother with anything?" - Sadly, some folks have just dropped out of the process. GBCW. Some may never come back, but I hope that most will eventually move forward and rejoin the fight for progressive values.
- Acceptance: "It's going to be OK." - Happily, an increasing number are getting to stage 5, and are accepting the reality that Barack Obama is the presumptive nominee. Even some of Clinton's most devoted super delegate supporters have begun to switch their support to Obama, signaling that they understand the electoral math and there is nothing to be gained from a desperate, divisive last-ditch fight for the nomination. These folks are able to look forward and imagine a day when Barack Obama is president and he is able to work with a solid majority in both houses of Congress to save our country from what the Republicans have done to it in the last seven years.
Clinton supporters are going to have to make this journey and I don't envy them. It is going to hurt. It is going to sting. I promise to do my part and I will do my best to not get angry with Clinton supporters. Again, I am sympathetic to what they are through and I think we can all channel some of our old feelings about Gore '00 and Kerry '04 and remember what it's like to lose a race you feel passionately about.
On the other hand, we must remain vigilant.
It is a sad fact that when people are grieving, they often engage in destructive and self-destructive behaviors. Some Clinton supporters will never be reconciled to Barack Obama candidacy. Perhaps some of these people feel this way for reasons that many Democrats don't accept as legitimate: racism, for instance. Clinton supporters who refuse to reconcile based on racism must be firmly but politely shown the door. There simply is no room for overt racism in the Democratic Party.
A more difficult set of potentially destructive behaviors may come from people who are basically good Democrats, but who have lost their sense of proportion. Hillary Clinton and her supporters had every right to pursue every reasonable chance she had of winning the nomination. But there comes a point when it is no longer reasonable, no longer productive. Making threats, trying to change rules after the game has started (and ended), making appeals to voters based on their worst instincts, providing tacit support to our opponents, the Republicans. All of these behaviors must again be politely met with firmness.
Making threats at this point is unacceptable. Trying to rewrite the rules to produce a different result is unacceptable. Consciously or unconsciously using appeals rooted in racism (even when the person employing isn't racist, just horribly cynical) are completely unacceptable. Providing support to the Republican candidate and otherwise working to undermine our party's presumptive nominee is unacceptable. As long as there are Clinton supporters working to undermine the process and obtain the nomination for Hillary Clinton in ways that are not legitimate, then it is important for all Democrats to stand firm.
If we can stand together we have a historic opportunity to define our nation for the 21st century.
Peace.