It is obvious to many that the Clintons are sending the message "Hillary is your nominee or we will force a loss in November".
Statement after statement, action after action, they have shown that they are committed to doing damage to Barack Obama, the Democratic presumptive nominee.
A large number of her supporters have stated repeatedly that they will not vote for Obama. When you ask many of these individuals what can be done to gain their vote the answer is "Make Hillary your nominee". That's it. Nothing about issues, silence on the war...just "Hillary or nothing". I don't recall seeing this demand from Edwards' supporters, Richardson's, Dodd's, or any other primary candidate.
Hillary's comments regarding the Michigan vote are laughable. After agreeing to not participate in their primary, making repeated public statements that it should and would not count, she now wants to be the "champion of the disenfranchised"? Bill talks of democrats behaving like republicans? The popular vote is supposed to be the end all and be all and some caucus states are simply dismissed? Is this really the reality we want? I don't think so.
The blogosphere has participated in this bizarre smear of a Democratic candidate. Hillary is 44 is nothing more than a hate site. MyDD's Jerome Armstrong and Talk Left's Big Tent Democrat profess to want what's best for the party and country, while spewing constant passive-aggressive drivel.
Big Tent Democrat comments recently:
First and foremost, we agree that we must all come together and wholeheartedly support and work hard for the Democratic nominee for President as well as all the Democratic candidates for elective office.
All well and good, but its rather like having the bench jump the starting quarterback, run him over a few times with a car while screaming about what a lying, cheating pile of feces he is, and then say "Well, that's over..let's go out and win the Big Game!!!".
Obama has said he can't do this alone, that he needs our help, and he couldn't be more correct.
So, what do we do in the face of an attempt to hold the Democratic nominating process hostage? How do we deal with individuals who put their candidate before the good of the country?
I took my first step this morning. I picked up my phone and called the Obama campaign's head here in New Mexico. They have workers on the ground here but no coverage for the southern part of the state. We will be speaking again this evening and I'll start gathering in friends to work on identifying volunteers, registering new voters and creating an Obama presence in my region.
I suggest that each individual who wants to say "Hell No" to damage the Clintons are inflicting, "Hell No" to the gross distortion of rules, "Hell No" to good members of the party being portrayed as "Judas" and worse, pick up your phone, call your local Obama representative and get to work.
My personal goal is to register a minimum of 100 new voters. Yours may be 5, or to host an Obama worker for an evening of coffee, cake and meeting neighbors. If we are going to be successful in November we have to start NOW. Hope is stronger than the cynical, destructive approach of the Clinton campaign. It just needs our help.