As those of you who haven't been living under a rock for the past few months may have noticed, the primary season for the presidential election of 2008 is still going strong, at least for the Democrats. The Republicans united behind John McCain fairly quickly, as is common in presidential politics. The Democrats, on the other hand, are still in the midst of the longest primary season in memory, and every indication from both candidates points towards a contested convention in August.
Now, before I go any further, I'm going to briefly outline my political standing, so any underlying bias is easier to spot. Not saying there will be bias, I will try to write from an impartial point of view, but I believe that when dealing with political editorial type pieces, it is important to know the beliefs of the writer in order to more completely understand his thought processes. Anyways, I am a young college student who has just recently turned 18 and registered to vote. I consider myself fairly well informed on the various issues of the campaign, however I will admit I am very weak on knowledge concerning the economy. I mainly vote on domestic social issues and foreign policy. That being said, I am also a registered Democrat and have supported Barack Obama since the announcement of his candidacy in February 2007. But I digress.
Many have said that the long primary season has hurt the DNC, dividing it terribly. These people say that such division has hurt the party so much, that the Democrats risk losing an election that a year ago was all but handed to them no matter who they chose to run. They say that despite early misgivings among many Republicans over their party's choice of John McCain, these doubts have largely been set aside and the party united, and that the Democrats will be unable to unite so broadly behind their eventual nominee. The schism created by such a lengthy and intense primary season is just to great to heal in such a short time. I plainly and flatly disagree. Despite my unwaivering and longstanding support for Mr. Obama, if Hillary Clinton were to emerge with the DNC's nomination for President, I would wholeheartedly support her, and I believe that despite what many people think, the overwhelming majority would join me. I am equally sure that Senator Clinton's supporters would fall behind Obama if he is chosen. This is because, as much as we believe in the candidate we have chosen to support, we are all Democrats and support the issues and positions that the party stands for.
The capacity of the American populace to vote on substantial issues rather than superficial characteristics has been hugely underestimated by the mainstream media. Now anyone who knows me knows my incredible reluctance to blame the media for anything (I see it as a cowardly cop-out) but there really is no way around it here. The American people are smarter than they are given credit for, plain and simple.
With that being said, if I am right and Democrats unite behind whoever the eventual nominee is, then the lengthy primary season holds only good things. Turn on any political news show, and you will see that the overwhelming majority of coverage is devoted to either Hillary Clinton of Barack Obama, while Senator McCain is merely a side note. It takes outrageous comments for the Republican to gain any sizable coverage at all, and for the most part, such outrageous comments have not served his image well. If the Democratic Convention in Denver is contested, that means another three months of the same lopsided coverage in favor of the Democrats. That means only three months total that the GOP can hope for equal airtime before the general election. The more the Democratic candidates are kept in the minds of voters, the better off the Deomcratic party will be. It really is a win.
Now of course this entire scenario hinges on my assumption that issues are more important to the Democratic voters than grudges, so we will see how right I am in November.
So there that is...
I think your right in saying that the majority of the democratic party will unite behind it's candidate. however, i think some people will be bitter, when their candidate is let go. I'm not saying they'll be against the nominee, but they may be bitter enough to stay home on election day. I don't think it will be enough to sway the election, but this is just ignorant speculation anyway. As for the race for the democratic nomination, you have to admit that most of the media attention they are getting isn't exactly helpful. A lot of Obama's and Clinton's words have been twisted by each other to try and distort their credibility, whereas McCain just stays out of the limelight as much as he can to avoid negative publicity until the election in November. I think a lot depends on how they deal with it too(Obama's Anne Oakley comment was brilliant lol). you present your opinions very fairly an i'll look forward to any future political blogs.
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