Chris Bowers writes what is likely to be the first post-mortem of the Obama campaign among many.
If you don’t defend your friends and allies, who will you defend? It sends a message louder than any words when Democrats, who are supposed to stand up for an all-in-it-together public ethic, consistently send their sharpest, best aimed kicks towards their most ardent supporters. Who thinks they’ll stand up for the little guy when they repeatedly turn influential sections of their base over for ritual humiliation at the instigation of the Republicans? It’s either cowardice or hypocrisy, and who the hell wants to vote for that?
Hopefully some good will come out of this and other Democrats will take notice. The netroots and the progressives will not keep getting the backs of people who keep stabbing us in ours. Will. Not.
Obama’s McClurkin moment seems to be a last straw for many of the group of liberal and progressive Democrats that started off as Obama’s strongest coalition. He’s repeatedly insulted them without making sufficient gains anywhere else, and has been losing those voters to Clinton. As Bowers says, he was probably the only candidate that ever had a shot at defeating her, and when you’ve lost Pastor Dan, you have lost big time.
If Gore doesn’t enter the race, (ha!) it’s all over but the shouting. Considering that Obama did this to himself, I can’t say I’ll be sad.
