It's Been Great, and I'm Ready for it to be Over

by: Mike Lux

Tue Mar 04, 2008 at 13:21


In an old Woody Allen movie (I think it's "Annie Hall," but it's been awhile, so I'm not 100% on that), Woody suggests that life is like the old joke of the elderly couple at a restaurant going on and on about how awful the food is, the worst they've ever eaten, and then one of them says: "And you know what else is bad- the portions are so small."

I'm beginning to feel that way, except in reverse, about the 2008 Democratic Presidential primary. It's been great in so many ways- history making, energizing, turnout has been through the roof, it's mean the votes of people in most of the country has mattered unlike most years, vigorous debate on big issues and how best to make change. It's been really fun, and really good for the party. But I'm beginning to hope it doesn't last much longer.

I feel like we've reached the point where the debate is getting stale and yet also meaner and more damaging all the time, and where if it keeps going on much longer, we'll start having the arguments seem pettier and pettier, about rules and credentials and small-minded attacks about stupid stuff. And we've reached that juncture where it seems better for us to turn our attention to defining McCain rather than carving up each other.

I hope tonight settles things once and for all.

Mike Lux :: It's Been Great, and I'm Ready for it to be Over

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It's Been Great, and I'm Ready for it to be Over | 42 comments
Hopefully... (0.00 / 0)
Although recent polls aren't looking good.  Hopefully Obama's ground game both for early voting and today can make up the difference.
Really? (4.00 / 1)
I hope tonight settles things once and for all.

So if Hillary wins Texas and Ohio, Obama should drop out?

she cannot possibly catch up to his delegate lead (0.00 / 0)

[ Parent ]
Not true, she can catch up on delegates (0.00 / 0)
She can catch up. Here us something to try. On the CNN site there is a delegate counter. You can adjust them to allocate delegates any way you want. Try is, remember. Puerto Rico is winner take all and she does well with Hispanics.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITI...

[ Parent ]
No contest is winner take all (0.00 / 0)
Under DNC rules, no contest can be winner take all.  Not even Puerto Rico.
[ Parent ]
yeah (0.00 / 0)
the puerto rico thing was made up. it's proportional, like every other one
[ Parent ]
Yes, it's from Annie Hall (4.00 / 1)
Here's the quote:

There's an old joke - um... two elderly women are at a Catskill mountain resort, and one of 'em says, "Boy, the food at this place is really terrible." The other one says, "Yeah, I know; and such small portions." Well, that's essentially how I feel about life - full of loneliness, and misery, and suffering, and unhappiness, and it's all over much too quickly.

yeah - it's from the opening sequence, I think (0.00 / 0)
Annie Hall is a movie that will always be near and dear to my heart because my wife and I decided to get married in a conversation just after watching it.  

Join us at the Missouri community blog Show Me Progress!
[ Parent ]
Right, it's the first scene of the movie (0.00 / 0)
And mazeltov, that's a great movie to watch as a prelude to deciding to tie the knot! :)
[ Parent ]
I'm of two minds (0.00 / 0)
Is there really any danger, for the contest to be decided in May?  Do these two months, really mean, that there will be two "horrible" months, either of sniping, or of John McCain getting two months to attack, without consequence?

Or are the above negatives balanced, by the positives of having our candidates, basically visit every state, in their quest for the nomination, thus making them that much stronger and knowledgeable about America, come the summer?  Of having the excitement of focusing on these two candidates, over that period of time?

NOTE:  Clearly, this has to be decided by, say at the latest, after May 6th, when Indiana and North Carolina vote (sorry West Virginia).  But the question is, is the two months, in and of itself, that damaging?  Remember, every time both candidates go into a state (especially Obama), there is grassroots organizing, which hopefully will impact positively the contest in November.

After May 6th, there are basically 5 months left, before the election.  Is that too little?

Not necessarily just a matter of time... (4.00 / 1)
It's a matter of having two candidates severely weakened by a negative Primary process.

It's already happening.  You see people from both Clinton and Obama camps claiming that they hate the other candidate, whether because they hate the candidate themselves or just their supporters, and will never vote for them.

The longer this goes on, the lower the percentage of "converts" there will be to the eventual nominee.  I don't know if anyone's done any hardcore analysis on this, but I would hope that at least 80% or even more of the opponent's supporters (at least within the party) would eventually fall in line with the nominee.  The longer this goes on, the lower that percentage likely gets.

[ Parent ]
Well.. On other positive to ending it now (0.00 / 0)
that I haven't seen discussed is the benefits of Barack and Hillary going to do actual work in the senate.  Barack's been good on FISA but if he's not in the chamber he can't help much.
[ Parent ]
If it is like the last week (0.00 / 0)
With Hillary complaining that Obama isn't ready to be Commander-in-Chief when he has more relevant experiences than Bill had in 1992 and undermining him in every way at every turn (often stretching the truth) it will only help McCain.

John McCain--He's not who you think he is.
[ Parent ]
I am ready for it to be over. (0.00 / 0)
I very much hope the ground game, the weather, the indies and the young push this to a finish. Turnout Turnout Turnout.

Go Texas, show us the love.

Change
"We must break up the banks and never again let them get so big that they distort our politics and take down the economy.

Positive Campaign (4.00 / 4)
If Hillary would run a positive campaign I wouldn't mind this dragging on longer, as I think it can help generate positive publicity, excitement and ground games in each state.

But she isn't doing that, so it has to end.

Though I'm worried about the primaries today, it is clear Clinton can't get anywhere near the 10-20% margins of victory she needs to start catching up in the delegate count.  Brokaw claims Obama has 50 super delegates in his back pocket waiting for the right time to endorse.  My guess is they will all endorse tomorrow as a show that Democrats need to get behind the leader.  

But to really apply pressure on Clinton, Obama needs a popular vote victory in Texas, even by the slimmest of margins.  That doesn't matter for the delegate count or in the long run, but matters a lot on whether Clinton can be pressured to drop out.

Will Obama survive Rezko scandal in General Election? (0.00 / 0)
Obama's relationship with Rezko question's Obama's ethics and hypocrisy.

I have been reading this blog http://www.hillaryis44.org/ and I dont see prominent bloggers pondering if this is a legitimate issue.  

From what I am seeing is that it is very dubious so that Obama should answer this satisfactorily.

It really is clear Rezko helped Obama buy the house by buying the adjacent lot and splitting it so that the lot will never be built and will forever be empty.

Why would he let Rezko do that?  If I were in Obama's place--I will never be in that position to be in gratitude to someone who is a lobbyist and known law-breaker.

troll (0.00 / 0)
[ Parent ]
Why am I a troll? (0.00 / 0)
I have a low userId in dailykos and a fervent Dean supporter in 2003.

It is a legitimate question that must be answered.

[ Parent ]
It is a troll remark no matter how long you have posted (0.00 / 0)
I didnt rate you, just called the comment for what it is,
hurling feces. Hurling feces is what republicans do. Just because HRC threw a "McCain and I have experience" turd at Obama doesn't mean it isn't a republican thing to do.

Obama has more experience than Kennedy, less baggage than Bill C. and better sense then to authorize GWB for war in both Iraq and Iran.


Change
"We must break up the banks and never again let them get so big that they distort our politics and take down the economy.

[ Parent ]
My userid is below 6000 in dailykos (0.00 / 0)

[ Parent ]
doesn't matter (0.00 / 0)
I have a low UID on Kos, too.  And it's irrelevant.  That is a troll comment.
[ Parent ]
Well done (0.00 / 0)
That's very nice for you. But you're still acting like a troll.

Forgotten Countries - a foreign policy-focused blog
[ Parent ]
dkos, the benchmark of legitimacy (0.00 / 0)
scary stuff.

arguments speak for themselves.

Rezko is was bad news for sure. However I doubt it will ever bring Obama down to Hilary's 50% unlikeable level. Dem votes don't seem to care too much, and I doubt anyone else is going to either. So Rezko is not much of a inflection point for deciding this nomination. You may wish it is, but its not so. This election is turning on personality for the most part, which is exactly how the GOP has won for years; good to see the Dems finally get it. So, I think you can rest easy with an Obama nomination (relative to Hillary). Not that you want to.

Michael Bloomberg, prince of corporate welfare

[ Parent ]
And Hillary doesn't have a .. (0.00 / 0)
Norman Hsu problem?
[ Parent ]
Hillary is 44 is been making alot of noise about nothing on that... (4.00 / 1)
They are (obviously) more then on Hillary's side on things (look how often Obama is refered to as Bambi and other snide names on that blog  )

If there was something to be had in that Rezko Issue, then Clinton would have already used it on Obama.  Lord knows she's thrown everything else she can find at him.

Those bloggers making noise about it are looking for smoke were there isn't even a fire.

Yes, Obama was apparently friends with the guy when he was largely viewed as an upstanding member of the Chicago community.  And yes he apparently still dealt with him when he was becoming under investigation.

To me the issue ended right here:

The couple who sold Barack Obama his Chicago home said the Illinois senator's $1.65 million bid ``was the best offer'' and they didn't cut their asking price because a campaign donor bought their adjacent land, according to e-mails between Obama's presidential campaign and the seller.

Nothing to see here.

I'm sure though the Hillary is 44 folks still are quite interested in it and will be well into 2012.

[ Parent ]
Will Hillary survive the stories about (4.00 / 1)
Bill's fundraising from foreign folks (Saudis etc) for his foundation and library?  There's a reason she won't release her tax returns unless she absolutely has to. Plus Bill says he'll continue this fundraising.  People don't give to the Pres' hubby to assure his place in history. This is much bigger than Whitewater or Al Gore and the Buddhist Temple.

John McCain--He's not who you think he is.
[ Parent ]
I was just thinking the same thing. (0.00 / 0)
This primary has gone beyond its natural lifespan. This hit home for me last night watching Hillary on the Daily Show. I thought she looked worn out and she seemed out of energy. Obama is pretty much in the same boat.

If it doesn't stop soon I can see all that new energy just draining away as fast as it developed. There's nothing like tedious repetition to kill a buzz. The media seems to want this to drag on as long as possible, but if media was run by smart people TV would be good.

My sense is that people who were obsessed with the primaries a month ago don't even want to talk about them anymore. It's time to end them, take a break, and then proceed to the real business at hand.

Longer term, we need to incinerate the electoral system and make a new one that works from scratch. They don't get any worse in alleged democracy than ours.

agree generally, but . . . (0.00 / 0)
You're wrong about TV:

"The media seems to want this to drag on as long as possible, but if media was run by smart people TV would be good."

TV is awesome.  You're watching the wrong stuff if you think it is bad.  

At this point, I'd rather argue about TV than the campaign.  That's how tired I am of this whole business.

[ Parent ]
Yeah. (0.00 / 0)
One of the computer sites I frequent has a Sandbox forum for just yakking about other stuff. If this primary miasma drags on much longer, OL should seriously consider building a refuge from all things politics. I bet we have much more interesting notions about other stuff.
[ Parent ]
My hunch (0.00 / 0)
If we had a nominee at this point, we'd have a better shot at blocking telecom immunity. The longer the primary stretches out, the more time W and a compliant congress have to further screw things up.
Plus Obama could go back to (0.00 / 0)
the senate and maybe turn some votes (ie McCaskill) on FISA.  Plus it would force McCain to go do some voting in congress... and then we can see how much of his straight talk he backs up with his votes.
[ Parent ]
Feel the same way (0.00 / 0)
I feel the same way.  The debate became stale in the 2 weeks between the last primary and today. Imagine how bad it will be wit 7 weeks of nothing else to do before the Pennsylvania primary.  If after tonight the candidates are determined to carry it to Pennsylvania, I hope they at least take a break for a few weeks.  I'm sure both Clinton and Obama could use some rest, and so could the whole country.

Please, please, let it end.  

I'm with Mike (0.00 / 0)
I've been at this game a long time, but this one has stretched me out about as far as I can stretch, emotionally speaking. I have my reasons for supporting Obama, but the truth is -- and I'm going to write about this in the future -- my natural competitiveness took me the opposite direction from "the zone." In other words, I found myself being strident, a little irrational, impatient with those who disagreed, and, probably, somtimes blinded to the real productive things I could be writing and doing.

I make this comment here because of additional fears that prolonging the anxiety will take a toll on many of us, a toll that will hurt us in November, no matter how committed we may be to backing the eventual nominee.

I am with Mike (0.00 / 0)
Amen- I think we all need a break- We have senante district convention this weekend - local issues to attend to...
[ Parent ]
Doesn't look like it will end tonight (0.00 / 0)
Does that mean we have to endure another debate? Or even multiple debates!? I don't think I can stand to watch them bicker over health care proposals yet again. I just don't have it in me.  

"Don't hate the media, become the media" -Jello Biafra
From here on out (0.00 / 0)
Just subtitle all your posts "Why hasn't Hillary dropped out yet?"

Let me ask this: If the situation were reversed, would you be wondering out loud why Obama hasn't dropped out yet?

I feel like we've reached the point where the debate is getting stale and yet also meaner and more damaging all the time

Gosh, I wonder how that happened?

Re: Your question (4.00 / 1)
Let me ask this: If the situation were reversed, would you be wondering out loud why Obama hasn't dropped out yet?

He wouldn't need to wonder out loud.  The press and CW would be doing it for him.  Hillary would be "inevitable".

[ Parent ]
Can't speak for Mike, (0.00 / 0)
but for me, if Michelle Obama or a similar figure in the campaign had said it was all over if Obama didn't win TX and OH, then, yeah, I would be wondering out loud why he'd stay in anyway. It goes to motive, your honor.
[ Parent ]
Yes, I would urge Obama to go (4.00 / 1)
I would make the same argument that pursuing an end-game that required going to the convention and taking the nomination (as decided by delegates) away from the first woman to earn it in U.S. history could destroy us in November.

[ Parent ]
Yes, I would. (0.00 / 0)

[ Parent ]
Disagree (0.00 / 0)
It has been a joy to watch the candidates adapt, or not, to the extended primary season.  It truly highlights their character.  I want it to continue until the Convention - a little court-room action would be nice, too!


"It sounds wrong...
     ...but its right."
It's Been Great, and I'm Ready for it to be Over | 42 comments





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