Fight Night : Obama vs Clinton

The ’08 Presidential race is in the early stages of downright nasty-not-niceness. Obama and Clinton are starting to throw the right hooks and haymakers ( http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/19/AR2007031902165.html?nav=rss_politics ) and the blows are not landing on each other, but rather on the overall chances for a Democratic victory in November 2008. Everyone knows this about the Democratic Party, everyone but the Democrats it seems. Politics is a dirty business and Obama and Clinton are expected to take their shots at each other, but this meaningless bickering between the two camps this early in the game is bound to do more harm than good for both of the candidates and the Party. The strength of the Party is its ability to disagree and present several views that are not conforming to a strict party line. However this is the main weakness of the Party as well. It impedes its ability to gather widespread support from within the Democratic base under one candidate or central idea. Occasionally the Democrats can pull it together enough to do some real politikin’ (Clinton in ’92 : http://www.lib.niu.edu/ipo/1992/ii921024.html ) but this seems to be a rarity in recent years. Its amazing to me that in this political climate, the Democrats were only able to win a slim majority in the Senate. I wait with cautious optimism to see what unfolds in this early race. Obama ( www.barackobama.com/ ) is my favorite candidate right now and I hope he stays above foolish arguing at this point and garners more support as we approach the primaries (http://www.vote-smart.org/election_president_state_primary_dates.php ).