If you can't stand the heat, have your shills in the media demand that your opponents turn down the oven.

The bitterness of the fight for the Democratic nomination is, on the face of it, bizarre. Both candidates still standing are smart and appealing. Both have progressive agendas (although I believe that Hillary Clinton is more serious about achieving universal health care, and that Barack Obama has staked out positions that will undermine his own efforts). Both have broad support among the partyÂ’s grass roots and are favorably viewed by Democratic voters.

Supporters of each candidate should have no trouble rallying behind the other if he or she gets the nod.

Why, then, is there so much venom out there?

I won’t try for fake evenhandedness here: most of the venom I see is coming from supporters of Mr. Obama, who want their hero or nobody. I’m not the first to point out that the Obama campaign seems dangerously close to becoming a cult of personality. We’ve already had that from the Bush administration — remember Operation Flight Suit? We really don’t want to go there again.

Of course, the problem is that the "Clinton rules" were developed during a time when we had an administration in office that was dishonest to its root. If the Clinton's claimed it was raining, you still needed to look outside just to make sure. The ease with which the Clintons lied and attempted to reinvent themselves was striking -- and the damage that they did to this country was horrific.

I don't want to see Barack Obama elected president. i think he is wrong for America. But I do believe that he has a moral compass -- something that is sorely lacking on both sides of the Clinton marriage. And if noting that fact makes either me or th supporters of Barack Obama "unfair" to Hillary Clinton, then the problem is with the media lap dogs who view the Clintons as American royalty to whom there should be incredible deference.

After all, Mr. Krugman, the Clintons earnd the contempt in which they are held by much of the American public.

Posted by: Greg at 11:34 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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