Jessica

Vozel

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March 31, 2008

Seven Years of Democratic Unity: Where Has It Gone?

For the last seven years, the Democratic Party has not been a party of division. When Al Gore “lost” the presidency in 2000, Democrats realized that they were in this thing together, and had to be. United against President Bush and the Iraq War, Democrats in the Bush years have been voting in record numbers, and even joined together in support of a lackluster candidate, Sen. John Kerry, in 2004. 

While Republicans became more fragmented in their support of Bush, as well as divided into two subcategories – Christian conservatives and economic conservatives – Democrats saw no such separation. It seemed six months ago that because of this seemingly unshakable unity, Democrats were well on their way to re-taking the White House in 2008 regardless of who clinched the nomination.

Now, however, polls and pundits are suggesting that the in-fighting between Senators Obama and Clinton will lead to an irreparable division within the party, to the eventual benefit of the Republican nominee, Sen. John McCain. 

According to a disheartening Gallup Poll this week, 28 percent of Clinton supporters would vote for McCain if Obama won the nomination and 19 percent of Obama supporters would vote for McCain if Clinton emerged victorious. Although these numbers are likely to change once one or the other wins the nomination and Democratic leaders begin trying to glue the party back together, pre-election Gallup polls from 1992 to 2004 showed lower percentages of Democrats threatening to switch sides. Historically, it’s been less than 10 percent. 

Those who once claimed that they would be happy with either Clinton or Obama in the White House – after all, both are a far cry from Bush – are now picking sides as the candidates chip away at each other. Clinton told a hyperbolic tale about her journey into war-torn Bosnia as First Lady. Obama faced scrutiny as a result of remarks made by his spiritual mentor. And that’s just within the last couple of weeks. Meanwhile, it’s been a month since McCain’s last significant scandal, stemming from the New York Times insinuation of a personal and/or professional affair with that lobbyist – you know, Whatshername. 

This Monday, the number of Democrats registered in Pennsylvania topped four million. It’s clear that Democrats won’t go down without a fight, and that’s something for the party to be optimistic about. But increasingly, that fight is being misdirected. Before, one could have clearly identified the Bush-made mess in Washington as the reason behind this voter surge. Now, it could be just as believably attributed to Democrats who strongly support either Clinton or Obama and plan to make their support known on April 22. 

McCain is already in the advantageous position of being able to look ahead to the general election with the confidence of a secured nomination. He might be better prepared come November. On top of that, his hands thus far have remained relatively clean. As the Clinton and Obama camps continue to take cheap shots, McCain is sitting back, watching the Republican noise machine rev up to do his dirty work and take over where the losing Democratic candidate left off.

To complicate matters, the Democrats who recognize the problem with all this in-fighting can’t seem to agree which camp is more responsible. Generally, Clinton has faced more criticism for her ruthlessness, which has made Clinton supporters feel bitter and Obama supporters feel morally superior. Also, Clinton is being pressured to concede for the sake of the party and to avoid a messy, superdelegate-driven decision at the DNC. 

As Democrats know all too well, leaving election decisions to someone other than the American people has disastrous consequences. But Clinton, of course, has no plans to concede (likely Obama would not either, were he in her position), and thus the divide widens. 

In what looks to be a long fight ahead of us, it would behoove the Democrats to recall some of that unity and spirit that infused the party these last seven years. Certainly it would be a tragedy if it took another four-to-eight years of a Republican in office to unite the party again.

© 2008 North Star Writers Group. May not be republished without permission.

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