Come on Democrats, Let's Stop the Cannibalism
When it comes to the rough and tumble of a presidential campaign, Americans have come to expect a certain amount of negativity. "Politics ain't beanbag," as the old adage goes. But it has become obvious to many observers -- including this pundit -- that the recent escalation of mud slinging and sniping in the race for the Democratic nomination threatens to spiral out of control. It's high time that Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Obama pull their campaign staffers aside and demand an end to the desperate dirty tricks and below-the-belt name calling. Even if all the polling research proves it is quick, inexpensive, and devastatingly effective.
For example, I am sure that many of you have read by now of the recent incident where a top advisor to Mr. Obama was quoted as describing Mrs. Clinton as a "monster." Prior to that, I'm sure you had heard about Mrs. Clinton coyly saying that Mr. Obama was not a Muslim, "as far as I know." I'm sure you are also aware of Mr. Obama's insinuation of Mrs. Clinton's financial corruption and secrecy, and of Mrs. Clinton's linking of Mr. Obama to "slumlords," as well as the various Clinton campaign operatives who have made reference to Mr. Obama's past drug use, and are accused of manipulating his photo images to make him appear darker-skinned. And of course I need not mention the Obama campaign's latest charges that Mrs. Clinton is having an affair with Rush Limbaugh.
What, you hadn't heard that one? Really? Oh, come on, man, it's all over town. Supposedly they hooked up at a secret Diebold NAFTA meeting or something. The guy I heard it from said he heard it came straight from somebody at Obama HQ. "Somebody way, way up," or so they claim. I really wouldn't know because, hey, I'm just repeating what I hear. But please -- boinking Rush Limbaugh to stop Obama by stealing the Black vote in Ohio? Personally I have a hard time believing it, any more than I believe all those ridiculous tips from the Clinton campaign about Mr. Obama's ties to Islamic Jihad, Mexican drug lords and Ken Starr.
Frankly, this barrage of continuous, negative, if not completely implausible,
accusations does nothing to help American voters understand the real issues
that confront us. Worse, it contributes to the corrosion of our civic
discourse, because it also shows just how easy it is to sway American voters with scurrilous charges against one's opponent. And trust me, it's incredibly easy. And, sadly, almost impossible for the target to refute. Or trace back to the originator, if they were, say, faxed out from Kinkos, or emailed from a library internet terminal.
As participants in the American democratic process, both sides of this increasingly bitter intra-party feud should know better. Just because someone associated with your opponent's campaign might at this very minute be circulating a story that your candidate is a white supremacist lesbian child molester, does that mean you automatically have to counter it with stories about their candidate running a Chicago sex slave-for-crack ring with R. Kelly and the Syrian mafia? Come on folks, your campaigns are better than that, even if it is clear to everybody that the other guys started it.
So remember: the next time you learn that your opponent's staff is spreading stories about your candidate's involvement with a satanic LSD murder cult, take a deep breath, count to ten, and let it go. Sure, you could probably respond by distributing the well-documented evidence of your opponent's long history of serial necrophilia. Sure, it might temporarily feel good, and maybe it might swing a few million votes. But you have to ask yourself: to what end? Is some cushy 6-figure job in the next presidential administration -- with a probable $5 million-per-year K Street lobbying career waiting on the back end -- really worth losing your dignity and self respect over? Trust me, when your candidate's campaign is finally destroyed by some unanswered charges, and you're back waiting tables and filling out grad school applications, you'll at least have the deep personal satisfaction of knowing that you took the high road -- even when the game was on the line, even when the other team was playing dirty, and even when a well-timed "March surprise" would have easily made all the difference.
Remember, in the Bible Jesus counsels us to "turn the other cheek." This is sound advice for all Democrats and progressives, even if it comes straight out of the right wing fundies' favorite "science" book. It's time for cooler heads to prevail, and that's why I'm calling for both camps in this squabble to pledge to bring an immediate end to this self-destructive cannibalism. And by "cannibalism" I of course mean figurative cannibalism, because I would never dignify by repeating those lurid charges of actual, literal cannibalism currently being shopped around to the media by your opponent's flaks.
What? You didn't know? Hey, I'm just telling you what I hear.
