A recent Gallup poll showed that, among current supporters of Hillary Clinton, 28% said they would vote for McCain if Clinton does not win the nomination. A similar poll showed that, among current supporters of Obama, 19% said they would do likewise ... to which my first reaction was, "no ... really? Seriously?"
Don't get me wrong-- McCain isn't such a bad guy. Dare I say it? I even respected the man, at least back in the days when he was capable of independent thought. At the end of the day, though, McCain is a conservative ... and not the "compassionate" kind, either. Thus, I'm having a difficult time imagining why someone would so strongly prefer one Democratic candidate over another and yet not care if the election gets handed to a Republican. Obviously there was some quality that steered the Obamacains and McClintons toward their chosen candidate in the beginning. Does the other Democratic candidate possess nothing of that quality?
The arguments we most often hear are that "Clinton has more experience" and "Obama is more inspiring." Great, but Obama is not without experience. After all, he was serving as a state senator several years before Clinton made her first political bid. On the flip side, Clinton is not without the ability to inspire. She can come across as emotionally detached at times, but she has also proven her ability to bring the house down, given the right topic. The inability to sell ice to Eskimos on a daily basis should not disqualify anyone from public office, but, to paraphrase Mark Twain, what should disqualify someone from public office is wanting it too badly. If a candidate has to resort to playing Lawyer Ball, one has to wonder whether they're really concerned about serving the people or serving themselves. After all, those sorts of Rovian tactics went out with, well, Rove.
The American people are looking for hope right now. They are looking for a president who can restore their faith in the system, and the one who emerges in November with the least amount of mud on his or her hands will likely be that president. If none of the candidates manages to emerge unsoiled, then we will likely end up with another close, bitter race that is once again decided by the disenfranchised and the jaded.
If I were McCain, right now I'd be sitting in my hot tub watching CNN and grinning, because every time Clinton and Obama take a swing at each other, they're exposing a weakness that McCain can later exploit. Clinton says that she wants to stay in until the last primaries have been held. That is her right, but the question that both she and Obama need to ask themselves from this point forward is: is it more important for my party to win the general election, or is it more important for me to win the nomination?
The Obamacains and McClintons should be asking themselves the same question.
