Monday, August 25, 2008

Primer to the Democratic Convention

All eyes this week will be on Denver, Colorado as the Democrats host their primary convention. A lot has been going on lately in the Democratic camp, with Biden being selected by Obama to be his vice president (he could have done better, but he also could have done worse; Biden was a safe choice) and pre-convention business taking place at a rapid pace. While Obama and Biden should be the focus of this week, Hillary Clinton and her husband have garnered a large chunk of the spotlight. McCain has tried to capitalize on this with an ad deriding Obama's VP choice not being Hillary. He says that Hillary "spoke the truth" about Obama and that's why she did not pick him. It is a factually tenuous ad, what with Hillary's Bosnia-sniper-fire-esque assertions during the campaign, but that's another story.

Hillary has denounced the ad, putting on a face and saying that nothing is wrong and the party could not be better. One major factor in the convention will not be how Hillary acts and bullshits about, but how her husband behaves himself. Even while in Africa Bill has had a tendency to stir up the pot and insert himself in the campaign when his actions this year have shown to be more harmful than helpful this election (for both his wife and the Party). The real key to whether the mass media will declare unity in Denver is how Bill Clinton acts. One misstep from Bubba's beak and the news outlets will jump on it.

It's also a bit funny that the Democrats are the ones who are being labeled troubled internally. How quickly we forget when McCain was dogged for not being conservative enough for the Republican Party. (See here, here, and here). In reality, McCain is conservative (the man surrounds himself with Neo-Cons for shit's sake). His infatuation stage with the Iraq War continues, he is against gay marriage and abortion, and he is so rich he doesn't know how many houses he has. If you don't think that's a Republican, wake up. Just because he did not support a Constitutional ban on gay marriage (which, in reality, is a Republican stance) and he has been willing every now and then to work across party lines, he is not a Republican?

So if the news outlets were wrong about McCain and the internal divisions within the Republican party (or the Neo-Cons who have hijacked it), why should we believe them about an internal division within the Democratic Party? Is there a division between the Obamas and the Clintons? Probably. Does that translate into a whole party rift? Probably not. Many people (even Ted Kennedy has passed the proverbial torch past the Clintons) see Obama not only as a better choice than Hillary, but also an eager, young face for the party. A fictitious rift not only keeps Obama's polls down and the race exciting, it also sells newspapers and garners viewers. This means more ad revenue for the networks and papers, which translates into more money for upper management. And you thought the Wu-Tang Clan's C.R.E.A.M. was just a song. Peace.

Photos - Television cameras at the DNC (, Obama and Hillary yucking it up (, Howard Dean bangs the gavel, starting the Democratic National Convention (

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