The New York Sun editors’ imaginations runs wild: what if the superdelegates switch to Hillary Clinton at the Convention? Well, the chances of that happening are smaller than John Edwards receiving Father of the Year honors, but their analysis is, at the very least, thought-provoking. The editors run through all the reasons why Barack Obama should be doing better (e.g., more money, an unpopular Republican incumbent, an old Republican opponent) and wonder whether the Democrats could get nervous. They conclude:
Mrs. Clinton’s keynote address, scheduled for the Tuesday of the Convention, could then start to sound less like an endorsement speech and more like a final campaign plea. If it’s a real hit, anything can happen. Expect, too, the well-timed release of some public poll showing Mrs. Clinton doing better than Mr. Obama in matchups against Mr. McCain in battleground states. Already the Clinton campaign is surfacing, through the forthcoming issue of the Atlantic Monthly, a memo portraying Mr. Obama as “not at his center fundamentally American in his thinking and in his values.” . . .We have no illusions about the ultra-long-shot of Mrs. Clinton’s chances of actually emerging as the Democratic nominee, but they are not technically impossible, as Mr. Obama is no doubt aware. Mr. Obama skipped a visit to a military hospital in Germany. He spent this weekend on vacation in Hawaii. Mrs. Clinton spent last week visiting wounded service members at Fort Drum. Mr. Obama may think the primary campaign is over, but Mrs. Clinton’s die-hard supporters still itch for a last-minute surprise.
Well, I think a coup is not going to happen, but it is that slim prospect which no doubt will prevent the Obama camp from allowing a roll call vote. And that in turn may not help soothe the bruised feelings of Clinton supporters. Add to that the newest grievance — that John Edwards earlier demise might have helped Hillary — and you have an echo of Al Gore’s 2000 loss: it should have been ours.
More noteworthy than the faint hope of some type of political lightning storm hitting Denver is the revisiting of self-doubt and speculation as to whether Obama was indeed the best choice for Democrats. It has not been a kind summer for The One and the race is absurdly tight. Would Hillary have been differently situated? Her surrogates wouldn’t have tried to smear McCain about his POW and military service, she wouldn’t have needed or gone on a world tour, and she would have been strengthening her newly enhanced reputation with blue collar voters. And she and her favorite foreign policy guru Richard Holbrooke certainly would have gotten the Georgia crisis right.
But that is coulda/shoulda/woulda stuff. The Democrats have made their bed and they will need to lie in it. Hillary Clinton’s appearance in Denver is her effort to remind them how silly their choice was and how ready, willing and able she is to begin anew should The One manage to fritter away the Democrats’ overwhelming advantage.
