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DEMOCRATS: COMING TO A HEAD

by Doris O'Brien



The unusual political animal stalking  the American landscape can best be described as a Hydra, after the mythical Greek beast with multiple heads. According to Greek legend, whenever warriors tried to slay the fierce beast by lopping off its heads, they simply grew back.

Surprisingly, those on the modern two-headed Hydra keep growing back as well.  Just when it looks like one of them is about to topple,  something happens — like a primary or an endorsement — and it  springs back into place as ferocious as ever.

It took the labor of mighty Hercules to slay the mythological Hydra.  But the present challenge may ultimately fall to the superdelegates of the Democratic Party to decide which head will roll and which will go forward on the shoulders of their Party.  Such a Herculean effort would risk spilling bad blood at the Denver convention in August and irreparably damaging the Party's chances of winning the White House in November.

Yet the longer the two heads of this contemporary Hydra remain, the more corrosive the struggle and the more repulsed the electorate. Assuming one candidate is eventually chosen over the other, the party leadership will plead for unity. But the wound from the loss of one head may prove too deep for the other to survive.

When the last man (or woman) is left standing, what will transpire? Certainly, resentment and disappointment from the camp of the loser. Possibly even anger, disaffection and a vengeful unwillingness to support the other in his (her) quest for the Presidency.  The more zealously invested supporters become in their chosen candidate, the harder it will be to swallow defeat.

This campaign nightmare is not what  Democrats imagined in a year when every sign in the political firmament pointed to the favorable alignment of their fortunes.  They are smarting from 2000 and 2004 — and they want victory now!  For Democrats still outraged by what they perceive as the "theft" of the presidency from Al Gore in 2000 and the narrow humiliating defeat of John Kerry four years later, this was to be the year of sweet revenge.  Yet could this "historic" election turn into their "hysteric" defeat?

There is one scenario in which Democrats could avoid a potential bloodbath in Denver. Some will think it highly unlikely, if not downright preposterous.  But is it?  Al Gore —"wronged" in 2000 and passed over in 2004 — has since re-emerged as the darling of the liberals and though he may now be deeply into green house causes, it's the White House for which Al's heart has always yearned.

So in order to avoid the disastrous consequences of choosing either Obama or Clinton, the superdelegates will ask them both to withdraw their candidacies (for the good of the party) and throw their support behind Al Gore.  This unexpected move will initially be met with gasps of horrifying disbelief among the delegates, but eventually it  will dawn on them that the only way of avoiding further friction and possible defeat is by uniting behind the man who was denied his destiny.  They will nominate Al Gore.

With a sense of desperation and enforced euphoria, delegates will forget about Gore's poor performance during an election that was his to lose.  They will brush aside his privilege-driven hypocrisy of justifying an overuse of polluting fuels by buying so- called "carbon credits."  They will overlook the fact that Al Gore did not even carry his home state of Tennessee.  And it will slip their minds that many voters outside the Democratic Party consider Al Gore a figure of ridicule.

His nomination will, in fact, be the convention's electrifying moment!  Assuming yet another persona, Al Gore will appear on the stage of the convention hall clutching his Hollywood Oscar and choking back tears of joy. Any reluctance he may have had at bumping Hillary and Barack will disappear with the roar of the crowd and the sea of "Gore for President" signs carried over from what was assumed to be his last hurrah. (Joe Lieberman's name, of course, will be expunged)

Is such a scenario all that incredible?  Are our current politicians above the sort of behind-the-scenes deal-making that once characterized "smoke filled: rooms?  Slaying the mythical Hydra made Hercules a hero.  Could it do the same for Albert Gore, Jr.?


Doris O'Brien is a retired college Speech teacher and banker.  She has published two books of humor (Up or Down With Women's Liberation and Humor Me a Little) and for many years contributed light verse to the Pepper 'n Salt column of the Wall Street Journal.  She is a voracious writer of letters to the editors.  

Doris celebrated her 50th wedding anniversary in the same year she welcomed her first grandchild.  She can be reached by e-mail: witsendob at (@) verizon.net

 

©2008 Doris O'Brien for SeniorWomen.com
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