DEMOCRATS: COMING TO A HEAD
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.?