I am starting to think the Democratic Primary has now officially jumped the shark. "Jumping the shark" is a term used to indicate when a television show has gone from enjoyable to an embarrassing self-parody (referring back to an episode of Happy Days where the Fonz actually jumps a shark on his motorcycle). As the Dems have moved from "mutual respect" to increasingly personal attacks (Hillary called a "monster", Obama told he is "lucky he isn't white") they are starting to risk alienating the very people they need to appeal to in order to beat John McCain in the fall. I suspect we have only another week or so of this kind of dialog before positions harden and supporters of one side decide they will not vote for the other side in the General Election. This is especially likely when the challenger is a reformer proven to have appeal to the Left.
The interesting thing here is I do not think the Democrats can wait until the results from Pennsylvania are clear. I suspect by then positions will have calcified and trenches will be deeply dug. And perhaps a whole generation of young voters will be turned off to the process in general. (Republican Party take note, this may be your chance to appeal to the generation who felt alienated from you by the Iraq War.)
Update 9:39 PM: Another article backing up my thoughts of the critical time the Democratic party is entering.
Here is an interesting article on CNN. Check the comments which pretty much bear out what I have been hearing in my corner of the woods: Dems are almost ready to say "If my candidate isn't the nominee, I'm voting for John McCain."
YanıtlaSilhttp://caffertyfile.blogs.cnn.com/2008/03/11/infighting-a-worry-for-democrats/