The Divided Democrats of Today

by CODY LYON
Perhaps a half baked play on words taken from that beloved former first lady from a far away land and time might seem inappropriate in this situation. But for some, at least some who happen to be Democrats and happen to also be just a tad bit outspoken while taking what could be politely called 'issues' with our own former first lady, not crying over the way this current Democratic campaign match up has played out, is truly an understatement.

Before moving along, it's important to note, by staying in this race until the increasingly bitter end, it is not, and never really has been, Hillary Clinton's fault, that many of her supporters now say they would not support Barack Obama in the fall. That could be blamed on any number of factors.

Still, it's become increasingly curious and offensive to some Hillary supporters and even those watching from afar, that the tone from much of what has turned into Obama-land, appears to still be immersed in arrogance and self righteous certitude, so much so, they've basically alienated a tremendous number of crucial voters that the Democratic party desperately needs come November when the new White House occupants are picked.

But, facts are facts, and one truth happens to be that there are thousands, make that millions of alienated' Clinton supporters that have been completely turned off by what they see as the sheer nastiness of media coverage and campaign tactics directed towards their candidate. They are turned off by what they see as a dismissive tone in the Obama message, turned off by what they see as the cult like dominance projected by many of his fans, turned off by the way some voices in new and the old mainstream media outlets practically played Pravda in the reporting styles and analysis of each candidate while ignoring the difficult challenge of exploring and explaining exactly how each candidate's potential policy might impact the day to day lives of people in Arizona, Colorado, New Jersey, Mississippi or Florida.

Instead, they dutifully watched as the hip young "it" girls and boys sporting those Pepsi looking Obama pins would anticipate the next Obama rally as if it were a rock concert, where, when they happened, the reporters on TV would convey to viewers that the "energy here is infectious" while the pundits took turns gushing and blushing over this new message of hope, all building momentum among a new cross section of voters, built on a dynamism that might rescue the nation from its long nightmare that had been brought to the citizens courtesy the current White House of horrors.

They watched one joke of a debate after another as questions over Preachers and verification of statements became fodder for the web as the shrill and sillier took the punch lines to higher planes of nonsense, all feeding the growing divides among the voters.

Meanwhile, Clinton was actually holding her own in votes, albeit not as loudly, in the end, now we know, she takes around the same number, if not more of the popular vote from the overall screwball of a primary process.

Despite that, the calls for her to leave the race started months ago and the pundits, newspapers, blogs and others, all began to chime in louder and meaner that Clinton was dividing the Democratic party and with that, the nastiness grew thicker and the putrid tones taken by some of the punditocracy along with the simplistic labeling of voters as `less educated' verses "more educated" latte liberals all coupled with sexist and racist vitriol growing nastier and nastier until it all began what today may be called a sad climax.

Yes, there are a lot of upset Democrats in America today. They aren't as outspoken or loud with their politics as others in their party, they are not the types to go and play hardball at a caucus, they probably wouldn't show up at an Obama rally and chant "yes we can," in fact, they probably wouldn't go to far out of their way to see Hillary either, but, they've been skeptical and they have been paying very close attention to this pathetic affair we call an exercise in Democracy and in the end, they find themselves un-enthused and in many cases, resigned to defeat in the fall.

There is no need for voters in Puerto Rico to cry over Hillary Clinton, but, there are plenty of reasons for all Americans to cry over the way we pick our Presidential candidates.