Jack & Jill Politics

Don't turn off your televisions, just watch it all on CSPAN.

I'm flipping b/w C-Span (comment free!) and PBS, which is pretty tolerable, but still incl. David Brooks and a panel of male historians.

I live in MA, and most of the reporting on post-primary Clinton supporter ire is how it's targeted at our own leadership. There's a story in this month's Boston Magazine about John Kerry facing his first Democratic primary challenger in 24 years (I think) – a guy Ed O'Neill, who earned enough signatures to challenge Kerry in part because enough Clinton supporters were still smarting over the Kerry/Kennedy/Patrick endorsement of Obama despite this being clear Clinton country (despite that supers are free to support whoever they choose). No one expects Kerry to lose, but his endorsement of Obama is being used as one of many examples of him being out of touch with his voters at home – not unlike the criticisms many Clinton-supporting African-American officials faced from their constituents.

There was also a Globe article about the fundraiser here on Obama's birthday, billed as a unity event with Clinton donors, yet of the $5M raised, less than a million came from Clinton supporters, according to the piece. Neither Coakley nor Sen. President Terese Murray (another fierce Clinton supporter) were there, though Coakley cited the prohibitive cost as her reason, IIRC.

Now in this week's Boston Phoenix, there's a cover story on how Clinton's loss is firing up women's formal activism to elect more women into office.

The theme of these stories is never about any of these high profile delegates planning to not support Obama, but more about their internal wars with one another over their political allegiances. Which sounds to me like politics as usual, not to mention that any “disunity” being channeled into useful action, such as making sure Kerry does his job, or renewing efforts to elect more women and people of color to office.

And, the fact that I'm getting all this through the local nooz media could mean that it's all a bunch of overhyped b.s., and really everyone's having the last laugh at plush cocktail parties this week in Denver.

thewhitehouseblack.com

thewhitehouseblack.com