Yes, for Democrats everywhere, here are some of the joyous headlines this morning from coast to coast: The New York Times, "The bruising will go on for the party"; The Washington Post, "Contest goes on and on"; and The Los Angeles Times, "Clinton's victory doesn't do much for her odds" -- nevertheless see headlines one and two.
Pennsylvania came in last night largely as expected, and now the race will go on as expected -- accomplishing nothing but the solidification of John McCain's growing advantages, courtesy Democrats.
Mass suicidal behavior may be rare in the human species, but at election time, it seems to come naturally to a whole lot of Dems. It's a sociopsychological riddle that may never be solved. Still, at the rate Democrats are going, that may soon become more of a historical curiosity than a matter of contemporary resolution. Because if they can't unite to win in 2008, then they can't ever win, period -- and the party deserves to just fade away like an old soldier.
I heard a statistic last night on MSNBC's coverage that may solve at least part of the riddle, though. I don't have a link to any polling organization to back this up, because I didn't hear what organization polled it, but I heard it clearly, there was no mistaking it. And it was this: Four out of five Clinton supporters believe this primary race is still roughly even, still contestable, still winnable by Hillary.
That's scary, as well as depressing, since it's reminiscent of all those Bush supporters who, despite all the evidence in the news indicating otherwise, persisted in their beliefs that Saddam Hussein was behind 9/11 and that he did indeed harbor weapons of mass destruction on the eve of our invasion. Nothing could shake them. They believed, because their man had told them to believe. And the proportion among Republicans who actually did believe that drivel, as I recall, was roughly four out of five.
Go ahead, laugh at the Republicans for their cherished mass delusions. But keep in mind that they haven't added mass suicide to their psychological decay. When it comes to elections, they recognize reality when they see it.
Not so for nearly half of the Democratic Party, four-fifths of whom appear lashed to the demented hopes of a narcissistic wrecking ball.
Her self-fulfilling prophecies -- always previewed by the prophetess with a sickening innocence -- have already become legend. "Considering his financial advantage, the question ought to be, why can’t he close the deal?" asked Mrs. Clinton yesterday. "Why can’t he win in a state like this?"
The sociocultural answers to that question -- which Mrs. Clinton understands and exploits better than anyone, of course -- are far too multifaceted and complicated to cover here. But leaving those to the political psychologists, paradoxically the deepest answer of all, as it turns out, is actually the most superficial one -- and it came last night in the form of that four-fifths statistic: Clinton supporters really believe their candidate still has a shot at the nomination.
Merely at her behest they have somehow mentally blocked the profound realities of Obama's insurmountable lead in all the electoral metrics, as well as conveniently forgotten that their candidate has the highest negatives of any presidential prospect in the polling history of the republic. These are, literally, historic -- and crushing -- negatives, which Mrs. Clinton happily continues to mount.
Not only that, her supporters seem to be in vast denial about the near absolute certainty of a Clinton loss to John McCain in the general, since she would have only a fraction of her party enthusiastically behind her and virtually none of the new or independent voters that Obama has inspired.
Their denial is stunning, downright breathtaking and most of all, just plain sad and not a little embarrassing. I didn't know till last night of the statistical evidence behind the striking similarities in delusional thinking that bridge Bush's supporters with Clinton's. Welcome to democracy, where rationality and what's best for the nation always take a back seat to blind partisan passions.
Fortunately, Sen. Obama has more confidence in this democracy racket than I, hence he is plowing ahead with the hope of electoral rationality firmly in mind: "Mr. Obama only mentioned Mrs. Clinton by name once in his remarks at a rally [in Indiana] late Tuesday night, when he congratulated her on winning the Pennsylvania primary. He referred to Mr. McCain seven times, a pointed reminder to Democrats of the challenge that lies ahead."
Challenge? Mr. McCain? Is there some other election coming up that we weren't aware of? Come on, Mr. Obama, we're having too much fun flushing the nation's future down the toilet to be bothered with such eventual trivialities. And now, Mrs. Clinton, you get back out there and relaunch, once again, your party's destruction.
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