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My friend and neighbor is active in our town Democratic committee, contributed to the combined campaign office, is a good committed all around Democrat. And he worked hard for Hillary.
So I said to him yesterday,"What do you think about these charges of sexism and unfairness toward Hillary?" He's a smart guy and I thought that would be something we could massage some and arrive at a nuanced form of agreement. He didn't answer that question, though. He went straight for the Hillary/Ickes talking points. There wasn't one point on which we could agree. From he'll-lose-Ohio/Penn/Fla to whether and how Michigan and Florida votes should be counted to it's-basically-tied-and-she-won-the-popular-vote. He couldn't even agree that Barack ran a good campaign.
And look at Michael McCord's piece in this morning's Portsmouth Herald on the attacks Martha Fuller Clark sustained for supporting Obama in the rules committee meeting: http://www.seacoastonline.com/...
Leave aside the merits of every point (Hillary's obviously right about the challenge Obama faces in certain demographics, for instance), we cannot be confident of a reconciliation on the way to November.
When you look at what Hillary is saying day to day and the tone in which it is amplified and elaborated upon by Harold Ickes and then you hear those very words in the mouths of sane and articulate friends, you know you've got a problem.
Matt Stoller's point in Open Left about how the candidates exercise their power to "imprint" their supporters is a good one: http://www.openleft.com/showDi... . Our views, at this point in a long battle, seem to be more rooted in our loyalties more than analysis.
Clearly, reconciliation is entirely in Hillary's hands. Barack looks to be trying to do his part (though I'm not entirely sure why he couldn't have given up 4 more Michigan delegates) and he'll have to learn fast how to do more to reach across the divides. But if Barack wins, it's Hillary's supporters who have to be able to find merit in him and it looks to me as if it's only Hillary who can lead them there. I really do understand the point that he must earn it (he says, anticipating the commentary), but if Hillary doesn't show people the way, they may well not make the trip.
That's her leverage, and it's big. And we may find that the price she extracts is big. But in a race that will be tough under the best of circumstances, where the stakes are unimaginably high, Barack is going to have to do whatever it takes to get her full throated support.
My friend did enthusiastically agree to work for Carol Shea-Porter.
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