Carnal Reason

The North Carolina primaries are coming up. I’m toying with the idea of registering as a Democrat and voting for Hillary. I’d like to see her and Obama continue to rip into each other, so the least I can do is offer some support. And yes, I’d do the same for Obama if he were behind.

Any thoughts?

Update: as though on cue (actually just serendipity), Belmont Club writes

Thus the two will ultimately wind up campaigning not as themselves but as stereotypes. How did it come to this? In part because of the way the Democratic Party identifies its electoral markets. Segmentation takes place not primarily along lines of policy or belief but on lines of identity. With both Clinton and Obama essentially sharing the same ideological platform each was obliged from the outset to run on their distinguishing characteristics. With the platform held constant or treated simply a cynical talking points, the only variables the candidates could manipulate from the outset were race and gender. And manipulate they did.

The seeds of the current civil war were present from the beginning. But at the start of the campaign this ugly fact was partly hidden by a totally contrived gentility; a studiously high tone that only betrayed the savage instincts straining to get loose. Coalition politics is all about displays of unity precisely because there is none of it; the smiles are there precisely to mask the uneasy truce between the rivals.

Unless Hillary Clinton selflessly withdraws from the race, the eye-gouging, ear-biting, finger-breaking identity wrestling contest will continue all the way to the convention in Denver where all hell is expected to break loose. DNC Disruption ‘08, a coalition of ‘progressive activists’ is already surveilling the city, noting the location of television cameras and identifying weak points in security with the same cold precision with which an undertaker measures a corpse for a coffin.

The fine activists of DNC Disruption ‘08 are not the only ones on the job. Look for the friendly folks of Recreate 68 in Denver, and give them my regards.

Hill, you go girl.

Posted on March 24th, 2008 by pwyll
Filed under: politics