Will the Democratic Infighting Between Clinton and Obama Ruin the Democrats' Run for the White House?

The Presidential Election 2008 got off to an early start over a year ago. It was not even October and I already had enough of the campaigning. And I was burned out on campaign related political topics. Usually around this time, with important primaries out of the way, leading candidates have emerged and the campaigners get a rest. This has been the case with the Republican Party, where John McCain has emerged as the prime candidate just lacking the official announcement. Mike Huckabee is merely hanging on to keep McCain on his toes, especially with the Democratic Party on the frizz. There seems to be no end in sight for the now prime Democratic Candidates, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. Both of their campaigns are in full swing. And it looks like both will hang on and fight tooth and nail until the bitter end. While it is at times amusing, the candidates are increasingly bitter in their fight, digging up dirt on their opponents as best as they can. But this kind of mudslinging could cost the Democrats the White House.

Barack Obama set the tone early being the first to announce his intends to run for President. It might have caught Hillary Clinton of guard, who might have counted on the advantage of being the first women to run for President in the US. She might have believed to have the women on her side. She also had always been popular with the minorities. Get the minorities mobilized and to the polling stations and the Presidency, or at least the nomination as Democratic Presidential Candidate, should have been in the bag. The only hurdle, her husband's infidelities during his Presidency, could be overcome. After all, Americans are forgiving and this is the new millennium, right? I wonder if she celebrated Christmas in 2006 thinking this might be a breeze of a campaign.

Out came Obama, young, energetic, engaging, and most importantly a background coming exactly from the minority section of the population that Clinton was counting on. He can be charming, which makes him popular with the female population as well. He also has the ability to mobilize the young voters. He is a fighter, and a new face, complete with an adoring and cute family. The latter is less strong on the Clinton side, whose life is still overshadowed by her spouse's Monica Lewinsky scandal. Morale is surely not a trump card Clinton can pull out of her sleeve. And the scandal is too old to garner sympathy votes.

Still, Clinton entered the campaign trail with confidence. She lined out where she stands on important issues like the economy, health care, and the war; and she marched on. But as it is clear by now, the campaign was not an easy one. How does one distinguish oneself from an opponent of the same party? Compared to the Republican standpoint on major political issues, it is easier. There are major differences that can be addressed. But compared to another Democrats opinion, it goes more into detail, the nitty gritty detail.

At first, both sides, Clinton and Obama, campaigned explaining the differences, the little differences, of their opinions. As Democrats, they essentially want to achieve the same political outcome on major issues. Just the approach is different, although often not major-league different. And unfortunately, voters get quickly bored when bombarded with details. Most people just think, "Get it done. I don't care how you get it done, just get it done!"

Alas, the mudslinging started. Each side began digging up dirt on the opponent, the juicier the better. 'You voted this way, now you are saying this.' 'You have in the past promoted this, now you are promoting this.' Lately it seems, that there is some new dirt about one of the candidates on the news every day. The typical kind of 'dirt' used to effectively discredit the opponent, especially in the political arena. But the amount of dirt and kind of dirt dug up is starting to become ridiculous. Is this really the only way the nomination can be won?

The campaigns have turned into something resembling the image of two toddlers in the sandbox fighting over who gets to have the shovel. As far as toddlers go, they usually fall quickly on their butts and then both start to cry. I predict a similar outcome for the democratic candidates. Yes, after much fighting, one will win the nomination and really run for president, but both might in the end have suffered too much harm to their image to be taken seriously.

Let's face it. All this mudslinging is playing into the Republican Party's hand. McCain only has to sit back on watch the Democrats self-destruct. Either way, no matter who will get the Democratic nomination, the Republicans will have enough 'mud' and 'dirt' on the candidate to last a lifetime. The Democratic candidates are involved in such a bitter fight, how, with a straight face, can supporters of either side ultimately support the candidate of the other side? After all, by now, each candidate has been portrayed as deceiving, two-faced, untrustworthy, and definitely undesirable. Thus, if Hillary Clinton gets the nomination, can Obama supporters truly support her and vote for her? Vice versa, if Barack Obama gets the nomination, can Clinton supporters truly support him and vote for him? How believable will it be, when either one of them stands up and states something to the extend of, "I did not get the nomination. It was an honor to be up against such a formidable opponent. It has been an exhilarating and fair campaign. I really admire this person. And I want all of my supporters to vote for this person, because I stand fully behind this person."

In my opinion, the current split among the democrats needs some serious patching up and quickly, or their ultimate Presidential Candidate will lose voter confidence among part of the Democrats, the undecided, and the wavering Republicans. Otherwise, it will cost the Democrats the White House. A severely tarnished candidate is not a good candidate to run for President!