TPM Reader DW, not so optimistic ...

Of course your readers are correct to point out that we are only in March and concern today about the Obama / Clinton fight will spoil November is very premature. Yes, the Clintons in 92 had to beat back Brown into June. But this misses the point.

The problem is, what happens in June? The Clintons have no intention of ever stopping until the delegates nominate them or reject them in Denver (feel free to make the case that I’m wrong about this). The proper analogy is not 92, but 80 when Teddy took his losing battle to the convention and broke the party. The Clintons are planning their floor fight and not really being very shy about it. It was as recently as this week that Hillary pointed out again that no delegate is pledged – how many times has Harold Ickes reminded us of this fact. Harold Ickes – Teddy Kennedy’s floor manager in 1980.

There is good reason to be very concerned. The biggest problem facing the Democratic party is a leadership vacuum exacerbated by the losers being the Clintons. Who is going to tell the former president come June to STFU and bow out gracefully?

To borrow the Bush/Cheney 2004 slogan, “be afraid, be very afraid”.