If you're running for the Democratic nomination for president, it's probably not a good sign when the only credible liberal anchor on television carves out 10 minutes of his show to blast you for "running like a Republican." But that's exactly what Olbermann did tonight.
As they say, politics ain't beanbag, but a lot of very decent people are outraged by the Clinton campaign's recent behavior. And that actually matters. Remember that the Clinton campaign doesn't just need votes right now. They need superdelegates. Lots of them. But what the superdelegates need, above all, is a united party. They need an outcome they can defend as fair, that won't compel any critical constituencies to stalk out of the tent. Procedurally speaking, they're on safe ground voting for Obama, who will win pledged delegates. The supers, by echoing the pledged delegates, can hide behind the will of the process. To break with the pledged delegates will require a powerful rationale and a strong belief that the Democratic Party will survive, and indeed be strengthened, by the elites overturning the results of the primaries. But given the campaign Clinton is running, how will that be possible? How, after Ferraro's comments, can the Clinton campaign credibly argue that the superdelegates can reverse the result of the primary process without triggering a massive rift between the party and African-American voters? Republicans already argue that Democrats take the votes of African-Americans for granted. Invoking the countermajoritarian powers of elite party delegates to deny an African-American the nomination and instead coronate the campaign that refused to reject Ferraro will, for many, more than prove the case. That's not to say they'll flock to John McCain, but they may well stay home. And Democrats can't, under any circumstances, lose their bond with the black electorate. This is the Catch-22 of the Clinton campaign. They need the sort of momentum that can only come from destroying Obama. But the scorched earth tactics that requires will make their win so divisive, the ramifications so severe, that the superdelegates can't possibly endorse it as an acceptable outcome. They're like a runner who's dropped behind in a marathon. The only way to make up the distance is to sprint like mad. But if you sprint, you won't have the wind to finish. So what do you do?
