Obama the Idealist versus Clinton the Old Guard

I’ve been watching this contest evolve between the followers of Obama and Clinton with many misgivings. The democrats seem to be setting themselves up to lose–no matter what the outcome of the primaries–and it is sad to see, given the dreadful state of American policy and economic policy.

The disaster of Bush policies and ideological leadership has primed the nation for a change in direction. But the structure in place to support the transition of power is compromised. It is not just that the neo-conservative movement has corrupted the Republican Pary and its traditions. The truth is more that both parties are corrupt in that they share a common understanding of how the political process is conducted and a common dependence upon financing by big business and wealthy patrons who “buy” economic and political access. Both are compromised by the system for funding campaigns and securing compromises in Congress to pass legislation.

Unlike the British system which requires an elected party member to vote with his party, individual politicians may go their own way here and vote against their party’s policies. Thus, the democrats are plagued by their “yellow dog democrats” who vote with the Republicans much of the time. It takes money and favors to “buy their cooperation” and this is where corruption of a viable, honest political system enters.

Obama’s followers represent a rebellion against these “old politics”. His idealistic and often youthful followers hope for a new basis for leadership, but they are up against an old-style political machine in the campaign of the Clintons. Old style politics dispense favors, jobs, and contracts to supporters in return for support. So here in what was once a promising progressive political family, we witness a return to old city-style politics which still thrives in the old industrially-based  economies of the mid-west and Northeast. These are the states where the old industries were displaced by the newly expanding states of the Southeast and Southwest, where jobs shifted and industries declined, leaving desperate aging families trapped in depressed areas. No matter what lies politicians mutter about “bringing the jobs back” they are gone. The free trade policies of the last half of the 20th Century ended the hopes of those areas and false promises are not going to reverse the losses.  But old style politics still work there, raising false hopes and building a politics of corruption that reminds us of the old style political machines of Chicago, Boston and New York City during the early part of the 20th Century.

So today, we see the idealism of Obama’s followers pitted against the Old Style political machine of the Clintons. The sad thing is that neither is viable nor worth trusting. Politics must deal with very real and practical problems, and that requires compromise. Obama’s followers, should he win, will inevitably be disillusioned once the idealistic phase of campaigning end and the realities of governing set in. Obama will have to compromise, and in doing so he will violate the principle of leadership he campaigned on. Clinton’s image among the Obama crowd is already irremediably tarnished. She is running a campaign reminescent of the worst of the Republican campaigns of the 1990s. She lacks the ideals and vision needed to attract those who demand an end to Bush policies and a return to a more idealistic posture for America in the world. In the end, should she win, the Obama crowd will turn away from her and give up. It is likely to cost her the election.

There are increasing numbers of voters who simply look at the two-party system as hopelessly corrupt. There is no way to save it. The Republican Party has come to be hopelessly dominated by fanatical conservatives who see the role of our national government pursuing an emperial policy of control and acquisition overseas and gutting the social welfare system at home; it is hopelessly corrupt now. McCain can’t save it. Hopefully, failure in the upcoming election will generate some soul-searching among local party leaders and some will see what they have allowed to happen to their party.

In the meantime, the democratic party is also too corrupt to base future policies upon. Split, compromised, and just as ideologically compromised as the cabal of Republicans now controlling in the White House and Congress, it needs a fundamental revisioning as well.

Neither party will permit the fundamental ethical reforms necessary to remove the basis for their corruption.

So, sad to say, the only option for people who no longer can support this sad game is a third-party–not because it will actually produce a winning candidate, but because it is the only place to go if you can no longer stomach the losers now running our country. The game is compromised, fixed, so that the people will lose no matter who wins.