The Deep Blue Divide

[ruggerson]

NEWSWEEK

For the past five years, a group of friends, mostly military wives or retired government workers, have been meeting for lunch at an Italian restaurant called Amici's in a strip mall in Stafford, Va. All Democrats, they don't come just for the wood-fired pizza or $8.99 lunch buffet. They come to talk about their beloved party. But lately, the air has chilled in the Tuscan-themed room.

At the lunch after Clinton's loss in Virginia, Alicia Knight, 49, a Hillary supporter, came in late. The only spare chair was between two Obama supporters, both old friends of Knight's. "I was so angry, I didn't want to sit between them, so I sat by myself at another table," she says. "It's become like the cold war: in order to maintain the relationship, you don't talk to each other." Recently, the Clinton and Obama groups began lunching separately. "We couldn't take the bashing, the smirkiness of the Obama fans," says Linda Berkoff, 63.

It's unclear exactly when the primaries stopped being a joyous occasion for the Democrats. But as the weeks have ground on, the intensity between Democrats who disagree has calcified, the vitriol grown fiercer. According to exit polling in the Texas primary, 91 percent of Clinton supporters said they would be dissatisfied with Obama as the nominee; 87 percent of Obama fans said they would be dissatisfied with Clinton. Nationally, a quarter of those who back Clinton say they'd vote for John McCain if Obama won the nomination (while just 10 percent of Obama supporters would do the same if he lost).

For many Democrats, what started out as a glowing opportunity for a historic presidency has become a depressing display of division and anger trumping reason. Because the policy differences between Clinton and Obama are minor, the debate is not about substance; it's been mainly about character and identity in a contest between a black man and a white woman. Historians insist that intraparty bitterness is nothing new. But growing anger about perceived racism and sexism is souring what was once excitement among Democrats about an embarrassment of riches. Now many are embarrassed that the party which prides itself on diversity is battling its own prejudices. Unaffiliated Democratic strategist Donna Brazile believes it has become "a brewing internal civil war."

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[DJ13]

1. Hillary supporters pissed that their inevitable candidate isnt winning

Obama supporters pissed that Hillary wont quit when the delegate math is in their favor.

The one thing bringing both of these emotions out is Hillary's ego that wont allow her to concede defeat.

This is bad for our party.

[mkultra]

3. yup, shes going down hard

And shes taking the party with her. HRC supporters think any happiness by obama supporters is smugness,

[sueragingroz]

6. Thanks for proving the point of the article...

Couldn't you have saved that for a different thread?

There are so many to choose from...

[babylonsister]

2. True that; my dad and I used to talk politics all the time.

After he told me a black man didn't have a prayer, before Iowa, of winning, we've ceased our conversations about anything having to do with the primaries. I don't want to hurt him, and he's just...hurt that Clinton isn't doing well. Now he's sworn off politics, he says.

[ruggerson]

5. I don't think this bodes well for the general, unfortunately, on either side

If we were facing a far right Repub who the media could hate or ridicule, like Romney or Huckabee, we'd be fine even with all the division.

But fact is that McCain still appeals to independents. And he loves the press, chats with them all the time in a very open fashion - something Clinton and Obama do not do.

There are a lot of older Hillary supporters, I'm afraid, that will vote for McCain if Obama is the nominee and a lot of younger Obama supporters who simply won't vote if Hillary is the nominee.

[sueragingroz]

7. I agree. This sux.

[babylonsister]

8. The fact the media refuses to confront McCain on just about anything

isn't helping. There is a distinct difference; he supports more war, the other two don't. I guess we'll see how important that really is. If the economy dives much further, and the cost of the war is shoved in voters' faces, maybe that will have a bigger impact than we know.

[pscot]

4. And our dear friends at Faux news can hardly contain their glee.

We really need to tone it down a little. We're going to piss away the chance of a generation, and if we do, hell will freeze over before another Woman or Black person gets a shot at the presidency.

[TwilightGardener]

9. When did it stop being "joyful"?

It never was. But it became downright upsetting when Hillary Clinton (and her staff and surrogates):

1) Mocked me, repeatedly, as a "latte-sipper", as an upscale elitist who belonged to a cult and didn't REALLY "need a President" (Bill's words), all because I gravitated toward the more optimistic and QUALIFIED candidate.

2) Repeatedly said McCain had the qualifications to be CiC, and Obama did not--and suggested that compared to McCain, all Obama had to offer the American people was "a speech".

3) Has no respect for the rules, has no honor, has no principles, has no integrity.

4) Sent Ferraro out as a suicide bomber to make identity politics, and racial/gender conflict, the centerpiece of the race.

5) "As far as I KNOW..." and "There's nothing to be ashamed of" RE the Muslim smear/photo.

6) Lies to black voters in Mississippi: "You might get to vote for both of us! Clinton/Obama, that's an unstoppable force!"

7) Kitchen Sink--can't win by inspiring people with a positive message. Time to drive up his negatives and make him appear unelectable instead. Hopefully, the best, brightest Democratic star we've seen in many years will be rendered a smoking ruin by the convention and then she cynically wins by default via the Superdelegates ignoring his hard-won delegates and wins.

There's more, but this is getting long.

[Kittycat]

10. Insulting our intelligence

... by exaggerations on her Foreign policy experience

... by saying she's been vetted, while refusing to release any information for us to do so.

[malletgirl02]

11. The article

What I find interesting in the beginning of the article when the Clinton supporter was complaining about the Obama supporters, she called them "fans". I'm surprised no one caught that yet.