Even the Germans know this prolonged PRIMARY is BAD for Democrats

[Eurobabe]

While I don't agree with all the commentary in the story, I DO agree with the fact that this prolonged primary has been damaging. Limpballs finnagled Hillary into giving him exactly what he wanted. What right-wing conspiracy you ask?

After the Pennsylvania primary, it looks like the struggle between presidential hopefuls Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama for the Democratic nomination will be a fight to the death. German commentators warn it's going to be a long, hot summer.

Has Obama lost his magic?
Many people in the Democratic Party were hoping that the damaging duel between presidential hopefuls Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton might finally be over after the Pennsylvania primary on Tuesday. They were wrong. Clinton managed a clear win, with 54.3 percent of the vote to Obama's 45.7 percent, meaning the bitter race for the Democratic nomination will continue.

Commentators writing in Germany's main newspapers Thursday were unanimous in expressing their dismay that the bitter battle for the Democratic nomination would continue, with many warning that the duel to the death could only harm the Democrats.

The conservative Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung writes:

"Who will represent the Democrats in the main campaign against John McCain? Now that Hillary Clinton has won the Pennsylvania primary with a sufficient lead, she will not generously withdraw and leave the race to her rival Obama. Anyone who believes (or believed) that she would do so greatly underestimates the ambition of the Clintons. It does not matter that Clinton can no longer catch up with Obama in numbers of pledged delegates. But Obama, who can no longer let the hard attacks wash over him like he used to and who has committed the mistake of showing a condescending attitude, can also not achieve the number of delegates he needs for the nomination through pledged delegates alone. At the latest, the race will be decided at the party convention at the end of August. It could turn out to be a long, hot summer."

The conservative Die Welt writes:

"In the past few months, it often seemed like Obama with his visionary tone had succeeded in making his opponent look old. She seemed to represent the Clinton philosophy of yesterday and a patchwork pragmatism, and was missing the vision that would lift her above the everyday. Now, however, the state of Pennsylvania has demonstrated more clearly than ever that even a visionary can stumble if he spends week and week with his head stuck in the clouds of generalities. Suddenly Obama's idealism has run into concrete and unpleasant questions which have to be solved here and now. The visionary is in danger of looking foolish."

"But it's the Democratic Party which has the biggest problem. Party members are following, more or less in horror, the battle which the two candidates are pursuing with gladiatorial fervor. The chance is now past that a defeat for Clinton in Pennsylvania would have encouraged the candidates to come up with some way of calling off the self-destructive duel. Now the fight will continue until the very last breath. The candidates are pursuing their own individual interests, as is logical, but are in the process damaging the image of their party, which could turn out to be the conflict's biggest loser."

The center-left Süddeutsche Zeitung writes:

"The Democrats seem absolutely determined to live up to their reputation as notorious losers with all their strength -- in this case, with venom and bile. The way in which Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton recently fought in Pennsylvania has badly damaged the party. A good quarter of supporters now say that, if their favorite is defeated, they will vote for John McCain rather than the Democratic candidate. Alternatively, they might simply decide to stay at home rather than vote for a Democratic candidate they dislike. That would be enough to hand the Republicans another four years in power -- despite Iraq, economic recession and the real estate crisis."

"Only those with their heads in the clouds can imagine that a quick solution, in the form of an Obama-Clinton dream team, could happen. If the Democrats continue in the same way until the summer, they will indeed experience something extraordinary in 2008: Yet another defeat in November."

More:http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,549433,00.html

[Eurobabe]

1. shameless kick for the day crowd.

[Hope And Change]

2. K & R!

:kick:

[olkaz]

3. The only people that say it is good are Hillary supporters, period.

"It makes the party stronger!"

"We NEED a brokered convention!"

Please. I don't need my X-Ray specs to see through this.

[redqueen]

4. Candidates nominated in long, drawn-out primaries usually lose. (nt)