HE TOLD YOU SO (AND SO DID I)

Today on Morning Joe, Scarborough asked columnist Gail Collins if she was surprised that Obama had moved so sharply and quickly to the center. Collins expressed surprise at the question. I'll try to paraphrase from memory.

Haven't you been listening to him all along? she replied. How exactly did you think he was going to get all this "unity" without compromising with the Republicans?

The unity shtick has never worked for me, not from the beginning. It's smacked of more and better capitulation to the forces of darkness, and we've had enough of that from Pelosi, Reid, Hoyer and the like. What we Democrats needed at this point in time was a FIGHTER, not an appeaser. What did you THINK post-partisan meant, anyway? You can't have an after-partisanship candidate until there's no partisanship! The Rethuglicans certainly have no intentions of making nice with the Dems, so the only logical conclusion is that Obama has been advocating unilateral Democratic disarmament.

But BO's "transcendence," his oratory, his manly maleness, and most of all the fact that he isn't a Clinton, bamboozled the media, the DNC, and the Blogger Boyz to the extent that they ignored (or maybe they were just crossing their fingers) all the signs that he is a typical politician and opportunist extraordinaire who can show no evidence of actually doing any good for anyone in his entire life and career.

I am quite sure now that once the Democratic National Convention takes place, I will be checking out of the blogging world. The only reason I'm still around at this point is that I harbor an infinitesimal hope that something will shake out that will, after all, bring Hillary the nomination. Lacking that, I have no intention of or interest in being an active spectator of the mess that will follow.

The DNC and all too many Democratic/liberal leaders have betrayed the party and precisely half of its voting base. I never thought I'd live to see the day when Democrats would adopt Republican/right-wing tactics and talking points, and I have no intention of rewarding that bad behavior with my vote.

WHERE I'M AT

Like some other pro-Hillary bloggers, I've posted very little since Hillary's concession speech as I sort out my thoughts and feelings and determine where I go from here.

As to my vote for POTUS, well, that will never go to John McCain. The only question now is whether I support Obama or sit out the presidential race while voting for down-ticket Dems.

There is one other certainty, however. I will continue to protest the DNC's actions in permitting itself (perhaps even engineering the whole thing) to become a party built around a single individual, for the benefit of a small group of political insiders, and devaluing its traditional base of working-class Americans, minorities (other than AA) and women. The big tent has shrunk to a pup tent, and the progressive agenda, which appeared to have such a promising future at the beginning of this election cycle, seems to be in the hands of those who would dismiss or amend it so as to seem unrecognizable by traditional liberals.

DNC actions since Hillary conceded, including Howard Dean's efforts to keep her off the convention ballot, suggest to me that there is indeed an insiders' desire to diminish or destroy the Clinton legacy and to curtail any influence Bill and Hill might exert in the future.

There is an ugliness here that continues to disturb hardcore Hillary supporters, even those who have already pledged to back Obama. And while polls may indicate that women in general are voicing support for BO, the party and the Blogger Boyz are still "not getting it" -- the women and men who are most vocal in their refusenik status are activists, volunteers, and donors, the kind of people the party has relied on for generations to stuff the envelopes, man the polling places, and turn out the vote. While our numbers may not demonstrate voting power (and I question even that), we are not so expendable as they seem to think. We are informed and we are influencers, people who will continue to talk politics with our friends and coworkers, and our dissatisfaction with the nominee and the party will be heard and have repercussions beyond our single votes.

So to my options:

Do I continue as a Democrat and work to "change" the current direction of the party from the inside? Or do I change my registration to Independent in protest, as I currently favor? And do I fall in line with a candidate I mistrust and dislike as much as I do Obama? I don't give a flip about party unity; I'm not exactly thrilled with the Democratic Party leadership these days OR their idea of "unity" (read: caving in to the opposition Bushies and Rethugs, and including giving comfort to the Clinton-haters). If party leaders had really been all that desirous of unity, we would have seen fairer treatment of HRC and her voters, and she'd now be our nominee. After all, poll after poll during the primaries showed that Obama voters would be satisfied with Hillary, but the reverse? not so much.

I'm still considering.

DNC RBC VIOLATED RULES IN IOWA, NH AND SC

Today's must-read.

For anyone who still doubted that we wuz robbed.