Don't Say We Didn't Warn Ya

Over at the Politico, John Harris and Jim Vandehei have a fascinating piece that lays out all the reasons the Clintons believe Barack can't win the general election. And the Clintons may well be right (although it's the proposition that Hillary Clinton is staying in the race merely in the interests of protecting the party from certain defeat really doesn't pass the laugh test).

The problem for the Democrats who agree with them is: What, exactly, are they supposed to do about it? Deny Barack the nomination? Good luck with that one. Fact is, Dems may have a problem either way. Too many Dems have concentrated only on his good press and the "excitement" surrounding him, while overlooking or ignoring potential problems (enabled in large part by an adoring press corps). They may end up paying for their "crush" on Obama with a huge case of buyer's remorse.

Of course, if Hillary Clinton were really acting as altruistically as she'd have us believe, and is sincerely convinced her concerns are real and valid, she'd go out and make these arguments straight on to voting Democrats, wouldn't she, rather than leaking them to reporters?

One final note: There was one part of the piece that raised my eyebrows. The authors discuss Gore and Kerry's experiences as the Democratic nominees in order to compare them to what Barack's would be, and write:

Both men lost control of their public images to the right-wing freak show—that network of operatives and commentators working mostly outside of the mainstream media—and ultimately lost their elections as many voters came to see them as elitist, out-of-touch, phony, and even unpatriotic.

I guess that all the bloggers -- including those who raised valid issues, for example, about Kerry's "Christmas in Cambodia" that much of the MSM chose to ignore -- are just part of a "freak show." Wow.