If any distinction is to be made regarding Hillary Clinton's candidacy this year, is the stark division that has been revealed between the "Party" and the people. The forces in the Party have agendas that are clearly running counter to the will of their own people.
HRC is being forced to ride the Party "Unity Pony". She was strong-armed by the Party to fall on her sword and she did so. Nothing short of a massive implosion is going to change the outcome in Denver. If all the revelations about Obama didn't send the Super Delegates screaming into Hillary's camp during the Primary, it is clear nothing will stop them from pursuing their treachery nor rouse others from their kool aid induced stupors.
HRC's devout unity will not trigger a reversal of their votes, it merely assuages their guilt and frankly stops them from actively seeking to further destroy her future in the Party. To put it bluntly, it is obvious that a group in the Party did precisely what Keith Ogermann suggested: took Hillary into a back room and only Obama came out.
What they and Ogermann didn't anticipate was the counter insurgency!
Enter PUMA, the voice of the people demanding to be heard. There are over 250 groups within the movement with a variety of different objectives. The main one being refusal to toe the Party line, obey orders and vote according to the script. That's because the Party went so far off script, so far off message this year, that millions of loyal Democrats no longer recognize it nor want to be associated with a horrible plot that sabotaged Hillary and now features the perennial understudy Obama in the leading role.
Hillary has become a Party hostage and her political survival and chance to have any impact or influence on policy is utterly tied to these jackals. In a two company town she is literally married to one of them and their former CEO.
There are groups like the Denver Group and Electability Watch that are working to hold the Democrats to their own principles and rules for procedure that include an honest and open roll call, fair reflection and a legitimate vote from the floor. HRC is prevented from pursuing this in any authentic way for the same reasons she, unlike previous candidates, wasn't permitted to continue her Primary fight throughout the summer to the Convention: Party political survival.
But that doesn't have to stop people like the Denver Group and the Electability Watch from pursuing her viability and 2008 candidacy. Rank and file members can make her case free from the constraints of Party political extortion that bind Hillary. And as a matter of course, HRC should not release her delegates until the last moment, like every Primary predecessor. If something happens to Obama between now and the convention, the Dems need a nominee.
PUMA and the Denver Group and the Electability Watch have some causes in common, but not all. The main one being strong proponents of HRC's candidacy per se and challenges to the Party's gamesmanship.
Does PUMA negatively impact HRC with the Party? While it contradicts her "unity" message, it is not coming from HRC nor any of her surrogates. In fact, her surrogates are actively pursuing her being part of the unity ticket. They have even gone so far as to appear on PUMA radio to officially put distance between her and the movement. Therefore, it is not to her detriment.
However, the positive 2008 impact of PUMA for HRC, which is really making the Party coupists sweat, is the fact that PUMA is composed of millions of disaffected Democrats (and even Republicans and Independents) who are intensely loyal to Hillary and will not vote for Obama! It shows the Party that, contrary to their best machinations and maneuvers, they NEED Hillary, who has established herself as the ultimate crossover candidate. It shows them that, unlike their own assembly line, predictable personas that generate compliant, assembly line votes, HRC's base is not transferable to any other Democrat. This gives Hillary enormous credibility, legitimacy and power by virtue of having become her own BRAND, distinct from the larger Party pool and yet able to bring people to them. Much to their surprise and consternation, Hillary has established herself as a big fish in their pond and PUMAs show the Party over and over that their survival depends on her.
In their attempts via an intra Party coup to wrest control from the Clintons and install their own mouthpiece, the Party entirely underestimated two critical factors: the unwavering intensity of Clinton loyalty and the amazing power generated by one Hillary Rodham Clinton, a Superstar in her own right and voice for millions of Americans.
You know how they say that the Clintons never give up, never give in and will keep fighting for the little guy?
Well, meet Hillary's constituents.
PUMA!
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