Divided we stand

History, in Marx8217;s famous dictum, tends to repeat itself: the first time as tragedy and the second time as farce. So what do you call it the third time around? A bad sitcom? A bad marriage? A bad dream? All three8230; seem like viable ways of describing the Democratic Party8217;s current predicament. Even in the annals of Democratic ritual suicide, the 2008 campaign is something special: It8217;s not just that the protracted and painful nomination struggle8230; repeats all the classic themes of intra-Democratic conflict 8212; left vs centre, reformer vs the Establishment, pragmatist vs idealist8230;

8230;Democrats have never been asked to choose quite so nakedly which absolutely necessary demographic they would like to do without8230; Do we want to lose because we drove away blacks or because we drove away white women? Beginning with the debacle of 1968, every Democratic campaign8230; has followed pretty much the same template. The quadrennial conflict between liberals and moderates, outsiders and insiders, let8217;s-win-an-election realists and let8217;s-save-our-party dreamers8230; reflects the fatal uncertainty of a political party that lacks any clear constituency or ideological focus8230; The Democratic Party8217;s unresolved internal struggles have time and again undermined its ability to win elections or to govern effectively.

To get specific, the 2008 Obama-Clinton contest offers eerie echoes of two of the most traumatic8230; campaigns of recent Democratic history. First8230; there8217;s the comparison increasingly drawn8230; between Obama and Sen. George McGovern, who played the paradigm-shaping role of reformist outsider in 1972. Of course it8217;s meant to be a toxic metaphor, suggesting that Obama is a dewy-eyed Pied Piper leading his followers into a November electoral catastrophe. Let8217;s set that silliness aside right now. Whoever the Democrats nominate will not be facing a popular incumbent but an awkward Republican nominee who has embraced an unpopular war and remains unloved by his own party8217;s base. One should never underestimate the Democratic ability to lose elections, but ain8217;t nobody carrying 49 states this fall. This intra-Democratic conflict is profound and epistemological. It speaks to deeply divergent ideas about the nature of politics, of America and indeed of human life. It isn8217;t a battle for the soul of the Democratic Party; it is the Democratic Party.

Excerpted from Andrew O8217;Hehir8217;s 8216;The Haunting of the Democrats8217; in Salon