The Bad with the Good

Written by: Tom Bearse on Mar 21, 2008 9:30 AM EDT

I support Sen. Barack Obama and I've criticized Sen. Hillary Clinton, as well as a host of other Democratic candidates.  It's fun.  But I would like to add that I am not enamored with the sentiment sometimes expressed by some former Dean supporters that they won't vote for the Democratic nominee in November if it's not a candidate whom they supported in the primaries.

There's a very specific reason.  Neither Clinton nor Obama are perfect candidates.  I've seen more in Obama that appeals to me as a presidential candidate but, unfortunately, I'm as willing as the next Obama supporter to overlook his faults because of my support.  The most serious conflict I've experienced in my assessment of his judgment regards a story of which I wasn't previously aware and learned only recently.  The details are reported by Matt Renner of Truthout and David Moberg of In These Times, to name two sources.

Many people here will recall Christine Cegelis, a Dean's Dozen candidate who valiantly opposed Henry Hyde for his seat in 2004, in a grassroots campaign that garnered an astonishing amount of support despite the long odds.  She was an early candidate for the vacant position in 2006, but in a move that was widely publicized and harshly criticized here, DCCC chair Rahm Emanuel hand selected Tammy Duckworth to enter the primary from outside the district.  This interference was vehemently protested and resented at BFA, understandably in my opinion.

Duckworth's candidacy got boosts from other Illinois legislators of otherwise good character and reputation, including Dick Durbin, Jan Schakowsky, and Barack Obama.  Her media consultant was David Axelrod.

As I've mentioned before, I regard Emanuel as a swine who is beneath contempt, so seeing Obama, Durbin and Schakowsky involved with him in this type of base politics was embarrassing to me.  I'm not saying this to diminsh Obama's chances or urge some defection of support.  It's only to state that I am not so doctrinaire a political advocate that I would disdain the candidacy of Sen. Clinton, should she be the nominee, for failing some type of political purity test that few, if any, office seekers could pass, and I would ask others to carefully consider the wisdom of doing it themselves.

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