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If Clinton wins by using Wright to flip superdelegates after Obama wins with pledged delegates, states, and popular vote, I think it'd be time to give the Democratic Party what it then would deserve. Barack should leave it and form a true Progressive party and let Clinton and McCain fight for the country's middle right and far right. He's got millions of donors, thousands of volunteers, and the opportunity to win enough votes in the general to sustain continued funding for a real Progressive Party. His chance of winning the general will be slim, of course, but he's got the structure and fervent, motivated support to make it a viable option to run. More people have voted for him during the primary, obviously, than Clinton, and far more than have voted for McCain on the Republican side. And I see no reason he couldn't paint Clinton and McCain with the same brush. This also immunizes him against Reverend Wright and faux-issues of patriotism or "connections to radicals," because true progressives see through this silliness.
And Clinton supporters who think this would only doom her candidacy, I suggest otherwise. If her campaign is smart they'd use a Progressive Party Obama run to rhetorically position her in the political middle-right. She'd also still have the machinery of the Democratic party behind her. And the DLC will get its long-awaited wish to move the Party into the center/center-right. This seems like exactly what the DLC has wanted--except it'll no longer be able to count on the votes of progressives who they've repeatedly shunned. In many ways, Clinton will be free to be Clinton. She won't have to hide from her vote on Iraq, for instance, can cozy up to the likes of the Pittsburgh Tribune without worrying about progressives getting nauseated from the hypocrisy and can run on the center-right agenda she's voted for on major issues the last few years. She'll be unshackled from leftos and can expand the Democratic Party rightward. This is what she and the DLC want anyway. It'll also be an opportunity to show how the dubious Republican support she garnered is, in fact, real support. If her campaign believes this, then a three-way general is the way to prove it, and she'll have an opportunity to firmly plant the Democratic Party in the center/center-right, marginalizing the Republicans.
I mention all this because I'm a lifelong Democrat, a longtime straight-ticket puncher, and, no matter what, this November I'll be punching the down ticket races for Democrats out of necessity and/or respect--but the Democratic Party is less important to me than the progressive cause. We have a chance this election to nominate a progressive, and not just any progressive--one who can argue WHY we need to be progressive. I'd prefer he be our party's nominee--he's obviously, thus far, shown he deserves it. But IF he's cheated out of it by appeals to racism and fear--and only IF--why not give Clinton the hawkish wing of the Party, leave McCain with the radical right, and form a new party that already would have the netroots behind it, millions of donors, a highly motivated base of support, and an actual message we progressives can live with delivered by a candidate who would be absolutely free to deliver it? Millions of people want a candidate that didn't vote for war and who spoke out against it, who isn't pro-death penalty, who wouldn't vote for the use of cluster bombs on civilians, who wouldn't vote to set up Iran as the next target, who voted against the use of torture, who's a constitutional scholar, who's been a community activist, who actually can articulate difficult issues, etc etc etc.
That said, I hope our party in its current form delivers on the will of the people--including the will of the voters in FL and MI who were betrayed by political advantagists whose schemes backfired. I hope our party recognizes the opportunity it has to galvanize the nation behind a progressive cause by nominating the candidate who will by most accounts have far more pledged delegates, thousands more popular votes, and many more states won. If that person turns out to be Hillary Clinton legitimately, then we'll have a party with a candidate I don't agree with on most major issues but a legitimate candidate nonetheless. If that person is Hillary Clinton illegitimately and anti-democratically--based on supers coerced by right-wing racist fear-mongering--it'd be difficult to find a reason why I should be proud of this party, or why any progressive should be loyal to it.
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