Obama: A Bound Man?

A few people have sent me this video of Cornell West and Julianne Malveaux discussing Barack Obama’s historic acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention.

In this interview with Tavis Smiley, the duo express disappointment, felling Obama dismissed the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. by not “saying his name.” But their cries are really about Obama not wrapping himself in the Kente cloth of “The Movement.” But their logic is flawed. Obama has never presented himself as part of the Movement. He’s merely the byproduct of it. He never was a Civil Rights Activist, unlike Jesse Jackson, Obama is pure politician. He has some street cred as a community organizer, but his business, by and large, has been the business of any politician who’s aspired for higher office.

This almost returns us to the territory of the “is he black enough” question. It’s true that black people are often enamored with or drawn to political figures who make their mettle by getting into verbal fist fights with the establishment. They want to hear acknowledgment for those who cleared the path Obama has glided down. But when the prospects of becoming the “first black president” still conjures up images of fear in some, (Papa Snob often references Negrophobic nightmares of Michelle and Barack hosting the Rev. Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson for Christmas dinner at the White House, causing some white people to faint away.), Obama can’t afford to appear like the ones who came before him. He has to be different.

As much as I’d love to see him kicking ass and taking names in the name of “The Movement,” I understand today’s political realities. West and Malveaux shouldn’t hold their breath waiting on Obama to talk about “The Movement.” That talk is likely to never come. He cares, obviously, about minority issues, but to win this election, he can’t play on his minority status. He will always be a man bound in his efforts to ascend to the highest office in the land — just like any other candidate.

What do you think of the video?

Excited, Relieved, Concerned But Wouldn’t Miss It

I missed Bill Clinton’s address to the convention Wednesday night. I was out late and didn’t get home until 8:30, giving me a chance to at least catch Joe Biden’s acceptance speech. So I gave it a listen a few moments ago off of the Democratic National Convention homepage. I’ve always been fascinated by the Clintons like many other political watchers. The former president’s ability to wriggle loose from almost any situation back in the 1990s was fascinating to watch, and of course, he was quite deft at giving a good speech.

There was a lot of mocking of the term “catharsis” that Sen. Clinton used to a group of supporters, but it was great for someone like me who was sick of all the fighting and wanted everyone to go back to at least pretending they like each other, who was tired of the press dining off of manufactured hype night after night, and was tired of being one of the few who felt trapped in the middle, more amused, bemused and confused by the ongoings than angry.

So I felt good about both Clintons’ speeches. I realize it won’t shut someone like … let’s say … conservative pundit Leslie Sanchez up. But it was a great “I’m backing Obama. The Clintons are backing Obama. Please STFU about it already, Chris Matthews.”

To go with the relief that the Clintonista/Obamanite trench warfare may be over, I’m excited, concerned but would not miss Barack Obama’s acceptance speech tonight. The excitement is obvious. Obama’s going to accept the nomination. It’s historic. And it’s happening on the 45th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I have a dream” speech.

It’s an amazing coincidence (or a brilliant contrivance) that the Democratic National Convention is going to end on such a note, such a fascinating book end from the historic Civil Rights Era “March on Washington” and to the modern politics of today where blacks have made more and more advances on the national stage, as well as becoming governors. The growth, the progress continues and Obama is evidence of that.

But, please, don’t compare him to MLK. Obama is his own revolution. He’s a beneficiary of the Civil Rights Movement like myself and countless others, he just chose to mold his benefits into politics and go further than anyone dreamed. Dr. King lost his life fighting for the rights of the black and the poor and for Obama’s shot at the Oval Office. For me it’s apples and oranges. I think Jackie Robinson is a slightly better — but still imperfect — comparison. They share the whole suffrage of the first black person to do something, but ever person’s struggle is unique to their own time and circumstances.

I’m concerned about the venue, but not because the Republican’s plan to compare him to something cheesy, like Cecile DeMile’s “The Ten Commandments” when really William Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar” with Obama as Marc Anthony and Bill Clinton as Caesar being more apropos.

But that’s probably the elitist in me expecting parodies to be much more multifaceted and not mere farces.

My real concern comes from it being so vast with so many people. I don’t think anything bad will happen. But that doesn’t stop the concern considering all it takes is one whackadoodle.

But I’m not going to focus on such morose things and instead I’ll chose to be happy, hopeful and a little optimistic. I still think there’s only a fifty-fifty chance of him winning, but the fact that he was able to seize this chance, something that was out-of-reach for so many for so long, and become the first black person to lead a major party ticket earns him a bit of optimism from even the most hardened of political cynics.

Mad Joe Biden

Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Joe Biden

Sen. Joe Biden has a touch of The Crazy. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

The Crazy is present and alive within him, ready to strike at any moment. It’s the hallmark and curse of a verbose politico. Bill Clinton has The Crazy. John McCain has The Crazy. Political strategist James Carville has The Crazy. It’s the power to speak the truth in the most brutal of ways. The power to silence critics with a big FU at any given time. The Crazy makes you magnetic, but it also makes you stupid. You can get drunk off The Crazy. You can become toxic or volatile. The Crazy makes you prone to say anything at any given time and you live every moment as if you were Howard Beale shouting, “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take this anymore!”

“It’s all out there, in the clear public view,” Biden said about his past foibles. “I didn’t always comport myself in the way that I wanted to. … My private life has been lived in the public arena because y’all got me started so young,” he said. “I hadn’t been out of law school but a year when I got involved in the Democratic Party.” — “Biden Tells Homes State Delegation He’s Not Perfect,” CBSNews.com

Biden, throughout his career, has been known for both his unrelenting passion and his foot-in-mouth syndrome. He caught flack for referring to Obama as an “articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy” and was recorded uttering to voters that “you cannot go to a 7-Eleven or a Dunkin’ Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent.”

And those (along with almost calling Obama “Barack Amer …” at the end of his speech in Springfield, Ill.) are just the tip of a nonsensical iceberg.

There was the plagiarism issue when he ran for president in 1987 that caused him to drop out of the race. He also exaggerated his academic record. Explaining himself, Biden said, “In my zeal to rekindle idealism, I made some mistakes.” (“FACTBOX: Democrat Joe Biden, Obama’s No. 2,” Reuters)

No joke.

Biden is not the ideal vice president. For one, during the Democratic Primary he couldn’t even get out of Iowa. The Republicans are already running ads charging that it’s a sign of some defect in Obama’s character for picking up the man with no delegates over his closest and most bitter rival, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton. Clinton does not possess The Crazy, but neither does Obama. Both are nerds who’ve fashioned themselves into the politicians they are today. They’re not really know for giving folks the finger or allowing their tempers to get the best of them in public settings.

But it’s somewhat obvious that any Obama-Clinton pairing would be fraught with unnatural complexities. The person with the next highest number of delegates was John Edwards, but he was out the minute “I couldn’t keep it in the pants but that baby isn’t mine” scandal hit him. And then there was Bill Richardson, who despite his good qualities, also suffers from a bit of The Crazy and some wondered if a black man and a half Mexican were too “United Nations” for the presidential ticket.

Old white guy had just the right ring of banality.

Therefore we got Biden. That’s not such a bad thing.

Susan Castner, a Clinton delegate from Portland, Ore., said she sees some of Clinton’s qualities in Biden. She likes his experience, especially on foreign policy.

“It really kind of humanizes Barack Obama,” Castner said. “He has this air of perfection, and Joe Biden is more down to earth.”

“I love his passion,” Castner said of Biden. “I like him a lot.

But others struggle to love the Biden and the power of his Crazy. The Los Angeles Times’ Jonathan Chait wrote in 2007 that he couldn’t get over the fact that Biden was actually running given his flights of ridiculousness and “cluelessness” on the political trail.

Biden looks as if he’s the product of a laboratory experiment designed to create the world’s worst presidential candidate. If the Obama gaffe doesn’t knock him out of the race, something else will. I doubt he makes it to Iowa.

Yes, Biden’s very knowledgeable and dedicated. But to win the presidency, you actually have to be good at mass politics. Why is Biden not smart enough to recognize that? — “Joe Biden’s just a barrel of gaffes“

Ordinarily, this all would trouble me, but I’m copacetic about it now. Let his gums get to flapping. Say whatever is in that Crazy little head. Because you know what? It doesn’t matter. There was no vice president selection Obama could have made that would have shut up the naysayers. All his choices were bad. Clinton has the votes but if you go with her then the circus is back in town with Chris Matthews getting high of his Hillary supply. Everyone else from Evan Byah to Tim Kaine to Kathleen Sebelius sounded ridiculous. Why not Biden?

When he’s not being offensive he’s rather inoffensive. He’s a bit of a crier (I was shocked he didn’t bawl all over his son, Beau, after he introduced him), but he’s a man so he should be able to get away with it. He’ll go after the Republicans like a junkyard dog. He’s been in the senate forever so he’s vetted. No dead hookers should be showing up in his closet. He’s not going to upstage Obama (like anyone could) and is likely to be fiercely loyal. In his own failure to become president he’s probably just a gleeful Charlie Bucket, happy to secure himself on Obama’s “golden” ticket.

I look forward to this odd paring of rising star and old dude, resembling some wacky buddy cop comedy from the 80s like “48 Hours” or “Lethal Weapon.” Maybe it will be fun. Maybe they’ll be able to convince us when Biden starts talking like Biden that it’s really part of the script. He was supposed to read the laugh line that way. He was supposed to froth at the mouth and spew a trail of expletives. Maybe Obama’s staff will be able to switch up and make it cool. Like Biden’s just a mad dog’s worth of “awesome,” tearing into the hides of the opposition. Rules? That Crazy Mad Dog Joe Biden doesn’t have any rules! He’ll keep it realer than real.

Or he’ll embarrass the shit out of himself. Either way. It doesn’t really matter.

Popularity Breeds Contempt

I can see it now. Air Force One decked out with “22s” and spinners. Maybe even a set of hydraulics. Watching the hip-hop president in the Oval Office with his baseball cap on backward coping a gansta lean in the big chair. Should be really pimp, don’t you think? Cool man, real cool. Instead of giving away presidential cuff links to guests, as is the custom, he will offer “bling bling.” — “The Hip Hop President,” Craig R. Smith, World Net Daily

It only gets worse from there.

He’s the sum of all fears. It doesn’t matter that Barack Obama, an Ivy League grad lawyer and polished politician with a firm grasp of the English vernacular, hasn’t exhibited anything to warrant these fears.

And it doesn’t matter the inherent hypocrisy as the current Commander-In-Chief regularly mangles and assaults th English language, from making up words to fumbling them to resorting to terms such as “awesome” and “cool” to describe what he likes. For example, when he told Pope Benedict his speech was “awesome.” Or how he said he saw into Vladimir Putin’s soul. Or just recently when he was photographed chest bumping a military academy grad.

Apparently the qualities of white anti-intellectualism are good, but the qualities of black anti-intellectualism (that Obama doesn’t even represent) are a malignant evil that must be cast out.

I could understand calling Obama the “Hip Hop President” if he were aspiring politician/activist/author and self-described “Hip Hop journalist” Kevin Powell. But Powell, Obama, Kanye West, Willie Horton — Same thing, right? We do all amazingly look alike.

But what Smith’s column really represents a recurring meme of Barack Obama being a fluffy whipped chocolate confection that dances on your tongue but only fills you up in the most superficial of ways. That he is a man who is all hype and hope, but no substance. That he is a danger because he will put a stripper’s pole up in the Oval Office and Barack will suddenly morph into Dave Chappelle’s satire of “Black Bush.” Only instead of demonstrating how crazy George W. Bush sounds to black people, it will contort into the theater of the Negro absurd — a filming of “I Love New York” in the White House’s Map Room.

After a few months on the job, he can refer to his cabinet members as his “bitches.” Hey don’t get angry at me. Take a listen to any hip-hop song, and that is the type of endearing language you will hear. A group of playas that have no respect for the country. The same country that affords them a lifestyle most people only dream of, and all they can do is endlessly complain about it. Barack is very good at putting America down. Just like his hipster homeboys. Remember that hip-hop is a culture, not a color. It’s a mind set and a way of life – one that is chosen not inherited. It has been slowly infiltrating every class and race in America for years. A culture that has led people to believe they deserve more. That America somehow owes them something. And because they think they have been ripped off in some fashion, they are angry.

There’s a certain point where you start to think Smith’s column is a joke, a parody, but his paranoia is real. Popularity breeds contempt and suspicion and fear and envy, and it can come out in all forms, from inane columns like Smith’s which play on the “Negrophobia” of whites or from would be assassins the authorities tells us we shouldn’t worry about.

Wednesday the FBI arrested three men who were allegedly hatching a plot to assassinate the Democratic nominee.

They downplayed the incident, claiming they were “meth heads” incapable of pulling of such an attack. But really this talk of “capability” is moot. The Secret Service and the FBI both know that all it takes is one determined person, either politically motivated or mentally disturbed, to cut down a great man. The assassins of King, both Kennedys, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, Benazir Bhutto and John Lennon and the would-be assassins of Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan were a motley crew with obscure motives and mental deficiencies. Many working alone, telling their plans to no one.

All it takes is one. One motivated individual, sitting in their room, polishing a rifle or fashioning a bomb, dreaming of infamy or obsession. John Hinckley Jr. was a depressed, mentally disturbed man comsumed with actress Jodie Foster and the film “Taxi Driver.” He believed by shooting Reagan he would win her attention. If the FBI had found him before he shot Reagan they would have said Hinckley, with all his mental issues and meek demeanor, was not capable of pulling off an attack.

That’s the other side of popularity, of being such a dynamic figure, a symbol, on such a large stage — you attract everyone, for good and bad. Standing in Invesco Field, addressing 85,000 tonight could conjure up enough Negrophobia to set the opposition’s hair on fire. Powerful figures able to stir that much emotion and attract so many people are feared. Obama is fashioned as crude, B-Boy Caesar, staged by Leni Riefenstahl with Richard Wager’s “Flight of the Valkyries” remixed to Ludacris’ “Move Bitch” playing in the background.

For a black man who is not running for the end zone or performing an elaborate song and dance routine, for a black man to address such masses as the potential leader of the United States of America, Obama’s mere existence to some is a threat — a Rubicon once crossed that we can never return from.

The Republicans and John McCain can’t summon the excitement rippling through the Democratic side. So out of a mixture of envy and ambition, they attack him for being what he is — well liked and loved. He’s a celebrity. He’s Paris Hilton with a tan and a brain. They have to make fun of what they fear. They have no other recourse.

These are the things you have to live with, deal with and accept. Barack Obama has crossed over from man to icon and icons have a history of being smashed. The iconoclasts are watching and waiting, singing to themselves that the higher he rises the harder he’ll fall.

I don’t want to see Obama denigrated personally, politically or physically. I want fairness in the system. I want him to have the same chance McCain has and not be despised simply because he plays the game better. But that’s a lot to ask when even being well-liked is an indictment of your character.

Bu to them he is the Pied Piper of Hope and Change. They fear that when he opens his mouth to speak he will steal their children and their country away.

Michelle Obama: Denver Fashionista

More Michelle! More pictures! Dazzling in blue, beige, brown and cream! Working on finding out who the designer(s) is/are. If you have a tip, e-mail me! I love the second picture above with Michelle, hands on hips, ever the Glamazon, with her hubby, both looking out like they’re ready to take on the world … in impeccable style.

What the … ?

From The Los Angeles Times:

But down in Florida, Michelle Obama’s speech apparently drove one as-yet-unidentified viewer a little crazy. Police in Pasco near Tampa Bay said a man exited his RV and began yelling and shooting his rifle into the air, apparently not celebrating. When police arrived and later the SWAT team, the man ducked back inside and held them at bay for six hours, despite tear gas canisters.

According to Sheriff spokesman Kevin Doll, when the man finally surrendered at dawn, he said the cause of his unhappiness was Michelle Obama’s speech. He was taken for psychological evaluation.

Well, I’ve always thought racism was a mental illness …

It’s the Issues, Stupid: Part Deux

Here is the actual video for anyone who missed it. I wrote about it after Hillary’s speech.

It’s garish in so many ways and has been played several times on CNN already. This is frustrating for me on so many levels because I’m sick of the media playing up what boils down to a fringe group of hardcore Hillary dead-enders who really, at this point, hate Barack more than they actually love the issues they claim they are for.

I’m also tired of the constant stream of haterade from Barack supporters about Hillary supporters and the Clintons in general. Theses are politicians. You can’t get emotionally invested in them. You can like them. You can admire them. You can support and vote for them, but once you get lost to the pique of a back and forth campaign you start poisoning your own rationality.

No matter how the press hyped it, the Democratic Primary was not nearly as negative as past Democratic Primaries. Almost every blow between the two candidates was off-kilter, coded or passive aggressive. This was mostly because both candidates were running in Democratic Primary where the field is full of potential land mines of groups you could offend. One gaffe and every gay, black, Latino, feminist, blue collar, Ivy League intellectual, single mother, Liberal, progressive, populist, union member will hate you. Clinton tried whatever she could to stop him, dancing on the edge of knife wanting to win, but not wanting to be called a racist and in the end losing on both fronts.

I’m tired of the conspiracy theories about the Clintons. I can agree that they can be arrogant and self-absorbed, but I have no desire to hear old, rehashed Republican talking points from the 1990s coming out of the mouths of Barack supporters. The same supporters who are fighting Republican talking points of Barack being a secret Muslim who studied at a Madrassa.

I guess I want both Hillary Clinton and her supporters to be gracious in their defeat and I want Barack Obama and his supporters to be humble in victory.

He won. She didn’t. Can we call for a moratorium on reliving the Hillary Hate of the primaries now that it’s all over?

And can this woman in the video please, catch a clue? I want to shake her violently and scream for her to be rational. Barack Obama isn’t the Antichrist anymore than Hillary Clinton is the devil. Can’t people see that the hardliners are cut from the same idealogical cloth? Care more about your life and your community. I am tired of such childishness.

For the blog AroundHarlem.com I wrote the post “Un-Break My Party,” (set to run later today) which basically sums up my points here. Any lingering angst is just poisonous. It’s time for everyone to kiss and make up.

I wonder if the speech was enough to bring about some calm reflection and rationality to the waring tribes of the Democratic Party. I hope people who love Barack can feel proud and solid in him being the nominee without still worrying, obsessing or foaming at the mouth over the Clintons. I hope people who love Hillary can feel proud of the job she did and do what she asked of them.

Tonight’s the Night!

While the adults prepared for speeches did a walk through and answered the stray media question, Sasha Obama seized the gavel and gave it a bang on the podium.

It’s Michelle “Mommy” Obama’s big night. She’s the one giving the speech, but for the youngest Obama, who always looks a little bored during such events, this was a rare delight any six-year-old can appreciate.

From Huffington Post:

After emerging from the backstage area 15 minutes behind schedule, Michelle posed at the podium, wordlessly, with one hand on Sasha’s shoulder, for the benefit of various convention staff who worked on lighting and camera placement. Then, Michelle took the gavel at the podium and raised it halfway into the air, posed again for a moment, and then set the gavel gently back down.

At which point Sasha stood up on her tippy-toes and grabbed the gavel herself. After raising it as high in the air as her arms would allow, Sasha brought the gavel down hard, and let out an accompanying squeal of delight.

Also, the girls’ dresses and sweaters are very lovely and colorful in these shots. The adorable factor is at an 11 here.

Obamas Going On Vacation, Heading to Hawaii

Nothing like a little break before the convention. And don’t the all just look adorable per usual? These pictures were taken by The Associated Press at O’Hare International Airport in Chicago. Hawaii’s going to throw a little welcome home bash for their quasi native son.

I’ll keep my eye out for additional pictures of the Obamas in Hawaii and post them as I find ’em. If you find any, send them my way!

This is a good time for a breather. It’s August. It’s dull. The cable news and its punditocracy are so bored they’re back to getting a woody over every fart and gurgle coming out of the Clintons’ mouths.

Honestly, I just don’t find what Hillary says to a small group of her most hardcore supporters captured on a cell phone news, especially since we all know she isn’t going to do jack crap. This “Showdown at the OK Corral” speculation is just that — speculation. I didn’t even find Bill’s inability to be all “rah, rah, sis cum bah” for Barack in that ABC interview very relevant either. Mostly because their passive-aggressive moaning means absolutely nothing.

Unless the two plan to immolate themselves in front of Invesco Field during Obama’s acceptance speech I just don’t give a fahrvergnügen. MSNBC’s Chuck Todd just can’t make me care just because Mike Barnicle is chanting “Fight! Fight!” while they guestimate what Bill is thinking based on facial ticks and voodoo.

But they have nothing to say when no one actually fights. When the Clintons throw out some faint praise. When Obama plays it all down and dismisses it all, pundits balk. Surely this is trickery! The media wants a repeat of the primaries, agitation for the sake of agitation. But no one will give it to them therefore the hype must be manufactured.

Everyone speculates that Obama will squeeze out the Clintons’ roles at the convention and then news leaks that Bill Clinton will speak in the Wednesday slot. As if the last two term, popularly elected Democratic president, no matter how big of a douche he’s been lately, was going to be boxed out of the convention. What? And give these morons MORE to speculate about?

At the end of the day, they’ll still be up there, skinnin’ and grinnin’, because they both are party people … Democratic Party people. And no one’s throwing a party where they’re not invited. All those cameras and pomp and circumstance. Bright lights. Big city. And he’s a former president for Jeebus sake! Why was it ever a debate whether or not he’ll be there? George W. is toxic and he’ll be at the RNC convention. Probably not near McCain, but he’ll be there.

Normally I try not to blame the messengers, but it seems like the messengers want to spin their way into some DNC disharmony hoping for any controversy during the convention when I doubt there will be any.

Why can’t we just call the Clintons drama queens and move on? Why the over analyzation. It’s not that complicated.

Political Shenanigans Soldier On!

Found two stories today on Huffington Post and The Carpetbagger Report about the delegate crisis in the Democratic Party. The Clintons are still pushing hard to get the party to seat Florida and Michigan’s delegates in light of the delegate fight between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. She says the Dems can’t afford to alienate Michigan and Florida who were stripped of their delegates for moving up their primaries. The Obama camp says Hillary can’t change the rules in the middle of the game, especially since Clinton won the bogus primaries.

Now rumors are floating that possibly the Florida and Michigan votes could get a “do-over” with a possible caucus. And if this comes to pass the Clinton camp will go bonkers because Obama has an A-plus in winning caucuses.

Anyway, it’s all madness! Simply madness! In political reporter Craig Crawford’s Trail Mix blog for Congressional Quarterly he writes about the kooky possibilities this fight could produce.

When Howard Dean was asked on Tuesday in a CNN interview if he would support ultimately seating nominating delegates from the two states that he had punished for leapfrogging the primary calendar, the Democratic National Committee chairman said, “You want everybody on board.” And he went on to announce that the delegate dispute “will be revisited by a credentials committee not controlled by me.”

In other words, a bruising convention-eve credentials fight is brewing – which means that Florida and Michigan, the states once derided as meaningless, could actually put Hillary Rodham Clinton over the top in the final delgate count.

If neither Clinton nor Barack Obama makes it to the convention in Denver this summer with a nominating majority, the battle for Florida’s 210 delegates and Michigan’s 157 votes could be decisive. Both of those primaries were won by Clinton, although the candidates didn’t campaign in either state and Obama took his name off the Michigan ballot.

And the more shenanigans could be a-foot, Crawford writes!

Both inside and outside games will emerge in this credentials fight. First, the rival campaigns must compete behind the scenes for the support of credentials committee members – a contest that could prove to be the most important “primary” of all.

Outside the backrooms, the Clinton campaign will surely mount a vigorous public relations drive aimed at turning the debate into a question of “voting rights” and “civil rights,” hoping to put Obama in the position of seeming to oppose such civil liberties. And the Clinton team will argue that Democrats simply cannot afford to deny entry to two of the nation’s biggest swing states in the general election.

On top of all this DNC Chairman Howard Dean is trying to figure out how he can stop the Democratic race from turning into an ugly, very public brokered convention fight if no clear front runner emerges. Rumors are now floating that if the race remains tight and contentious Dean may sit Barack and Billary down and force some sort of “resolution.”

Sayeth the New York Times:

“I think we will have a nominee sometime in the middle of March or April,” Mr. Dean said Wednesday on the NY1 cable news channel, “but if we don’t, then we’re going to have to get the candidates together and make some kind of an arrangement. Because I don’t think we can afford to have a brokered convention; that would not be good news for either party.”

But The Carpetbagger Report’s Steve Benen is curious about how Dean would pull any “arrangement” off.

Dean can sit down with Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, aiming for “some kind of arrangement,” but what kind of deal could he offer? Obviously, both candidates want the Democratic nomination, and there aren’t any substitutes. The next best thing, of course, is being the vice presidential nominee, but I’m still skeptical this could happen, especially in “the middle of March or April.”

Even if we put aside the fact that the two candidates don’t appear to like one another, and have little incentive to pick the other as a running mate, I think there’s a more practical problem. By April, Obama and Clinton will probably still be about tied. Given this, I suspect both would tell Dean, “Why should I give up and accept the #2 slot when I’m this close to winning the nomination?”

To settle the delegate fight I’m suggesting a couple of rounds in the circle of death. Weapons optional, but encouraged, shown on pay-per-view or HBO. After all, if we’re going to take the party out in hell-fire and flames, let’s do this shit in style.