The "Humpty Dumpty" Problem

In last night's ABC News Democratic Debate, Charlie Gibson floated a proposal to both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama that was intended to heal the Democratic Party following their rather self-destructive process in getting the nomination. Gibson referred to Gov. Mario Cuomo's proposal that they, each of them, continue to fight their hard fights for the nomination; right up until the convention. At the end, whoever wins the nomination, would they "now" agree to take the other as their Vice President? With more dancing than could be seen on ABC's "Dancing with the Stars" and with Charlie Gibson looking more like the joking host, Tom Bergeron, neither would actually commit to such an idea.

Mario Cuomo's concern is a legitimate one. Right now, as many as 1/3 of the Obama and Clinton supporters are polling that they won't even vote in the Fall, or they will actually vote for McCain if their person doesn't get the nomination. This attitude is showing up in poll after poll. This really sucks the wind out of the Democrat's hopes of taking the Presidency. If you couple this with John McCain's appeal to Reagan Democrats and Independents, as Cuomo astutely senses, then the Democrats have a real problem on their hands. Additionally, let's not forget that Florida and Michigan Democrats may be completely left out of the process and their alienation may also seriously hurt the Democratic Party's hopes in the Fall election.

I am sure that you all remember this little nursery rhyme:

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall.
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
All the king's horses and all the king's men
Couldn't put Humpty together again.

It may well be that the Democratic Party will be looking a lot like Humpty Dumpty and, like all the king's men in that rhyme, the Democratic National Committee boss, Howard Dean, and his men (and women) many not be able to put the Party back together again after this year's savage nomination process! It might just be that the Republicans and, specifically John McCain will be eating a big, fat, Democratic-served up omelet in November!