The BARACKY HORROR UNITY SHOW

There was no rain, no thunder and no lightning crackling across the sky. There was no foreboding mansion with creaky doors and broken windows as a stand in for Democratic National Committee headquarters in Chicago. But there just as well could have been.

What the DNC was trying to bill as a show of unity both Thursday night at the Mayflower Hotel and in Unity New Hampshire on Friday was an ongoing horror show produced by those masters of Democratic horror, Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi and Howard Dean.

Hillary Clinton showed up playing the kidnapped heroine and appeared on stage in New Hampshire with Barack Obama and you could almost feel members of the audience gasping and wanting to shout " No! Don't do it! Watch your back! Get away!" as if they were expecting Jeremiah Wright to leap out from behind a tree any minute.

Clinton read her lines from the prepared script and talked about electing Obama the next President and her supporters cringed in horror. Everyone knew the kidnapped heroine was doing everything that Dean and the DNC and Obama wanted her to do because that's what kidnapped heroine's do, and she played her part to the hilt.

It was ironic because after causing more disunity than the party has ever seen in it's history, Dean, Pelosi and Obama now wanted Hillary Clinton to try and save the day because they know they can't win in November without her.

As Clinton praised Obama and the figurative lightning and thunder crackled overhead, you could sense that most Clinton supporters were watching through their fingers and biting their lower lips at the hard to take parts, like what a wonderful, dashing and decisive commander-in-chief Obama would make. The audience probably bit their lips in solidarity thinking that Clinton was doing the same thing.

When Obama spoke, he talked about his grandmother in Hawaii and how she expressed sympathy for Clinton during the campaign and you could feel the audience suck in their breath, wanting to chant "I told you so". "She was rooting for her grandson," Obama said, adding that she also had complained that Clinton was being treated unfairly.

This little line must have sent more waves of horror through the crowd. Imagine. His own grandmother felt Hillary Clinton was getting unfair treatment. It certainly wasn't a line that is going to inspire a lot of unity with Clinton voters. Having him acknowledge it now after the damage has been done is probably going to evoke more horror for the DNC in the future.

The show had its premiere a few nights ago at the Mayflower Hotel to similarly bad reviews. According to most reports from the Clinton donors invited to the preview, it bombed.

In a brief Q&A that took place Obama was asked if he supported having Clinton's name on the ballot and a roll call vote at the convention. His answer was "I'm not here to negotiate the convention". You could almost hear the major chord from a gothic organ.

The answer was telling. The one who is really scared to death by all this is Obama. He knows he can't win without her if he is the nominee. But he also knows that if he is able to get Dean and the DNC to throw democratic principles over the side and keep her off the ballot in Denver he will alienate her 18 million voters. Given his last two weeks of his own Obama horror show with breaking his campaign pledge on public financing, his reversal on Jerusalem, his embrace of the telecom immunity bill, and the Johnson fiasco, ( not to mention his famous seal) he probably wakes up nights in a cold sweat worrying about a roll call vote.

He was afraid of her in the primaries, he was afraid to debate after getting roughed up at the ABC debate which is why he backed out of the last two, and he is now afraid of what might happen if Clinton's name is on the ballot and super delegates get to vote without pressure from Vampirella herself, Nancy Pelosi.

In the interim, this phony show of unity isn't fooling anyone. Clinton voters see through it, even if they are seeing through it through their fingers. Everyone knows she is playing the role she's been asked to play, doing what she was asked to do.

But in spite of the DNC's best efforts, The Unity Show is laying an egg with audiences -- especially Clinton donors and supporters, the very people for whom it is aimed.

Maybe someday it will become a cult classic with Obama supporters having midnight showings, wearing Pelosi and Dean masks and squealing with delight as he throws Wright, the Trinity Church and his seal under the bus, but for now the show gets another performance at the Mayflower on Sunday night. And after the kidnapped heroine makes her entrance, reads her lines, and the show is over, its going to be obvious that it's not Clinton who needs saving but the Democratic Party. And if Obama, Dean and Pelosi should somehow rub their hands together and think they can save it by throwing democratic principles into a vat of acid, and hold a convention without Clinton's name on the ballot and no roll call vote, the next horror show will be at the Democratic Convention in Denver. And that one will be rocky.

AN OBAMA SUPPORTER EXPLAINS IT ALL TO US.

Since so much of what Barack Obama has had to say has sounded like nonsense and snake oil to so many people and since many people consider him to be an underhanded and dishonest politician that cant be trusted , and given that he has recently made news by reversing himself and breaking his pledge on public financing, embracing the anti-civil liberties telecom immunity bill and making statements about Jerusalem that has angered both sides, I decided the best way to find out what it was about Obama that attracted his supporters was to ask one.


MR: So tell me, what has Senator Obama ever accomplished
that qualifies him to be President of the United States?

OS: There you go again playing the old politics of the past.

MR: So accomplishment is the old politics of the past?

OS: Yes.

MR: So the new politics, the one Senator Obama and you
support and represent is that you don't have to
actually have done anything to be President.

OS: Senator Obama represents hope.

MR: Hope for what?

OS: Hope.

MR: Hope for hope?

OS: Yes.

MR: I see.

OS: And Senator Obama represents change.

MR: What kind of change? from what to what?

OS: Just change.

MR: But it has to be change from something to something.That's
what change is.

OS: Senator Obama stands for a new change in Washington
and a new change in politics, ejecting the old
politics of the past.

MR: The old politics where you had to actually
accomplish something

OS: Yes.And hope and change.

MR: But you cant say what kind of hope and change

OS: Not yet.

MR: Why not?

OS; He hasn't told us yet.

MR: Do you expect him to?

OS: I don't know.

MR: What kind of change are we talking about?

OS: A new beginning.

MR: Wouldn't anyone represent a new beginning after 8 years
of Bush?

OS: Not this kind of beginning.

MR: And what kind of beginning is that?

OS: A beginning of hope and change.

MR: If Senator Obama represents change from the old
politics why did he use an old Washington insider to
vet his vice- presidential candidates and then have
to dump him because he was involved in shady loans deals?

OS: You're using that as a distraction.

MR: What's it distracting from?

OS: Senator Obama's message.

MR: And what message is that?

OS: Hope and change.

MR: Senator Obama broke his pledge to finance
his campaign with public money, something he
promised during the primary. He went back on
his word.

OS: Sometimes you have to.

MR:.Why?

OS: To fight against the old politics of the past so he
can do what the country needs.

MR: And what's that?

OS: Bring hope and change.

MR: Hope and change for what?

OS: For what matters.

MR: What matters?

OS: Hope and change
.
MR: Okay so what would be the single biggest change
Senator Obama would accomplish if he were elected?

OS: He's African American.

MR: That's not an accomplishment that's genetics.

OS: You're being divisive. That would be a big change.

MR: But when the country elects the first black President
shouldn't it be because he or she is the best candidate
and the fact that they are black be totally besides the
point?

OS: No. It's about hope and change.

MR: Is it hope for change or hope and change

OS: Either one. its up to you.Its all good.

MR: So it doesn't matter.

OS: No.And he can unify people and bring them together.Help
us over come the divisions that divide us.

MR: Then why is the Democratic Party the most divided in
it's history with almost half the party against him and
most refusing to vote for him?

OS: Uneducated racist Clinton voters.

MR: What flavor Kool-Aid is that?

OS: Cherry.

OBAMA'S SEAL OF DISAPPROVAL

It's interesting how the mind works.On one level it always wants to tell the truth and sometimes it devises ways to do it on its own even when someone consciously is trying to hide it. That's why people slip up.

Obama's unveiling of his fake presidential seal seems like the perfect example. Its almost as if its both he and his advisors' way of getting the truth out about Obama's and his candidacy.The symbolism of a fake Presidential seal is hard to miss.

After capping off probably the worst first two weeks any supposed Presidential nominee ever had, two weeks where he angered Muslims, Jews, civil libertarians, Democrats who opposed the telelcom immunity bill, and the editorial boards of every newspaper that had endorsed him because of backing out of his pledge on public campaign financing, Obama did what any thoughtful, serious, reflective serious, nominee for President would do. -- he unveiled his own fake Presidential seal. Not the kind that flaps their fins and catches fish in mid air. He already has enough of those with Keith Olbermann, Arianna Huffington, Newsweek and the rest of the news media swallowing everything he throws their way.

This one is supposed to make him look presidential which if you think about it, shows how unpresidential he really is, since if you are Presidential you don't need a prop to make you look like you are. It was obvious they needed a political strategy, something to make him look Presidential because obviously nothing coming out of his mouth has. So in pure Obama fashion they discarded substance and came up with something that looks like it came off the wall of a Knights of Columbus rec room.

No one knows exactly where it came from. One inside rumor has it that he saved box tops and mailed them to Kellog's in Battlecreek Michigan to cash in on their "very own Presidential seal" offer but the box tops didn't count because they were fraudulent. Supposedly Senator Levin intervened and Kellog's sent it anyway. But this is unconfirmed. The other speculation is that it came from a store in Chicago that makes bowling trophies.

But actually, in the end this seal is going to have a very real and useful function. It's going to function exactly the same way the real Presidential seal functions. Its going to remind people of who he is.

Speaking behind a phony Presidential seal is going to be a reminder of everything else that's fake that the seal represents. All the lies, deceptions, deceits and conceits that has earmarked his entire campaign, from his lies about his relationship to Wright and the Trinity Church to NAFTA, Iraq, and his current lies and reversals of the last two weeks. It will act as a warning label, reminding people that when he speaks no one needs to listen because what he has to say isnt any more genuine than the seal he is standing behind.

The seal itself is so preposterous and clownish, it's almost as if Obama is intentionally trying to make a fool of himself and he is succeeding, exhibiting the kind of behavior crisis counselors describe as a cry for help, as if he were saying "I'm over my head and I know it, I know I don't have a clue as to what I'm doing, I've suckered all these people in but now what? What am I going to do? Help me. Get me out of this".

And possibly super delegates who declared for him will do just that, since every day Obama is helping them come to their senses. Which is another reason that Senator Clinton's name needs to be on the ballot in Denver. Aside from the fact that there is a moral obligation to let the democratic process play out and for Senator Clinton's candidacy to be recognized, the Democrats and super delegates need to be in a position to make a choice. They clearly need a safety net. Any attempt by Howard Dean and the DNC to remove Clinton's name from the ballot for the sake of an appearance of party unity that would be as genuine as Obama's seal, would not only destroy any chance the Democrats would have for an alternative, it would also be met with mass desertions from the party by most of Clinton's 18 million voters.For them, taking her name off the ballot would be the last straw. And given the way Obama is going this is not what the DNC needs.

Anyone who had the two weeks Obama's had, would, one would think, lay low and regroup. After all, losing the person you put in charge of vetting your vice presidential candidates because of shady loan deals, adding Muslim women to the list of all the other women he's insulted,making statements about Jerusalem, the thorniest problem in the Middle East and then reversing himself within 24 hours angering Israelis, American Jews and Palestinians who all are now united in thinking that he is an idiot who cant be trusted, then angering most liberal Democrats with his embrace of the telecom immunity bill, and as if that wasn't enough, topping it off by going back on his pledge to publicly finance his campaign showing how shamelessly he can lie and angering editorial boards all across the country who feel betrayed, would not, to a sane person, call for the unveiling of your own fake Presidential seal. But this is Obama. Always looking for something to hide behind. Always looking to put out more snake oil in the hopes that people will buy. Maybe he's been hoping the Philadelphia Inquirer will see this as another "Lincoln moment".

As the Obama people have been saying for months, this is the candidate of change. He is certainly the first candidate to unveil his own Mother's Best Boy Presidential seal. No one can deny that. But he is showing super delegates and the Democrats who have supported him that, as every day goes by, he is becoming not so much the candidate of change, but the reason to change candidates. And it's possible that in Denver super delegates are going to do just that and give him their own seal of disapproval that he can take back with him to Illinois.

NOTE: For those of you who haven't heard, Fox News reported last night that Obama has decided to drop the seal. Either that or Kellog's demanded he return it. This might eventually make it's way into the language. From now on when someone does something incredibly stupid people can say, "He dropped the seal".

FURTHER NOTE: THE DENVER GROUP, a new PAC whose goals are to make sure Senator Clinton's name is on the ballot and that there is a roll call vote at the convention in Denver is now up and running and accepting contributions.

OBAMA'S AMATEUR NIGHT CANDIDACY AND WHY THE DEMOCRATS NEED AN OPEN CONVENTION NOT AN OPEN MIC NIGHT

Howard Dean,Nancy Pelosi, the press and super delegates supporting Obama never seemed to understand that running for the Presidency of the United states isn't the same as having open mic night at the DNC.

In the last two weeks alone Barack Obama's candidacy has had a lot more in common with amateur night at the Comedy Store than anything resembling a serious candidate for President

But a funny thing has happened to Obama on his way to Denver. No one is laughing. Obama's act is bombing. And even Howard Dean, Pelosi, Obama's supporters and the super delegates sitting in the audience are looking grim. And for good reason. Obama's act isn't funny. Except to those who didn't vote for him.

In less than two weeks Obama, the candidate who said he was ready to be President on day one, has had Jim Johnson, the person he put in charge to vet Vice Presidential candidates resign within days of his appointment because of questions over shady loans, he angered Muslims, probably all over the world but especially in the US because he removed two Muslim women who were sitting directly behind him because he didn't want them to be seen, then Mr. Agent of Change reversed himself and broke his pledge to have his campaign publicly financed showing for the millionth time his word means absolutely nothing, and last but certainly not least, he told an audience of 7,000 Jews that he completely supported an undivided Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and then 24 hours later after the Palestinians went ballistic, reversed himself again trying, almost hilariously, to say that he didn't make himself clear about what he meant by "undivided".

What he managed to do within a 24 hour time span, was completely shred his credibility with both Israelis' and Palestinians on the most important and difficult foreign policy question in the Middle East.

It looks like Obama is going to have to find another introduction to his act by Howard Dean, his possible MC, who is not going to be able to introduce him as "Mr. Words Matter," or "The Change Candidate". Some people are saying Obama sounds like a loose cannon, but given his campaign slogan maybe from now on he'll be referred to as "loose change".

It hasn't taken Obama long to show what more than half the Democratic party saw throughout the primary. There is no talent or skill there other than for lying and deception and duping the easily duped, and he is leaving no one laughing. Least of all the DNC. Jerry Seinfeld would make a better President.At least he would leave them laughing.

But for the DNC and the Democrats chances in the fall its no laughing matter. Before he has even become the official nominee ( and if the Democrats have an open and honest convention with Clinton's name on the ballot and a roll call vote anything can happen) he has had the person charged with vetting his Vice Presidential candidates resign, he has destroyed his credibility with both Israelis and Palestinians, he has insulted Muslims which can do us no good whatsoever in the war on terror, he has alienated those who believe in campaign finance reform, including the editorial boards who supported him for his position on that, but one thing he has done -- he has miraculously unified Israelis, Palestinians and Muslims who all now collectively agree that he is an idiot.

This should come as no surprise. Obama has lied, backtracked and changed his story repeatedly throughout the campaign, most evident in the Wright episode displaying the same lack of credibility and character we have come to expect. He did the same during the Florida and Michigan controversy, running on a campaign slogan that "voices must be heard" then doing everything he could to keep the voices in Florida and Michgian from counting simply to furhter his own personal ambitions. The press chose to ignore all this rank dishonesty and instead of holding his feet to the fire, acted like it was nothing.

The press actually praised his attempt to wriggle out from under the lies he was caught telling in the Wright episdoe with his Philadelphia speech, the "I am not a crook" moment which the same editorial writers who praised Bush's reasons for going to war in Iraq called his "Lincoln Moment".

Following his "Lincoln Moment", Obama lied to the people of Ohio about his position on NAFTA, misrepresented his position on Iraq which was revealed by one of his former foreign policy advisors and after the Wright episode where he lied repeatedly about his relationship to him and his church,what he knew, when he knew it, and majestically said he couldn't disown Wright or his church, any more than he could disown his own grandmother or the entire black community disowned both Wright and his church when it became to his political advantage to do so..We are still waiting news on his grandmother. And probably so is his grandmother.

Then we had this great line from Obama's Memorial Day speech, something Im sure even Seinfeld envied.

"On this Memorial Day, as our nation honors it's unbroken line of fallen heroes, and I see many of them in the audience today..."

Okay now that was funny.But not if your Howard Dean, the DNC or super delegates supporting him. And not if you were a Democrat hoping to take back the White House which is looking more and more remote every day as long as Obama is the nominee. But maybe now super delegates are starting to see why the majority of the party voted against him in the first place. And why Clinton supporters kept using the term "drinking the Kool-Aid".

But there is still something that can be done and Howard Dean needs to do it. He needs to insure the Democratic Convention in August is an open convention not a coronation. And not the open mic night Obama's candidacy has become.

There is a better act waiting in the wings. Hillary Clinton has not withdrawn her name as a candidate. She hasn't released her delegates. Her campaign is suspended, not over. Obama's actual pledged delegate lead over Clinton is only 1% -- a lead of only 77 delegates not counting the 55 disputed delegates he didn't win and didn't earn in the Michigan compromise that the Clinton campaign said they would take to the credentials committee.And lets not forget that Hillary Clinton is the winner of the popular vote.

Howard Dean and the DNC need to have an open convention with Hillary Clinton's name on the ballot which is what should happen in any case. They must have a roll call vote as the democratic process dictates, so that delegates for Clinton, duly elected have their voices heard and the votes recorded and also so that super delegates can do what they were supposed to do in the first place -- use their judgment to pick the best nominee -- not the judgement of someone with a lower job approval rating than George Bush which is what Nancy Pelosi has, and not Dean's judgement, but their own. It is the only sensible thing to do, and the only thing that can give the Democratic Party time to ensure the best candidate is the nominee.

Obama as the Democratic Presidential candidate has already become the bad joke a lot people thought he would be. And it should be obvious by now that he is not going to leave anyone laughing. Instead the time may be coming for Obama to simply flick the ash off his cigar and say, "Say goodnight Michelle". And if he doesnt, the Democrats still have that cane.

NOTE: THE DENVER GROUP is a new PAC that will be seeking to insure that Howard Dean and the DNC have an open convention and that Clinton's name will be on the ballot and that there will be a roll call vote which the democratic process demands. The PAC should be up and running by Tues and ready to accept contributions.

GORE ENDORSES OBAMA, DEAN AND PELOSI RELEASE TIPPER UNHARMED

I don't know if Howard Dean, Nancy Pelosi and the DNC had gotten so desperate they kidnapped Tipper to get Gore's endorsement, but they were probably close. Al Gore endorsed Barack Obama and most people yawned. So what else is new? It wasn't anything that wasn't expected. But what it is notable is that it came two weeks after Hillary Clinton endorsed Obama.

There is no doubt that he was pressured heavily by Howard Dean, Pelosi the Axelrod of Evil and the DNC to come out and endorse Obama. Does anyone think he just forgot? The longer Gore waited the worse it looked for Obama and a lot of people in the Obama camp were wondering what he was waiting for.

Gore was being nothing more than a grudging party loyalist, doing what was asked to do, and whose lack of endorsement to date was speaking volumes by it's omission. It's obvious he was asked, cajoled, then finally pressured, then ultimately gave in and came out for Obama.

Given the pathological fear of losing that infects Dean and Pelosi, the pressure must have been enormous. How would you like to hear Nancy Pelosi suffer shortness of breath in your ear? Gore gave them the nightlight, pacifier and endorsement they needed and you can almost imagine Pelosi fanning herself in the parlor moments later.

The truth is if Gore were really enthusiastic about Obama he would have endorsed him a long time ago. I couldn't help but notice that while Pelosi and Dean where whipping super delegates like Egyptian taskmasters to declare for Obama on June 5th, Gore was strangely silent. Moses seemed to have escaped. But last night after either a lot of begging and pleading and "Al, if you don't do it now it looks bad", or Tipper being held captive somewhere, Gore came out and endorsed who he thinks is probably going to be the nominee of the party. And he did it for the sake of the kind of party unity that Dean, Pelosi and the DNC are still in fantasyland about.

The real point about Gore's endorsement is this: Since Hillary Clinton's speech two weeks ago the choices for President looked like they had come down to either Obama or McCain. And for two weeks Al Gore couldn't make up his mind.

JIM JOHNSON, OBAMA STANDARDS AND WHY CLINTON VOTERS ARE SAYING "I TOLD YOU SO".

In his first official act since becoming the likely Democratic nominee the first thing Obama did was put a man in charge of vetting vice presidential candidates, Jim Johnson, who had to resign within days because of questions about loans he received from companies involved in the U.S. housing crisis.

Most people see this as not just a political and PR disaster but more proof of how bad Obama's judgement really is --the same bad judgement he has shown throughout his political career when he has had to show any judgment at all. It is also proof of how low his standards not to mention his competence really are.

This is the candidate whose campaign theme was bringing change to Washington. But the only change Obama has brought so far is his loose change. The first time he gets to appoint anyone to do anything the candidate of change appoints a long time Washington D.C. insider who has been around the Washington political scene for decades who then has to resign within days because of reports of shady loan deals. This is who Obama chose to do the vetting of his Vice Presidential candidates.

This is the likely Democratic nominee who claimed Clinton represented the old politics of the past, and that he was the change candidate. But he is revealing more and more that he is the snake oil salesman many thought he was from the beginning.

What we saw with the Johnson episode was not rejecting the politics of the past but an episode from Obama's politics of the past. The same politics, lack of judgment, low standards and lack of a moral compass that had him involved with Rezko, (who has now been convicted of fraud), Jeremiah Wright, and Obama's facile serial lying about the church that he said "wasn't particularly controversial", the sermons he said he never knew about except that he did but was never there to hear them except that he was, that he wouldn't disown Wright or his church any more than he'd disown his own grandmother and don't forget the vacation land in Florida he wants to sell you where you can be neighbors with Keith Olbermann and Bill Richardson.

So maybe it wasn't simply incompetence on Obama's part. Maybe Johnson was vetted well enough after all and Obama is so used to consorting with shady people he didn't care. Or even worse didn't notice. Either way things have not gotten off to a good start for Obama and his candidacy.

Now that the whole country, Nancy Pelosi,Howard Dean, and those brave political Neanderthals known as super delegates are getting a good look at just how incompetent and unqualified Obama is, now that his precocious high school level speeches designed to impress the easily impressed have no audience and he actually has to do something, I'm sure the entire side of the DNC that engineered this political disaster in the making are squirming and eyeing each other out of the corners of their eyes not daring to say a word while Clinton voters are having a good laugh, sitting back with their popcorn and enjoying every minute of this fiasco while saying "I told you so". And everyone will have their popcorn ready and waiting for the next Obama disaster to strike which it most surely will.

But is this really coming as a surprise? Dean and Pelosi and super delegates all chose to ignore Obama's serial lying concerning Wright and his church and his relationship there which showed from day one just how bad his judgement was. And so did most of the news media. They were all wrapped up in the idea of the "the first black president" even if he had no accomplishments, no character, no judgment no convictions beyond his own political ambition and never did a thing in his life to prove he had the ability to do any of the things he said he could do. The only conviction that he's ever been associated with is Rezko's.

Like those of us who knew Iraq was a huge mistake, we knew Obama was a mistake from the beginning.And we saw the same kind of spinelessness that kept the press from nailing Bush on Iraq at work with Obama because the press runs in a herd and they run on fear and their biggest fear is to be out there on their own when they prefer the safety of saying and doing what everyone else is saying and doing.

In Bush's case the press was afraid of being called unpatriotic. Katie Couric told of getting calls from the administration that she found intimidating and she actually thinks that feeling intimidated is an excuse for her caving in and buckling under to the pressure. In the case of Obama, the intimidation is being afraid of being called racist, or, not properly supportive enough of "the first black candidate for President:" even if he does say things like --

"On this Memorial Day, as our nation honors its unbroken line of fallen heroes, and I see many of them in the audience today..."

Not exactly Colin Powell. This is more than just a gaffe.That one sentence tells you all you need to know about Obama -- how truly empty he is. He is so used to just spewing nonsense, wrapping it some glossy wrapping paper and getting away with it that he himself isn't even paying attention to what he is saying anymore. This is from the candidate who said " words matter".

It is not possible for anyone much less a candidate for President, who has an ounce of sincerity to utter a sentence like that.And on Memorial Day no less. This is also the candidate who told a Chicago journalist at his book signing when he was still in the Illinois state legislature, "Maybe I ought to go back to the senate and actually do something".

It also tells you all you need to know about the press' standards, which aren't that different from Obama standards, since most of them also let it pass. Maybe because it was as much a reflection of their own inept judgement or their discomfort at realizing that they were taken in by a snake oil salesman, as much as anything else. Remember this was the candidate whose speech in Philadelphia they found "Lincolnesque".

There are two months to go before the convention. Clinton has only suspended her campaign not ended it. There is still time for Howard Dean to come to his senses assuming he has any left and make sure Hillary Clinton's name is on the ballot.Then let the process play out and see if after a few more bad decisions from Obama which are surely to come, super delegates are willing to make the same mistake twice. After what we've seen at Obama's first official attempt at doing anything, they might not.

IS THE DNC EXPECTING 1968 IN 2008?

Is the DNC preparing for 1968?

No one knows if Howard Dean and the DNC are taking seriously the threat of massive demonstrations against the strong arm tactics of the DNC this year but it seems that the city of Denver is taking it seriously.

A report on Fox News indicates that the city of Denver might be preparing some controversial methods of crowd control against demonstrators at the Democratic National Convention in August. Denver has refused to release information on the kinds of security equipment it purchased with a $50 million grant to be spent on security measures for the Democratic national convention and the ACLU has filed suit to make them public, so far unsuccessfully.

But this something that the Howard Dean-Nancy Pelosi wing of the DNC brought completely on themselves.

First there was the miscalculation Dean made in creating the Florida and Michigan mess which laid the groundwork for the claims that the democratic process was subverted ( which it certainly was) that will be motivating many of the demonstrations. Secondly, there is the fact that the powers that be tied Clinton's hands when she tried to hit back at Obama's attacks which resulted in the feelings of many that there was not a level playing field. And last but not least there was the rush to judgment by Dean and Pelosi insisting that they have a nominee now and pressuring super delegates to make their choices within days of the last primary and not wait till August.

Between Dean's wrecking ball to swat a fly decision to ban the delegates of Florida and Michigan and Pelosi making the statement that super delegates had an obligation to declare according to whoever had the delegate lead in an attempt to pressure the vote in favor of Obama, (if that were the case there would be no need for super delegates in the first place, the DNC Rules would just be whoever had the most delegates wins) the majority feels the whole process was manipulated to achieve a preconceived result.

Super delegates following Pelosi's lead then made their decisions and declared for the popular vote loser. And not just the popular vote loser but the loser of every metric used to gauge the strength of a political candidate. The rationale was that Obama had the most pledged delegates, a 77 delegate lead out of more than 4000 and a lead created solely by victories in outmoded caucuses where the process heavily favored Obama's demographic, not to mention the reports of widespread cheating by Obama supporters at these caucuses ( I myself was contacted by a Clinton delegate who told me about cheating by Obama supporters that she witnessed at a caucus site).

Given all this, what did Dean and the DNC expect? That no one would notice? Or just that people would follow like sheep?

Right now the only people on their way to slaughter is the Democratic Party, first in August, then in November. They have a hornet's nest brewing of their own making and unless they take steps between now and August to fix it they are facing a convention where more than half the party is going to stand against their nominee. They can expect speeches of protest from pro Clinton speakers, demonstrations outside the convention hall against Obama, Dean, Pelosi and the way the process was manipulated, and protests against the same from inside the convention hall.

But they still have time to fix it. And it's simple. The way to fix it is to have Hillary Clinton's name on the ballot at the convention. You know, like an election. And let the convention function the way it's supposed to and for its stated purpose -- to choose a nominee.

Let both sides make their arguments and speeches in support for their respective candidates. Then let super delegates, given the Democrats bizarre nominating system, do what they are supposed to do -- cast their votes for who they believe is the candidate that is both the will of the majority of the Democratic Party and who also has the best chance of winning in November.

Neither Dean nor Pelosi will like that remedy because it will make them look foolish. But given the fact that more than half the party thinks they should both resign, they already look worse than foolish.

Putting Clinton's name on the ballot and letting the process play out will fix some of the damage done by Dean and Pelosi. It's the best they can do now. And it will give a platform to the majority of the party who feel the whole process was manipulated in favor of an agenda to push a questionable candidate with no credentials, no accomplishements and a lot of political baggage, just to fulfill a false set of expectations created by a biased news media, Obama supporters and the Obama campaign itself.

The majority of the party will get their platform. It's up to Dean and the DNC to decide where it will take place. Either inside the convention hall where it belongs as part of the democratic process or on the streets of Denver. It will be up to Dean and the DNC to decide whether they will let the convention choose the nominee by having Clinton's name on the ballot. If they do, it will keep 1968 where it belongs. In the history books.

NOTE: Life imitates art. The information circulating in the last hour is that Dean is moving DNC operations to Chicago to be closer to Obama's home base. So it may really be Chicago 1968 even before they get to the convention.