But it's more than that.  It's about how Obama does it.  If he has to be dragged kicking and screaming to a deal, or if he vacillates and waffles for too long (towards which he has a decided tendency), then he might as well not bother.

He has to do this in a grandiloquent way, looking magnanimous and strategic all at the same time.  And he must do it at a time (now) that at least in theory puts his candidacy in greater jeopardy.  Otherwise, it's pointless.

Real leadership would have been advocating for a re-vote to give Michigan and Florida voters the delegates who would speak for them at the convention, not throwing every possible obstacle in the way, or deigning to accept a 50-50 split of delegates.

Real leadership would be having the courage to stand up and face the voters in all 50 states and accepting the results.

Anyone who is expecting leadership from Barack Obama ought to consider the disturbing lack of it he has exhibited to date on an issue that is central to this democracy.

I am still struggling with the possibility that in 2008, it will be my own party that may give us an illegitimate candidate.

Florida is just a complete and miscalculated mess compliments of Howard Dean.  He tried to be this "tough leader" and penalize Floridians...even though it was a republican legislature that moved up the primary date.  How idiotic.  

Can the Democratic party WIN in NOVEMBER with Obama on the top of the ticket?

That is the real question.

The race has been extremely close using the Democratic Party rules of getting delegates. Sure, Hillary cannot catch up in delegates now in the Democratic Party rules. However, there is that REAL QUESTION. Can Obama win the General Election?

If you use the General Election way of counting delegates (or GOP way), winner takes all, Hillary already wins the nomination.

The real question is : Can Obama win in the General Election?

TL has already had discussions about Eric Boehlert's article in Media Matters, (So now the press tells candidates when to quit? by Eric Boehlert, Media Matters, April 30, 2008) which laid out the historically unprecedented, unmitigated gall of media's arrogance in demanding that Sen. Clinton fold up her run and go ... somewhere else.

From Digby:

Obama has plenty of money and there is no great problem if this thing goes on for a couple of weeks. I think everyone should relax about the campaign and start regrouping around the ideas that brought us here --- one of which is the fact that the mainstream media are tools, that Drudge is a Republican pimp and that our nation is not well served by a bunch of corporate whores who all sit around sipping mojitos on Nantucket playing with our politics like they are a rousing game of cribbage. (Hear Ye, Hear Ye, digby / Hullabaloo, 5/07/2008 10:09:00 AM)

Discussions of electability have also centered on what the GOP attack machine will do with Obama's record, character, and race -- with the gleeful assistance of the media.

The behavior of media going after Democrats running for office or in power, as if the party itself is illegitimate, is dismal.

I'm no fan of the performance of the Democrats in opposing the Rethuggernaut, which is why HRC won me over with her display of guts in standing up to the gratuitous abuse, but this is a superb opportunity to really make a change by replacing this rotten Punditocracy that plays by these crooked rules with real, live Democracy!

Much of the success of the GOP bullying is aided and abetted by a media that holds the Democrats to a different standard, and treats politics and current events as if it's one big high school gossip session in the kewl kidz kan.

Taking a stand now means that improves the chances of whichever Dem candidate emerges from the process. This might be the real deciding factor in remaking the landscape for so that the "new politics" we've been hearing about isn't just a slogan.

Obama and his campaign wrote off Ohio, Pennsylvania, Florida and Michigan. Furthermore, Obama will lose every state that the Democrats won by less than 5%.

It will be a landslide and we didn't even mention Hispanics, Asians, women and real lefties (that's really a small number).

Once you call people racists, you can't get them back on your side.  You just can't.  That's why most intelligent black people in the public eye refuse to EVER utter that charge no matter how much they're baited.  

This was such a heated primary - passion on both sides like I've never seen before. I just think that Obama owes it to Hillary supporters to ask Hillary if she will be his VP.

And don't even make it like a VP thing... but a dual thing... a co-presidency.

Everything in the past is politics but this is life or death. We must have a democrat in the White House in 2008.

I want to win in November!

I believe, IMHO, that while the delegates may be seated in a matter that would benefit Obama, I think the voters of these states will remember how shabby they were treated and used only to try and solidify Obama's inevitability as the nominee.

The outcome is almost certainly going to be seating the delegates as is, with a 50% penalty to both states. MI has already awarded 35 of the 55 uncommitted delegates to Obama, which correctly acknowledges that Obama has more than zero supporters in Michigan. The 50% penalty allows the results to stand, while acknowledging that breaking the rules has consequences. The RNC punished their calendar jumping states in the same way, so there's already precedence.

Or providing universal health care for all Americans so that we don't have six 9/11's a year from lack of health care?

Or getting the national debt down and bringing us out of bankruptcy so we don't have to rely to China to lift us up?

The sooner the better.  An argument can be made either way right now that either demo is causing more harm than good and Obama can demonstrate his love for the party by working out a compromise before another primary.