The Schrug

In December 2000, I proposed what I thought was a perfect way to settle the election mess. George Bush would become President and Joe Lieberman would become Vice President. Through some other machinations, it would be ensured that there would be a 50-50 split in the Senate, with Lieberman able to cast a tie-breaking vote if necessary. I thought that a power sharing compromise like this was the only way to fairly represent the views of what was obviously a divided electorate.

As far as I know, I was the only person alive to think this was a good idea. So keep that in mind as you contemplate my next suggestion.

We have now reached the point in the Democratic nomination process where no outcome is going to be perceived as fair by the losing candidate. It doesn’t matter who wins Pennsylvania, whether or not there are revotes in Michigan and Florida, or whether the superdelegates base their votes on their own personal feelings, the results from their home districts, or the results from the states as a whole. No matter what happens, millions of people are going to believe that this nomination was “stolen.”

There are only two people who can prevent a catastrophe for the Democratic Party: Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. One of these people is going to have to step up and make a personal sacrifice for the good of the party and the country. They are both smart people, good politicians, and committed civil servants. They need to get in a room together and work this out. If they can’t settle an “argument” like this among “friends,” how are they going to do when it comes to negotiating difficult compromises with Russia, China, Iran, North Korea, Pakistan, etc.?

I don’t really care what kind of deal they make. If I were Barack, maybe I’d accept the Vice Presidency, three cabinet picks, a second-round Supreme Court Justice, and a promised endorsement in 2016. If I were Hillary, maybe I’d be willing to take Senate Majority Leader (we’d have to get Harry Reid to agree to step out of the way), plus support for mandatory health care coverage, renegotiation of NAFTA, an ambassadorship for Bill of my choosing (Australia, perhaps), and a policy to be named later. Anyone who thinks its unseemly for a politician to give something in order to get something doesn’t have a clue as to what politics is all about.

Letting the process play out with the understanding that the loser will endorse the winner is insufficient. Unless we can get both of those people to look us in the eye and say they are genuinely pleased with and excited about the result, the bitterness is going to last for a long time and whoever is President — assuming it’s a Democrat — is going to have a much tougher time governing.