Team of Rivals

Wow. There was all this consternation before yesterday: can the Dems ever unify? Will there be a brokered convention? That was still being worried over yesterday morning.

Jeremy Stahl asked:

Obama Says the Democratic Party Will Unite Like in 2008. Will It?"

http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2016/06/09/obama_days_democrats_will_unite_like_in_2008_will_they.html

After yesterday, this question already seems dated. The short answer is: yes. The longer answer is: hell, yes. 

To tell you the truth the party will unite even better than 2008. And the reason for it starts with President Obama. 

It was his brilliant inspiration in 2008 to make Hillary Clinton his Secretary of State. This was not a popular decision with many of his top advisers. There was a lot of left over anti Hillary residue. 

Indeed, he had even considered her for his VP. As someone who supported Hillary in 2008, I can only shake my head. He really has been so good to her. 

As I said yesterday, it was the best day of my life-in terms of being a Democrat. The party is so unified. Has a party ever been so unified before? Maybe the 1936 Dems...

This is the fruit of Obama's brilliant gambit. His choice to hug Hillary, to have a team of rivals. That's why the party is so unified. Otherwise we'd have had a warring Clinton and Obama wing of the Democratic party. 

Like in the 1960s after JFK's death, the Dems were split between Kennedy men and Johnson men. 

https://www.amazon.com/Mutual-Contempt-Johnson-Kennedy-Defined-ebook/dp/B008CNZZKM/ref=sr_1_1?s

Lyndon Johnson and Bobby Kennedy did everything with an eye to the chess match with the other. Ultimately they both lost. 

LBJ had to step down in humiliation. RFK met the same tragic end as his brother and within 5 years LBJ himself was dead at just 63 years old. The disappointment killed him. 

Then there was the Democratic party which lost 5 of the next 6 elections. 

It's amazing how things have changed. It used to be the Republican party which fell in line. But the Dems have never been more unified-again, I argue few parties historically have been since the FDR Dems-and by 1938 they were breaking into factions. 

The unity in the party starts with Obama. It was his choice to embrace rather than muzzle Hillary that got us here.