Last night’s dramatic hat trick by Hillary Clinton does not bode well for Obama, or for America at large. Oh sure, if the democratic process is allowed to work its magic without interference from the Clinton political machine, Obama should still secure the nomination. Super Tuesday, the Sequel did not damage Obama’s chance at victory so much as it did his theme of hope.

First, let me address why I favor Obama over Clinton. We all know that on policy issues, they are remarkably close, albeit with some substantive differences on issues like health care and the war. And I will grant it that sometimes Obama’s twin buzzwords–hope and change–seem like naive political idealism. However, I believe the biggest problem for our next president will not be the individual policy issues, so much as the overall poisonous political atmosphere in this country. The partisanship is so bitter, the lobbyists so entrenched, the factions so divided, that even when good (or at least marginally promising) policy is proposed the cancerous politics of a Red and Blue America destroy it. Look at last year’s attempt at immigration reform: while the proposed bill was by no means the silver bullet to solve all immigration woes, it was at least a step in the right direction, an attempt to deal with the problem. It was a start, and it was bringing the two parties across the aisle to attempt some sort of compromise. Of course in the end, ugly partisanship and fear-mongering took over, and the bill died an ignominious death. Welcome to American Politics in the Aught Decade 101.

Clinton, with her divisive demeanor, her Washington insider status, and all the baggage her last name brings with it, promises more of the same. Much of the population can’t stand her and simply won’t vote for her, and she’s got more enemies in Washington than Ahmadinejad and Chavez combined. Republicans won’t be willing to work with her, and I fear with her reputation for vindictiveness, a Clinton White House with a Democratic Congress may seek vengeance against a Republican Party that spent the first part of this decade abusing the Democratic minority.

McCain promises no better. A one-time maverick respected across the board for his independence and integrity continues to barter more and more of his soul in exchange for pieces of the Republican base. If he’s elected (and if Hillary is the nominee, he likely will be), when all is said and done, even he may be surprised by how thoroughly he has painted himself into the corner of what will essentially be a third Bush term.

Only Obama holds out the possibility of changing the weather in Washington. He is respected on both sides, and his collegial approach to politics is exactly what the country needs in order to break this winner-take-all cycle that has been nothing but detrimental. He is willing to talk with those who don’t agree with him, build on common ground, and work to make the two parties in our government seem like just that–two parties in a government–instead of warring factions.

With that said, even if Obama is the eventual Democratic nominee, the damage done in yesterday’s primaries may hobble him throughout the general election. An increasingly desperate Clinton campaign seems more and more willing to torpedo its own party in service of its ambitions. Though she knows that mathematically its almost impossible for her to secure the nomination through popularly elected delegates, she continues to soldier on. She hints at some nebulous outcome in which the people speak and Clinton emerges victorious, but everyone knows it’s just a gambit that will allow her to make it all the way to the convention, then try to pull the rug out from under Obama through backroom deals involving superdelegates. This will only serve to foment a revolt within the Democratic Party that will tear it asunder and all but hand the White House to the Republicans, but far be it from the Clintons to put their ambitions aside for the good of the country.

As the Democratic race continues to drag out and get increasingly ugly, McCain and the Republicans will have time to gather strength, organize, and perhaps most importantly, takes notes on the ways that Hillary and Obama seek to take each other down. Given the relatively high-minded, above-the-fray nature of the Obama campaign, I’m not so worried about what comes out of his camp in the next seven weeks, but the Clinton campaign has already demonstrated that it will stop at nothing to achieve victory. Her “ringing phone at 3 a.m.” ad was pure Rove-ian balderdash, but even worse was her next move, a commercial in which she claimed that both she and McCain would bring a lifetime of service into the Oval Office, while Obama would bring a pretty speech. No matter who emerges as the Democratic nominee, the Republicans will use that as ammo throughout the general election.

The most disheartening thing about the Clinton campaign’s tendency toward smear tactics and fear-mongering is that it seems to have worked. She won a landslide in Ohio, and many of the late-deciding voters cited the “3 a.m.” commercial as an influence on their decision. All around the country, voters are demanding change, and claiming to be fed up with politics-as-usual, but yesterday, Texas, Ohio, and Rhode Island voted for just that. While Hillary’s policies may be a sharp departure from the Bush administration, her politics will not be: fear, divisiveness, bitter partisanship, and outright bullshit will continue to reign supreme in Washington.

The Obama campaign now looks like the Old Man and the Sea. He has the nomination hooked, but he has to drag it all the way in with two sides looking to pick it clean. Let’s hope by the time he gets it back to shore there’s enough of it left to count for something.

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