Politics do get dirty. Why act surprised?

A few days ago, I mentioned that I thought the American Democratic candidate race, although close-run and very competitive, was still fairly civil. Yes, there has been a lot of canvassing, and a lot of playing each other off, but on the whole it wasn't TOO dirty, at least not by historic standards.

As soon as those words streamed from my fingertips onto the screen, it appears that the going has just got dirtier. All the negative publicity against Obama that Clinton harnessed; how one of Obama's close aides allegedly told Canadian officials that Obama's campaigning on negotiation of trade agreements was just for campaign purposes; the trial of one of his early patrons for corruption and money laundering; the doubts cast into voters' minds about the experience and ability of Obama as a President - these worked in her favour last week and it seems that she is keen to carry on in this vein.

But politics has always been dirty - at least, I've always thought so. The battle for the power and control of the country, and for the right to speak as a world leader, on an international platform; these are high stakes, so of course the competition will be fierce. The question is - who will prevail, and how far can they go without alienating their supporters OR their rival's supporters when it comes to the General Elections? Barack Obama has his hands half-tied at this stage, he's made a big point of wanting to be 'a different type of politician', one who doesn't resort to the political lecturn's equivalent of a no-holds-barred, fists bared, street fight that we've seen so often in the world of politics. However, if he can hold his ground and deflect these attacks with dignity and confidence, it will be a real demonstration of his strength of character and ability to deal with problems.

It appears though that the Democratic party leaders are already thinking of damage limitation when this is all done and dusted and the Presidential candidate is finally elected. They're currently corresponding with both Clinton and Obama to consider collaboration of the two rival campaigns when the primaries are finally over. I still think it's possible. After all, they haven't resorted to setting up the assassination of either their rival or themselves, and they haven't throw tables at each other. Not yet.