As more and more of us are waking up, thanks in part to Bill Clinton’s performance on the stump, to how much we don’t want to relive the Clinton years anew, the Howard Dean-led Democratic party seems poised to do the inescapable: screw up big.

In a piece titled, “Democrats: Are They Dumber than Concrete?” Orlando Sentinel columnist Mike Thomas frames the issue.

Consider this scenario, which no longer seems so far-fetched:

Barack Obama goes into the convention having won the majority of primaries and delegates. But he doesn’t have enough delegates to win the nomination.

And so the superdelegates — a group of politicians and political insiders — go into their star chamber and pick Hillary Clinton.

The fallout not only would cost Democrats the November election but would haunt them for many elections to come.

Democrats in Florida are fed to the teeth with their votes being thrown out, first by the Supreme Court and then by Howard Dean, who issued a fatwa on us after the Florida legislature changed our primary date. But the rest of the country will be feeling our pain if that idiot facilitates ramming the Candidate of Self-Proclaimed Inevitability down our throats.

Even superdelegate and Democratic strategist Donna Brazile, who cheered Dean on as he banned Florida from participating in selecting a nominee, has threatened publicly to leave the party if the superdelegates prematurely anoint a candidate contrary to that chosen by the people.

In an email funds solicitation today, Howard Dean said, “I think we’ll have a nominee before the convention.”

What does that mean, Howie?

Right now, Obama is ahead. Going in to Texas and Ohio, the tally stands at Clinton with 1220 delegates and Obama with 1259, out of 2,025 needed to win the nomination on the convention floor. If that’s where it happens.

Clinton has recalled Bill from the campaign trail, first not paid and then replaced her campaign manager, loaned her campaign $5 million of her own money, and pissed off Barbara Walters by not settling to just get a pundit suspended for saying Chelsea was being “pimped out” by her mom’s campaign (even as the former first daughter made headlines for handing out doughnuts in a polling place, and then remaining there after the voting started, and for taking a 21-year-old superdelegate to breakfast), but also calling for the guy’s head on a platter. As we suffered through all this, Clinton lost the last ten elections in a row.

Meanwhile, Obama sailed along, embodying the h-word,* as well as the c-word,** and winning, winning, winning.

So if Democrats resort to a superdelegate maneuver to foist Clinton upon us, then I have an answer for columnist Thomas.

“Yes. But maybe dumber.”

* Hope
** Change
*** Duh