It Can Be Lost Before It Begins
We all have cause to be bitter, and it has nothing to do with God, guns, or ingratiating politicians declaring they’re just like regular folk. It has everything to do with a Democratic party that won’t stop airing their dirty laundry as the Republican party chills bottles of champagne.
Check it out: Barack Obama knows as much about rustbelt ennui as Hillary Clinton knows about taking enemy flack in a war zone. But he also understands the hard economic realities of our times and that she understands the dangers that loom in the world.
He’s an egghead who can’t bowl and she’s a millionaire many times over who can afford something more upscale than Crown Royal. I know plenty of people who regularly bowl over 100 and can inhale Canadian Whisky, but I don’t want our collective security in their otherwise relatable hands.
Both candidates are human, capable, patriotic, and part of a party that can’t handle success so it’s turning to cannibalism instead of unity. They both love their country, have friends with free will who say off-color things (contrary to the belief of the media, you are not your best friends keeper), and are treating the race for the White House like a vicious scramble for the end zone.
News of change in our political discourse might be greatly exaggerated: Democrats are still their own worst enemy and Republicans are still more competitive than a party reviled by public polls should be.
To put it another way, the party of diversity is still the party of backbiting chaos, and the status quo party is still able to convince those who don’t make a lot of money that they have things in common with those who make lots and lots of it.
The past few weeks prove this point. Senators Obama and Clinton seem to fray nerves and patience as this epic, exhausting slog to the nomination, and Senator John McCain has been given a free media pass, treating his presumptive nomination like a Homecoming Queen coronation.
It must be good to be a Republican strategist at this point in the election season. All you really have to do is sit back, twiddle your thumbs, and let your opponents tear into each other like pit bulls with bratwursts duct taped to their snouts.
Meanwhile your candidate can quietly collect Presidential photo ops across the glob, and can safely, and without criticism, suggest absurd solutions for national ills like a summer vacation from gas taxes. Nobody is paying attention to your man, and that’s just fine.
While the Democratic party eats itself, Republican strategists and operatives are on vacation, and Senator John McCain dizzies himself with victory lap after victory lap. Tribal warfare is plaguing the Democratic party, and the only people who seem to know this are the Republicans.
It reminds me of the anecdotal strategy former Speaker of the House Tip O’Neil took when dealing with the Reagan Administration: give them enough rope to hang themselves with. The Democratic party seems to stand on a gallows rather than a platform these days.
Senator Barack Obama complains of a hostile debate where trifles were trumped up with tabloid gravitas. Watching the debate, you wouldn’t have been surprised if one of the moderators were to ask Senator Obama to point out how much he loved America on a scale of one to ten, and whether or not he planned on raising taxes on Capital Gains as well as on purchases of patriotic lapel pins.
Senator Clinton, who was too comfortable watching Senator Obama absorb his insipid interrogation while simultaneously straining credibility recounting her blue collar past, is complaining of bullying tactics by the Democratic net roots base. She has expressed dismay and surprise at the outright negativity she perceives emanating from hyperactive web organizations such as MoveOn.org.
Snobby Baby Boomers are in a gladiatorial battle with their snarky Internet savvy progeny, and the country might suffer because both these two Democratic cliques feel they are entitled to lead. It’s not about race, gender, or experience. It’s about squabbling fiefdoms and really, that is a depressing truth.
The only things Americans are entitled to are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
No one is entitled to anything; and let’s all be honest – both Senators Obama and Clinton have earned a right to compete for the Oval Office. Yet one candidate has the undeniable lead in the delegate and popular vote. With respect, Senator Clinton will not win by a squeaker, and her generation would be wise and gracious to concede that their party and the country is better off acknowledging this fact.
Senator Clinton delivered a moment of clarity at that last farce of a debate: when asked if Senator Obama could win this election against the Republicans, she replied “Yes, yes, yes.” Is it possible that she might have, amidst the storm and stress, suggested that a house divided cannot kick an incompetent, selfish party out of the executive branch?
Then let’s do that. The only way for the Democratic Party to win in November is if the Democratic Party tries to win in November. All of the party.
Cue Republican strategists cackling and toasting themselves.
Is it possible to lose this election before it really begins in earnest? Yes. Man, it’s going to be a long haul until the final primary in Puerto Rico.
–John DeVore
After eight years of a lying, thieving, murdering government how can we possibly let this woman who has always aspired to the presidency ( since her husband was president) pander to the worst in all of us for the sake of running the entire country? Hillary is nuts and out of touch, her racist roots are showing beneath her new masculine haircut. She is not entitled to be president because she endured her husband’s infidelity for years. she has to be voted in, she does not have emotional stability, patience or tolerance, she all but called the clan in texas and ohio to squeak through, if she is the nominee the democrats and the country will certainly lose. If she takes that nasty brutish and short disposition to the World we are going to have a whole lot of 911’s. She no queen. End the Bush– Clinton Dynasty now. Lat’s see what Barack can and will do for eight years, Please! Bill Clinton has become the intelligent son George Bush never had! ( thought we didn’t see that?)