Leave it to Democrats to try drawing to an inside straight in the most important presidential election of our times. For the uninitiated, that’s a poker metaphor for making a long-shot bet against the odds. Will America have its first woman president, its first black man or neither ? Nobody planned it, apart from Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, that is. The other 37 Democratic candidates were of the customary white-dude persuasion. Six months ago, amid the wreckage of the Bush presidency, a Democratic victory appeared inevitable. Then the Republicans nominated an extremely white 72-year-old dude who can’t keep Sunni and Shiite straight, knows less about economics than my spaniel Buffy and is considered unfit for the presidency by many in his own party. The Washington Post recently quoted high-ranking Republicans saying that Sen. John McCain’s screaming temper tantrums and propensity for holding grudges make him a poor choice. McCain’s the ideal GOP candidate for the influential white-sorehead demographic. The so-called straighttalking-maverick-war-hero also happens to be much beloved by Beltway media courtiers, largely because he feeds them donuts and tells them funny stories about his youthful pursuit of Brazilian strippers. Both Democrats handle reporters as gingerly as poisonous reptiles. Hence, what ought to be the proverbial “lay-down hand” for Democrats now looks chancy.
As pointed out by this post, Obama would have a very tough time winning in states Clinton did in the primaries (not that Clinton would win all of those states, either), and no chance at all winning any of the caucus he won in the primaries.
He benefited so much from Republican crossover votes.
No comments:
Post a Comment