Unlike the campaigns of previous years, 2008’s version seems to offer us no end of amusement, once we get beyond the sad prospect that our system can do no better than producing the current crop of contenders. On the Dem side, we have a jumped-up nearly psychopathically self-assured woman, whose actual list of accomplishments consists of marrying well and being elected senator against no competition. Her opponent is a man who has spent most of his life polishing his political résumé, and he possesses an amazing talent that lets him reflect whatever characteristics the observer desires.
Team R gives us a man with a corrupt past (Keating scandal), relatively liberal positions on most issues—especially immigration—and a war record that seems to raise more questions than it answers. Some have even accused him of selling out his fellow Navy pilots. That his service records have not been fully released only adds to the controversy.
As I have said before, the country has survived many rotten presidents, so why not have some fun to balance the suffering?
Obama’s latest problem is his long-term association with Chicago preacher Jeremiah Wright. The senator took up with Wright to gain street cred with urban blacks, but this is just what he DOESN’T need in a national race. His big race speech in Philadelphia covered no new ground, but did serve to reassure his supporters. Objectively, it was nothing more than the same old victim stuff, with the odd twist of comparing his white grandmother’s caution around young black men (echoed by Jesse Jackson), to Wright’s virulent anti-Americanism.
No doubt, eloquence in speech goes a long way, and can obfuscate what is actually being said for many. This is a proud American tradition, dating back at least to Lincoln’s Gettysburg address. That famous speech ended with these words:
“…that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”
Good grief! The people of the South had elected to form a new government of the people, by the people, and for the people, and a total war was brought down upon them. Thus, the entire point of the address was violated by there being a “civil war,” at all.
As to Hillary Clinton, her desperation and lack of imagination are becoming more clear every day. Apparently unable to inspire anyone under age 60, she saddled herself with the likes of Geraldine Ferraro, known mostly as a failed vice-presidential candidate in 1984. Hillary did have to get rid of her after her foolish racial remarks a few weeks ago, but doing stupid things in a campaign is nothing new for Ferraro. After promising to release her tax returns in 1984, her husband refused to include his portion, and ended up releasing a highly redacted “financial/tax statement.” Following the election, the House Ethics Committee officially criticized her mishandling of campaign finances.
But wait, there’s more. Surely at Hillary’s bequest, startlingly obnoxious aging feminist icon Gloria Steinem let forth some puerile attacks on McCain and Obama. This pathetic hag displays nothing less than a lifetime of being indulged, as we now witness a shameless 73-year-old woman who truly believes that her every utterance is worth of broadcast.
Many will remember a stock phrase that Clinton introduced once she noticed that her campaign was not going to be a cakewalk: “Get Real!” It was abandoned a few weeks later, for obvious reasons. What it meant, of course, was that Dems had to “get real,” in realizing that a black man could not possibly be elected, but an ugly white woman with a 50% disapproval rating could.
Add to this the fiasco of throwing out primaries in two large states, and you have the amazing prospect that an election that should have easily gone Dem in the wake of an unpopular incumbent is now up for grabs, and looking better for Team R all the time.