The most entertaining part of this election season for me has been watching the Changeling and his handlers turn a 7 point lead into a 5 point deficit by carefully hewing to the standard Democratic formula of playing to the mythical center. Sure, it didn't work twice before, but the third time's the charm, right?
That's why I found the choice of Joe Biden as VP particularly yukworthy. McCain has hammered Obama on his lack of experience for the past month—so how did the Obama campaign respond? By putting some gray hair on the ticket. The message is clear: sure, our guy is a lightweight, but don't worry, there'll be an adult in the room with him at all times. The Obama campaign has done more than its share of backpedaling over the past few months, of course, but in this case they're actually backpedaling on their own candidate. It's enough to make you wonder if Bob Shrum has joined the team.
I'm a little sad that the Democrats won't have a chance to match their staggering achievement of losing twice to George W. Bush—since I think they may well have been up to the task—but seeing how they manage to blow their endless list of advantages will still be good for a few laughs over the next few months. Almost as fun as watching the dismay of the fervent believers in an inevitable Democratic victory, as they run headlong into the reality that they share the country with people who literally believe that their golden boy is the anti-Christ.
I recall the halcyon days of a few months ago, where people like Digby were crowing about how 85% or whatever of the country thinks we're "on the wrong track", and how that was a sure sign that Obama was going to breeze into the White House.
I recall thinking, "Why would you assume that this nation of lobotomy patients is going to associate their unhappiness with the Republican party as a whole? Why would you assume that they're not just unhappy because they think we're not being allowed to 'win' in Iraq like we weren't allowed to in Vietnam, or because they think the Democrats aren't letting us grab up all that easy, cheap oil off our coastlines that would bring gas prices down to 99 cents a gallon for eternity? Why the fuck would anyone who's been conscious these last few decades overestimate the intelligence of The American People™?"
Sho nuff, the Dems look poised to snatch defeat out of the jaws of victory once again. It's really entertaining to watch the true believers invest so heavily in the myth of the noble proletariat, who only stubbornly support Republicans because they've been misled by the media, or they work too hard to pay any attention to politics, or whatever. If only they're exposed to enough facts, they'll come around! They can't even entertain the thought that maybe this nation is just hopelessly stupid, and that as long as they're allowed to look down on gays, Mooslims or darkies, they'll be jes' fine with letting their pockets get picked repeatedly by corporate plutocrats.
Posted by: Gnome Chomsky | Monday, August 25, 2008 at 12:23 PM