While wandering around another blogsite, I read a little treatise on the "sniping" that Hillary and Barack have been doing on the trail lately (and don't even get us started on Bill...). The writer offered up that all this backbiting between Clinton and Obama was just going to pave the way for a Republican win in November.
I beg to differ.
The notion that the back and forth between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama is hurting the Democratic Party and enhancing the chances for a Republican victory in 2008 , no matter how mean spirited, unproductive or even inappropriate that back and forth might be, fails to take into account two undeniable facts that will trump any real "damage" done by any bickering or sparring these two do between now and the beginning of the general election campaign.
1) The administration of George W. Bush is, on the whole, an astounding failure, resulting in an economy that is headed toward recession, a foreign policy that has made our allies distance themselves, our enemies energize to destroy us and those who might be inclined to go either way most likely to fall toward the latter.
2) The Republican Party, fair or not, just or not, is the party of George W. Bush and the vast majority of voters in this country who feel unsafe, insecure, unprotected, overburdened financially and tired of struggling to simply keep head above water for almost eight years are likely, if only as the result of guilt by association, to think, at least, twice before they pull the lever for another Republican candidate for President.
There is a very specific reason why the word "change" has become the thematic cliche' of this election. Given the total and absolute train wreck that the Bush presidency has been, every indictor, from poll to vibe, from prediction to conjecture, says that the American voter wants change. Period.
And if the Toyota you've been driving for the past eight years has done nothing but make your life miserable, human nature dictates that it's unlikely you're going to run right down to your local Toyota dealership for a newer model.
Personally, I'd like to see Barack and Hillary stop acting like Rocky and Apollo and take the high road. But our political system doesnt exist in a vacuum. It's a living breathing organism that has to live and breathe in a culture that practically mandates sensationalism, pruience and other cheap behavior. So, while "negative campaigning" is deplorable from a Hallmark Card, We Are The World point of view, it's naive to think that candidates can rise above the flow of the very river they have to navigate to end up at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
And, bottom line, even before the votes are counted, the front running senators might not be worthy of any good sportsmanship awards, but they can, at least for now, not worry about any damage their intramural feuding might cause.
1) The administration of George W. Bush is, on the whole, an astounding failure, resulting in an economy that is headed toward recession, a foreign policy that has made our allies distance themselves, our enemies energize to destroy us and those who might be inclined to go either way most likely to fall toward the latter.
2) The Republican Party, fair or not, just or not, is the party of George W. Bush and the vast majority of voters in this country who feel unsafe, insecure, unprotected, overburdened financially and tired of struggling to simply keep head above water for almost eight years are likely, if only as the result of guilt by association, to think, at least, twice before they pull the lever for another Republican candidate for President.
There is a very specific reason why the word "change" has become the thematic cliche' of this election. Given the total and absolute train wreck that the Bush presidency has been, every indictor, from poll to vibe, from prediction to conjecture, says that the American voter wants change. Period.
And if the Toyota you've been driving for the past eight years has done nothing but make your life miserable, human nature dictates that it's unlikely you're going to run right down to your local Toyota dealership for a newer model.
Personally, I'd like to see Barack and Hillary stop acting like Rocky and Apollo and take the high road. But our political system doesnt exist in a vacuum. It's a living breathing organism that has to live and breathe in a culture that practically mandates sensationalism, pruience and other cheap behavior. So, while "negative campaigning" is deplorable from a Hallmark Card, We Are The World point of view, it's naive to think that candidates can rise above the flow of the very river they have to navigate to end up at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
And, bottom line, even before the votes are counted, the front running senators might not be worthy of any good sportsmanship awards, but they can, at least for now, not worry about any damage their intramural feuding might cause.
At the end of the day, America will want to choose either Ford or Chevy.
Because they won't want to touch a Toyota with a ten foot pole.
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