Here we go...Dems are finally over the hump of excitement about Barack Obama and onto the downsloping backside of doubt. Barack is tracking even with McCain...in Massachusetts...and it's true he is untried...and he doesn't have an military credentials...and did you know that he is black?
There is no John Kerry this summer for the dems. There is no "safe" but destined to lose because he is totally uninspiring candidate. Instead, the dems will have to run a real candidate - someone with ideas that make some a little unconfortable, and they will have to get behind that candidate and push, push, push for 3 months in the general to beat a vibrant a viable McCain. Dems can get on their knees and thank god for being stucke between Barack and a hard place because it means they can't just check out; that option would guarantee a trouncing in the general.
As to Barack the candidate, is he any riskier than Hillary? If Barack wins, women still come out to vote in the general. If Hillary wins, many fear that blacks will stay home, while others fear that even those who hate McCain will come out to exorcise the next Clinton from the White House. And then there are white males. Has anyone seen any convincing numbers that show that a black man or a white woman does anyithing to swing these voters? We're so used to them being the establishment that we have no idea what happens when they become the swing voters.
Conclusion: this is an election that will have to be run at a spirited pace to its conclusion on the backs of three risky candidates. McCain is hardly an establishment Republican (well, he is as of late, but many think that his politics once president would revert to the classic firebrand variety), Hillary is Hillary, and Barack is, well, untried.
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And then there are white males. Has anyone seen any convincing numbers that show that a black man or a white woman does anyithing to swing these voters?
It saddens me that the current Democratic contest is more about identity than it is about ideas, character, or charisma. Sens. Clinton and Obama are substantially different in areas which have nothing to do with their skin tone or chromosomal makeup, but those don't end up being what people talk about.
I couldn't care less what the candidate's gender is or what s/he looks like - I want someone who I can entrust with decisions where I know they'll have to make them with inadequate information and under horrendous time pressure. Sens. Clinton and Obama could do a better job talking about how their character makes them the best person for the job. I don't hear a lot of that right now.
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