To paint the Republican nominee as unsatisfactory may be an understatement, but that’s not my biggest concern. The last two presidential terms, being so full of folly as they were, along with waves of clueless primary voters that somehow regarded John McCain as the most impressive candidate, have handed Democrats the 2008 election.
Or, so they had hoped.
Most reliable indicators suggest that this fight for the presidency, whoever may oppose John McCain, will indeed be neck and neck for at least a while. This is the pathetic reality that some Democrats gasp at in disbelief, but most deny it completely. Yet, the Democratic Party, an impotent company if there ever was one, can’t seem to take advantage of today’s political realities.
First, let us consider aesthetics alone. The famous Kennedy-Nixon debates (first ever televised) taught us that looks matter in general elections. The taller, more handsome, more charismatic candidate is always more likely to take the cake.
Problem: McCain is rotting. He’s 71 years old, short, white as snow and has trouble with articulation despite help from teleprompters. Up against Clinton, who is one of the most practiced, professional politicians around, and Obama, arguably the most electrifying candidate in recent memory, the contest is laughable. Right?
The economy has soared to the number one issue Americans consider, and John McCain remains the only candidate to openly admit that he “still need[s] to be educated” on the workings of the economy. He said “The issue of economics is not something I’ve understood as well as I should.” Has this torn away his support among voters? Well, no.
No Republican nominee, that I can remember, has been as vehemently rejected by conservative pundits as has John McCain. Rush Limbaugh said his election would mean the end of the party. Ann Coulter said she’d vote for Hillary before McCain. His Senatorial record led Patrick Ruffini to sum him up in this way: “a tax-loving, free speech-crushing, amnesty-awarding, big government Republican nominee.” McCain has since recanted his position on taxes, but Republicans love to hate a flip flopper (see: Kerry, campaign 2004).
Finally, McCain is vying to preside over a nation of citizens who overwhelmingly reject his one pet issue – the Iraq War. A solid majority of Americans regard our presence in Iraq as either illegitimate or ineffective. 59 percent of adults want our troops out, in entirety, within one year. He is viewed by many as the best qualified to handle the war, but time after time, he showcases his ignorance on the matter. The guy doesn’t know a Sunni from a Shiite, Iran from Iraq, and thinks everyone resisting occupation is al Qaeda. McCain, it turns out, is inept in the one area in which he claims expertise.
The McCain candidacy appears as feeble as his stride and as senile as his psyche. Still, his nationwide numbers remain competitive for the Democrats. Additionally, the state of discontent these Bush years have rendered should guarantee a Democratic victory, but they’re not.
Talk of presumptive (my own presumption) Democratic nominee Barack Obama’s unelectable candidacy isn’t just conservative propaganda. Any way you cut it, his chances are as slim in the general election as McCain’s would intuit.
National head-to-head polls show McCain beating Obama (and Hillary) 48 percent to 43 percent, while Real Clear Politics averages the head-to-head polls as more of a neck-and-neck battle. Rasmussen shows Democrats leading in states with 190 Electoral College votes while Republicans are favored in states with 189 votes. States with 121 votes are “leaners,” and states with 38 votes are toss-ups. This is not the blowout expected by many who pained through the disastrous Bush years.
The two demographic groups that Obama holds dominance over are African Americans and young people. Unfortunately for him, these are two blocs that have historically voted in very light numbers. Time will tell whether the past seven years have incited enough of them to actually show up at the polls, but don’t bet your mortgage on it.
The Bush administration has chosen to segue the 2008 election with a prolonged, unpopular war, an unstable economy, giant failed bureaucracies and more controversies than one can count on both hands, and the Democrats are still having a tough time getting votes? Bush failures and John McCain’s nomination have effectively delivered the election to Democrats on a silver platter sprinkled with pixie dust, and they still have a good chance of losing?
Bravo, I say, to the liberal agenda.
As a libertarian, a Democratic presidency stimulates my gag reflex as much as a Republican one, but if the Democrats don’t win this one, they will have proven me wrong in my contention that these two parties have gone as low as they can possibly go.
John Glaser is a Collegian columnist. He can be reached at [email protected]
