Worried? Yes They Are!

Remarkably, some folks are praising the selection of Joe Biden as Barack Obama's running mate (David Brooks is obviously happy since he hoped this would be the choice). I am stunned by this. Stunned. This man isn't just an odd choice, he's a horrendous choice. The idea that this man is going to help Obama in Florida is ludicrous. I suspect this is also the problem in Pennsylvania.

There is much bubbling below the surface right now. To my biased eye, clearly the Democrats are worried. Any damn fool knows it, but many just can't bring themselves to admit it. This was my sentiment back in July and I thought one of my favorites, Julie Ponzi, did a good job at the end of July of identifying Susan Estrich as one of the prime exemplars (attempting to transfer their concern about their candidate to a misdirected questioning of the American electorate):

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It’s clear that race hurts Obama with at least some small percentage of voters and it would be foolish to claim otherwise. But this factor alone cannot be enough to decide this election. I think Estrich knows that (hence her tentative reference to age and inexperience) but she has reasons for wanting to emphasize race (just as she also had reason to emphasize Obama’s tensions with Jesse Jackson). She wants you to feel guilty about not liking Obama. She wants you to think your legitimate gripes secretly or subconsciously might be racist ones.

One way Estrich attempts to help that guilt along is to remain silent on a number of Obama’s obvious flubs. She didn’t hold back in her criticisms of other Democrats or of the Democratic Party more generally, but she is reserved when it comes to Obama’s real difficulties with voters. For example (and incredibly!) she never even mentions the perception of him (now growing with this Brandenberg Gate nonsense) as an arrogant, wannabe punk. Inexplicably, she makes no mention of his many (Freudian?) slips of the tongue (rural voters clinging to guns and God, etc.). Remarkably, she never thinks to mention the names of Rev. Wright, Tony Rezko, Bill Ayers or Fr. Pfleger. She assiduously avoids any mention of Michelle. She doesn’t talk about Obama’s slick re-engineering of himself and his positions and his absurd tendency lately to take himself way too seriously. Indeed, as Estrich ticked off her list of recent Democratic candidates, I couldn’t help but notice how similar Obama now seems to Kerry, Gore and Dukakis. With the exception of Bill Clinton, Democrats really do have had an uncanny knack to nominate insufferable people who are very difficult for regular people to like. Whatever one may say about his differences with either of the Bushes and Reagan, one didn’t get the sense from any of them that they considered themselves to be above reproach. On some level you knew that these were normal people (or as normal as politicians probably get) and that they didn’t get up every morning reveling in how much smarter they were compared to you.

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It should be a Democratic year, right? Uhhh, no -- certainly not for the Presidency. We were told 2000 was a Democratic year, then 2004, now 2008. With respect to Congress, Democrats had to manufacture a sex scandal in 2006 and marry that up with running the kind of Democrats -- social conservatives (hello, Jim Webb) -- their left wing has successfully run out of that party (hello, Joe Lieberman) just to win the mid-term election cycle.

That says to me the Republican coalition of the willing still drives the political train in this country, no matter how much the elite media insists otherwise. Nor how many Republican pundits agree with them. In fact, 2006 was a self-inflicted wound by the Republicans. And I wouldn't look so much to the Republican Congress (yes, they were clearly blameworthy) as I would to rank and file conservatives who picked a bad time to pitch a hissy fit.

I'm definitely in the minority on that view but that's what it looked like to me.

Additionally, it is amazing to me that a dedicated minority honestly believe they can shame the country into voting for Barack Obama. Shame people into selecting a man for Commander-in-Chief. That's not going to happen. Time for Democrats to move on to the next plan in the "How Do We Get BLT Barry Elected President" crusade. The convention is going to be quite instructive on this score; look for class envy, class envy, and more class envy.

Comments

[I R A Darth Aggie]

As I remarked to a friend, "Joe Biden: the gift that keeps on giving...to Republicans."

[RattlerGator]

I'm honestly worried that they are pulling something of a rope-a-dope and will in fact put Hillary's name in nomination for the V.P. slot and Biden will step aside for the sake of unanimity.

If so, game on! Time to get with it!

[Greybeard]

Are you reading my mind?!!
We're a few hours away from the ceremonial opening in Denver, and I'm excited to see the chaos unfold.
Cindy Sheehan, Code Pink, and other extremes of the party will be pulling at the fabric. Can it hold?
This week will tell.
The republican party has problems.
These extremes of the democrat party may destroy it if they're not careful.
And the problem is, if they succeed in destroying the donkey party, that would make the republican problem worse. Republicans would have no competition to deal with and could serve up more foolish spending than we've seen over the last 8 years.
Heaven help us. We live in "interesting times".

[RattlerGator]

I hear ya, Greybeard, I hear ya. I've been trying to convince black folks that we may be the key to helping the Democrats out of their present mess.

The Cindy Sheehan's of that party only have a real voice because African Americans vote so monolithically with the Dems. Change that fact, make them compete for the conservative black vote, and the Cindy Sheehan foolishness goes right out the window.

These are dangerous times and we have too many people sleepwalking or cheering on a nominee who clearly is not ready to lead.