Too bad Obama can't pull it off
I know this is going to tick a lot of people off, but I am sticking my neck out to say: Obama is going to lose.
In fact, I will go so far as to say he does not stand a chance of winning against McCain. And guess what? I am a lifelong liberal Democrat.
Why the cynicism, you might wonder? Well, how about eight years of George W. Bush. I think that is enough to make any Democrat cynical.
Don't get me wrong, if George Bush could run for another term, there is no doubt he would lose. The same thing tanked his dad: it's the economy, stupid. But John McCain is not George Bush and I don't think anybody blames him for the mess the Bush administration is leaving behind. At least not according to the polls.
Sure, the Republicans, in general, are probably going to get beat up this election. But not in the White House. McCain is the kind of substantive, closet-Democrat Republican that Moderates and Independents will be happy to vote for over the inexperienced Obama. And really, it's too bad. We could have had a woman in the white house.
Yes, Hillary would have had a chance. With more experience in the Senate, eight years working in the West Wing, all those early years learning on the campaign trail with Bill and those cute chipmunk cheeks, she had a better shot at a "historic" victory.
And let's face it, most of us Democrats look back fondly on the roaring '90s when there was no war and we all thought we'd get rich when our startup announced its IPO.
Having Bill back in the
White House would have been a hoot. The political satirists would have been in the money and "Saturday Night Live" would have been fun to watch again.
But Obama had to shoot that one down for us, didn't he? And after he did, he had to kick us in the pants again by selecting Joe Biden.
No doubt about it, Obama looked pretty spiffy when he was running against Hillary. The whole thing added excitement. But who really expected him to run away with the nomination?
OK, he has the "youth vote," which proved to be an oxymoron in the last two elections. But land the nomination? If we couldn't muster an electoral majority for Gore or a popular majority for Kerry - and that was against Bush in the midst of outrageous scandals - how do we figure Obama is going to beat McCain?
Do the math. Is Ohio suddenly going to turn blue? For Obama? Don't hold your breath.
Personally, I'm preparing to live the next four years with McCain as my president. (But I'll still vote for Obama.)
Chuck Firth
Batavia