Tuesday, June 03, 2008

With Apologies To The Hilary Supporters...

I know there are some reading the blog, but I found this sports parable by Chris Orr just too funny:

"Once you abandon the artificial four-games-to-two framework that the media has tried to impose on the series, a very different picture emerges, with the Celtics leading by a mere 549 points to 539. Yes that’s right, the margin between the two teams is less than one percent—a tie, for all intents and purposes. This is probably the closest Conference Finals in NBA history, though I will thank you not to check on that."

Hilary Clinton has not officially conceded her Presidential campaign, but the writing is on the wall, and it seems 99% certain that this week will see the end of the campaign.

I'm of two minds about this interminably long, historic primary season. One is that all it cost for Hilary to lose now instead of months ago when it was pretty clear she was going to is a drop of about ten percentage points in Obama's match-up with McCain as a result of a hard-fought battle between the two candidates.

But the other, more realistic, more reasonable, view is that whatever I might feel about the Clintons' political tactics, they didn't do anything wrong in competing for as long as they could. And I don't want to hear *anybody* bitching in November if Obama loses that it's somehow Hilary's fault. That kind of "Blame Nader" BS is what makes the Democrats look so pathetic, and it just helps the Republicans beat them, year-in and year-out.

Would it have been nice for Obama to go in with a 10-point lead against McCain in the polls, like the one he had months back? Sure. But every campaign has its challenges and difficulties to overcome, and pointing out how things could have gone better and than you would have won is the kind of spin I'm used to from the Bush Administration, and I hope we don't see it from this campaign or from its supporters.

3 comments:

Manton said...

Don't worry too much about the national polls against McCain. That will work itself out. The turnout will be huge in the big states for Obama, and the pop vote seems almost guaranteed.

The electoral college is another story, but it's good news there as Obama has slowly been gaining in the few states he was weak in (Ohio, Missouri, whatever). Just a couple weeks ago he passed McCain in electoral vote based on per-state polls, whereas before he was losing.

I think Obama has shown he does better when coming from behind. I would rather him be tied or slightly ahead for now, and then gain momentum and widen his lead only in the last month, after the RNC attack ads have run their course.

Randy Lander said...

I think Obama has shown he does better when coming from behind.

[Michael Scott]That's what she said![/Michael Scott]

Sorry, couldn't resist. :)

I would rather him be tied or slightly ahead for now, and then gain momentum and widen his lead only in the last month, after the RNC attack ads have run their course.

A reasonable point. I've just seen the Democrats snatch defeat from victory so many times, and we just can't afford it this time, so I'm nervous.

Manton said...

Ha! I left myself open for that, I guess.

And yeah, I'm a little nervous too. But listening to McCain tonight... wow, he has serious work to do to have a chance at winning this.