It's Over

We, as Democrats, have snatched defeat from the jaws of victory, I fear.

How hard would it be to come up with a list of things the "average American", whatever that really means, worries about? Health insurance, jobs being sent overseas, the weak economy, suspicious increases in gasoline prices, the war in Iraq, climate change, the decaying strength of the dollar, national debt, the imbalance of trade, the possibility of Social Security going belly-up, nuclear proliferation in the developing world, state-sponsored terrorism, why on earth people have to take their shoes off at airports... (Not that all Americans agree on these issues, but all Americans could be expected to care about, say, the climate change debate one way or the other.)

That's just what I could come up with in the time between sips of coffee.

And what do the Democratic candidates seem to want to talk about? Whose minister said what, who wears tackier clothes, who's a bigger blue-blood elitist, gaffes, personal animosity, who needs a teleprompter the worst, who did or didn't approve of blowjobs in the Oval Office, whether one has or has not had debates...

I predict John McCain will win. Normally I would say he's unelectable because of his temper and his dubious connections with Charles Keating, but that's assuming that he's running against a rational opponent who can intelligently use issues like the war in Iraq or climate change or energy policy against him.

But that won't happen. Clinton's strategy is clearly one of scorched-earth: if she can't win, no Democrat will win. If she wins the nomination, she's guaranteed to lose because nobody, not even Mother Teresa, can win with a 68% negative rating, and John McCain sweeps into the White House. If Barack Obama wins the nomination, he'll be so weakened and bloodied by this stupid internecine fighting with Clinton that he'll find it difficult to defeat McCain, who will have spent the whole time resting, accumulating money, and devising strategies.

Clearly I support Barack Obama, but honestly, in the beginning I didn't think there would be that much to choose between him and Hillary. I figured the differences between them would be a matter of nuance; I didn't expect her to be crazy as a roof rat, modern-day America's version of Marcus Porcius Cato.

I grow weary of the whole seedy, unproductive spectacle. Belgium looks better and better to me. Who's with me?