The Real Race Begins (and a cartoon)

In its handling of the Rev. Wright and Priest Pfleger situations, the false rumors of Obama's anti-Israel sentiments, and the lies about Michelle Obama, the Obama campaign has demonstrated an uncanny ability to handle all the curveballs (or knuckleballs, to use a more appropriate baseball analogy) thrown its way. But now the general election begins, and as easy as it was to compare the Clinton Campaign's tactics to Karl Rove and the Republicans, we probably have no idea what we're in for over the summer and into the fall. From his race to his name to his patriotism, the Republicans will not leave any card unturned and not hesitate to rewrite Obama's background, history, and years as a public servant. They will do this both subtly (by McCain and his closest people) and overtly (by his supporters more on the fringe). All signs suggest that the Obama Campaign knows this and that it is ready to handle it, but, still, we have no idea what might happen. Let's hope Obama can catch those knuckleballs.

Oh, and this recent cartoon by Mike Peters in the Dayton Daily News was just too good to pass up:

Who's Ready for a Third (and Fourth) Bush Term?

As expected last night, Hillary won PA--a state as perfectly suited to her as any--dragging the primary season into May and possibly June. Mathematically, Hillary has no shot at winning the nomination: even with her ten-point win, Barack has many more delegates, states, and votes. Numerically, the victory didn't change a thing. If anything, the fact that Obama went from being down 25 points to inching within single digits should be just as big a deal, but the media won't tell you that.

The media won't tell you that, because the media loves the race. It's new, different, and exciting. And, given the fact that the Republicans have sealed their nomination, there's very little else to talk about. A woman and an African American, fighting until the death in the most historic primary, probably ever. Two brilliant candidates, going at it, attacking each other, with the proportion of time devoted to the critical issues--Iraq, healthcare, the economy, education, climate change, etc--even smaller than it was before! Chris Matthews, who is often full of meaningless rants, was right on point last night, when he critiqued the same business that employs him: "We've created the delusion that this race is still open...If you work hard and play by the rules---the Clinton maxim--then this election process is moving forward and Barack Obama is moving toward the nomination"

Supposedly, the Clintons love the Democratic Party. Theoretically, they care about its goals, and they care about its success in November. They say they don't want John McCain to be elected and continue another eight years of the same failed Bush policies. Every day that the race drags on, when it is realistically over, brings us another day closer to McCain's inauguration.

Has Obama put Hillary away? Absolutely not. But he's been in the lead for months now, and the burden is not on him. (Here might be an appropriate place to note that, if Obama was losing by the same margins as Hillary is, he would have been forced out by Howard Dean and the party leaders long ago.) By not throwing in the towel out of respect for her party and the country she claims to love, Hillary has reinforced all the negative stereotypes that have been directed her way. Her recent attack ads, in which, according to the NY Times--a Clinton endorser-- she used tactics "torn right from Karl Rove’s playbook" are not helping. Still, given all that, a sliver of hope remains that she may decide to try to recognize reality and (somewhat) restore her image so that she can continue what had been a largely remarkable political career.

Somewhere, John McCain is smiling. Let's hope that we don't look back on April 22nd, 2008, as the day that he clinched the election.