Thank God.
Yeah, my net worth fell from inconsequential to piddling yesterday but, as I often tell myself, it's only money. I lost a pretty penny but, on the flip side of that coin, many people went all day without mentioning the name of Sarah Palin.
That has to be worth something.
The Wall Street story allowed the Obama campaign to focus on what this election needs to be about if he is to emerge victorious -- how failed Republican policies have created a nation that is considerably worse off than it was when the Clintons left office in 2000. McCain applied the shovel to his own grave by first declaring our economy "fundamentally sound," before his handlers pushed him back out in front of cameras several hours later to muddle through a stack of cue cards explaining that, by "fundamentals," he meant the American workers, their work ethic and their values. Which was, of course, nonsense. Ridiculous. A blatant lie.
I've been of the opinion since McCain reacted so rashly to the spectacle of the Democratic Convention by plucking Palin from out of her tanning bed in the Great White North that the choice's bounce would have a short shelf-life. He's too old, too Republican and too disinterested in domestic policy (especially economics) to get away with choosing a running mate who addresses none of his weaknesses and speaks to few Independents. Throw in the near daily dose of Palin Drama -- pregnant daughter, Trooper Gate, the Bridge to Nowhere fiasco, her predictably erratic performance in her first major interview, her husband's history as an Alaskan secessionist, book banning, librarian firing, classmate hiring, etcetera, etcetera -- and the shine is coming off the Republican ticket before our very eyes. I'm guessing November 4th looks a long way off to Team McCain right about now.
Speaking of the Bridge to Nowhere, her version of the story is as close to the truth as their campaign has come on an issue since their hook-up. She claims she said, "Thanks but no thanks." Well . . . almost. What she really said was, "Thanks" and then, much later, "No thanks." By Team McCain standards, that makes her George Washington.
As for Obama, his brand has been losing its luster as well. What started out as a pledge for a different kind of campaign has been inexorably dragged backwards towards the swamp of politics-as-usual. He campaigned on the promise to accept public funding, thereby leading the charge to cleanse our electoral process of the influence of special interests, but he was ultimately unable to resist the lure of the huge financial advantage his fund-raising machine represented over the Republicans. He initially agreed, in general terms, to a series of town-hall meetings with McCain only to flip-flop when he took a healthy lead in the early polls and was reminded of the old political rule that the leader debates as seldom as he can possibly get away with.
For most politicians, these would be minor infractions. After all, the game has been played this way forever. Money is speech, we have a constitutional right to Free Speech, so collect as much money as possible, from whatever sources are available. And never play to an opponent's strengths if it can be avoided. McCain has always been a one trick campaign pony -- town hall meetings. So, the conventional wisdom was, don't debate him using the town hall forum.
But Obama hasn't been selling himself as a conventional politician. What made him special was his ability to inspire a belief in a new kind of politics. Every time he resorts to politics-as-usual he cheapens his brand. And every opportunity McCain has to accuse him of being afraid to go in front of the people with him is an opportunity lost for Obama to convince undecided voters that he is someone they can feel comfortable voting for.
It's a tricky problem. While he might very well be able to govern with a new style of politics, it's proving very difficult to get elected with them. When McCain manages to force Obama to waste time and money defending himself against scurrilous attacks and outright lies, McCain doubles his winnings. He wins not only because Obama is thrown off his message that McCain is out of touch and is offering no real solutions, but also because Obama seems a little less special each time he engages in gutbucket politics. And, on the other hand, if Obama chooses not to rise to the bait, he comes across as weak, unwilling to fight for himself. And if he's unwilling to defend himself, how can we expect him to defend the American people. Like I said, it's a tricky problem.
McCain faces some of the same challenges. McCain has spent years railing against Beltway politics and nasty campaigning. Yet, when presented with the opportunity to carry his party's banner, he dropped those vaunted principles of his faster than he dropped his first wife. When he realized he was going to have to go negative to stand any chance whatsoever, he replaced Terry Nelson with Steve Schmidt and saved a seat in the back of the Straight Talk Express for Schmidt's mentor, Karl Rove. He agonized over throwing his lifelong ideal of honor off the back of the bus for about a second and a half.
The difference is, Republicans can win with lies. They're comfortable getting down and dirty. They've been doing it since Lee Atwater. Hell, since Pat Buchanan. Republicans talk about the high road and idealism and leaving the world a better place for our kids. But they don't mean it. You aren't serious about improving the next generation's lot in life if you are borrowing money hand over fist against their future. You're not serious if you are unwilling to admit that the country's infrastructure is crumbling and that it's going to take hugh sums to repair it. Sums that will require more than cutting earmarks and eliminating wasteful government programs. Goods and services cost money. The only way to raise that money is to raise taxes. Which the Republicans are unwilling to admit. (Note I didn't say they're unwilling to do. They'll do it. They just won't admit it.) You're not serious about leaving the world a better place if you deny the causes and effects of global warming and refuse to consider environmental, energy and transportation policies that are necessary to combat climate change.
Obama started out this campaign almost two years ago and has been trying to stick to the high road ever since. He was mostly successful in the Democratic primaries because he was running against, well, Democrats. There is a bar below which, for the most part, Democrats will not crawl. Let's call it common decency.
But now we're in the general election and it's Obama against the Republicans. He's been slogging along the high road, dodging McCain mudballs and slowly losing his lead. Last week he came to a bend in the road. He rounded the turn and pulled up short. He was met with Lipstick on a Pig and Comprehensive Sex Education for Kindergarteners. Behind which, the high road had vanished. It had crumbled and collapsed as surely as the bridges and roadways across America under the strain of Republican economic policy. It had become the Road to Nowhere.
So, Obama no longer has a choice. McCain has forced him to finish the journey on the low road. It was a noble experiment, this New Politics, but it's not for winning elections. Time to take the gloves off. Hopefully, Obama can put them back on when it comes time to govern.
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