Posted on 09/15/2008 7:14:22 PM PDT by Forgiven_Sinner
What if the impossible happens and Obama loses the election? Among Democrats, expect a rash of rage, depression, angst and finger-pointing at the media.
It’s three a.m. on Oct. 31 and a frantic broker awakens you. He’s advising making substantial investments that day in the stocks of Lilly, Pfizer and other manufacturers of anti-depressants, as well as high-end booze, say Grey Goose vodka and Hillary Clinton’s whiskey of choice, Chivas Regal. The calculations buzzing through your head are not insignificant. Barack Obama holds a two-point lead over John McCain in the Gallup poll for the Nov. 4 presidential election, and that slender margin suggests—given the undeniable factor of racism when Americans retreat to the privacy of the ballot booth—that for the third straight time a Democratic candidate will be defeated. Your own preference in the contest is irrelevant: there’s money lying on the table and only a fool would ignore the market’s indications.
A month ago, as any honest Democrat will tell you, this scenario was nearly inconceivable. The Republicans had nominated an elderly and inarticulate candidate in McCain, who was marred not only by his association with George Bush, but distrusted by the critical conservative base as well. He was expected to choose an equally dull running mate—maybe Gov. Tim Pawlenty (who?), the robotic Mitt Romney, or even Sen. Joe Lieberman, the onetime Democrat who’s distrusted by both parties—and though Obama had tapped longtime Sen. Joe Biden, whose bouts with sometimes indelicate verbosity were well-known, that was of little concern. Obama’s campaign was a fund-raising juggernaut and the candidate promised to campaign in nearly every state, especially “red” ones, not only demonstrate to he’d be a president of “all the people” but also help Congressional Democrats expand their majorities. It was payback time for the “stolen” elections of 2000 and 2004 and the revenge promised to be rich indeed.
I was reasonably certain that Obama would win convincingly, and perhaps by a landslide. In fact, although favoring McCain, I’d resigned myself to at least four years of the charismatic Illinois one-term senator, despite the nervousness that he’d turn out to be a less pious Jimmy Carter or, a latter-day Adlai Stevenson. What the hell, it’s not as if the Republicans have distinguished themselves in the past four years, McCain included. Besides, one benefit of a turnover at the White House would be the resumption of political conversation with Democratic friends; too many personal and professional relationships have been fractured in the past eight years.
There’s no need here to elaborate on the galvanizing effect Sarah Palin has had on the election—and whether or not her “everywoman” appeal stands up to intense scrutiny remains to be seen—for that’s evident in daily polling and the blizzard of media attention that’s flummoxed Obama and his supporters. (Although it’s worth pointing out that on Sept. 3, before Palin’s ascension to Wal-Mart heroine, liberal historian Garry Wills suggested in a New York Times op-ed that Palin, for her own sake, “withdraw her nomination” to “minimize her “own humiliation.” I wonder if Wills might want to take back that snap judgment.)
In mid-September the GOP resurrection is a simple reality, and though I dislike the cliché “a month in politics is a lifetime,” no one has any idea of how Americans will vote on Election Day. But the fear expressed by a “major Democratic fundraiser” in Politico last week—“I’m so depressed. It’s happening again. It’s a nightmare.”—isn’t isolated and won’t subside unless Obama, to quote a Matt Drudge headline, “gets his groove back.”
I have no clue if or when that could happen, but I do have an opinion of what will follow in this country if McCain pulls off what so recently seemed the miraculous feat of becoming the country’s 44th president. Voter fraud, conspiracy, “sleazevertisements” (the preferred term of many left-wing bloggers), disenfranchised voters, the return of redneck chic; those will be the immediate cries of Democrats who thought the election was in the bag. Once again, scores of celebrities will claim they’re moving abroad (and inevitably won’t). And then the depression will kick in hard.
New York magazine columnist Kurt Andersen, one of the few Beltway-Boston pundits who bashed Hillary Clinton a year ago, when her nomination appeared inevitable, was unstinting in his speculation of the fallout should Obama lose. He emailed me: “Even without post-November 4th rumors of rigged voting machines and the like, an Obama loss will be a deeply, traumatically depressing event for Democrats and other Obama enthusiasts. (Whereas if McCain loses, who will be seriously bummed outside of the McCain household?) There will be so many facets of potential unhappiness. That an eloquent, inspiring, intelligent, subtle black candidate lost—and if it’s close, it’ll be true that racism beat him… That the rest of the world will be reaffirmed in their belief that America is the land of nincompoops (or worse). That a war with Iran looks a lot likelier… That Sarah Palin won it for the Republicans, and gives a bad name to feminism and (terrifyingly) has a one-in-six (Russian roulette!) chance of becoming president before 2013.”
Tom Bevan, co-founder of Real Clear Politics, was succinct: “Two words: Hari Kari. The base of the [Democratic] party is so vested in its nominee…that to lose in November would be one of the most demoralizing in the modern era.”
Today, John Kerry is mostly a pariah in Democratic circles, seen as an effete and cautious campaigner who couldn’t even beat the laughable George Bush. Yet people, and the media, forget how shocked his supporters were four Novembers ago, so certain that Bush’s Supreme Court “selection” in 2000 would be overturned.
An article in The New York Times shortly after the election described the utter devastation felt by New York City residents, who gave Kerry 75 percent of their votes. Dr. Joseph Zito, a retired psychiatrist, told the reporter, “I’m saddened by what I feel is the obtuseness and shortsightedness of a good part of the country—the heartland… New Yorkers are more sophisticated and at a level of consciousness where we realized we have to think of globalization, of one mankind, that what’s going to injure masses of people is not good for us.” A friend of Zito’s, a native of Wisconsin, added, “New Yorkers are savvy. We have street smarts. Whereas people in the Midwest are more influenced by what their friends say.”
But who says New Yorkers are elitists?
A Beverly Hills psychologist, Cathy Quinn, told a Los Angeles Times reporter—also days after the Kerry defeat—that she’d seen an increase in the number of patients, who were suffering from “despair.” Quinn predicted to the Times’ Melissa Healy that the “postelection” blues would worsen the emotional health of people already plagued by feelings of loss, anxiety and depression.
It’ll be far more acrimonious this time around if the GOP wins. Already mainstream commentators (on the liberal side) are preparing for the bitterness and reprisals with premature eulogies of Obama’s campaign. On Sept. 14, The Washington Post’s David Ignatius said, by choosing Palin, McCain had sold his soul to the devil to win the election. Richard Cohen, a colleague of Ignatius at the Post, implied that Obama was “too cool” to fight back against Palin’s “jibes, her sarcasm, her smug provincialism, her exploitation of mommyhood” and so on. The Times’ Paul Krugman, incredibly, wrote on Sept. 12 that McCain’s “lies” were worse than those of Karl Rove and Bush. “The Bush campaign’s lies in 2000 were artful—you needed some grasp of arithmetic to realize you were being conned.” Yet, according to Krugman, McCain’s campaign is so dishonest that should he and Palin win the White House, their administration would be “much, much worse” than Bush’s.
And Frank Rich, with whom I agreed a month ago that nervousness among Democrats about Obama’s static polls was silly, has also reversed himself. He wrote, on Sept. 14, “A week ago the question was: Is Sarah Palin qualified to be a heartbeat away from the presidency? The question today: What kind of president would Sarah Palin be?”
Those who favor McCain are also predicting at least a verbal war if Obama loses. Dan Henninger, deputy editorial page editor of The Wall Street Journal, told me: “If McCain-Palin wins, and especially if they carry Ohio and Pennsylvania, the Democratic party is going to look like Godfather II—with Bill and Hillary Clinton jointly playing Michael Corleone. The blogospheric left will go to the mattresses, against everyone—the Clintons, the ‘Right,’ and the media.”
Finally, Tucker Carlson, the witty veteran of cable television shows, who’s been mercilessly and unfairly maligned by left-wingers, expressed an opinion that’s close to my own. “Even those who supported Hillary in the primaries will scold the rest of us for voting against a black man. They’ll be shrill and self-righteous, more even than usual, and they’ll never stop. It’s almost enough to make you want to vote for Obama, just so we won’t have to hear them.”
Tucker’s a card, but you can’t argue that a McCain win, for liberals, will be the political equivalent of Black Friday back in 1929.
I expect arson and looting.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
“that she’d seen an increase in the number of patients, who were suffering from ‘despair.’”
Is that a clinical term? Is it better or worse than “the blues”? I had a tough case of “ants in my pants” last year, I tell ya.
Why would the libs point fingers at the media?
The media and the Obama campaign are one and the same.
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I do too.
This is why I have plenty of firearms.
Blacks in the inner city would be enraged. Rioting and motorist beatings would follow, and of course the Dems will justify the riots as a reaction to racist Americans, racist white blue collar Dems, racists media, etc, etc, and etc. Words of wisdom, stock up on ammo and expect trouble. I think the blacks will sit out in 2010 and 2012 unless the Dems nominate another black man or have a black man as the VP. Put on your seat belts and assume the crash position, the rest of the year can be very bumpy. Dems are in a big heap of hurt.
I pray I'm wrong but I fully expect all that as just the Fort Sumter of the coming civil war--black, brown and "blue" vs. "red".
This putz needs to get over himself. Does he really think that New Yorkers aren't influenced by their peers as much? How much truly independent thinking goes on in the Upper West Side of Manhattan?
As for someone else's post asking why the Moonbats will lash out at the Media given that the Media is in Obambi's pocket...rationality doesn't matter here.
The Clintonistas will not be able to avoid the I-told-you-so's that they've been saving up. The Obama gimme-gimmes will charge back that she should have dropped out in February or March, and that she didn't work hard enough so that she could have her own shot.
DU is going to be quite a fine place to pop some corn in seven weeks!
I didn’t anticipate riots at Denver, and don’t expect riots when Obama loses. We won’t recreate ‘68.
Why? Maybe it’s because there are fewer meat-eaters and more vegetarians now. More keyboards and fewer gyms. Who knows?
If Obama loses, we need to subtly suggest to liberals that their anguish comes from being too invested emotionally in politics. Refocusing on other pursuits is really the only healthy option...
I hope they are so depressed, they can’t get out of bed for 5 years, so that they miss the election that puts Palin in the White House.
That's just too funny for words.
LOL SOT ;>)
I for one shudder to contemplate the fury of the left-wing blogosphere. I mean, when you consider the contribution they’ve made to the country...yeah. (Snicker). I know. There’ll be pizza boxes flying in every mom’s basement in the land. Mighty manifestos will be penned. The country will experience a shortage in the Strategic Obscenity Reserve. Some of ‘em might even get mad enough to go out and get jobs.
What is best in life?
To crush the liberals, drive them before you and hear the lamentations of their feminazis and metrosexuals.
I just love the smell of burnt liberals in the morning.
Exploitation of mommyhood? The rats have lost their minds. I guess its not all "for the children" anymore. Does Osama exploit his race? I think Osama's race is probably a negative as far as votes go...maybe not. But this will be the first time I've ever heard mommyhood was exploited for votes.
“If you thought four years ago they were angry, you can only imagine what an Obama defeat will to do to them on November 5th!”
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If my prayers are answered, it will be close and contested. It will need to go to the Supreme Court to be resolved and another presidency will be selected for the Republican ticket, 5/4 vote of course. Then as with “Mars Attacks,” Slim Whitman will begin to sing and all the Dim heads will explode. It will be a mess cleaning up all the goo but worthwhile.
“Even those who supported Hillary in the primaries will scold the rest of us for voting against a black man. They’ll be shrill and self-righteous, more even than usual, and they’ll never stop. It’s almost enough to make you want to vote for Obama, just so we won’t have to hear them.”
Oh yes, this I can whole heartedly agree with (one of the few things that will make a McCain victory almost as bad as a McCain defeat). And it’s just my luck that most of my co-workers are democrats. I can already hear one whom I’ve butted heads with on Obama before (he claims we need an inexperienced president and that, if elected, Obama will be another JFK) trying to start something with me.
Or a lifetime supply of cyanide.
“...one benefit of a turnover at the White House would be the resumption of political conversation with Democratic friends; too many personal and professional relationships have been fractured in the past eight years.”
This guy is a real hoot.
Where I live everyone is white as snowballs, but I fully expect the welfare bums to be frustrated and liter the streets with smashed bottles of beer. I’d guess their rage might last for a night or until the soap operas air next afternoon.
And after they’re told by our commie governor that the food stamps have been mailed and a boxcar of Ripple is on the way, everything will calm down.
If not, lots of people here subscribe to the environmental policy of SS & S and own backhoes.
Why, thank you. I was serious, though.
By the way, I’ve got “LOL”. What’s “SOT”?
OK. I’m for that.
Thanks for the ping, Roscoe. Needed the laugh today.
Love the last pic of the Losers, especially Sissy Chrissie!!
I knew someday that someone might ask that. You're going to think "Duh!" after I tell you!
Would you believe.....
...SlightOfTongue ;>)
That’s pretty good. Thanks
That’s pretty good. Thanks
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