May 14, 2008
Sitting out the party
The dyspeptic Paul Krugman refuses to join the fun:
Can the Democrats nonetheless find a way to lose the presidential race?No.
Krugman's objection to Obama seems to be that he's a hollow Tony
Blair clone, a brilliant speaker with no stomach for the gritty
business of governing - arm-twisting, negotiating, checking details,
burning the midnight oil, using the bully pulpit: an idealistic trimmer
who will perforce sell out the American working class on universal
health care, growth and taxes when the going gets tough. (I exaggerate,
but that's the tendency.) We can take Krugman's word for how bad the
economic situation is going to be in January 2009.
I can't buy this picture, apart from the hard times a-coming, but supposing it's true ad arguendum. What has it got to do with losing the election?
If Obama is nothing more than a brilliant campaigner, he will still
win. Compared to the obstacles he has overcome to secure the
nomination, the general should be a doddle. The Krugman case FWIW is
that Obama might fail as a president, spending his time making lovely speeches at the UN while his legislative programme stalls in Congress.
Can Hillary Clinton lose the election for the Democrats? Only by running as an independent. Her lifelong party loyalty, umbilical ties to the party establishment, and empty coffers surely make this wildly improbable. When she concedes, why on earth should she do anything else than endorse Barack Obama and call on her supporters to work for a Democratic sweep in November?
Cheer up Paul. It's not quite morning in America, but the doves aren't flying back to the Ark.
