The Sunday Times
Feb. 3rd, 2008 08:47 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gracheehaDon’t screw up, Democrats, Barack Obama is your man
There comes a point in all primary campaigns when the warring factions pause and the voters in each party ask themselves a simple question: who on earth can win this thing in November?
Republicans are usually better at this. ...in the wake of South Carolina, they took a look at the field, saw the enormous enthusiasm building behind Barack Obama and went for their strongest electable candidate: John McCain. ...the cascade of establishment endorsements that McCain has received in the past week ... The Republican governors of the big states, Florida, California and Texas, all endorsed the crusty Arizonan senator.
...the endorsements Obama has secured: Janet Napolitano, Democratic governor of Arizona; Kathleen Sebelius, Democratic governor of Kansas; Claire McCaskill, Democratic senator from Missouri; Tim Kaine, Democratic governor of Virginia, and Ben Nelson, Democratic senator from Nebraska.
What do all these states have in common? They are all states that George W Bush won twice. If you’re the next generation of Democrat, trying to appeal to the centre of the country, Obama is your candidate. Clinton takes the party and national politics back to the polarised red-blue ideological past...
Will Democratic voters realise that he is now their best bet against McCain or will inertia and fear keep Clinton alive? One thing I’ve learnt in American politics: never underestimate the capacity of the Democratic party to screw it up.
There comes a point in all primary campaigns when the warring factions pause and the voters in each party ask themselves a simple question: who on earth can win this thing in November?
Republicans are usually better at this. ...in the wake of South Carolina, they took a look at the field, saw the enormous enthusiasm building behind Barack Obama and went for their strongest electable candidate: John McCain. ...the cascade of establishment endorsements that McCain has received in the past week ... The Republican governors of the big states, Florida, California and Texas, all endorsed the crusty Arizonan senator.
...the endorsements Obama has secured: Janet Napolitano, Democratic governor of Arizona; Kathleen Sebelius, Democratic governor of Kansas; Claire McCaskill, Democratic senator from Missouri; Tim Kaine, Democratic governor of Virginia, and Ben Nelson, Democratic senator from Nebraska.
What do all these states have in common? They are all states that George W Bush won twice. If you’re the next generation of Democrat, trying to appeal to the centre of the country, Obama is your candidate. Clinton takes the party and national politics back to the polarised red-blue ideological past...
Will Democratic voters realise that he is now their best bet against McCain or will inertia and fear keep Clinton alive? One thing I’ve learnt in American politics: never underestimate the capacity of the Democratic party to screw it up.