Can I Have Some Ketchup with that Candidate Please?
By Denis Campbell • Mar 17th, 2008 • Category: Features
I feel like I’m watching one of those retro cartoons where the two characters are being slowly nibbled away from the ground up until the only thing left will be two talking heads and one of them disappears.
Yes, it is the most exciting and dramatic campaign in the history of modern US politics. Every Tuesday night, millions from around the globe watch the results and ad nauseum analysis on CNN and… the longer this intramural contest continues, the more damage it will do to the Democratic Party in the fall.
While convinced either candidate could defeat John McCain and have long enough coattails to sweep in a Democratic majority capable of bringing real change, the loss of either supporter’s camp will be devastating and many could stay home or cross-over to vote for McCain than support “the villain,” which is how the winner will be portrayed by the losers.
Yes, it was another impressive win for Barack Obama. Yes, we are about talking the historically racially un-enlightened American Deep South. Yes, Barack Obama took 90% of the black vote and 25% of the white. I am though quite disturbed though by two trends.
1. The radical right wing nut jobs are taking pot shots and because they are fighting internally no one is blunting them. Congressman Stephen King (no relation to the book author, we would not want to sully HIS good name) of Iowa said yesterday “Al Qaeda is rooting for Barack Obama” and that “the radical Islamists and their supporters will be dancing in the streets in greater numbers than they did on September 11th. Because they will declare victory in this war on terror.” And that was his supposedly more balanced reply after being given a chance to recant.
2. The tenacious clinging though of the Clinton camp created two disturbing poll numbers. Obama supporters are 75% against Clinton and vice versa. The increasing polarisation means the longer this goes on, the more likely half the voters are to stay home in November.
Waiting six more weeks or longer will kill whoever is left standing. Just once, could a Clinton do something for the good of the party vs. themselves?
Denis Campbell is a journalist, author and businessman.
From a farmhouse in South Wales overlooking the Irish Sea, he and his wife run Target Point Ltd, an EU-wide strategy firm working with global businesses across a dozen industries on clarifying and executing strategy and changing their culture and focus. As a businessman living in the EU for 10-years, writing was a passionate hobby. He began blogging in 2006 with a number of pieces examining the corrupt climate of deception in the billion dollar spiritual self-help industry and re-published collected business, political and lifestyle features published across the EU since 2001. It has since grown into The Vadimus Post, from the Latin Quo Vadimus – where are we headed? (…and do we know why?), a daily e-magazine for those wanting to dig deeper, learn more together and dialogue on the key issues of the day.
Thanks for visiting and feel free to let me know your thoughts and opinions.
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