I may not have been a mile high after watching Sen. Barack Obama’s extraordinary speech last Thursday, but I swear there was a moment in there when I felt I was getting ready to levitate. I was among the hysterically happy throng at the former Mile High Stadium, if only vicariously. Aware that I had just glimpsed history in the making, it was indeed a moment to savor, to bask in, to try and put in perspective.
Sitting there on the verge of tears, soaking in the exuberance of the moment, tingling with joy as the post-speech
yakkers, one after another, sang his praises — conservative spokesman Pat Buchanan calling it “the greatest convention speech ever” and former GOP congressman Joe Scarborough saying it was one of the most magnificent speeches he’d ever heard — I thought, “Case closed. If Barack can win over these two right-wingers, McCain might as well throw in the towel.”
So the next day he did. Or so it seemed. In one of the most curious political moves ever, he chose not a virtual unknown but a literal unknown to be his running mate. If there had been any doubt about his mental stability, this beyond-bizarre ploy just made the case. He’s not just desperate, he’s nuts.
It seemed the GOP was basing its whole campaign — other than the already-launched Swift Boats — on the lone theme that Obama was not ready, not experienced enough, not prepared to lead. Now even that lame argument has been undercut. Now they got nothing.
There are any number of ways to look at this, but none of them makes any sense. For starters, does he really think that the disaffected Hillary supporters, the PUMAs (party loyalty, my ass) will cross over just because she’s female? Is he so patronizingly out of it that he does not understand that he has insulted the intelligence of every woman in America? This hockey mom whose experience consists of being the mayor of a town the size of Siler City has absolutely nothing in common with Hillary except gender. Jeez, the woman believes a) creationism should be taught in schools, b) polar bears should be taken off the endangered species list, c) global warming is not man-made, d) drilling in the Alaskan wilderness should proceed immediately, e) abortion should not be permitted, even in cases of rape or incest, f) same-sex marriage should be outlawed and, g) gun ownership is sacrosanct. Plus, she has h) already flip-flopped on the bridge to nowhere, i) been under investigation by the Alaska state legislature, j) admitted she hasn’t kept up with Iraq too much and k) done nothing to prevent endangered red wolves from being shot from helicopters.
Crimony,
she’s crazier than McCain — at least he’s got an excuse. Maybe he
figures that because she’s so rabid and righteously right that she’ll
fire up the GOP base of fundamentalist snake-handlers and
knuckle-dragging homophobes. But are there enough of those denizens of
the shallow end of the gene pool out there who can figure out how to
mark a ballot to sway an election? Or perhaps he’s trying to reassert
his maverick credentials. Having been correctly and provably branded as
a Bush toadie, is this his way of showing us that he’s his own man? By
sacrificing the good of the country for pure, unvarnished political
expediency in a last-ditch effort to rescue a failing campaign? If you
want to be a maverick why not just go down to the corner of South Elm
and McGee and grab the first panhandler you see, clean him/her up and
ask, “Wanna be vice president?” Hey, maybe he’s going after that
long-neglected Eskimo vote. Personally, I think Rove got to him.
Several of his subordinates are already working on his campaign, but I
think Turdblossom himself said it’s fourth and long with one second
left on the clock. Your last option is the Hail Mary. Everybody go
long. But there is another sports analogy that I know to be true. Late
last Thursday it dawned on me that my feelings were exactly like those
of almost four year ago, Oct. 20, 2004, to be exact. I know the date
because I still have the next day’s New York Daily News with
the best headline ever written: “Hell Freezes Over.” That was the
glorious occasion when the Red Sox beat the Yankees in the ALCS after
being down three games to none. The exhilaration of that evening lasted
until I realized that there was still one more obstacle to be overcome
before the curse would truly be broken.
The win over the
Yankees would be meaningless unless we polished off the Cardinals in
the World Series. Likewise, Barack’s nomination, historic though it may
be, goes for naught unless we polish off McCain in the general
election. At this moment, we have won nothing. If we get complacent
now, we’ll end up like the Yankees.
Let’s just hope and pray the election outcome parallels the ’04 Series. We swept the Cards 4-zip.
Ogi may be reached at ogiman100@yahoo.com and seen on “Triad Today” hosted by Jim Longworth on ABC 45 at 6:30 a.m. Fridays and on WMYV 48 at 10 p.m. Sundays.
