Quote:
Originally Posted by tmc
With what you said being the case, does the fact that McCain is within hailing distance, at least, of Obama mean that perhaps Hillary is not totally out of the picture? Under present political circumstances the Democrat candidate should be a lead-pipe cinch, which Obama is clearly not, at least as of now. She has not yet released her delegates; could there be mischief in Denver?
|
I don't think so, on the latter point. I read for example that officially suspending as opposed to ending a campaign allows for continued donations, or something to that effect, and so there is a completely non-political (non-mischief) reason for Clinton, for example, to just suspend her campaign. I believe I read similar comments regarding the official "releasing" of delegates, but I cannot be sure. I just don't think Clinton is harboring ideas of something of that scale happening, still.
She might be harboring ideas of something like being the VP on the ticket, though I haven't particularly gotten that impression, either. I don't see it happening, myself. Just seems like it's fraught with too many problems.
That Obama would not be leading in the polls by more doesn't particularly surprise me, either. I think partly that's a function of the uncertainty of the situation and the tendency of polling to show a closer contest than may result, in the end (as we've seen at various times in this campaign). I think it's also partly a legitimate function of him being the option perceived as "riskier" (or whatever similar word you might want to put on it). Ironically one of McCain's biggest strengths might be precisely that he would be largely a continuation of current policies, because again, despite everybody's constant bellyaching about the state of our politics and government and why it can't be more effective and less of a quagmire of bickering and so forth, they continue to choose for office the people who make/keep it precisely that way, when it comes time to vote. The question remains, how serious are the voters about change, or how many of them are serious about change, serious enough to vote for it instead of going the familiar and "safe" route of sticking with what you know (even if it's the devil you know)?
And then there is the fact that, like every other president ever elected in this country's history, J. Sidney McCain is a white guy, and like almost all of them, he's an aging white guy, while Obama, like no other president ever elected in this country's history, is a black man, and like almost no other president ever elected in this country's history, is also young. At least until they're seen standing next to each other in debates or forums or whatever (and quite possibly beyond that), these are clearly strong aids to McCain that can only help boost him in the effort to diminish any lead Obama builds up.
Imo.
Steve