It's Over.
Barring Osamba Bin Laden endorsing his "muslim" brother Barack Obama, it is over.
The look on John McCain's face when he told his throng of angry white supremecist (read wingnut Republican) supporters that they do not have to fear an Obama Presidency was the look of a proud general leaving the battlefield, his army in tatters, to traipse soflty into that distant sunset.
The look was what all finished soldiers know when the war is at its end.
It all fell apart for him, at least this is what he must believe.
The truth is probably something a little different and not nearly as neatly constructed. My belief is that the Republican party put forth John McCain to lose this election. He may have understood these facts when he nominated Sarah Palin. For all the tightening poll numbers and the appearance of a close race it hasn't been close.
The electoral math is what it is. You can't deny that. Not even McCain and his rabid supporters could have dreamed to run the table on every swing state- especially when states like North Carolina, Virginia, Indiana, and Missouri were now considered swing states.
This would not by a Nixon / McGovern race or a Reagan / Mondale race- but the recipe for loss in a major way was there. John McCain may have been the only Republican to think he had a chance.
This is why I believe Sarah Palin did not blink. She did not seriously believe she would be the Vice President of the United States. That is why she relied more on lines like "if we are fortunate enough". The old maxim still applies... you make your own good luck. Palin, and the stinky black cloud that has followed her through this campaign, has not been about making your own good luck.
No. The Republican race this time has been more about ambition than winning. John McCain, whose sole ambition these days seems to be to one up his father and grandfather- both great men and giants in American history. Sarah Palin's ambition has been to reap the rewards of the national spotlight, and perhaps make a bid for a later, more serious run. The campaign managers and handler's ambition to perfect Rovian politics and to see who could lie the most effectively on TV. One has to wonder at the depths of dishonesty that lies within one Tucker Bounds- the Baghdad Bob of this generation.
Was it ever possible for McCain to win? I think yes, theoretically.
He could have railed out against the Republican party once his nomination seemed in hand. He could have not cozied up to lobbyists and tired politicians who bare some of the blame for the mess we're in. He could have told America that Republicans had to answer the call of reform and stop their wasteful practices or he would see to it that they were voted out. "I will endorse Democrats if I have to!" could have been his mavericky call.
He could have nominated Bobby Jindal, if he had the guts, or ask General Petreus to retire and nominate him, since he loves the man so much.
He could have waged a campaign based on message, strength, and integrity. Instead of one that relied solely on distrust and our fear of one another.
And while it is easy to play Monday Morning quarterback and second guess history, it is clear to see that John McCain's campaign never took seriously the shape of the country or the terrible job his party did to get us here. The idea that as many people support him as do is shocking to me.
John McCain's fatal flaw is that he really is a tactical guy. He deploys himself to win the little battle while not fully understanding the nature of the war. His assertion that Obama did not know the difference between a tactic and a strategy only serves to highlight this fact.
Obama has never been about the dailies. It's been about wide scale attacks. Shaving a couple points off of the Republicans in every district gives a democrat a chance to win. Democrats that do well help national candidates. This is how you win a war. Obama has clearly surrounded himself with good people.
On the other hand, John telegraphs the media to tell them exactly what he's going to do. He told them he was pulling out of Michigan (why on earth you would try to win the media cycle by admitting defeat is beyond me), his campaign staff sent major newspapers a memorandum saying that 100% of the ads for the rest of the campaign cycle would be negative, not to mention the early pronouncements that McCain won his first debate or that Palin was cleared of any wrongdoing in troopergate. This is clearly not an instance, as Teddy Roosevelt would have said, of speaking softly and carrying a big stick. This is more an example of talking loud and saying nothing.
Which brings me back to yesterday's McCain comments about not fearing a president Obama. The look on his face said it all. The man, who clearly knew that he had lost the election, had to tell his "friends" it was over. The curtain is falling. Say goodbye to the defeated soldier.