Ahhhh, The Lame David Brooks is back! I was wondering where he’d been for a while, as we seemed to have had an extended visit from The Good David Brooks. Like a venereal disease, however, the evil twin keeps coming back.
I am nowhere near as concerned about the ongoing Democratic primary campaign as Brooks claims to be. In my opinion, it should continue as it has.
More after the break.
Wouldn’t the GOP just love it if the Democrats weren’t the No. 1 topic of discussion in the news and chat shows every day and The Angry Gnome’s latest photo op wasn’t buried on page A24. Brooks contends that three months (maybe more! So many exclamation points, so little op ed space!!!) of daily discussion of personality and national-culture issues are somehow poison to the Democrats, as though these weren't the party's core competency these days.
I could dismantle this argument fairly easily on my own, but Brooks does it himself with the first four paragraphs of his column. I don’t need to repeat them verbatim, but suffice to say his point was Obama took the worst week (for him) of the campaign, weathered it and emerged perhaps in a better position. All the while, this continues to minimize any concerns there might be about Obama’s inexperience, and the ability for "Obambi" to stand up to a Republican onslaught in the campaign to November.
As evidence that the ongoing Democratic primary is damaging to the party’s candidates, Brooks cites McCain’s recent rise in the polls. This is misleading, however. McCain has emerged as his party’s nominee. If he didn’t rise in the polls, that would be alarming. But by the one true metric that, for better or worse, will determine a candidate’s chances in November – fundraising – McCain is in a sorry state compared to both Democrats. For the month since he emerged as the nominee, a time when, traditionally, money is expected to flow in freely to a candidate regardless of party, McCain pulled in just $ 4 million. During that same time Hillary raised $11 million and Obama $15 million. If this is the damage the ongoing primary battle causes, then let it rage on.
At the Ohio primary, Hillary’s biggest victory in well-nigh six weeks, exit polls asked, if the person for whom you voted was not the nominee, would you vote for the other candidate in November. Just 4 percent of Hillary supporters said they would not vote for Obama, and just 11 percent of Obama supporters said they would not vote for Clinton. And one cannot assume these automatically become McCain voters since they have the option of staying home, supporting a third-party candidate, or even changing their minds.
If the nominee remains unsettled through June, then I’ll believe the Democrats have a problem. But when a partisan for Brand X tries to say the Democrats have a problem, well, I’ve been watching the GOP for too long to fall for that kind of misdirection. Ending the primary process before the nomination is clearly settled advantages McCain. I’d advise the Clinton and Obama campaigns to continue the discussion and keep it adult and civil, and yes, difficult (if this were easy, would it even be worth doing?), as they have to this point.