With Barack Obama officially crossing the 2,118 delegate threshold tonight (June 3rd), the Democratic presidential primary is for all intensive purposes over. Sure, Hillary Clinton could fight on to the convention in Denver in August, but a shrewed operator like HRC knows that the ship has sailed, and fighting on will only seem divisive, pathetic and will tarnish her legacy greatly.
On the other side of the aisle, the Republican primary has been over since John McCain trounced Rudy Giuliani in Florida, and subsequently crushed Mike Huckabee on Super Tuesday.
Needless to say, this primary has been historic, and now that it has concluded, it's a perfect time to look back on the lessons imparted by it.
1. If one discounts his views on Iraq, Iran, Israel, the War on Terror, Social Security Reform, Tax Cuts, Economic Stimulus, Reproductive Rights, the GI Bill, and Gay Marriage, Sen. McCain sure looks like a maverick when compared to his Republican counterparts.
2. The mainstream media does not apply the same standards of tough reporting on the GOP as they do on the Democrats: Judging by the widespread coverage, Jeremiah Wright apparently triggered World War III because of his involvement with Sen. Obama. On the other hand, the story of John McCain's cantankerous pastor John Hagee, who suggested that Hitler was sent to Earth as a means of redirecting Israel to Zion, escapes relatively unscathed.
The same principle applied during the shameless questioning of Obama over his "ties" with William Ayers. McCain's dalliances, and admitted unethical activity in the Keating Five Scandal elicited not a peep from the very same media members.
3. ABC News is a shameless organization, and should not be allowed to devolve and embarrass our political discourse again: The debate they hosted, in which, rather farcically, excerpts from the Constitution introduced segments on each issue, was arguably the nadir of the entire primary season. George Stephanaopoulous and Charlie Gibson spent more than half the debate bloviating about flag pins, Bill Ayers and Jeremiah Wright, to the point that even the normally unflappable Barack Obama expressed his exasperation at their asinine questions. They deserved the brutal beating they took from both the media, and the assembled crowd that evening.
The saddest part: Neither accepted any culpability for the farce they propagated which perfectly exemplified the pitiful job the mainstream media has done in dealing with issues that actually matter to voters.
4. Earth to Bill Clinton: It's not 1992, you are no longer the young, charismatic torchbearer of the Democratic Party. In fact, judging by the last 6 months, you have become something of a political liability. From laughably insinuating that Barack Obama's campaign played "the race card" on him, to foolishly declaring that Hillary Clinton must win Texas or drop out weeks before that actual primary, Bill's imprimatur on his wife's campaign will be remembered as largely a hindrance upon her success.
5. What the media decries as campaign-threatening verbal gaffes have little to no resonance to the electorate: Case in point was Mike Huckabee's decision to claim to not air a controversial aid, only to subsequently air the aid one time during the same press conference announcing the decision not to run it. For a solid two weeks, Huckabee's motives were derided and mocked, and a post-mortem swiftly declared for his then fledgling campaign.
Just days later, Huckabee handily took Iowa, despite all of the prognostications from Chris Matthews and his ilk that he was dead in the water.
The media's casuistry in declaring Huckabee dead before even any votes had been cast was a microcosm of their behavior throughout the primary season.
6. John McCain is a serial flip flopper: In December, McCain told the Boston Globe that existing laws trumped executive power, no matter how dire the given circumstances. Earlier this week, he totally reversed course, and thereby refuted the points he made emphatically just six months ago when he told an AIPAC convention that Presidential prerogative trumps all other considerations. Going from a wholesale refutation of the Bush Imperial Presidency doctrine to a fulsome endorsement in less time than it takes Britney Spears to go from multi-platinum artist to sipping Lithium out of a tube in a recovery center is quite an accomplishment in contradiction and hypocrisy. Sen. McCain out to be proud.
7. Money is a prerequisite for a Presidential bid, but having the most doesn't guarantee victory: Remember Mitt Romney? He was the dapper, aw-shucks uber-technocrat who entered the race with very little on his resume, but a formidable war chest. Where is he now? Probably enjoying Behind the Music: The Mormon Tabernacle Choir.
Despite having the aforementioned treasure trove of funds, Romney could never dissuade the Republican voters from their initial skepticism about his conservative credentials (he did actively court gay voters as governor of Massachusetts) and his Mormonism. As a result, he could infuse his campaign with ungodly amounts of cash, and the ballot box would remain barren. He was forced to drop out after winning only a few primaries, including his home state Utah.
8. John McCain is not very good at admitting he is fallible: Examples abound, I'm not even sure which was the most damning, so why not start with the most recent: Just last week, McCain alleged that the "surge" in Iraq was working, so much so that troops had returned to the pre-surge levels. Even with the most generous mathematical gerrymandering, this claim is entirely false. When confronted with his mishap, McCain, as geriatrics are want to do, angrily denied he had made any faux pas in the first place. In the You Tube age, it takes some stones to refute a contention captured on video, but McCain must have been on a lot of his courage juice that particular day (his is Metamucil, not alcohol)
Earlier on in the campaign, McCain had oddly also insinuated that the Iranian regime was assisting Al-Qaeda in Iraq. Apparently, for all his experience in foreign affairs, McCain is unaware that Iran is a Shiite country, and Al-Qaeda is Sunni, and more importantly, that these two groups have been involved in an internecine feud for the better part of 1300 years.
Back tomorrow with 8 more thoughts....
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