Tim Egan’s take on the 3rd debate:
…In the third debate, he [McCain] scuffed and huffed, but ended up with a somewhat muddled conversation with a plumber. Little wonder, in the ideological wilderness of 2008, a time when McCain’s dark-side supporters want him to stay dirty, that McCain chose to dwell on a guy who spends a lot of time with his head in the toilet.
No offense to Joe since he makes a better living than I do. But Egan has it about right as far as McCain is concerned. His campaign is dirty and his head’s in the toilet.
A few months ago, I predicted that McCain would end up running a campaign that looked a lot like Bob Dole’s given the age, ideology and temperaments of the respective candidates in both races:
I’m beginning to think a McCain candidacy is going to echo the clueless, out of touch 1996 campaign Robert Dole ran against a far younger, more politically nimble Democrat by the name of Bill Clinton. If 6 in 10 Americans and some of his own key advisors believe the precise opposite of what McCain espouses regarding Iran, how long before we all see that the Republican emperor is hopelessly out of touch and has no clothes?
Turns out, I was dead on. I predict this election is going to have an outcome similar to 1996 as well. The only question is how badly other Republican candidates will do. And that doesn’t look good for them either.
This brings up an important question of governance. What will the Dems do with their newfound success? Will they govern from the center? Or will they meander into ideological territory like the Republicans did under Bush and DeLay? Will they squander the mandate they’ve been given? Or will they resort to squabbling among themselves and the sort of aimless agenda that they’ve been known for in the past?
Will Obama also grab the bull by the horns and act decisively in confronting economic and foreign problems? I’m looking forward to what could happen regarding the I-P conflict, Iran and Iraq. If Dems play their cards right things could look a lot better in the Middle East by the end of Obama’s first term. Especially if Tzipi Livni is prime minister. If Netanyahu wins, then all bets are off.
