Editorials

Three-way Titanic struggle March 17, 2008 - No reporter cited

All campaigns are said to be especially critical, but this one for president of the United States really is for at least three critical reasons: first of all, we are involved in ground wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, second, our economy is in recession and slipping deeper, and finally, America is just plain hungry for change after Bush-Clinton-Clinton-Bush-Bush.

Right now, Barak Obama has the lead in the Democratic Primary. The problem he faces is one of race. Or more accurately, how some Americans vote based on race. And that is a sad fact, but true. People should vote for or against him based on what he stands for or against, and not the color of his skin. But they won’t.

But black voters are supporting him to the tune of 90 percent. If you live by the black vote, you may get defeated by white voters who, after all, are in the majority if they feel they will be disenfranchised by an African-American president. It follows that white people will support either one of the two white candidates.

If Barak gets the nomination, he will name a white as a vice president running mate.

The irony is that Bill Clinton, when he was governor, used to say he wanted 100 percent of the black vote because black voters were 15 percent of the turnout and if you beat him you had to get your 51 percent from the remaining voters.

I’m sticking by my prediction that Hillary Clinton will win the nomination and be elected as the first woman president of the United States. But, hey I could be wrong.

The longer the campaign goes on, the better chance that Obama will self-destruct. But money is the milk of politics and Obama has plenty of milk according to the latest report. Hillary is right behind him.

Hillary’s hope is that she can carry the remaining states and argue that the super delegates should support the candidate who received the most popular votes in the Democratic Primary, including Michigan and Florida.

If the campaign keeps being one of black versus white, Hillary wins that battle because white voters outnumber black voters.

Who ever wins the nomination will face John McCain in the fall. McCain for now has a free ride and he can watch the two Democrats cage fight each other, spend all of their money, with the winner emerging broken and bruised and trying to rebuild a coalition in a short time to defeat McCain.

I’ve been there in a tough Democratic Primary, trying to get supporters of the defeated primary opponents to support us in the fall. It ain’t easy. Feelings are hurt. Money has been wasted. And in Winston Bryant’s winning campaigns, we did play hardball in primary campaigns.

At the end of the day, this 2007-08 campaign will generate many book deals.

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