David

Karki

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April 22, 2008

If Obama Can’t Handle Charles Gibson, Democratic Trainwreck Looms

In last week's primary debate in Pennsylvania, Sen. Barack Obama was directly questioned for the first time on some of his, shall we say, less than savory relationships and less-than-humble sounding words. ABC News's Charlie Gibson did an excellent job of putting him on the spot.

Had Obama handled his responses better, he might have been able to put some space between himself and Sen. Hillary Clinton. Not to mention quietly answer some of the questions about inexperience and lack of gravitas. (By the way, funny how the word the media beat into the ground in regard to then-Gov. George W. Bush in 2000 isn't used at all in regard to Obama. The media wouldn't be a bit biased, now would they?)

But he did not, generally dissembling and fumbling his way through. And then he and his cult-like followers got all outraged – or should I say bitter? – that he would actually have to suffer the ostensible indignity of answering questions. It reminded me of a line from the episode of M*A*S*H where Hawkeye and Trapper confront a daffy general about not having an incubator: “This is a press conference! The last thing I'm going to do is stand here and answer a bunch of questions!”

Humor aside, this is a revealing thing. It shows us a couple of things about Sen. Obama that should give us pause.

One, the facts behind his past and policies have to be something he doesn't entirely want seen. Otherwise, he'd have answered straightforwardly and confidently. It's like an innocent person accused of something. When you know you're innocent, you don't tiptoe around – you state clearly and energetically the facts that exonerate you beyond the shadow of a doubt. Only one who is guilty, or at least has something to hide, or perhaps is simply not yet ready for prime-time would stumble around as Obama did.

Two, that if he can't handle the one and only time so far that the media actually has done its job, perhaps he's not quite ready to handle defending America against Al Qaeda. The mainstream media has been so in the bag for Obama that Saturday Night Live has gotten big laughs lampooning their blatant sycophancy. If stepping away from that for even one evening is more than Obama can deal with, I don't see him taking on Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Iran very effectively, suffice it to say.

But even with all these shortcomings, it's extremely likely that Obama will end up with the most delegates when the primary season finally wraps up in May. Even if Sen. Clinton pulls out wins in Pennsylvania and North Carolina, they won't be by anywhere near a big enough margin to substantially change the mathematics involved. While neither will have enough to win outright, he'll have more delegates than she will.

That, and the Democrats not being able to take the risk of alienating the black vote that they'll need to win in November, dictates the outcome. Hillary's attempt to “steal” the nomination via the superdelegates will almost certainly not succeed. Which is ironic, since preventing an out-of-the-mainstream, flawed candidate from getting the Democratic nomination is precisely what the superdelegates were created for. They'll have a textbook situation for using this contingency plan and yet be utterly unable to deploy it.

So the Democrats will head into the fall with a flawed candidate, most likely fatally so. And Hillary's angry supporters will be doing everything possible to undermine him so that she can run again in four years against an even older President McCain. Even having the media on his side might not be enough. If anything were to happen to force them to behave otherwise, Obama's campaign would collapse like the proverbial house of cards.

Any way you slice it, once this primary season is forced to its ultimate conclusion, it goes downhill for the Democrats from there. In a year where the political table is otherwise set for a big win for them, and the Republicans have handed them a gift in nominating Sen. John “Bob Dole '96, The Sequel” McCain, it appears they're determined to try to yank the tablecloth out from underneath and send all the utensils flying.

Those of us on the right can enjoy the trainwreck, but we must not lose sight of the bigger lesson: A party that cannot get its own house in order has no business holding the power of the White House. It's one thing to screw up your own party. It's another entirely to derail America.

© 2008 North Star Writers Group. May not be republished without permission.

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