Machaivels

The Most Important Election Ever in Our Lifetimes Ever now draws to a close, and some account of its passing is probably in order. We should probably recall that neither of the current candidates seemed especially likely back when there were still 7,000 aspirants in the primaries. McCain won because Romney and Huckabee cancelled each other out, leaving the Senator from Senescence to gather the war-focused remnants of the Bush II coalition and the 3 remaining Episcopalians in America. Giuliani's 11 supporters likewise glommed onto the McCain train after their shiny-pated madman bombed out early, perceiving in him the same over-compensatory anger that drew them to Rudy in the first place. Obama took the more traditional track of motivating "the base," in this case, lying relentlessly and transparently, if soaringly, to soi-disant anti-war Democrats and eking out a primary victory over the truly awful Hillary Clinton by running a moderately more effective campaign to turn out primary voters in the urban centers of large states.

McCain's party received him peremptorily at first; Obama was, uh, greeted as a liberator. Obama swiftly made himself into the Establishment candidate, and McCain swiftly descended into madness and dissipation, improving his standing markedly among Republican die-hards. Obama's vision of "hope and change" is to "restore America's standing in the world," i.e., to travel back in time to the late-90s Bill-Clinton boom-time-bombs-away society. McCain, I don't know, has an extraordinary collection of scars to which he refers anytime he feels the need to prove something. His support consists of the butt-end of Kulturkampf vets, Christian moralists, Muslim-haters, and racists. That must be ennobling. Although he's a monster, I almost hate to see him go out like this. You are supposed to sell your soul, not your dignity. Triumphant liberals meanwhile can barely restrain their gloating, and what's most interesting about the Democrats and their partisans is how the corruptions of power have infected them even prior to officially acquiring it.