Posted by
RightTeacher on Monday, June 09, 2008 12:21:40 AM
So they finally selected Obama. Not that that has been in doubt any time within the past months.
It does bring to mine Leiberman's
adventures in the last election. Essentially, the radical left in Connecticut dumped Lieberman in favor of the anti-war Lamont. There is nothing else that can describe him. That is the only thing he ran on. As Lamont ran as a Democrat, Leiberman ran as the CFL (Connecticut for Lieberman) party. Of course, assuming that Connecticut was just over half-left and just under half-right (I know it isn't but, just follow along), and assuming the left was just over half anti war, and just under half war neutral (perhaps they have other priorities), this provides enough vote for the anti-war candidate to run for all of the people of the left, but only 25-30 percent of the general electorate. In fact, Lieberman won 50% of the vote to Lamont's 40%.
The lesson is that when the radical left chooses their darling to run, that leaves out half of the country who would never ever ever choose such a radical candidate.
The lesson is that Obama will have a tough time with the great Middle since he is so far to the left. McCain, being center-right, should be a much easier fit for the great middle. This is not a prediction for November, there are too many electoral variable to do that. But, though Obama will be extremely popular in the reddest of red states, he should have a harder time in the more purple areas of the country.