The Sorrows of Old Mac, Grim Realities Edition

July 23rd, 2008 Posted in Obama

“’tis our fast intent / To shake all cares and business from our age, / Conferring them on younger strengths, while we / Unburden’d crawl toward death.” — King Lear

Hillary Clinton made me angry. As for John McCain, he’s too pathetic to evoke anything but pity and derision. It’s not just the gaffes. It’s the ill-conceived attempts at standing up for himself. Outlandish accusations such as ”Obama would rather lose a war” are simply laughable. As for challenging Obama to go on a world tour … you might as well challenge the Devil to a guitar fight. It’s not a campaign strategy; it’s self-immolation.

And so McCain is an assistant producer of the very scenes that frustrate him, and which he’ll never be able to star in himself. Imagine the grim, perfunctory, and boring alternative to the following, if it had featured McCain instead of Obama:

McCain’s problems transcend party affiliation: it’s a matter of vitality. Asking his opponent to produce stark comparisons doesn’t help. It pits an old bumbler against someone who projects youth and power.