Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Three Words

The tight Democratic contest threatens to turn into a race to the bottom. We’ve seen one candidate pointing out the overwhelming preference of one racial bloc for the other candidate, hoping to trigger a defensive reaction in other groups. We’ve seen the possible disenfranchisement of Florida and Michigan Democratic voters, legal maneuverings reminiscent of Gore v. Bush but with no Republicans to blame, veiled threats toward and near-bribery of super-delegates to the convention, and highly questionable voting results (zero ballots for Senator Obama in a Harlem district?) And now an accusation of plagiarism when Senator Obama borrowed a few lines from his friend’s speeches, apparently with the latter’s permission.

If the Democrats don’t know how to run their own party operations and obsess about trivialities, heaven help us if they get near health care or the Iraq war. Think the Republicans have made a hash of things? Three words to remind us that those who promise change can make things a lot worse: James Earl Carter.

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