Nothing to Fear

I dropped by a party this evening and had several discussions about the upcoming presidential election.  This party was dominated by Democrats and several expressed real concern about Obama's chances in November.

The Gallup Daily Tracking Poll is showing McCain up 48-45, his highest showing since May.  It is hard to watch the dreaded MSM without hear that Sarah Palin has "electrified the Republican base".  Pictures of large McCain/Palin rallies are flooding in from all across the country.  It seems that Republicans might have the momentum.

I don't think McCain has much of a chance.  In fact, I think McCain is probably doomed.  And I think he knows it.  Everyone I talked to at this party watched the Republican convention last week, and none of them could tell me what the message was from the convention.  I reminded them that the focus was "reform" and "change".

It is laughable that the Republican Party thinks it can run on the messages of "reform" and "change" and win this election.

But it is fascinating to see the fear in so many Democrat's eyes.  There is a real sense out there that this is the one: if this election goes to the Republicans then there is something seriously wrong with the world.  There is definitely something wrong with the world, of course, but I'm not sure it has much to do with politics.

So I told these folks what I really believe.  Give Obama money, and sign up to work in Indiana.  Knock on doors, man a phone bank, take an old lady across town to wait in line for two hours at the DMV so she can get an ID and legally vote in that state.  Give Obama some more money.  Get involved!

To many this seems like news from outer space.  "Oh yeah ... I could do something!"  Who knew?

But you know ... even if Obama loses there is nothing to fear.  Sometimes it takes a real, painful and unthinkable disaster to create the kind of change this country really needs.  If McCain wins, there will be tens of millions of people who will have to face the fact that the Democrats don't know how to win the big one.  And that could destroy the Democrats, who have done their best to play Republican-Lite for far too long now.

And that might not be a bad thing at all.  Because, after all, four more years of conservative economics and neo-con foreign policy will prove beyond a reasonable doubt that conservatives simply cannot be trusted to run a country effectively.  So while another loss might hurt badly, it might actually be just the thing this country needs.