The Election Result No One Will Talk About

I can count the number of minutes I spend watching FAUX News on one hand. But during my breakfast channel-flipping I happened to catch the rare visage of Karl Rove. He was happy as a clam and even brought presents (ties) for his hosts.

I can't let this Gretchen Carlson quote go unnoticed: "Karl, I always liked you but now I REALLY like you!"

As we bear the burden of hearing Clinton's voice try to swing the applause meter over the next few days, perhaps we should consider that a key election result has nothing to do with Ohio or Texas, but with Karl Rove's elation. Only one thing makes Karl Rove happy, and that is Republican victory. And he is very happy right now.

You may recall that the Democratic campaign began with the media, not with the candidates. The media hoisted Obama and Clinton into the spotlight before they even announced their candidacies. I made two predictions in the campaign preseason: first, nobody will even remember the name "Obama;" and two, the Dems will nominate Clinton.

Okay, so I was WAY off about the first thing. But as I explained the second thing to friends & family, there are two things you can count on the Dem establishment to do: (1) back the beltway insider, and (2) make things as difficult as possible for victory.

Presented as evidence:

2000 Gore campaign. This campaign was so lame they should have used an ambulance as the official transport vehicle. Much of the blame goes to consultant (read: "out of touch beltway insider") Bob Shrum, whose advice seemed to be: let the other side campaign hard, they'll get tired and then you'll win.

2004 Campaign. First the Dems backed long shot Gephardt, who went down in flames in less time than it took to read this sentence. Then it backed Kerry, whose campaign was so pathetic it made Gore's look good by comparison (guess who Kerry hired as a consultant, btw?). The Dems never backed Dean, the outsider candidate who lit the grassroots ablaze.

2006 Mid-term elections. Two words: Nancy Pelosi. Two more: Harry Reid. If one's idea of Congressional leadership is making a series of plaintive appeals to the President, then Pelosi and Reid are great. Were these bozos paying attention when Gingrich, DeLay, Frist, etc. were on the job?

I'd like to think I will be wrong about both Obama being forgotten as well as Clinton being nominated. But Clinton's nomination fits in perfectly with Democratic tradition: she's the beltway insider and her nomination will make a Dem victory as difficult as possible.