Debates of the living dead
As usual, Guy Rundle's column in Crikey today made me laugh out loud. The zombie Barack and zombie Hillary as an old bickering couple, airing their ancient greviences in front of the guests. This is not a particularly original observation, but he sure knows how to spin it to comedic effect.
So was it really the last debate? Barack Obama seems to think so, saying in last night's Philadelphia slugfest that he could deliver Clinton's lines and "she, I'm sure, could deliver mine". That's sure what it felt like – the last arguments of a couple who are over, a couple whose dinner parties start tense and collapse into the recitation of ancient wrongs.
First time it happened, it was buttock-clenchingly embarrassing – boy these two either really really like angry makeup sex, or genuinely hate each other. You didn't know where to look, thought of setting fire to the tablecloth, made your excuses. But the years have gone on, and now it's got tired. You just wish they'd split up, or that one of them would clutch their chest and fall over.
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2 comments:
There is clear animosity between Clinton and Obama, yes. What I see here is a conflict between a candidate who believes that she owns this nomination, whose campaign will use any means available to smear her opponent, and a candidate who's intent upon running a different kind of campaign. If Clinton is making this kind of effort when her chances of gaining the nomination are virtually non-existent (as everyone who does the math agrees), that raises real questions as to whether she's looking to damage Obama's chances in the general election and seek the nomination for herself in 2012. I've never understood the general animosity toward the Clintons until this campaign. I now see in them everything that's cynical and contemptible in American politics.
Here in the States (United, that is), the ABC moderators have been widely criticized for focusing the first half of the debate on distractions and nonsense — e.g., flag lapel pins. No one on the stage was wearing a flag lapel pin!
If the Clinton's represent all that is cynical and contemptible in US politics then they'd win on the basis they'd capture the popular imagination? Does Obama's popularity reflect a protest vote? (i.e Australian Federal election back in November 08?)
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