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Friday, November 14, 2008
Will Obama start out a loser?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
If President-elect Barack Obama wants to start his administration as a loser, he should come to Georgia and campaign to defeat U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss.
It’s official now that there’ll be a runoff. The 3.4 percent for the Libertarian is a reminder that the only message third parties send that’s widely heard is that they can muck up elections.
The GOP standard-bearer came to Atlanta Thursday to make the case that Chambliss is needed in Washington to keep Obama from getting a filibuster-proof Senate. About 2,000 people showed up to cheer him on. Obama surely could get 20,000.
But ultimately Chambliss will prevail. Georgia is a red state. It does not knowingly elect liberals statewide. An extraordinary turnout to help usher in an historic event accounted for the closeness of this U.S. Senate race. It can’t be duplicated for a white guy from Metro Atlanta who doesn’t ring any bells.
It’ll be nice to see all the celebrities come to Georgia, though. I’m holding out for Sarah or for Bobby Jindal, the leaders of the future. They’re the ones who can gin up the excitement. The others are nostalgia.
Obama could certainly draw a crowd and focus attention to the U.S. Senate race in Georgia. But the message, ultimately, is that a national figure (who couldn’t carry this state) can’t transfer his appeal to another candidate.
Incidentally, Thinking Right’s week-in-review is on holiday this week. But for those paying attention yesterday, the John Deere is disassembled by the crack team — and yes, blog contributor @@ was correct, in some cases a woman’s smaller hand would have been a much-prized addition to the team. The morning’s task is to secure a part from a well-stocked John Deere store.
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