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(Disclaimer: This is a broad-brush, step back and look at the long view kind of opinion, so, please don't attack on details. I do not mean to deal with details, here.)
Obama doesn't look like your typical presidential candidate. We've chosen him on substance: Harvard PHD, and impressive, solid, understated performance in the senate, with the Chicago grass roots background. Scrappy. Get it done earthiness. Not selected on image, but substance. Same with Biden, more or less. (Like I said, long view, not details.)
So, boiling it down, the Dem pick is function over fashion. (Being simplistic on purpose, here!)
If you can just go along with that kind of thinking for 20 seconds, what does that say about the GOP?
Did they choose McCain and Palin for their incredible educational credentials? Foreign policy experience/knowledge/skill? If we boil down their substance we get a senile, flip-flopping Bush party hack, and a pretty cream puff. The GOP electorate was so embarassed by their initial choices, that they went with the McCain tough-guy image, regardless of the lack of substance behind him. Lousy student, pilot, legislator. But his image, in the minds of the voters, comforted them. And it's obvious that Palin is nothing but image.
So, I think american voters are going to size this entire year up as this:
Dems: Serious. GOP: Comic relief.
Now, I know that many americans can't or won't go beyond image, and so the GOP may be deliberately going for the Forest Gump ticket. Benny Hill had a nice, long run, after all.
But these days, with the economy in the toilet and everyone's job at risk and all prices soaring, people are looking for the reasons. The learning curve is improving. I think the last week of talk shows proves that americans as a group are looking for more substance as their financial security is threatened.
And I think they're re-evaluating their previous attachment to the GOP as the serious, military, tough, bottom line party.
I think the GOP is now fluff.
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