Washington Post on Five Liberal Election Myths
In this morning's Washington Post, Chris Cillizza quickly debunks the following five myths that the mainstream media is trying to promote about Election 2008:
1. The Republican Party suffered a death blow. Cillizza correctly points out that many of us viewed the potential election of John McCain as the lesser of two evils - that to really rebuild the party, the GOP had to hit rock bottom. That is the only way that we'll purge the ranks of deadwood, aka the brainiacs who got us into this mess in the first place. And Cillizza also correctly points out that the opposition party usually gains seats in the following mid-term election.
2. A wave of black voters and young people was the key to Obama's victory. Didn't happen. There was only a statistically insignificant (a point or less) uptick in those constituencies' turnout. The problem for the GOP was that Republicans and conservative didn't turn out to vote for the 'maverick' McCain. He didn't even come close to getting the same share of the bases' vote that President Bush did in 2000 and 2004.
3. Now that they control the White House and Congress, Democrats will usher in a new progressive era. Oh they will try, and Pelosi and Reid will probably overreach. But many new Democrats are in traditionally conservative districts, so they will be hard pressed to go along.
4. A Republican candidate could have won the presidency this year. Here's where I differ with Cillizza - he doubts it, I think that it would have been difficult, but acheivable. Admittedly, the currents (and media) were against the GOP. But all that means is that Obama, if he really is what the media built him up to be, should have won by 20 points going away. He didn't. McCain and his advisors blew it, big time. It's almost as if they didn't want to win the Presidency.
5. McCain made a huge mistake in picking Sarah Palin. Here, Cillizza hits the nail on the head, although he should have expressed it more forcefully. Critics are looking at how the pick of Palin affected moderates and independents. But that wasn't the point of picking Palin. McCain was the candidate who 'should' have attracted those in the middle. Palin was picked to get conservatives and the base back in the fold. And she did - giving McCain his brief lead in September. Then the economy blew up and the Senator did what he should have done - briefly suspend his campaign to go to Washington - but followed up by absolutely botching his response to the crisis. Race over. I'd also like to add that had McCain's handlers decided to help Palin rather than hurt her, the race would have been even closer. But it still wouldn't have made up for the inadequacies at the toip of the ticket.
2. A wave of black voters and young people was the key to Obama's victory. Didn't happen. There was only a statistically insignificant (a point or less) uptick in those constituencies' turnout. The problem for the GOP was that Republicans and conservative didn't turn out to vote for the 'maverick' McCain. He didn't even come close to getting the same share of the bases' vote that President Bush did in 2000 and 2004.
3. Now that they control the White House and Congress, Democrats will usher in a new progressive era. Oh they will try, and Pelosi and Reid will probably overreach. But many new Democrats are in traditionally conservative districts, so they will be hard pressed to go along.
4. A Republican candidate could have won the presidency this year. Here's where I differ with Cillizza - he doubts it, I think that it would have been difficult, but acheivable. Admittedly, the currents (and media) were against the GOP. But all that means is that Obama, if he really is what the media built him up to be, should have won by 20 points going away. He didn't. McCain and his advisors blew it, big time. It's almost as if they didn't want to win the Presidency.
5. McCain made a huge mistake in picking Sarah Palin. Here, Cillizza hits the nail on the head, although he should have expressed it more forcefully. Critics are looking at how the pick of Palin affected moderates and independents. But that wasn't the point of picking Palin. McCain was the candidate who 'should' have attracted those in the middle. Palin was picked to get conservatives and the base back in the fold. And she did - giving McCain his brief lead in September. Then the economy blew up and the Senator did what he should have done - briefly suspend his campaign to go to Washington - but followed up by absolutely botching his response to the crisis. Race over. I'd also like to add that had McCain's handlers decided to help Palin rather than hurt her, the race would have been even closer. But it still wouldn't have made up for the inadequacies at the toip of the ticket.
All in all, a fine column. Pretty good to see it coming out of the Washington Post this soon after the election.
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