Obama can’t win batting .365
by WonkoKevin
.365 . If this were a batting average, i.e. how often you succeeded it getting on base for each attempt (at-bat) you had, it would likely win you the batting championship. Hitting .300 is considered excellent, and you can hit .250 and make a career in Major League Baseball. This is about what Obama is hitting this election season; maybe even .400.
Only big league politics doesn’t play at that scale. Politics is more like fielding in baseball than hitting; you get a lot of chances, some simple and some not, and you’re expected to succeed 95-98% of the time. A fielder who only succeeds in catching the ball 90% of the time won’t play in the big leagues (unless they’re a DH).
Hillary Clinton is fielding at about .985. She makes mistakes here and there, but there are days or even weeks in-between these mistakes, and she usually doesn’t blow it when the bases are loaded. Barack Obama has been playing this campaign at more like .365. What started off as hope in Spring is now improbability in Fall. What seemed like soaring rhetoric now seems like it has no meat. What seemed like a different type of politician now kind of looks like the same politician, deciding to go low risk on critical votes.
The “Donnie McClurkin” fiasco is yet another bobble by the Obama campaign. First, they include McClurkin in Obama’s “gospel tour” of South Carolina; and then reacting to objections from gay rights groups that McClurkin is a gay hater, they add an openly gay minister to the tour (Andy Sidden)… and the gay rights groups are still upset because Obama hasn’t gotten rid of McClurkin. So let’s see–you’ve managed to piss off your friends and embolden your enemies. Sigh.
Part of the reason Hillary Clinton continues to gain strength in the polls is because Democrats believe she can win; not because of her low negatives (ha ha), but because she fields at about .985, enough to perhaps win a Gold Glove.
October 30th, 2007 at 12:47 pm
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