Impact of Scandal
February 20th, 2008Barack Obama’s wife said this week that for the first time in her life, she’s very proud to be an American because people are voting for her husband. She’s back-pedaling now, but the damage has been done and that will be a potent weapon for the Republicans in the South and Midwest. Fortunately for the Democrats, and seemingly-unfortunately for me considering the article I wrote yesterday, John McCain is being linked to a lobbyist in a sex scandal. He’s been busted reforming campaign finance…in the backrooms.
If I worked for the McCain campaign, I’d be relieved that this story has been kept unpublished until now, and before the election campaign against the Democrats really kicks off. I doubt that the Democratic Party will be able to use it, or that their voters will, because Barack Obama has his sleazy Chicago neighbor and Hillary Clinton’s got a laundry list of shady friends and connections. This should be a non-factor, partly because of this timing and partly because the candidates against him aren’t particularly ethical, but it might be an interesting wild card if true corruption comes from it. I doubt that, however, and this has the potential to fizzle out soon enough. Voters will likely shrug off the sexual implications and want to talk about other issues than whether or not there was a conflict of interest. That sort of intellectual argument only comes into effect with true, demonstrable corruption ala Spiro Agnew with the general public. In almost all cases, it is simply something hammered upon in lonely news rooms, not in the living room.
Good for McCain, right? Like I said in my poem, linked to yesterday: McCain isn’t clean, and who do you think he’s financed by? McCain’s a warmonger, and a cheat, but whether or not that can be painted or proven is questionable at best, unlikely in reality. Especially considering the candidates he’s running against.