I see the Obama win in Iowa as the Democrats worst nightmare coming true. A Trainwreck in the making.
The corporate media will still act as if Edwards doesn't exist. He will continue to face a media Blackout. The networks will continue to spin the election as a Obama/Clinton contest. Why? Because it is good for their ratings. That has been one of the motivations behind the whole Obama/Clinton nonsense all along. This has been a media driven election for Obama and Clinton. Neither candidate belongs anywhere near the top tier. But they were placed there by corporations who decided that this was what the political landscape should look like.
The fact is... Obama & Clinton are 2 of the least electable candidates that Democrats have to offer (among the serious candidates/not counting Gravel or Kucinich).
Who owns the big media? The same kinds of corporations that John Edwards says he wants to stand up to. So that is another factor in this race.
There is no way that Obama can match a top Republican in a General election. He is not the best Democrat for winning Purple States. And he will get nothing in the South. Yes, he won in Iowa...but that does not translate into victory in a General Election where there will be 50 separate and unequal contests taking place. And keep in mind, this will be after the Republican political/media machine gets done with him.
In fact, Obama would struggle just to hold on to States that Democrats won in the last 2 elections...such as Pennsylvania.
In short, the Democrats are once again headed for a Trainwreck.... with either Obama or Clinton.
It's sad to see this happening to Edwards...who would make a great President. Edwards may be finished soon, because so much was riding on Iowa. His campaign may have been doomed before it had a chance to get started, because the media made a concerted effort to take him out of the mix from the beginning. He never got a fair shot. This fundamentally flawed American election system needs to be overhauled. The allocation of media time to candidates, etc all must be regulated if this Country wants to have anything resembling free and fair elections. Media steering should be stopped and public polling before elections should be regulated or eliminated altogether.
It is a miracle that this man was able to come in second place with 30% under the circumstances....with no media coverage to speak of (until very late), and without the big money. Such a good showing under those conditions is an sign of his strength.
But because of the media blackout, he will probably not be able to rise in the polls in New Hampshire in such a short period of time, at least not enough to be competitive there. This is why equal & balanced media coverage is so important for candidates.
This just reaffirms my disgust and disinchantment with the American election process.... the structure of the political system itself is undemocratic at its core.
And this also reaffirms my long held belief that the media is the most powerful institution in the Country and plays too large a role in influencing American Elections. For one thing, the media sets the agenda for the people, and frames the debate. It's supposed to be the other way around... the people are supposed to set the agenda and frame the debate in an election year. But in this Country the media decides these things. And it also decides who the favorite candidates are going to be (by favoring certain candidates over others)...steering Americans like sheep (because intellectually lazy Americans allow this to happen).
This is why I don't bother participating. I have always hated this undemocratic system of politics. The American Election system & political system itself are so fundamentally broken.
Obama's "victory" doesn't give me "hope" at all... It actually does a lot to confirm my beliefs about the flawed electoral system in this country. And it doesn't make me excited at all about ever participating in the American system. My cynicism & skepticism about American politics has only increased....not decreased. I see more of our so-called Democracy slipping away with each election cycle.
Until there is a serious move towards election reform- which will never happen in this Country- I will never be excited about American politics. I have never been inclined to even register to vote, let alone take part in the actual ceremony. The motivation is just not there. And this current election cycle is an example of why I don't participate. And I hate when imbeciles try to tell me to vote for the sake of voting, that I should vote because i'm Black and that I need to exercise the right....EXERCISE THE RIGHT TO DO WHAT??????? The "Black" reasoning is the dumbest of all... it usually makes me want to scream. Voting in this Country has become ceremonial. Because the system that people are voting in IS NOT Democratic. That's like telling a person in Russia or Pakistan that they should go and vote so that they can exercise their right to do so. That logic has never made sense to me and it never will.
I won't spend much time or effort covering the rest of the 2008 election ceremony.... I will only make a half-assed effort. Because the election is a farce (as usual). But I will cover it for info-tainment purposes.
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A Daily Kos Entry That Sums Up My View
Karl Rove Is Laughing His Ass Off Right Now
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Iowa- A Test For American Democracy
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4 comments:
Sour grapes? Try harder the next time.
Hi, I've been reading this blog for a few weeks (I really like it), but this is the first time I felt inspired to comment.
You make a lot of points that deserve response, but I'll try to be concise.
First, if you are doing an informal poll, know this: I am a Pennsylvania voter and I would vote for Obama in the general election, but I would not vote for Clinton or Edwards....but I don't pretend to be a typical voter.
On the bigger issue, you seem to be asking for the impossible--you want the state (i.e. government) to be egalitarian. This demand is completely at odds with the nature of the state. Both the structure and the history of the state demonstrate that it exists to allow one portion of society to dominate the rest of society.
Even with that limitation, I think that elections (and voting) are worthwhile: not because they allow "us" to "choose" our "leaders", but because they force our rulers to relinquish power--if only for a moment.
Every time we have an election, the incumbent agrees to relinquish power if others demand that he does. The "others" in this system may not be a egalitarian representation of the American people, but it is a body outside of the government, and it is difficult for the government to determine exactly how much influence each person has in the system...so it is hard for the government to figure out who it can exploit with impunity.
Anyway, we could use some election reforms (I like preference ballots), along with reforms to our media system (I like blogs)--but I think that the state is about as good as it can get.
I expected someone to say "Sour grapes"... but that really isn't the case.
I have been writing about the broken political system for a long time.
I am not upset about the Iowa process itself... (although it has a few flaws)...I am upset with the overall fundamental way that elections and campaigns are carried out. The problem that I have with the system didn't start in Iowa...it started months earlier when the media decided who the front-runners would be.
And Americans...being the mostly blind sheep that they are....followed along and proved that they vote how they are told.
Another part of the problem was how Edwards and some of the other candidates got zero primetime coverage.
I am happy for Obama... But it would have been better if he would have won under a fair system, under fair conditions.
I also don't happen to believe that Obama is not the best candidate to represent the DemocRATS in a General election contest. I am more concerned with not having a Republican in the White House in 2009, than having a Black man in office. To Hell with that race nonsense. I don't care if the best Democratic candidate for a General Election is green.... If he or she is the best...then I would support them. It just so happens that the best candidate for a General Election this time around happens to be White- John Edwards.
That's not "Sour Grapes" that's just me expressing a different position.
If one man gets 3 hours of primetime coverage per day for a year...and another man gets 5 or 10minutes here and there...and a few soundbites... of course the guy with more media coverage is going to do well.
The media in this Country plays a stronger role in choosing Presidents than voters do. Because the media sets the agenda...and decides for the people...who the "favorites" will be.
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