What to Expect When You're Expecting to Lose
Writing in the U.K.'s Times Online, Daniel Finkelstein stares across the great pond with eyes on the impending Republicalypse...
The Republicans have already begun fighting in advance of their expected defeat next week. One rival is predicting what another rival will say, a third is blaming a fourth. All are expecting to duke it out in the national spotlight the moment CBS calls it for Obama.
So allow me to explain to these Republicans, from personal experience, that something altogether more painful is going to happen...
The pain of not mattering anymore, of being excluded from the conversation (as I'm sure many a liberal has experienced). And Finkelstein isn't just speculating. He's been there.
He was a campaign staffer for the Tories when they got smacked senseless by Tony Blair and the Labor Party in May of 1997...
There was a feeling of euphoria in Britain that morning, a feeling of freshness and change. Even people who hadn't voted for Blair were caught up in it. Many of them wished that they had, and his poll rating soared. Much of the good feeling about new Labour was generated in the months after their landslide, oddly, rather than in the months before it.
And here's the lesson for Tories. The hardest thing to absorb was this -- we didn't matter.
For the first time in years the story wasn't about us, and our squabbles and intrigues seemed oddly silly and pointless. And we, especially those of us who had worked on the losing campaign, felt excluded from a great national party. It was a little bit like sitting in the gloomy train Woody Allen films in Stardust Memories, while in the happy train everyone is popping champagne corks.
In light of Tony Blair's scandalous affair with George Bush in romantic Fallujah, it may be hard -- especially for younger voters -- to imagine anyone actually being excited about Tony Blair or the kind of change he might bring. But that was a different time. And he was a different Prime Minister back then.
Just goes to show you how quickly political fortunes turn.
It might not be too many election cycles from now that we're all clamoring with excitement to purge the Democrats from office and start fresh. Most likely after they provoke that war with the nanobots by overtaxing the shade of orange on which they subside.
(via Andrew Sullivan)
Ask
backflip
blinklist
BlogBookmark
Bloglines
BlogMarks
Blogsvine
BUMPzee!
CiteULike
co.mments
Connotea
del.icio.us
DotNetKicks
Digg
diigo
dropjack.com
dzone
Facebook
Fark
Faves
Feed Me Links
Friendsite
folkd.com
Furl
Google
Hugg
Jeqq
Kaboodle
linkaGoGo
LinksMarker
Ma.gnolia
Mister Wong
Mixx
MySpace
MyWeb
Netvouz
Newsvine
PlugIM
popcurrent
Propeller
Reddit
Rojo
Segnalo
Shoutwire
Simpy
sk*rt
Slashdot
Sphere
Sphinn
Spurl.net
Squidoo
StumbleUpon
Technorati
ThisNext
Webride
Windows Live
Yahoo!
Email This to a Friend
If you like this then please subscribe to the 
RSS
A former big money bundler for the Clinton campaign, Lynn Forester de Rothschild, has decided to back John McCain's campaign.
LAST COMMENT:
Anyone know where the word Maverick comes from? How 'bout a progressive democrat from Texas? http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=94312345