In the days leading up to the Easter Rebellion of 1916, it used to be said that England’s difficulty meant Ireland’s opportunity.
The same can be said with the self-inflicted difficulties that confront the two Democratic front-runners. This can only mean greater opportunity for the McCain campaign in the fall.
The mind-blowingly stupid surrogate wars that have engulfed the Democratic campaigns should give Republicans some good reasons to smile.
First, there was Samantha Power, a very smart Harvard-trained Obama supporter, who called Hillary Clinton a “monster” to a Scottish newspaper. She immediately tried to take it back, and then resigned her unpaid position in the campaign to retreat back to academia.
That was followed by the contretemps of Geraldine Ferraro, who made the rather obvious observation that Obama’s race has played a role in his ascent to the top of the Democratic ticket. The Obama campaign immediately attacked her with a vengeance, born of a raw bitterness that I think came from the sacking of Power.
These surrogate wars are silly. They diminish both campaigns. They knock both candidates off their stride. They highlight comments that should have been relegated to cyberspace.
But they also unveil the true inner feelings of both campaigns. The Obama campaign does think Clinton is a monster. The Clinton campaign does think that Obama is unqualified. This mutual contempt is a wonder to behold.
For McCain’s campaign, the strategy should be to stay out of the story as the Democrats continue to slice each other up, as Obama put it so well.
Let’s hope the Democratic surrogate wars can continue, with each campaign targeting another surrogate for dismissal. At this rate, by the end of August, only Obama and Clinton will be left to do battle with one other.