New Hampshire
I can’t shake the feeling that Big Media has gone to a lot of trouble to give HRC the rope-a-dope comeback concoction to beat all just now. After kicking her in the nuts every day since Iowa, New Hampshire has been made into some sort of transcendent turn in the narrative that everybody can marvel at. You have people like Brokaw and Russert declaring her victory tonight one of the biggest upsets —if not the biggest upset— in American electoral history. Well, that’s fucking absurd. But it’s no surprise: they recognize that fluffing Obama may make for great political theater, but that he can’t get elected right now. Better to go with the Clinton Machine — which knows how to play at the liberals’ heartstrings, but without committing this country to the unvetted Leftism of the “Yes We Can” crowd.
The Republicans may have a problem with McCain locking horns with the Christian Right, but there are a lot of Obamists out there tonight who really hate the Clintons. I don’t know which split will be uglier in the end, but it should make for some entertaining days to come.