A nation that would elect Bush TWICE (all quibbling aside), or would even let Bush get within 20 percentage points of winning an election, could EASILY elect a McCain. EASILY.
We should NEVER forget that. Because the idea that somehow we are going to sail in on a tide of Hope is just absurd. This country is almost exactly divided STILL... even AFTER 8 disastrous years under Bush and Republican rule...
THERE WILL BE NO LANDSLIDE. I am NEVER AGAIN going to let myself think that somehow there are magical numbers of cell phone carrying 20-somethings, angry blue hairs, or plain country folk that are hurting so bad that they will vote for the Democrat.
The average american has been shown capable of voting utterly and completely against their very interests time and time again. I see no reason why this election will be any different. People in this country will still vote to ruin their environment, bankrupt the treasury, and send their children to pointless slaughter. And they will do so in numbers that equal our passion to oppose those policies.
We have to fight as if EVERY VOTE, EVERY ISSUE, EVERY STATEMENT matters as much as the final tally of election returns. I get SO angry when I hear rationalizations for why we are behind (or at least not clobbering the GOP) in the polls. We are going to have to win this one in the trenches, by slim margins all across this country. We are going to have to hold our candidates accountable when the screw up. And we are going to have to do EVERYTHING to make sure that doesn't happen.
Because this is NOT a dope-fuelled, lopsided game of Risk. It is a chess match with only a handful of pieces on each side, where an eye on that inherent parity that must be overcome is the only way to maintain the tenacity and strategy to make the incremental yet pivotal move to checkmate.