Why Republicans are Giving Obama the 2008 Election

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Monday July 28, 2008 · 7:48 PM PDT

2008/07/28 · 19:48

Obama is doing well. I'm excited about the prospect of voting for him. And I think he'd win a fair election against anyone the Republicans could put forth.

But that's the catch: the Republicans have NO INTENTION of winning the 2008 election.

Sure, the Republicans would take a victory if it cost them nothing, especially given their eroding shares of the Congress and the chance to stack the SCOTUS a bit more to the right.

BUT, there will be no large-scale effort by the national party to support a McCain victory in November. Why? Because the next president will have perhaps the most challenging situation over which to preside that the US has seen in many decades.

Thanks to W:

- The economy stinks and is getting more stagnant every day

- The US faces one of its largest deficits ever

- Global religio-political tension is at, or near, an all-time

- The rest of the civilized world pretty much hates our guts

- Republicans are viewed by many as antithetical to good governance

- Most are skeptical of the competence of the entire Executive branch

I could go on, but it's late.

Given that dreary situation, the Republicans will be all too happy to give this new, colored kid 4 years to turn things around. And when the turnaround doesn't happen overnight (nothing short of cold fusion combined with free ponies will bring that swift a reversal), the Republicans will be there singing the "we told you so" chorus, preparing for a 2012 reversal of Democrats' gains.

So, while the RNC has more available funds than the Obama campaign and the DNC combined, don't expect it to even match Obama's spending during the Autumn campaign. The Republicans, as a party, will not support McCain to any great extent -- not nearly as much as they did Bush either time.

Sacrificing McCain, and possibly this election, in order to position the party for a resurgence in 2012 seems like a crazy idea, but that's what's about to happen. Sure, they'll make it look like a credible attempt -- what else could they do -- but the overall, party-level commitment to McCain won't match that of recent elections.

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