Are You Still Excited?

Today is Good Friday, the most solemn day of the Christian calender. And reflecting on the dire events of 2000+ years ago, the events of a political campaign pale in comparison.

But I can't help think that the recent negative developments in this Presidential campaign are crucifying the universal energy with which many Americans followed the race. And now, as the old hands execute their strategy of distract and destroy, we're moving back to politics as usual--and, inevitably, the usual response: 'Who cares? Politicians are all the same. '

I will blame the Clinton campaign first for this descent into the muck. Her desperation was well chronicled. Her 'kitchen sink' strategy gave the McCain camp the opening they needed to start their shenanigans. And now we've got a political news day that looks like this:
http://www.politico.com/blogs/jonathanmartin/0308/McCain_aide_circulates_ObamaWright_video_is_suspended.html
http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0308/State_Dept_workers_illicitly_check_Obamas_passport.html
http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0308/Jeremiah_Wright_was_White_House_guest.html
Now, I went to politico.com but I could have gone to the AP or anywhere else. It's all the same. And it's distracting from the real campaign. The campaign that identified leadership and ideas as the criteria on which to base a choice. To paraphrase Obama, who made the remark on his softball interview with Larry King last night, 'Why can't we spend a week on my health care proposal, or Hillary's or John McCain's?

Well, we know why. Because we're easily distracted. And political strategists know this.

And while Hillary may have opened the door, let's be clear: the entire Obama/Wright flap is on the McCain campaign. They continue to reveal themselves as a particularly insidious operation. It's the passive aggressive strategy. As they unearth the Wright videos to shift the debate on Obama, they also make a big show of firing an aide who was distributing a home-made video created by a conservative talk show host, Lee Habeeb. Thus, McCain can appear to take the high road while his operation drags this entire presidential campaign to the low road. And how do they do it? With that good old Republican stand-by: race. And it's no coincidence that all this is happening a week after the Karl Rove-Ken Mehlman axis of evil started assisting McCain. This is straight out of their playbook.

Why is it important to note this? Because these tactics serve to dampen voters' enthusiasm. Which is the point. The excitement surrounding this race was dangerous for the status quo. Apathy is the status quo's best friend. So the strategy is always to confuse and discourage, to get the same die hard voters whose votes you can predict. Union folks, evangelicals, old white guys, old white women. You know how they'll vote. But energized wild cards like young people and independents and fed-up Republicans are scary to political hacks because they're unpredictable. So, distract and destroy.

It's possible there's light at the end of the tunnel. This State Department flap may be a straw that gets folks to say 'enough'. The significant endorsement of Obama by Gov. Bill Richardson is also a way to get things back on track. Richardson may look like a schlub, but he knows political timing. This will be a needed shot in the arm for the Obama campaign.

And, please, let's be clear about something else. I'm not saying that Obama needs to do well for this Presidential campaign to be 'energized'. I'm simply saying that keeping standard dirty tricks out of the race is the start to a new political day, whether it's Hillary, McCain or Obama who winds up in the White House. And we've seen time and again, the behavior on the trail is the same behavior that prevails in the White House. So it might be time to let the people decide who wins, on the merits of the candidates' policies and on their ability to lead. Not on a 'lesser of evils' platform.

Can this happen? Can the earlier excitement be resurrected? Is it naive to think that our political approach will change? Hard to say. But if Good Friday tells us anything, it tells us this: it gets darkest before the dawn.

Fortunately there's Easter, which tells us that anything is possible if you believe. That would include political change.

Where is your enthusiasm for this campaign now? I'd love to know. Talk about this or anything else by clicking on 'comments' below, bypassing the Google sign up and hitting the nickname or anonymous button.