Meltin' Badly
Mood:  loud
Man! Did you see Howard Dean at his [victory rally] last night? The guy was positively feral! It was almost as if he wanted to justify every misgiving anyone has ever had about his cucumbricality (my newest reification of the idea of coolness). I thought he might leap into the crowd and start biting nubiles on their necks!

It may be, though, that what we witnessed was a man who had just come to realize that his highest ambitions are now dead. Dean has no chance at anything now. The wad is shot. And you can thank Saddam for that.

My best interpretation of Dean's failure is that it points up the essential lack of nerve of the Democratic Party. They were absolutely queer about their little rolled-up sleeved, tough-talking Bush-basher, but, when it came right down to it, they lost their water and voted for electability. And let's be sure we understand that: Kerry and Edwards know what plays in Peoria. Like most of the mainstream, both voted for the war resolutions (although not the $87 billion bill, much of which is essential to rebuilding Iraq's infrastructure, which will also benefit American companies). The only reason either of them are now "anti-war" in whatever sense they may be is because it is a point of difference with the President. A manufactured point, but one nonetheless. But the most important thing is that they're not out there acting like surly nut-jobs; they're acting presidential. Dean doesn't "do" presidential and the hard-core types knew it, too.

So, what happens now? Clark and Kerry bloody each other up a little bit, Edwards keeps on playing nice so that Kerry will offer him the Vice Presidential spot, and Bush waits for them to push him harder on Osama and our borders and the Saudis and whatever else. Which is to say, if you are an enemy of the United States, 2004 is going to be the worst year of your life.