Wednesday, October 29, 2008

The Weirdness of Waiting

For Americans, after almost two years of electioneering, the prospect of going cold turkey in less than a week is producing symptoms of anxiety on all sides. The campaigns, of course, are doing what they have to do--Obama people warning about overconfidence and McCain strategists sweating for a scrappy finish a la Harry Truman in 1948.

In between, pollsters and pundits, in a panic to fill the time with perceived wisdom, are sprinting in all directions--the race is tightening (Gallup) as races always do with "buyer's remorse" setting in, an Obama landslide is coming (Pew Research Center), but we either don't really know what his presidency would be like (Washington Post) or we know only too well and should head for the bunkers (Wall Street Journal).

Tonight is the night of TV with Obama's half-hour wall-to-wall infomercial, which may either be a triumph of taking advantage of his fund-raising prowess or a reminder of his broken promise to limit himself to public financing (Campbell Brown on CNN).

By the time we see him on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, we should be in desperate need of a laugh or a five-day nap until next Tuesday.

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