Wednesday, November 04, 2009

The Spin Wars   [Jonah Goldberg]

I'm happy to do my part in them, but at the end of the day what pundits, editors, talking heads, and even voters think about the meaning of the election results doesn't matter nearly as much as what a mere 100 people think about it.

Those 100 people are the 80 Democratic Congressmen and 20 senators who represent districts or states that voted for John McCain. We can buy the MSNBC-NYT take on NY-23, Obama's popularity, etc. all we like. The question is, will those 80 congressmen and 20 senators buy it? Oh, they may spout it, they may even want the liberal spin to be true. But will they act that way? Will they go out on a limb for a president whose personal popularity is not only falling, but seems to have no transitive properties whatsoever? The White House clanged the cowbell as loud as it could in New Jersey and it did nothing for Corzine. And Corzine spent millions and millions of his own dollars — dollars most of the vital 100 won't have. Bloomberg barely bought a victory for 100 million dollars.

And most importantly: Virginia. This was a historic Republican rout in a purplish, swingy, trending-Democratic state. If you're one of the 100, are you going to buy Rachel Maddow's ruby-slipper-heel-clicking spin or are you going trust your own survival instincts?

Obama may be popular, but Obamaism is in trouble.

11/04 11:49 AMShare