Presidential Endorsement

Unaccountably, neither the McCain campaign nor the Obama campaign heeded my warning that an all-expense paid trip to the Caribbean might sway this blog’s long and anxiously awaited endorsement for president. That means you get an unvarnished opinion and I don’t get a trip to that villa overlooking the sea.

Much of the country seems to have made up its mind already without waiting for my sage advice.  Even General Powell endorsed Senator Obama without waiting.  Almost every public poll has Senator Obama leading, not only in the irrelevant popular vote but in the one that counts: the Electoral College.  The Washington Post has a contest going that enables you to march through the states picking the ones that will go for Obama and the ones that would be red on election night.  I entered, but now I can’t figure out how to go back and look at my entry.  I think I awarded 327 electoral votes to Obama and gave Florida to Senator McCain.  I told a friend recently that I thought Obama would get 370 electoral votes, but I’d had a lot of wine when I said it.  I can’t remember what first prize in the Washington Post contest is.  Maybe it’s a trip to the Caribbean!

Given that he is so far behind, it is a complete mystery why the McCain campaign has not come through with a Caribbean vacation for me.  It wouldn’t cost any more than Sarah Palin’s wardrobe and he needs all the endorsements he can get.  But, let’s face it; the McCain campaign is a train wreck, so I shouldn’t be surprised.  Senator McCain deserved better; both from his staff and from himself.  Now it looks like it may be too late.  Instead of circling the wagons, they are circling the drain.

I suspect team McCain of relying too much on the Democrats to blow another election; after all, the Democrats haven’t won a presidential election since 2000.  But the McCain reliance on inept Democrats may be misplaced.  Even the national Democratic party wins sometimes. The party of Dither, Pother and Fuss has stopped dithering.

Which brings me to Shakespeare.  What would he do?

Senator Obama is more Hamlet than Macbeth.  He is an intellectual, something which American presidential candidates usually go to great lengths to hide; he is thoughtful; he is smart; and makes carefully considered decisions.  And Lawrence Olivier’s pronouncement that Hamlet, “. . .is the tragedy of a man who could not make up his mind” was wide of the mark. After making up his mind, Hamlet was a man of decisive action.  Just ask Polonius.  No wait.  You can’t; he’s dead.  Instead ask Hillary Clinton and the legion of Democrats who thought it was too early for Obama to mount a serious presidential campaign.  For that matter, ask John McCain.

True, Senator Obama resembles Macbeth in that he is a man of ambition.  But he hasn’t murdered George Bush or Dick Cheney to get the job of president.  And, as far as we know, he is not a man given to seeing ghosts in his dining room.

Besides, Michelle Obama would make a lousy Lady Macbeth.

Senator McCain, on the other hand, acts more like Coriolanus than Othello.  Both Coriolanus and Othello were soldiers and good ones.  They slaughtered Goths, Visigoths and Turks with fine bravery and both were, in their own way, noble.  But Othello didn’t fly off the handle.  Even when his fatal flaw, the green-eyed monster of jealousy, was exposed, he demanded proof before he acted.  That Iago’s “proof” was a pack of lies wasn’t entirely Othello’s fault. And his flaw was personal, not public.  In the end, Othello destroyed only himself and Desdemona, not an entire country.

Coriolanus was different.  Prick his pride and rage spewed forth.  Not for him the considered decision.  Not for him the selfless devotion to country.  He preferred to destroy Rome rather than admit to a fault.  Self-confidence is a fine trait; self-certainty can be deadly.  Senator McCain is more Coriolanus than Othello.

That leaves us with a contest between Hamlet and Coriolanus and that choice is clear:  Vote for Barack Obama.

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UPDATE :  At least the New York Times had the wisdom to wait for my endorsement and now it too has endorsed Senator Obama.  Not the biggest surprise in the world that the New York Times is endorsing the Democrat.  However, the Times has endorsed many Republicans since it first started endorsing presidents 148 years ago in 1860.  It is fascinating to look back and see which ones.  If this blog is still endorsing presidential candidates 148 years from now, I doubt it will be the current author doing the endorsing.

Tags: Barack Obama, Colin Powell, Coriolanus, Hamlet, Macbeth, Michelle Obama as Lady Macbeth, Othello, Presidential endorsement, Shakespeare