Dear progressives, I have bad news

By Libby

Your candidate sucks. Yeah, both of them. Forget about the historic nature of their phyisical attributes for a moment and try to remember that they are both professional politicians and no matter who wins, it's unlikely either will deliver policies that truly satisfy a progressive agenda. Changing the players won't change the system in one cycle. It just won't.

The most sage perspective I've seen in weeks comes from my chief foreign correspondent, Bob, of the Planet Vleeptron.

This now brings us to Hillary vs. Obama. Well -- as long as politicians rarely ever DO anything of positive significance, I've always believed they're at least obligated to entertain us, and the fight for the Democratic nomination promises to be the most entertaining authentically nasty mud-wrestle bout in decades.

Good attitude. Campaigns are pure theater. They're WWF dressed up in business suits instead of three foot wide belts with hubcab size buckles. One must wager carefully to avoid going home with empty pockets. Bob casts his celestial eye earthward and offers this sensible take on the odds.

Hmmm now you want to know how to bet your life savings on our presidential race. Speaking strictly as your professional turf accountant, I think you should skip this one and wait for the Kentucky Derby or the Grand National.

To a degree I can't honestly get a lock on -- it involves Looking Into Peoples' Hearts, still in its infancy as an exact science -- this is going to be a battle of deep and historic voter prejudices. McCain could end up doing surprisingly well in November for the ugliest of reasons: Voters looking at the ballot and thinking, "Well, at least he's a White Man."

It's a distinct and disturbing possibility, particularly if Democrats continue to frame this contest on race and gender all the way to Denver.

I promise you no matter who is elected, a year from now we will all be disappointed by our newly inaugurated president's latest presser. But worse, I can guarantee we will be horrified if McCain ends up being the one that's standing behind the podium. I might think avoiding that possibility would be our first priority as progressives but I'm seeing far too little evidence of it at this point. I really hope that changes soon.