Poor McCain...

If you were to turn on the news nowadays, it'd be difficult to tell if Barack Obama was running against anyone. His international tour has been treated more as a coronation than a diplomatic trip. The media entourage accompanying Obama includes Brian Williams, Katie Couric, and a gaggle of other high-profile newscasters and journalists. Meanwhile, the media hardly batted an eye when McCain visited Iraq and South America a few weeks ago.

In addition, Obama is DEMOLISHING McCain in fundraising. It must be embarassing for the GOP that a Democrat is outraising a Republican by a three-to-one ratio. Much of this has to do with the fact that many Bush donors are not getting behind McCain, but you would think McCain could do better than this. The RNC has more money than the DNC, but it's not a huge margin and it doesn't matter anyways because Obama has so much money that he actually refused public funds! Never thought I'd see the day that a Democrat largely on the backs of smallish donors completely trounces the GOP in fundraising.

It seems that Republicans have largely consigned this election to the Democrats. They're not even trying anymore; you can't just chalk this up to media bias. Obama, for all his charisma and positives, is not Jesus Christ. Although I support his candidacy, I realize that he is just like any other Chicago politician. He knowingly schemed his way to the top of the Southside political scene in the 90s (the latest New Yorker has an excellent article detailing this). Part of my enthusiasm for his candidacy stems from the fact that Bush really has been THAT bad. In any other situation, I'm sure I would be less than impressed with Obama.

Nevertheless, part of me does feel some sympathy for McCain as the forgotten candidate. He really needs to step up his appearances and exposure to fight off the prevailing sense that he's nothing more than an out-of-touch old fogey. The Republicans also need to let go of their hesitation to get behind McCain otherwise this will be a complete wash of an election. But then again, that's sort of what I want I suppose...