Assorted Afflatuses

The political number crunchers and so-called "strategists" may have their theories. But, so far as I am concerned, the Democratic party's presidential nominating process has no presumptive winner. Of course, that does not mean I cannot vociferously advocate that Barack Obama ought to receive the nomination.

Given Mr. Obama and Mrs. Clinton's nearly identical policy prescriptions and political positions, some might point to Mr. Obama's charisma or his "electability" in a potential McCain-Obama "death-match" as reason enough to make him, not Mrs. Clinton, the Democrat's choice for November. Frankly, though, I hardly see those as the most important factors to consider. Rather, I feel he ought become the Democratic nominee because his supporters are several orders of magnitude more insane than Mrs. Clinton's.

Ask one of Mrs. Clinton's supporters why he or she supports the New York Senator and, from my experience, one receives an enthusiastic, but somewhat tempered response. The same question posed to an Obama supporter, on the other hand, elicits an avalanche of exuberance. His eyes dart skyward, as if to catch a glimpse of Mr. Obama's divine presence, and his hands wave excitedly in a burst of avid gesturing.

It says quite a bit about a candidate when he can inspire so-called "young people" to spend thirty minutes of their precious time watching him speak about race, in lieu of zoning out to a "Friends" rerun or a meaningless mélange of sport statistics on ESPN. People discussed (and, for that matter, continue to discuss) Mr. Obama's race and unity speech in Philadelphia with the same kind of unbridled enthusiasm as the latest episode of Lost. And goodness knows many people speak about that program with an astounding amount of zeal. (Not that I have a problem with the Lost-obsessed set; in many ways I count myself among them.)

Whether Mr. Obama merits the level of enthusiasm his supporters display, I cannot be sure. (Though I would not complain if he took the Oath of Office in January.) From a pragmatic political perspective, however, that is unimportant. If Mr. Obama becomes the Democrats' nominee, the party will have access to his relatively more well-educated, more financially powerful base of insane supporters to make sure he receives enough votes to put him in the Oval Office.

With Mrs. Clinton, the party has a base of enthusiastic supporters, to be sure, but not the kind of hyper-committed folks Mr. Obama's campaign brings to the table. Meanwhile, the Democrats have to contend with a group of ex-Obama supporters who will likely not crisscross the country with the same ardor to support Mrs. Clinton.

If the Democrats intend to exploit this golden opportunity to turn the political tables, they need to learn from their past errors and realize the electorate will not simply hand them the presidency on a silver platter. Howard Dean and his cohorts need to work to win it. And it seems clear to me that the Obamamaniacs will be far more willing to go that chimerical extra mile to ensure Mr. Obama's wife has final say on the White House Christmas décor.