'Does He with the Gold Really Rule?'
By JB Williams (03/25/08)
There is no disputing the insanity in the amount of money spent on political campaigns in America and no explaining it either. If the average American really is poor and desperate for change, where is all this money coming from? And would these Americans still be poor if they didn’t waste a billion dollars trying to fill a $400k a year job?
Americans are notorious for throwing money at problems and Lord knows that we have no bigger problem in America than politics and politicians. So it almost makes sense that Americans throw their money at it in an effort to fix it. After all, actually engaging in the process of self-governance is frustrating and time consuming. It’s much easier to just throw money, when you are the richest nation on earth.
In all forms of politics, money makes the world go round. The money in politics always tells a story, who’s raising it, where it’s coming from, who’s spending it, on what, to what effect and for what real purpose? Over the years, money has often been the single deciding factor of political success. He with the gold usually makes the rules. That may change in 2008…
All that Gold
As of current FEC campaign filings, Americans have so far thrown a record $790 million at the 2008 presidential election since the campaigns started 14 months ago. The cost of selecting our next president could easily hit the $1.5 billion mark by Election Day, still almost eight months away. In itself, this is a demonstration of just how foolish the average American is with his money. If Americans are willing to waste over a billion dollars filling a $400k a year position, they have no right to complain when those they elect spend $900 to buy a $9.00 hammer. It’s poetic justice actually.
He with the Fools Gold
The most notable accomplishment on his otherwise blank unqualified résumé is the fact that a charismatic first term Democrat Senator from Chicago named Barack Hussein Obama is leading the fund raising race. This is his greatest accomplishment in life, but again, a demonstration of foolishness on the part of Americans who are betting the future of the free world on a complete nobody.
Obama has reported raising $192.7 million thus far in his campaign, from single donors of the most under-privileged sort, who he claims are seeking “change.” He’s not only leading the fund raising race, but the popular vote and the DNC delegate race as well. At a glance, he appears the likely winner of the 2008 election. He is the man with the gold, as well as the imaginations of his loyal subjects. But will he be president?
She with the Old Gold
Hillary Clinton, who was the presumed Democrat nominee long before the race ever started, is holding second place in the fund-raising battle with a reported $173.8 million raised. However, unlike Obama who has had no need to loan his campaign any money, the Clinton total includes $10 million loaned over from her Senatorial Campaign account and another $5 million from her personal checkbook. (Don’t ask how a life-long public servant became a millionaire.)
Minus her loans to the campaign, Clinton has actually raised $158.8 million, trailing well behind Obama’s $192.7 million. She is also losing both the popular vote and the delegate count in the race for the DNC nomination. Will she be president?
He with Little Gold or Anything Else
Trailing far behind on all fronts is career Republican Senator John McCain who has thus far raised only $60.2 million compared to Obama’s $192.7 million and Hillary’s $173.8 million. McCain also has less than half the popular primary votes of either Obama or Clinton, but he has wrangled the RNC nomination away from all of his opponents, including the almost 70% of Republicans who voted against him in the primaries.
McCain had his best fund-raising month in February when he raised $11 million as the RNC nominee. But Obama raised $42.7 million and Clinton raised $34.6 million in February. Clearly, if it is the gold that will determine the outcome of this election, McCain is not even in the game. With fewer voters and far less money, how can he become president?
Gold Already Spent
Obama indeed leads the race for the White House by any measuring stick you care to use. He is at present the front-runner for the 2008 presidential race and he has spent a reported $154.7 million to become that front-runner.
Like it or not, Hillary Clinton is currently running second in the race for the White House and she has spent more than the $158.8 million she raised doing so, personally loaning her campaign another $15 million just to remain in the race.
And last we have John McCain, who has already spent $49 million of his $60.2 million raised and was out-raised again in February, 4 to 1 by Obama and 3 to 1 by Clinton, even after McCain secured the RNC nomination.
The Democrat race for the nomination is likely to run all the way to the DNC convention, where it may in the end be decided by “super-delegates” instead of democrat voters or their money.
But John McCain is definitely the RNC nominee and statistically speaking, he is in no position to complete with either Obama or Clinton.
Breaking the Golden Rule
Poor Democrats continue to out-raise those rich Republicans with a grand party total of $461 million to $329 million, a $132 million financial advantage for Democrats.
Obama is the man with the most gold, but will he rule? Will his empty résumé eventually mean more than his charismatic ability to raise money? Will his twenty year membership in a hate-filled anti-American church, his Muslim heritage and his obvious ignorance in foreign affairs or his campaign double-talk, outweigh his charm and his gold?
The Clinton name has been a juggernaut in DNC politics for years now and money has never been an object for the First Family of Political Corruption and Crime. But no name in America has ever inspired as much disdain and contempt as the name Hillary Clinton. Can the most despised political sacred cow in America today become Queen?
Or is the man with little gold, fewer voters and a fractured party destined to become President against all the odds?
The answer to this question likely rests with the conservative base of the Republican Party which is clearly not happy with the notion of supporting John McCain for President of the United States. The question is, - can conservatives really stomach a president Hillary or president Obama any better?
Come November, it is the votes that will be counted, not how much money a candidate raised or spent in their pursuit of the Oval Office. In a way, electing the candidate who raised and spent the least would be a victory of sorts for the American people who have come to believe that elections are simply about money. Still, it cost a lot of money to win favor with American voters.
The golden rule will apply, at least to some degree. McCain will have to find a way to raise more money just to be in the game on a national level. To do that, he will have to find a way to connect with disenchanted conservative members of his own party and to do that, he will have to right some of his past wrongs against conservative principles and the base of his party who still believe in those values.
The golden rule is still alive and well, but it may not be the primary factor in the ultimate outcome of the 2008 election cycle and that would be a good thing!
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