We cats have a measurement by which we take the current political temperature: Would we rather be Us or Them?
In other words, who's got the stronger hand, the Democrats or the Republicans? Is Debbie Wasserman Schultz cheerier these days than Rancid Pieface? Is George Soros a merrier billionaire than, say, Sheldon Adelson? You get the idea.
Well, going into 2016, we are way happier that we're us.
Is it occasionally nerve-wracking to think that the Democratic Party has but one dominant candidate for the Presidency right now? Sure — because we're not used to it. Historically, we have always been the party of chaos, while the Republicans, neat and orderly, have reliably awarded their crown to the next person in line. (Except, of course, for Sarah Palin — a revealing anomaly that we still can't believe the press doesn't talk about more.)
But today, here we are — lapping up a bunch of stories by startled political writers who are marveling at the smooth efficiency of the Hillary Clinton operation: its prudent budget moves, its Obamaesque use of social media, and its deft end-run of a Koch-bankrolled charlatan peddling another eye-rolling scandal book. It must be working. "Americans now view Mrs. Clinton more favorably and more see her as a strong leader than they did earlier in the year," reports a new New York Times/CBS News poll. "Strong leader," in fact, improved eight points, to 65 percent.
This must drive the Republicans nuts, but they have only themselves to blame. Their behavior has been so bad — veering completely off the cliff in so many ways — that, when you add in their laughingly crowded field, the GOP has a ghastly mess on its hands. So we've got Hillary or nobody? Big deal. The Republicans have almost nobody. There's no such thing as a deep bench when they're almost all clowns — and when the one or two "serious" candidates they do have (Jeb? Kasich?) will have to endure months of vicious infighting and circus mayhem to get to the nomination.
Yes, we know it's only May. But we'll take our candidate and her strengths over that crazy group on the other side any day. We cats PURR.
(IMAGE: Mike Luckovitch, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
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