The tumult over John Kerry's most recent awkward, obtuse attempt at humor epitomizes the Democratic Party's current persona as the political equivalent of the guy who couldn't get satisfaction in a brothel with a fist full of fifty dollar bills. Kerry, of all people, should know that his trying to be funny is the equivalent of his kindred spirit, Ozone Al, trying to do the funky chicken. The real point here, however, is not only did he try to be funny about the Iraq war, a subject few find chucklesome right now, but, though he was speaking to a group of students, he tried to be funny in a cute, clubby way that only people he deemed sophisticated and thoughtful (i.e.,liberal Democrats) would understand. The butt of his joke was supposed to be George W., the quintessential indifferent, uncritical, intellectually lazy student who got our troops "stuck" in Iraq, and the guy who should actually be apologizing to them non-stop for his lying, flip-flopping, manipulative and ultimately, deadly, handling of this tragic affair. With critics like Kerry, however, who needs to worry about supporters?
In the long run, Democrats desperate to see a silver lining in the cloud of feigned patriotic outrage that the Republicans are pumping out, may take some heart in the prospect that this latest gaffe-and-a half might at least keep John Kerry off the stage in 2008. In the meantime, however, this incident simply stokes my skepticism that next week's media hyper-hyped midterm elections are going to show the kind of Democratic gains that some polls would indicate. Charles Krauthammer points out that since World War II the average sixth-year midterm gains for the out-of-power party are twenty-nine seats in the House and six in the Senate. Even with the Iraq nightmare and a veritable GOP orgy of stealing, swindling and seducing, if the Demos do much better than that next week, I'll be mildly surprised. The very fact that a sizable number of voters still somehow believe that the Democrats could be worse than more of the same should tell us all we need to know about why so many of the victory-starved party's faithful are experiencing a severe "Barack Attack." He may not have much of a record, but at least he seems like a guy who knows how to tell a joke.
