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Last update - 03:33 04/11/2008
Fourth quarter jitters reveal the pain and dejection of being a Democrat
By Benjamin L. Hartman
Tags: Israel News, Obama 
Democrats have become so accustomed to losing that many feel that if they're this highly rated, there must be a catch.

Late in the ninth inning of an election hardly anyone outside of FOX News is still calling a tight race, Democrats are showing signs of tension and fear that only the perennially underachieving party could muster at a time when they've posted double-digit leads in polling in the weeks before the election.

Even with Obama expected by many to win handily, if not post an all-out rout of John McCain that would make Walter Mondale blush, among the party faithful a level of fear and anxiety has risen to the surface. It overshadows all good news coming from the campaign, and threatens to sideline the entire party with a collective case of post-traumatic stress disorder - regardless of what happens on November 4.
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The jitters reflect the stereotype associated with liberal Democrats, that they must champion (at least in word) the underdog. To them, any victory comes with a healthy dose of guilt that the success was won on the back of somebody, somewhere, less fortunate. At the same time, Democrats have become so accustomed to losing that many in their ranks feel that if they're this highly rated, they must be setting themselves up for failure. There must be a catch, some cruel twist of fate in store for a party that almost expects to underachieve.

Republicans, on the other hand, it can be assumed with a commanding lead in the polls would be continuing to campaign relentlessly, while also uncorking the champagne and carrying themselves with a real swagger. It's the attitude built by a party that expects victory and sees optimism and opportunity in even the bleakest of times.

The fourth quarter of this blowout election would no doubt play differently for a party that thinks its always "morning in America" and believes "the fundamentals of the U.S. economy are strong," even as the government weighs a $700 billion bailout of Wall Street.

The Democratic jitters also reflect the greater passions in this election and invested in the man heading the ticket. Even Obama's detractors admit that he is a supremely charismatic candidate, whose ability to inspire voters both inside and out of the Democratic base hasn't been seen on a presidential ticket in decades. He has made John Kerry's 2004 run for the White House look laughable by comparison, if it weren't laughable enough already.

Obama's stellar presidential campaign has simply set the bar so high, and has raised expectations so much among Democrats, that the optimism has been tinged by a serious case of ulcer-inducing, sex-life-destroying anxiety.

The loss would be so great for Democrats because they would forever have the knowledge that if they could lose this election - after eight years of the Bush administration, against a ticket that seems to have turned over its entire campaign strategy to Joe the Plumber, unknown three weeks ago, and Sarah Palin, unknown three months ago - then the party should just go ahead and permanently withdraw from the American politics.

Furthermore, the anxiety reflects the uniqueness of Obama's campaign. The fact that the party has at the top of its ticket the first African-American presidential nominee in history has led to new levels of fear and anxiety. This has been helped in no small way by those inside and outside the McCain camp who have played the "he's really a Muslim, communist, born outside the U.S., friends with radicals" cards with reckless abandon, even as all signs were showing that the negative campaigning was backfiring.

There is also a palpable, mostly unspoken feeling that with a black, liberal Democrat at the top of the ticket, the chances of a replay of Florida in 2000 are inevitable.

It's the fear that with all the talk of Acorn fraudulently registering voters, somehow, somewhere, hanging chads or Kathleen Harris will again steal the show, inner-city polling stations will close hours early, reams of registered voter lists will be discarded in all off the right places for the red team, and the Democrats will again snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

There's also the fear that even if he does win, it's a matter of time before some home-grown extremist takes matters into his own hands to appeal the victory of a man accused of "palling around with terrorists," a scenario that could lead to unprecedented outbursts of racial strife. None of this helps Democrats both inside and outside of the "pro-America" parts of the United States sleep at night.

Still, if there was ever an election where Democrats should feel confident in the last 48 hours, we're seeing it now. The entire party is acting like fans of an underdog, who even with a commanding lead late in the game can't go to the bathroom or speak to their guests until the clock has run out and every single player has left the field. It's a feeling engendered by losing, and it's one Democrats may not have to feel for too much longer
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