The irony of Election 2008

Here’s a thought for the final days of this historic, and seemingly endless, presidential campaign.

The only force that can stop John McCain is the Republican Party.

And the only thing that can trip up Barack Obama is Democratic voters.

What do I mean?

Let’s take John McCain first. He’s managed to chase Barack Obama almost to the finish line, despite his ties to the least popular president in modern American history.

The Republican movement in general is at a painfully low ebb, as evidenced by polling, by lackluster fundraising, and by the GOP’s challenges in congressional races.

If McCain loses, he can fairly say that he was beaten by George Bush twice: first in 2000 and then in 2008.

Now for Barack Obama.

Every political pundit in America agrees that if Democratic voters turned out in proportional numbers to Republican voters, he would win by a landslide.

There are simply a heck of a lot more people in the U.S. who prefer Democratic policies.

But the truth is that many Democratic sympathizers either a) don’t vote or b) won’t vote for an African American.

There are already signs that young voters and Hispanics are “underperforming” in early voting.

And an Obama collapse in Ohio and Pennsylvania would almost certainly be triggered by Democrats leery of Obama’s race defecting to McCain.

In the end, the man who overcomes the limitations of his own party will be the next president of the United States.