Rev. Jeremiah Wright

We have seen a lot of short-lived debates in the media since the Democratic candidates have narrowed to two possibilities. The weekend before the New Hampshire primary we were hearing questions about whether or not Hillary believably broke down and publicly showed she is capable of human emotion. The triviality of these discussions has grown in intensity during the past few weeks.

Samantha Power had to formally resign from the Obama campaign after calling Hillary Clinton a “monster.” Geraldine Ferraro resigned from the Clinton campaign after suggesting that Obama has achieved as much as he has because of our collective white guilt, not because he’s an especially inspiring figure when race isn’t taken into consideration.

The only thing that is surprising about these situations is the consistency with which these news cycles have shifted between the two major players. It’s starting to look like a tennis match, each side getting its chance on offense for one strike against the other side before the same is expected in reverse.

For the most part, these aren’t things anyone cares about. The drama of it all doesn’t even touch the extremes of the most boring personal existences. Any construction worker could and probably does call Hillary Clinton a lot more than “monster” and the fact that this event was paid any attention at all just goes to show that the media either has nothing else to talk about or that it can’t tell the difference between an important story and total nonsense.

The most recent discussion, though, is markedly different. And we only need to look back at John Kerry to see how likely it is that the Democrats will lose in November.

Kerry finished a degree at Yale and volunteered for multiple tours in Vietnam between 1966 and 1970. No one who voted in the 2004 election was unaware of what George Bush was doing those same years. Despite this, the Bush campaign was able to spin the discussion enough to convincingly suggest that Kerry was the least patriotic option to lead the country. How did this happen? Were there actions involved? Did Kerry actually do anything to suggest that he was untrustworthy because he didn’t care enough about America? The answer is obviously “no.” What is worse is that a more accurate answer would be that an action wasn’t even required. Rhetoric and confusion worked just fine.

Rev. Jeremiah Wright will be the 2008 equivalent of the Swiftboat saga four years earlier. Wright’s suggestion that “God will damn America for taking innocent lives” is all the Republican party needs to put John McCain into office. Simple language can have complicated effects and when we take Kerry’s criticism of the Vietnam war (a criticism which was 30 years old) alongside Wright’s (current) suggestion that America itself is flawed and malevolent, all we can reasonably expect is that Karl Rove’s job will be a cakewalk during the general election.

Since Hillary has virtually no chance of winning the nomination, despite her strong position in Pennsylvania, this leaves only one plausible course for the two parties in the coming months. Choosing the smartest, most inspiring candidate will likely be a self-destructive move for the Democrats in November. And the saddest part of the Obama equation is that his downfall will be caused by someone’s else’s actions, constant video replays of an angry church sermon and the inability of the white majority to separate Obama from the racial context and culture that created him.