Some think that she is a horrible candidate. Some think that she is the epitome of what we need in politics today. Yet others think that – well – she’s a witch. Either way you think, the Delaware senatorial candidate stands on the brink of being Sarah Palin, Jr. for the conservative movement regardless of how she does on November 2.
Go ahead, say it: You’ve seen this movie before.
And many of you will say this as well: you don’t like the original, so why would someone create a sequel.
Say what you like, but just when you thought that Christine O’Donnell was about to go away after she concocted a devilish political brew for herself to wade through, here she was on CNN last night talking to Delaware and the nation about why she was the better candidate for US Senate.
And yes: just the same way another Delaware Democrat (former US Senator and current Vice President Joe Biden) had to sift through the constant media barrage of “love-her-or-hate-her” political attention that a high-profile Republican woman presented just 2 years ago, Delaware senatorial candidate Chris Coons (D-DE) had to withstand the glare coming from media types of all kinds while trying to convince voters on the campaign trail this fall.
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Christine O’Donnell has become a problem for Republicans trying to win the open Senate seat in the First State. If she loses in November (and all signs point to that), she will become a problem for the American public trying to get past the polarization of politics for some tangible results and a turnaround for the nation.
Just as Sarah Palin has become a voice that is listened to attentively by the hard right due to her mixed bag of political insider and campaign martyr, SPJ (Ms. O’Donnell, a.k.a. “Sarah Palin Jr.”) is headed down a path where her voice will be magnified more by her presence as a political pundit post-November 2 than she will should an upset of Coons occur in less than 3 weeks. Despite what the American public says about partisan politics, most Americans following politics does something much the same: they pay attention with such lock-in opinions that partisan politics sells almost as well as sex does in the media. And when it comes to that type of environment, there is always a superhero and an anti-hero.
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Last night, Chris Coons – through his failure to restrain his angst for Ms. O’Donnell – became the perfect anti-hero, one that insulted and boored his way past his opponent to draw closer to winning on November 2. Although his behavior and poor performance last night will not be enough to lose this election (in all likelihood), it will be plenty to create the next Republican female media presence if the status quo of American politics has anything to say about it. Her name is SPJ – Christine O’Donnell.
If that is so, then Christine O’Donnell may become another stark example of the beauty of a populist movement gone wrong, much the same way that some of the Democrats riding the Obama coattails of 2008 are now costing the DNC their hold on Capitol Hill. In a time when Americans need candidates that are both outside of the Washington establishment but within the confines of talent, creativity, and connectivity with the people they represent, too many political
