In the song “A Dying Cubs Fan’s Last Request,” the late Steve Goodman
described Wrigley Field as “an ivy covered burial ground.” It is true in more ways than one. The ashes of the late Charlie Grimm, the banjo playing player
manager of the Cubs, who won three pennants while helming the team, including
their last league title in 1945, are part of the landscape at the park.
Failing to close the deal has been a hallmark of the Cubs. Take your pick:
the 1969 team completely falling apart during the month of September and being
overtaken by the New York Mets (was it a black cat on the field at Shea
Stadium that hexed the Cubs?), Jim Frey mismanaging the bullpen against San Diego
in 1984, Roger Craig of the San Francisco Giants out maneuvering Don Zimmer
at every critical turn in 1989, or Dusty Baker’s paralysis during the 2003
National League Championship Series. You can fault Bartman for trying to catch
a foul ball, but the reality is that when the Florida Marlins began to rally
the eighth inning of Game Six, Baker never left his dugout seat to calm his
rattled starting pitcher or to make a move to replace him with a relief
pitcher. Leo Durocher once wrote the greatest mistake that he ever made as a
manager was not going to the mound to talk to his pitcher in the 1941 World Series
when Brooklyn lost a critical game to the hated Yankees on a dropped third
strike. “The Lip” learned his lesson and wore out a path to the infield and
the mound over the remainder of his career. When things are going bad, you
have to try to do something if only to pause the game for the moment and
interrupt the flow of negative momentum.
All of these bad vibrations, put me in mind of the sight of Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) who seems to be twisting in the wind. As the nominating campaign continues, Obama seems to be unable to seal the deal. Following the 2003 NLCS debacle, the Cubs seemed to a cinch to return to the postseason in 2004. The team had two chances, winning the division outright or taking the wild card. As the season unfolded, the Cubs fell behind in the division race, but seemed comfortably positioned to take the wild card berth.
The Cubs faced some soft competition in the final week, but failed to plate any runs as they dropped three straight games, and three out of four to the anemic Reds and were mathematically eliminated from the post season by the Houston Astros. Chicago had lost thirty of its games by one run that year. The sluggers kept swinging for the fences and flying out to the warning track when a few timely bunts and singles would have been sufficient. It pays to
master the fundamentals.
For weeks and months, the Obama campaign has been pushing the subject of his inevitability. Except for his nagging inability to put Hillary Clinton away, I’d be inclined to agree with him. The closer Obama gets to the nomination, the clumsier he looks. One has to imagine the ranking party elites shaking in their boots and super delegates trying to maintain nervous smiles in the remaining months before the convention in Denver.
Obama has passed the point of giving some Democrats pause or some voters a sense of buyer’s remorse. He is beginning to look like Alfred E. Neuman, the ubiquitous “What, me worry?” mascot of the comic Mad Magazine. Campaign manager David Axelrod is playing the part of Inspector Clouseau.
Obama seems to be unraveling. Months and months of mouthing platitudes to
cover for a nonexistent record will do that to you. In addition to the Reverend
Jeremiah Wright, the extremist pastor, who Obama embraced in order to obtain
valuable “street cred” (slang for “street credibility”), Obama has begun
sticking his foot in his mouth. Obama, who lost a previous campaign bid to take
the 1st District Congressional seat from the incumbent Representative Bobby
Rush, who questioned his opponent for not being sufficiently authentic or
interested in urban black issues may have been on to something. In a recent
California fundraising event, Obama exposed himself as an elitist snob. Obama,
who attended private schools for his entire life, was caught deriding the
bitterness of blue collar working people in rural Pennsylvania and small town
America. Why these rubes are anti-immigrant bigots, who are too attached to
their churches and their guns to accept his candidacy. This flippant set of remarks underscored more unanswered questions that have been dogging Obama: Who are all of these parlor pinks and lefties who figured so much in Barack’s career as “a community organizer” that are coming out of the broom closet? What is in the drinking water in Hyde Park? Would Obama look out of place at a
White Sox game with the blue collar folks that he denigrates at cocktail parties?
What a colossal blunder! Wasn’t this nation founded by a small band of bible carrying farmers who supplied their own muskets? Obama has given Hillary Clinton, late of Wellesley College and Yale University Law School, an opportunity to taking of her “Goldwater Girl” image out of mothballs and to pose as
the traditionalist candidate in the Democratic Field. The Clintons repeated whisper about Obama is a simple hiss, “Electability.”
Pennsylvania looks to be Clinton’s next primary win and blue collar Indiana is in play now. Democratic National Party Chairman Howard Dean must be dreaming about new elections being held in Florida and Michigan. Obama may not be the next Kennedy, but the next Kerry.
Senator John McCain (R-Az) is basking in the knowledge that the Arizona Diamondbacks swept the Cubs in 2007 divisional playoff while Hillary pretends to be a lifelong Yankee fan. Put a blue Cubs cap on Obama’s head and its over.
As play by play announcer, Hawk Harrelson might say, “He gone.”
Daniel J. Kelley is a long suffering Chicago baseball fan.
cindy says:
What rubbish!Is this all you can come up with in the absence of any real news. Get a life!
Chris says:
Wow, Clinton is getting desperate. I have yet to see anything that wrong with Obama's remarks for this to even be an issue. I'm glad Obama is not divisive like Clinton is. In fact, I think Clinton is being condescending for thinking voters are going to think she's really concerned about them or think she's on their level. It's all laughable to me. We'll see who wins. If people are fooled by this then so be it. They deserve what they get for believing this rubbish.
Deward Bowles says:
I am uncertain what news this article is reporting.
Senator Obama has run a greate campaign. Much better than the other two candidates.
What people call a "bitter" remark has been taken completely out of context. It is simply ridiculous to suggest otherwise.
As far as oil money and lobby money those who suggest Senator Obama is no different tha Senator Clinton should check the facts.
This data is from the Center for Responsible Politics.
http://www.opensecrets.org/industries...
http://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/sel...
http://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/sel...
My vote is for Senator Obama. Just call me bitter in Houston, Texas.
Deward Bowles White, 48, Male, Professional, Business Owner.
Hillary says:
Hillary is a great for something but it's not for President of the United States. And by the way, whoever wrote this article is yes, idiotic but also dum, sad and pitiful.
Nick says:
He can't have it both ways when his words are all he has. The guy is finally getting hit in his big glass jaw...good luck Dems!
cpindc says:
This argument is a loser for Clinton. She won't get any movement arguing that people are not bitter about the economics that have given their jobs to people oversees or to illegal immigrants. And yes, when people are in difficult situations they do gravitate toward the things they know and grew up with. Bedrock values, established issues, outsiders not welcome.
The only think I can say about this recent news story is that Obama may be a little too honest for his own good.
But this is just a story in the blogisphere until we see anyone on Main Street rallying against Obama's statement. Clinton's campaign printed buttons for people at her rallies that say "I'm not Bitter". But not even that many people took one.
Pat Hickey says:
Forty Five years ago my Old Pappy explained that my continued drinking from the puddles in the Sinclair Station at 76th & Ashland would have consequences years on -Hence, Mr. Kelley my mistaking Powers' mean prose below for your high ocatane passage set here.
Profound apologies, Old Man. Dain Bramage, I reckon.
Lighthouse says:
How can the Democratic Party hope to win the White House when they tell the people of Michigan and Florida that their votes do not count? In the 2000 campaign the Democratic Party was yelling about Floridian's being disenfranchised, but I guess it's not a problem in 2008.
Lynn Levine says:
I have been called a "hypnotized, latte drinking snob" for supporting Obama. I have been told that the landslide victory he sustained in my state Minnesota, doesn't count, because only Ohio counts. I used to live in Ohio, by the way, so maybe I should count? Come on, give it up, Hillary's campaign is in the sewer. Bill Clinton is making millions, flying around on private jets to buy up international uranium rights and Hillary, on CNN tonight is telling us they use low energy light bulbs as one of their "sacrifices" for the greater good.
Obama just got one more superdelegate today from Minnesota. His nomination is not inevitable, it is just that he has a very sizeable lead. I think the Hillary supporters should entertain the possibility that not every single one of us who voted for Obama is an idiot. I almost want to name my credentials to support my judgement that Obama is a better candidate, but if I do I will be called an elitist. No way to win with you guys.
Thurston Howell III says:
Lynn,
Let's see, you're dictatorial, condescending and your modesty almost prevents you from typing out your resume for us to show us what good judgment you have...perhaps a quote from Thurston Howell III is revealing here: "Good heavens, a Yale Man".
RJE says:
The Democrats have a real mess on their hands. They have primaries that don't count, and now this. John McCain is saving a fortune by not having to run negative ads now. His opponents are hitting each other with cream pies.
MA says:
This articles is so boring and ridiculous that I didn't even bother finishing it. If you love Hillary so much you ought to be out there campaigning for her instead of boring us with your incredibly biased article.
Lighthouse says:
Obama's voting record speaks for itself. Or should I say his lack of voting. Obama's campaign is about what he says. Because Obama's voting record has so many holes in it that he could not run on what he voted for.
Clay Eals says:
Good to see your essay beginning with "A Dying Cub Fan's Last Request" by Steve Goodman. He often doesn't get his due. You might be interested in my 800-page biography, "Steve Goodman: Facing the Music." Among my more than 1,050 interviewees for the book was Hillary Clinton, who was Goodman's high-school classmate in suburban Chicago.
You can find out more at my Internet site (below). Amazingly, the book's first printing sold out in just eight months, all 5,000 copies, and a second printing of 5,000 is available now. The second printing includes hundreds of little updates and additions, including 30 more photos for a total of 575. To order a second-printing copy, see the "online store" page of my site. Just trying to spread word about the book. Feel free to do the same!
Clay Eals
1728 California Ave. S.W. #301
Seattle, WA 98116-1958
(206) 935-7515
(206) 484-8008
ceals@comcast.net
http://www.clayeals.com
John Powers says:
Weren't the Hager Twins, of Hee Haw fame, also Hillary's classmates?
That is some crew up in Park Ridge, with Tom Roeser, Harrison Ford, Steve Goodman etc all hailing from the same Cook County holdout.
JBP
dem voters says:
OUR TIME HAS COME TO FULLY SUPPORT BEHIND SENATOR CLINTON TO WIN IN NOV
http://www.theproblemwithobama.com/
VOTERS DEMAND OBAMA DROP OUT NOW, WITH ALL THE NEW POLITICAL DAMAGING STUFF COMING FROM HIM AND MICHELLE OBAMA, IN ADDITION TO WRIGHTS CONTINUED OBAMA DEFENDED ATTACKS ON WHITE AMERICA. HE WILL SURLY LOOSE THE GENERAL ELECTION FOR DEMOCRATS.
Obama Connection to Terrorists Revealed National Association of Chiefs of Police. http://www.theconservativevoice.com/a...
Obama has a dual citizenship with Kenya Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden would be praying for an Obama victory because it would help the militants win in Iraq. Citizen Wells 3/08
Memories of Obama's recent racial stereotype of the 'typical White person' are still fresh. Add to this now his view of the 'typical small town person.' Obama is quoted as disparaging residents of small towns in Pennsylvania as being “like a lot of small towns in the Midwest” where “it's not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.”
Obama is unapologetic, even dissing of voters in Florida and Michigan one has to wonder what groups of Americans he really respects?
Racist wife, Michelle, saying she was proud of America "for the first time" only because of her husband's presidential run.
Obama explained he doesn't wear an American flag lapel pin or hold his hands to his heart during the Pledge of Allegiance because it is a substitute for patriotism,
Obama confirms his own moral obliviousness and he seems to have disdain for those who are troubled by his own unwillingness to break with The Great White hater Rev Wright
Rev Wright says you don't have to wait for the afterlife for the mansion on the hilltop, he’s right! To shut him up Trinity United Church of Christ is building Rev. Wright a $1 mil house on a lot that was purchased for $345,000. According to federal income tax return Obama gave $222,500
Wright continues his Obama supported attacks on non-blacks Wright states Jesus death on the cross was a public lynching Italian style.
Obamas senate record shows he infact did support the war voted against bringing America's troops home, voted for war appropriations giving our money to Halliburton and Blackwater, voted with Bush/Chaney latest bit of posturing S433 to suspend any troop withdrawal, if not suspended, keeps the troops in Iraq for a long time to come.
Washington Post- Fact Check- Senator Obama CAUGHT LYING about Kennedy Role in Helping His Father Contrary to Obama's claims in speeches Kennedy family did not.
Chicago Daily Herald- Obama refers to himself as 'a constitutional law professor on the campaign trail. TRUTH: He never held any such title!