JONAH GOLDBERG ON OBAMA AND DISAPPOINTMENT: “Imagine the Democrats do rally around Obama. Imagine the media invests as heavily in him as I think we all know they will if he’s the nominee — and then imagine he loses. I seriously think certain segments of American political life will become completely unhinged. I can imagine the fear of this social unraveling actually aiding Obama enormously in 2008. Forget Hillary’s inevitability. Obama has a rendezvous with destiny, or so we will be told. And if he’s denied it, teeth shall be gnashed, clothes rent and prices paid.”
He’s right. And as I’ve noted before, Hillary runs a smaller-scale version of this risk in the nomination battle — if she outmaneuvers Obama rather than beating him straight-up, that’ll probably alienate a lot of people and cause them to stay home in November.
UPDATE: Bill Quick: “If Huckabee beats Obama, everything you’ve seen during the past eight years of Bush Derangement Syndrome will become nothing more than a mild neurosis. Bottom line, though, is that the real threat of a Huckabee candidacy is not that he’ll defeat Obama, but that he’ll destroy the GOP coalition in trying.”
ANOTHER UPDATE: Ryan Hartman thinks this is about urban riots. I’m thinking more an extended chattering-class hissy fit. Yes, it’s hard to believe that people could get more deranged than they’ve been since the 2000 elections, but I think they’ve got it in them.
Meanwhile, Hartman should note that the “secret Muslim” claims about Obama come from other Democrats, in the form of Hillary and Edwards proxies.