Talking heads

The Clinton and Obama campaign third string spokespeople are on MSNBC babbling about how their candidates are destined to win. Both of them are insisting that a victory is inevitable; neither of them are taking any cognizance of the other person making claims that flatly contradict their own. As the tension mounts--as a nation waits breathless to find out whether Hillary Clinton is going to prolong our agony with a net loss of 13 delegates, or whether she will soar to a net loss of only 8 delegates--they are valiantly filling the air with observations of astonishing triviality. "You know, this is all about the votes," says one of the bland women I have never heard of. In a moment, one of them is going to start commenting on how there are all these cameras and lights and things in the studio. The other will undoubtedly respond by picking up a fire safety flyer and reading us the fine print. Hell, at least we might learn something. If only one could put out political blather with a little stop, drop and roll.

This article available online at:

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2008/05/talking-heads/3393/