A Party Divided

With 12 days until the election the electoral map is showing more blue than in 2004, indicating the likelihood that Obama will come away victorious in November. As Democrats (cautiously) prepare to celebrate Republicans are wasting no time in finding someone to blame for their predicted loss. Republicans are getting right to the point and blaming one another.

Poor strategy, lack of message, and the pick of Sarah Palin are just some of the scapegoats Republicans are citing. The most interesting sparring is taking place between McCain and the current Republican party leadership. McCain has criticized the Bush administration and the like for letting things "get completely out of hand," from spending in Iraq to not taking action on climate change. In response a top Republican strategist critiqued McCain for attacking Republicans rather than his opponent, and calling McCain out on spending $150,000 on Palin's wardrobe rather than other Republican congressional candidates.

While the Republican party suffers a meltdown, it gives the rest of us time to appreciate the United States of America and its electoral system that allows for election year, party in-fighting. With many parliamentary systems a party is elected, usually a unified party. Instead, we elect candidates who don't have to stick to their party when times are bad (as the Republicans are experiencing now.) A candidate can run away from his party--as some say McCain has done.

In the meantime both Democrats and Republicans will wait to see just how this election turns out (money is on Obama.) And afterwards the Republicans can go off and try to rebuild before mid-terms in 2010.