Is it the year before a presidential election again? If I am a self-loathing Irish bully presidential wanna-be Democrat who never herself had the guts to go into politics, then that means it is again time to begin the quadrennial tear-down of any and every Democrat with a reasonable shot at winning.

Since the Democrats in the past few cycles by and large have put forth a steady stream of capable and impressive candidates, the key here is to focus like a laser on personal foibles of the candidates. Anything less than a total focus on the personality of the candidate in question risks inserting context into the equation. That is to say, it risks the reader thinking, for instance, something like, “Hey! Isn’t this the same spiteful asshole who savagely tore down Al Gore in 2000 without the slightest glimmer of acknowledgment that his opponent was — George W. Bush. And, ditto, re John Kerry in ’04?”

I don’t know if Obama is ready or not. But I do know that Maureen Dowd (scum-sucking paid link; sorry) thinks he has a shot at the presidential seat that by rights should be hers. Why else would she say awful, viperous, and irrelevant things like:

Using the dreaded third person that some candidates slip into, he told the press that one of their favorite narratives boiled down to “Obama has pretty good style, he can deliver a pretty good speech, but he seems to prioritize rhetoric over substance.” After an ode to his own specificity, he tut-tutted, “You’ve been reporting on how I look in a swimsuit.”

He poses for the cover of Men’s Vogue and then gets huffy when people don’t treat him as Hannah Arendt. …

and:

After talking to high school journalists, he took a sniffy shot at the loutish reporters who were merely whispering where’s the beef: “Take some notes, guys, that’s how it’s done.”

No fewer than three times last week, Mr. Obama got indignant about the beach-babe attention given to a shot of him in the Hawaiian surf. …

and:

When The Times’s Jeff Zeleny asked him on his plane whether he’d had a heater in his podium during his announcement speech in subzero Springfield, Mr. Obama hesitated. He shot Jeff a look that said, “Are you from People magazine?” before conceding that, unlike Abe Lincoln, he’d had a heater.

Take some notes, senator, that’s how it’s done.

Slow down, Mo. We know how it’s done. Where “it” means denying election to any Democratic candidate, no matter how qualified or capable.

We know because we have for years watched you tear down basically decent men, like Al Gore and John Kerry, who had the temerity put themselves in the public arena and get in line for the job you crave but never had the courage to pursue.

Good luck, Sen. Obama. You’re going to need it. Yes, there are no snakes in Ireland; but that’s only because Dowd’s forebears emigrated to America. So she was born here instead.

Posted by Wayne Uff at February 14, 2007 09:53 PM

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