It's been easy to get lost in the whipsaw of the markets lately, and in the joy of watching John McSame and his half-baked VP Candidate plummet but not bounce back up, but as we have been doing so, one little fact has been little discussed over the last few weeks and that is that the tried-and-true Republican election strategies don't seem to be working very well this cycle.
Is it because the facts are so painfully clear about what the Republicans have done to the country?
Of course.
But why are they are painfully clear? Has it been the fact that the mainstream media suddenly has taken a turn for the intelligent? I don't think so.
In fact, if you take what is consistent this cycle to last cycle, and remove that, the difference actually is we are perhaps at the tipping point on what new politics is going to be like in America. A slightly-messy thousand points of opinion fluid real-time conversation about candidates, policies and campaigns.
What's different now versus 2004? Here's a starter list.
Huffington Post
YouTube
You see the point. These are all channels for conversations that do two things. First, they have involved the average American in the process in a far greater capacity than every before. Meaning that they contribute more than every before, to races large and small.
It also means that controlling the channels of the traditional press won't get you as far as it used to. If it was 2000, or 2004, I promise you that McCain's maverick status would be well in check. If it was 2000 or 2004, I promise you that the "Obama As Muslim" meme would have gotten significantly farther.
Sitting on the set of MSNBC a few weeks ago, the anchor was worried about the hatred she saw online. What she saw as hatred, I see as rightful indignation and passion for our collective future.
That trend will continue. In fact, it will help Democrats get elected and make the governing process far more complicated. The multi-million person progressive community online can rightfully claim victory on November 4th if current trends continue and will want not just a seat at the table but a channel to be heard, loudly and clearly.
The videos, comments and promises made during the campaign may well be forgotten by mainstream pundits but they live on in our collective memory and will be front and center the next few years.
Woe be the Democrat who thinks that now elected it's business as usual in Washington.
Outside the beltway is in.
Inside the beltway is out.
It will never go back to the way it were, and nor should it.