It’s not an uncommon affliction, judging from all the news coverage. Despite, and perhaps because of, all the overwhelmingly positive predictions floating around, I am growing more and more worried. It seems improbable that Obama could not win, but what if? My brother went out and bought champagne this morning; I cringed. How premature!
I look at the numbers, over and over again. Ok, five-thirty-eight says that Obama wins in 96.3% of all situations. Chuck Todd says that McCain will still lose even if he wins all toss-up states. I make some phone calls for Barack: yesterday, I called North Carolina voters, and–with the exception of the grumpy old lady (In a delightfully thick Southern drawl: “I always vote. But this year there’s no one to vote for.” Me: “Ma’am, I would urge you…” [click].)–all I managed to reach reassured me that they had already voted for Barack. (I wonder, though, where exactly those lists of voters come from.)
Still, the anxiety gnaws away at my sanity.
The most reassuring thing I have read so far is John Dickerson’s article in Slate If Obama Loses, Who Gets Blamed?. Dickerson writes:
An Obama loss would mean the majority of pundits, reporters, and analysts were wrong. Pollsters would have to find a new line of work, since Obama has been ahead in all 159 polls taken in the last six weeks. The massive crowds that have regularly turned out to see Obama would turn out to have meant nothing. This collective failure of elites would provide such a blast of schadenfreude that Republicans like Rush Limbaugh would be struck speechless (another historic first).
Dickerson’s cold, hard logic calms me down in the face of illogical (?) worrying. Now, all that is left to do is wait.
From Fair Alma’s tyranny. And also freedom for yours truly, who’ll get a much-needed break from all the late-breaking campus and national mischief. But the Commentariat won’t be completely gone during the Spring holiday–for one thing we’ve got this Jeffrey Sachs