Creating a self-fulfilling prophecy

To my mind, senior Republican leaders are digging the grave, preparatory to burying themselves:

Senior Republicans expressed grave fears on Sunday about the prospects of Senator John McCain, their candidate, against Senator Barack Obama in November’s general election.

The “senior Republicans” to which the article refers are Fred Barnes and Newt Gringrich.  I’m not pleased.

While irrational exuberance is stupid and should be avoided, an American political party is going nowhere quickly if it’s big on self-immolation.  While Americans like winners, they’re also fairly tolerant of optimistic people who can see their way clearly through a down-turn.

As for me, I’m fairly optimistic about the American people.  When push comes to shove, I refuse to believe that, in a dangerous world they’re going to choose an utterly untried young man with a shady past and a penchant for lying over a man tempered by time, with vast political experience, and with a greater degree of personal honor than anything the young man has to offer.  And I phrase that last clause so carefully because I know that, if I say McCain is an honest man, someone will hit me with an example of a broken promise or prevarication.  McCain may not be the man Diogenes is looking for, but he’s a whole heck of a lot better than Obama — and I refuse to believe that, when push comes to shove, American voters will go for a soiled flash in the pan.  I see this less as irrational exuberance and more as faith in the collective wisdom of Americans.