Texas, really, huh? What the shit is up with that, y’all?

I went to bed in a good mood last night and woke up to a serious cockpunch. I expected Ohio, but Texas?

Well, hell.

It’s not really a tragedy- I still don’t see how Obama loses this thing, but I was excited at the idea of a knockout. There’s good to come of it- Clinton’s newfound momentum will be old and boring come Pennsylvania, and a new theme will emerge. The way this election cycle’s been spun so far, one takes the top for a few weeks, then the narrative gets boring and it swaps back. It started that way for Clinton, then Obama became the story; that lasted through to New Hampshire, and then it was Clinton’s race to lose until after Super Tuesday. Shortly thereafter, it became Obama-time again, and then we get a couple of weeks of Clinton’s momentum. Obama will clearly thump her in Mississippi and Wyoming, which’ll mean a handful of extra delegates, and when combined with the actual results from last night- in which Clinton gains something like three delegates, total, over Obama- he’ll still be in a position to run away with it. Clinton’s bought herself time, but it’ll have to carry through to Pennsylvania, and I don’t see it happening.

In the meantime, this’ll be an interesting month and a half. I don’t get the conventional wisdom that, the longer this goes n, the worse it is for the Democrats. Why the hell would that be true? Right now, everyone’s paying attention to them, and the discussion dominating the news is who’s got a better health care plan, who’s got clearer progressive bonafides. Yeah, they’re fighting, but if this were a campaign between Obama and McCain, they’d be fighting, too. I don’t suspect that Clinton’s 3am ad is any sleazier than what you’ll see from McCain, so what’s the harm? Right now, America’s focused on Clinton and Obama, and if the turnout is any indication, the general impression isn’t who cares, they both suck. This is what I want- a nation focused on which Democrat can out-progressive the other. The longer they run against each other, the more the debate stays on their terms, which are better than the terms they’ll get in the general election.

I wanted to see it over, it’s true, but I’m not heartbroken- not really. A little cockpunched, sure, but it’s not the worst feeling I’ve had the past couple days. I ain’t bleeding.