The primaries are now over, finally. Once again, I was right. As I predicted after the Iowa caucus, the two winners there would go on to be the presidential candidates. I predicted the outcome correctly, Barack Obama snagged the Democratic ticket, while Mike Huckabee won it months ago for the Republican (presumed) nomination.
The one thing I was wrong about was that the primaries would be over in a heartbeat. Hey, you can’t get them all, but where else can you turn for such dead-on election analysis? Luckily, I suggested making drinking games out of the process to help pass the time. You are probably thankful you can take a Tuesday night off from blacking out.
The 2008 election promises to be a historic election, not because of how many firsts it already has achieved but because of one of the most significant racial benchmarks in America is about to come to pass. It is a sign of how far we as a country have come since the racial strife that littered the 20th century. For the first time ever, both candidates are of Irish decent.
As an Irish-American, this presents me with quite a conundrum. Do I vote for John McCain or do I vote for Barack O’Bama? Which son of Ireland is best qualified for the job? Is one paddy really better than the other? Clearly, I cannot simply vote my race, as so many pundits have told me to do.
Because of this, I propose rather than debates this summer and fall, we see who is the better Irishman. I am looking for a candidate who enjoys a pint, can cry about love but speak cheerfully of war. I need someone who can sing Irish folk songs with the Dropkick Murphys or Liam Clancy. Most of all, I need a candidate who will re-institute Teddy Roosevelt’s foreign policy of walking softly and carrying a big shillelagh.