The Iowa Caucuses debacle has had posters straining for sporting metaphors. The Democrats in disarray are down 10-1 to President Donald J. Trump and the Republicans in the first inning, some say. The Dems are the San Francisco 49ers down to the Kansas City Chiefs in the fourth quarter of the Super Bowl, which has a nice Blue State-Red State ring to it since the Niners play in California and the Chiefs in Kan, er, Missouri. (Just thought everyone needed a musical break with the great band Kansas’ surprisingly fitting “Carry On Wayward Son.”)
I, however, have a more apt sports analogy. The Iowa Caucuses are like the figure skater billed as the next Peggy Fleming who after four years of Winter Olympics prep falls on the first jump in the short program.
I think that sums things up perfectly — the Iowa Caucuses, a triple toe loop away from unmitigated disaster.
Apparently, something went wrong with an app. How is that possible? I mean, technology is so fabulous — not. Why can’t they have one system — primaries, paper ballots? There is something to be said for uniformity in certain situations.
Anyhow, former Mayor Pete Buttigieg seems to have a narrow lead over Larry David caricature Sen. Bernie Sanders, with Sen. Elizabeth Warren third, former Vice President Joe Biden fourth, Sen. Amy Klobuchar fifth, Andrew Yang fifth and Tom Steyer last. Needless to say, the conspiracy theorists are out in force: The Dems didn’t want to reveal the results, because, you know, they hate Bernie. Listen, Bernie would be an even bigger disaster as the nominee and his young supporters need to get with the program, because this is not about idealism and free stuff for them. This is about whoever can land the quad in the short program. This is about whoever can beat Trump, and Bernie isn’t it.
The Trumpets were also out in force gloating. But just as they don’t have the high moral ground, they’re not gaffe-proof either. Remember, their guy thinks you have to use an ID card to buy groceries. Let that one sink in.
In any event, it’s not like the candidates themselves were in charge of the caucuses. Still, the snafu is a demoralizing affair. It’s just another instance — along with the Trump Administration, Brexit and now China’s handling of the coronavirus — of the failure of Alexandrian leadership in this world, that is leadership from the frigging front.
That and the decline in educational standards could ultimately sink us. If you think not, remember that the Maya produced one of the great civilizations. But in 8th- and 9th-century Mesoamerica, they abandoned their cities and walked back into the forests, allowing nature to reclaim their magnificent stone structures. No one quite knows why and some scholars say that there was no such collapse but merely a shift in activity from the southern lowlands to the north.
One thing that is clear, is that the collapse or shift revolved around a crisis in a rigid form of leadership. If you can’t trust what your leaders are doing, everything becomes suspect, including your own judgment.
Civilizations end and new ones rise. It would be terrible, though, to think that the American Experiment is ending. That’s why the Dems need to get their act together.