X Factors
June 3, 2010 - by
X factors are the spice of politics – and the bane of political operatives.
X factors are the unexpected events that disrupt the best-laid plans of campaign consultants and political consultants, who are the world’s greatest control freaks.
The classic X factor was the economic collapse that decided the 2008 presidential election by exposing John McCain as a clueless fool and spotlighting Barack Obama as a commanding leader.
Now Obama has his X factor: the Gulf oil spill.
Just as he was getting traction – passing health care, making progress on financial reform, focusing on the economy. Boom!
Now he’s in for months of figuring out what the government can do about the mess – and how to keep it from ruining his Presidency.
Governor Hunt struggled through one of these slow-motion, drip-drip-drip crises his first term: trying to clean up PCBs that had been dumped along hundreds of miles of roadsides.
It dragged on for years. Though not nearly as bad as the Gulf spill, it took a political toll – down to the final burial in Warren County
There’s just one thing that can save Obama now: kill Osama bin Laden. Every couple of months, it seems, there’s a story about the Number 2 or Number 3 man in Al Qaeda getting killed. If they can just get the top guy, the Gulf spill will be eclipsed. For a couple of weeks.
X Factors
June 3, 2010/
X factors are the spice of politics – and the bane of political operatives.
X factors are the unexpected events that disrupt the best-laid plans of campaign consultants and political consultants, who are the world’s greatest control freaks.
The classic X factor was the economic collapse that decided the 2008 presidential election by exposing John McCain as a clueless fool and spotlighting Barack Obama as a commanding leader.
Now Obama has his X factor: the Gulf oil spill.
Just as he was getting traction – passing health care, making progress on financial reform, focusing on the economy. Boom!
Now he’s in for months of figuring out what the government can do about the mess – and how to keep it from ruining his Presidency.
Governor Hunt struggled through one of these slow-motion, drip-drip-drip crises his first term: trying to clean up PCBs that had been dumped along hundreds of miles of roadsides.
It dragged on for years. Though not nearly as bad as the Gulf spill, it took a political toll – down to the final burial in Warren County
There’s just one thing that can save Obama now: kill Osama bin Laden. Every couple of months, it seems, there’s a story about the Number 2 or Number 3 man in Al Qaeda getting killed. If they can just get the top guy, the Gulf spill will be eclipsed. For a couple of weeks.