ObamaWorld

Today is a weekday, so I’m wondering what planet Barack Obama and his followers live on, and why they insist on trying to substitute their delusions for reality. If ObamaWorld is exposed to the light on Earth, will it evaporate as quickly as its ruler’s promises on gun control, Iraq, abortion and FISA?

As I wrote in an earlier piece, Republicans were very involved in ensuring that Barack Obama won the red-state caucuses which account for his slim pledged delegate lead over Senator Clinton. They sent him loads of money and voters, and perhaps taught him the delicate art of election fraud (although from his earlier adventures with Alice Palmer and the State Senate, I’m not sure Oba-Moi needed instruction).

But poor, deluded Oba-Moi still thinks that Republicans will pour into voting booths on Election Day and throw the lever for him. According to Newsweek (and those of us living in the real world), it’s nagahapin.

…As we speak/type/read, the Obama camp is holding a conference call with reporters to unveil “Republicans for Obama,” a branch of its operation designed to show that “Republicans are coming together in support of Senator Obama to bring change to Washington.” That claim was verifiable during the early Democratic primaries, when Republicans willing to crossover and vote in the Democratic contests typically backed Obama over Hillary Clinton by overwhelming margins. Which is why Obama began telling his Obamacan tale in the first place. But now that he’s vying for Republican support against a real, live Republican–a slightly different dynamic–I started to wonder whether the story would still hold up to scrutiny.* Obama may count prominent GOPers like Nebraska Sen. Chuck Hagel, presidential granddaughter Susan Eisenhower, Fairbanks, Alaska Mayor Jim Whitaker, former Iowa Rep. Jim Leach, former Rhode Island Sen. Lincoln Chaffee and former White House intelligence adviser Rita E. Hauser–all of them namechecked on today’s call–among his announced (or likely) endorsers. But are there enough rank-and-file Republicans whispering their support at Obama rallies to actually make a difference on Election Day?

Nope. Now that their goal is almost achieved – making sure the Democrats nominate the only candidate that could lose to McCain – they are, of course, going to vote for their nominee.

Duh.

As I discovered from examination the last 18 months of head-to-head general election polls, the answer seems to be “no.” In fact, John McCain’s share of the Democratic vote has typically–and surprisingly–been larger than Obama’s share of the Republican vote. In other words, it’s not that the Rev. Jeremiah Wright scared the Obamacan masses off, as some pundits have theorized–it’s that they never existed (in any unprecedented way) to begin with. In December 2006–before the unfamiliar Illinois senator had officially announced his candidacy–McCain attracted 25 support among Dems versus Obama’s eight percent among Repubs, according to a FOX News poll**. Those numbers tightened over the next few months of polling by various firms, but Obama never established a sustained lead. A February 2007 Quinnipiac survey showed McCain with 17 percent crossover support, for example, versus nine percent for Obama; in a June 2007 sounding by the same outlet, McCain still led 15 percent to 11. During primary season–between December 2007 and April 2008–McCain’s Democratic number typically hovered between 18 and 22. Obama, meanwhile, never climbed higher than 13 percent.