Oh! What a Lovely War

One could revive the title of that Broadway musical comedy to describe the current political climate. The primary elections this Tuesday were rich in lessons and in surprises.

In an anti-outgoing, anti-establishment, anti-status quo climate, electors did no better than to make the new choice of Blanche Lincoln — senator of Arkansas, endorsee of Bill Clinton, Washington insider if there ever was one. Better yet, in California — a state which is supposed to set the tone for the rest of the country, the one out of which come the cultural revolutions — what do we have? Millionaire ex-CEOs of eBay and Hewlett-Packard, chosen by Republicans for the posts of governor and senator, and an ex-governor/son of a governor/ex-mayor of Oakland/attorney general. One can’t be more establishment than Jerry Brown, a 30-year political veteran chosen by those who voted during these primaries. In New Jersey, the Tea Party candidate was defeated by a moderate Republican. This was supposedly the year when electors brought their pitchforks to drive out the establishment and change Washington. We scratch our heads.

Let’s review: Carly Fiorina, ex-CEO of HP, the number one computer manufacturer in the world, was chosen by Republicans as their candidate for senator next November. Meg Whitman, the billionaire ex-CEO of eBay, the online shopping site, was designated by the GOP for the post of governor to replace Schwarzenegger, prevented from running by term limits (and very unpopular, considering the state of finances in the Golden State). In November, she will oppose Jerry Brown, the candidate chosen by the Democrats and the paragon of the establishment. California always surprises.

In Nevada, Democrat Harry Reid, whose senate seat is one of the most threatened, will find himself up against Sharron Angle, a candidate supported by the Tea Party, but so eccentric that she risks helping Reid save his seat. Finally, the California voters may have been more clever. In choosing Meg Whitman, who spent close to 100 million dollars out of pocket, and Carly Fiorina, they may have made the choice of two candidates outside of the Republican establishment all while attracting the traditional GOP voters who would without a doubt be repulsed by a Sharron Angle. Nevada is a state clearly higher in colors than the Golden State. The unhoped-for victory of Blanche Lincoln in Arkansas is of another nature. She had before her the entire union machine and the Demoratic left that wanted to send a warning: Whoever displeased “unions” would have to pay the consequences. But that group, which is much too far left for an agricultural state (not to mention the rest of America), scared the voters who retained Lincoln. That victory also marks the weakness of American unions that, just as in France, became the representatives of the public sector’s salaried workers, exactly what Americans are rejecting in mass at present. Less government became their motto, but the union didn’t get it.

These 11 primaries were passionate in the end. Nothing is decided for November. Everything will still depend on the oil spill, on the manner in which Obama will rise or not rise to the occasion of this unprecedented ecological crisis, on the colossal budget deficit, on the employment recovery, and on the new plan of attack. November is still far off.