Chambliss Check and Balance

Yesterday's run-off election returned Saxby Chambliss to the U.S. Senate by a 14% margin. I'll leave it to you to read the whys and hows elsewhere. The immediate impact of this win is the preservation of the check and balance approach to government that our Founding Fathers asserted in the Constitution. I think it is also a reaffirmation of the centrism of the American electorate. Could it also reaffirm BHO's shrewd political centrism we've seen lately as he selects his team?

I suspect BHO and his advisors knew all along that this race was a real long-shot for Jim Martin. That's why he stayed away. After such a brilliant campaign win, who wants to be associated with a loser? So that left Martin with second and third tier politicos working the state while Chambliss brought in the stars, including the Saracuda herself. Most pundits were predicting a Chambliss victory by 6% or so. Given that several of BHO's executive selections are garnering 80% approval ratings or thereabouts, the blowout win by Chambliss tells us that Obamania has its limits.

Speaking of limits, I think this photo says it all about the Martin campaign. It accompanied a Boston Globe article reporting how tough it was to run the campaign without help from BHO. The smiling Martin is flanked by T.I., Young Jeezy, and Ludicris. Surrounding yourself with three rappers might work in Atlanta, for an election in Atlanta. I doubt this would work in Peoria. I know it doesn't in Young Harris or Hopeulikit or any of the hundreds of other rural towns and counties in the rest of Georgia. As an example of racial pandering, it is unsurpassed. As an illustration of the perils of identity politics, it is an object lesson. But politics is a tough, unforgiving, messy business, where desperation can lead to tactical stupidity. Thus, at the hands of an electorate in search of balance, Martin joins a long list of folks under Obama's bus as it hugs the center line. And the Constitution speaks.