Political Orbits: Looking Bad in the Shadow AND in the Light

Two weeks ago, the conventional wisdom was that the Clinton book tour would overshadow the Kerry campaign. What played out, instead, was a very effective promo tour carefully scripted to undermine President Bush in the most high minded and genial way. And, with the Fahrenheit 9/11 factor in play, what made Clinton even more effective in the white hat was Michael Moore wearing the black.

Although the press tends to look for slippage in more dramatic signs (such as poll numbers), political damage usually occurs in more everyday terms. If Bush is going down, it’s not going to be from any one or two specific developments. Instead, he’s going to bleed to death from a thousand different cuts.

Judging from t.v. ratings and book and movies sales, you’d think Bush might start referring to Bill and Mike as the next axis.