From Macbeth:
If you can look into the seeds of time,
And say which grain will grow and which will not,
Speak then to me, who neither beg nor fear
Your favours nor your hate.
Shift around the letters, and it becomes:
Who will win the hard race for the high honor of President of our United States: Obama or McCain?
Anyway, I know I’ll forgo any wonky eleventh-hour guess.
Tie?
With just a month left until the election, polls indicate that Barack Obama has a healthy lead in both the popular vote and electoral college projections, and the Democrats in Congress are looking strong as well.
After 2004’s disappointment, I don’t want to put too much faith in the polls, but I am feeling cautiously optimistic.
But this week’s question isn’t about predicting the election. Let’s suppose hypothetically that Barack Obama does win next month. Let’s say that the election maintains a Democratic majority in the House, and Democrats wind up with 60 seats in the Senate (enough to block a filibuster).
This would basically put the Democrats in control of the agenda for at least two years, longer if the voters are pleased with the results.
So, the two questions I pose to my mostly liberal readership (but also my few conservative and moderate readers as well) is this:
If the Democrats were to take control, what would you like to see happen? What would you expect would actually happen?
From Henry IV, Part Two:
Come hither, Harry: sit thou by my bed;
And hear, I think, the very latest counsel
That ever I shall breathe. God knows, my son,
By what by-paths and indirect crook’d ways
I met this crown; and I myself know well
How troublesome it sat upon my head:
To thee it shall descend with better quiet,
Better opinion, better confirmation;
For all the soil of the achievement goes
With me into the earth.
Shift around the letters, and it becomes:
Two weeks back, Ms. Christiane Amanpour hobnobbed live with five former secretaries of state.
They told her why their instinct is for the new president to talk to both allies and enemies.
They told her in synch why we must both close Guantanamo and end torture.
They told her why it is time to move on climate change.
They told her why they think Iraq’s a hot potato.
Dumb liberal bile!
You can read a transcript of the interview here.
From Henry VI, Part Three:
Nay, stay, Sir John, awhile; and we’ll debate
By what safe means the crown may be recover’d.
Shift around the letters, and it becomes:
McCain wanted to bail. He’s shy!
Obama wanted fresh eyes. Joy!
Lehrer wanted a brawl. Envy!
Inspired by a video clip posted by Ro, I’m moved to examine the following question:
Right now, at this moment, what would you say is the percentage chance that Sarah Palin will become President of the United States in the next four years?
I’m going with 5%. That figure puts the election at about 50/50, and gives McCain a 90% chance of surviving his first term.
What do you think?
I’m always curious to see what search terms bring people to this site. Here is a list of all of the search terms that brought people here yesterday:
The word “shyster” does not appear in Shakespeare. There is a character named Shylock in The Merchant of Venice, and a popular anti-lawyer quote in Henry VI, Part Two.
Several United States presidents have had the letter Y in their names. First name: Ulysses S. Grant, Harry S. Truman, Lyndon B. Johnson, Jimmy Carter; Last name: John Tyler, Rutherford B. Hayes, William McKinley, John F. Kennedy; First and Last Name: Zachary Taylor; Commonly Used Middle Name: John Quincy Adams, William Henry Harrison.
As for the Ophelia thing, do your own homework.
Do Barack Obama and John McCain have the same web designer?
From Much Ado About Nothing:
…an two men ride of a horse, one must ride behind.
Shift around the letters, and it becomes:
Biden (DE) was rumored a shoe-in for the mention.