Looking over the commentary on the contest between John McCain and Barack Obama at Saddleback, one troubling thing is becoming quite clear. Obama is not only being undermined by weak-minded hacks within his own party. The same strange urge that leads democratic congress-people to criticize Obama in public also seems to underlie the bizarre idea that Obama, in not having unequivocally won an audience he was never going to win, has somehow demonstrated his inability to win the election. This is utter nonsense.

Perhaps Obama is being made a victim of his own incredible potential. It has been a long time since there has been a candidate who broke the mold, who managed to convince most people (even his opponents) that he was a decent person. In fact, it’s been so long that his supposed supporters hold him up to an impossible standard, and begin to crow about the end of the world when he fails to walk on water.

Consider how McCain would have fared with an audience of progressives, and let’s say he was interviewed by Amy Goodman (in an equally lop-sided way). Would McCain emerge victorious? Of course not. More importantly, would his most ardent supporters begin loudly proclaiming his impotence because of this? Consider, if Republicans did so, most people here would be simultaneously shaking their heads and rubbing their hands. It would be a thrilling bit of lunacy, another example of the other camp’s basic insecurity and fragmentation.

Now would be a good time to show a little unity, wouldn’t it?