Democrats: The Art-y Party
Of the three remaining candidates for President, it’s pretty clear which one would be least well-disposed to the arts in this country: John McCain. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama don’t just make meaningless speeches about “how the arts are the soul of this great nation.” They’ve actually been spotted at a concert or a dance performance or at the theater when they have a rare night off. But if most arts aficionados can agree that a Democrat would be advantageous, that benefit only accrues if a member of the party is actually elected in November. And over the past half-century, the earlier that either major party chooses a nominee, the better chance that person has to win the general election. Which leads me to this link to David Brooks’s column in today’s New York Times. Brooks asks: If Clinton persists in the race at least until June, she “is likely to hurt Obama even more against McCain, without hurting him against herself. And all this is happening so she can preserve” a “5 percent chance” of winning the nomination.
