Playing the McGovern Card

Will the Clinton camp play the McGovern card if they think they can get away with it? I say this in light of the history of the Democrat Party picking the wrong candidate at the wrong time.

Will Obama be the George McGovern of this era? George McGovern ran for President in 1968 on an anti-war platform and lost to Hubert Humphrey who ran on “return to law and order in Washington.” Humphrey then lost his bid to Richard Nixon. In 1972, McGovern once again ran on his anti-war platform and was not considered the front runner nor the favorite of the Democrat Party. The Democrats had another candidate running that year in George Wallace of Alabama who actually captured all the votes in the state of Florida for nomination. He was considered an outsider but was running a strong race when he was shot, thus ending his bid for President.

In the votes, Hubert Humphrey received 25.77% of the votes and McGovern received 25.34%. George Wallace received 23.48%. Sounds a bit similar to the current standings, at least from what we were seeing a few weeks ago and may yet see, depending on Texas and Ohio votes upcoming in March.

McGovern, like Obama, ran an anti-war campaign and also had a plank on Global hunger and poverty in his platform. Obama has sponsored a Bill that is now before the Senate on this very subject, a bill that would put the U.S. in a subservient position to the UN in extracting hundreds of millions of dollars from the U.S. taxpayer for the UN to spend as they see fit. Remembering the Oil for Food fiasco, I would have to wonder if this sounds like a good idea.

Of course, McGovern was considered to be somewhat of an elder statesman, while Obama is a freshman Senator. McGovern was viewed as a far left liberal for his time, just as Obama is known to be the most left of any of the current crop of leftist Senators.

Will the McGovern ghost come back to haunt the Democrats if they nominate Obama? Can McCain make the case that Obama is not qualified to be the Commander in Chief, as Nixon did with McGovern? Can McCain make the case that Obama is a tax and spend Democrat, while he stands for cutting spending and sound economic policy?

McGovern became known as the radical candidate of "acid, amnesty, and abortion." Could the same case be made against Obama when it comes to amnesty for illegals, his stand on abortion, and his admitted drug use as a youth?

Will the Clinton camp play this McGovern card if given the opportunity? I mention this since it was another Democrat who, during McGovern’s run for the White House, gave him the name of “the acid, amnesty and abortion candidate” during a conversation with a reporter. The irony is that he was the same individual that McGovern picked to be his first running mate, Thomas Eagleton. Eagleton, of course, removed himself as VP candidate after his history of mental problems and shock therapy arose. Will history repeat itself in 2008?