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Deciding the Next Decider: The 2008 Presidential Race in Rhyme
Deciding the Next Decider The 2008 Presidential Race in Rhyme Author:Calvin Trillin Displaying the form that made bestsellers of Obliviously On He Sails and A Heckuva Job, tales of the Bush Administration in rhyme, Calvin Trillin trains his verse on the 2008 race for the presidency. — Deciding the Next Decideris an ongoing campaign narrative in verse interrupted regularly by other poems, such as a country tune about John... more » Edwards called ?Yes, I Know He?s a Mill Worker?s Son, But There?s Hollywood in That Hair? and a Sarah Palin song about her foreign policy credentials: ?On a Clear Day, I See Vladivostok.? It covers Mitt Romney?s transformation (?Mitt Romney?s saying now he should have known / A stem cell?s just a human, not quite grown?), the speculation about whether Al Gore was trimming down to run (?Presumably, they looked for photo ops / To see what Gore was stuffing in his chops?), the slow-motion implosion of Hillary Clinton?s drive to the White House (?Some pundits wrote that Hil?s campaign might fare / A little better if Bill wasn?t there?), and the differing responses of Barack Obama and John McCain to the financial crisis (?Though coolness has its limitations, it?ll / Prevent comparisons with Chicken Little?).
Beginning at the 2006 midterms, Deciding the Next Decider resurrects the nonstarters like George Allen (?He fit what?s often valued by the Right: / Quite cheerful, Reaganesque, and not too bright?) and the low-energy Fred Thompson (?The pros said, ?That?s a state he has to take, / And he just might, if he can stay awake? ?). And it carries through to the vote that made Barack Obama the forty-fourth president of the United States.« less