On the Pre-Election Polls

The latest polls show Obama widening his lead over McCain. Some people are predicting a very large win for Obama. Several days ago I cautioned people that the GOP stealing the election was a likelihood.

If the gap between Obama and McCain gets too large, however, that is, in the high double digits, the gap that must be overcome in an election's heist is going to strain credibility and possibly make it infeasible for those who would otherwise really want to do it. [Reports are coming in about some of these efforts already in places like Ohio.]

Any Democrat running against the GOP this time around ought to have a huge lead over anyone the GOP wants to put forward, given the debacle that the Bush years have been.

(There is still time, by the way, for an October or even very early November surprise. The stock market crash and the worldwide financial crisis, nonetheless, have introduced a major stumbling block in the way of the GOP's plans, narrowing their options sharply.)

Most important of all, whoever wins in November will carry forward the major elements of the Bush White House's foreign policy and its stand on Wall Street, among other things.

The only chance we have to reverse this overall direction is to change the overall political atmosphere and bring to bear the one crucial and missing ingredient: a mobilized and visible independent movement of the people.