Resolved: John McCain Is "Mr. Kreese;" Obama Is Daniel Larusso



(image via jonathanpthomas)



(image via youdecide2008)

There is almost certainly more than a little bit of that significant 80s cultural artifact "The Karate Kid" about this 2008 election, with Obama playing the affable Daniel Laruso character (The Corssair sips a Napoleonic brandy), though by way of Kansas instead of New Jersey. The Clintons, to be sure, who tag-teamed Obama there for a while (and not to a lush instrumental Bill Conti score, mind you), had hints of the Cobra-Kai about them (Remember: the Kai's and Larusso ultimately became bros at the beginning of KK2; so -- it's all good).

The Clintonian political dominance over the prosperous American landscape throughout the 90s resembled not so much Periclean Athens as the Cobra Kai hegemony of the "All Valley Tournament" in the early 80s (Cue: Joe Esposito's bracing "You're The Best"). Former President Clinton's rhetorically dangerous posturing in South Carolina, a clear political foul, recalled to mind Daniel Larusso's semifinal opponent, Cobra Kai student Bobby, who delivered an illegal attack to Ralph Macchio's knee. The "Sweep The Leg" moment of the campaign was clearly West Virginia, a particularly dark moment for Obama, who lost that crucial state by a more than 2-to-1 margin. At the end of that gruelling primary, as the credits rolled to Survivor's "The Moment of Truth," John Kreese lurked bitterly, licking his wounds.

The mysterious "Mr. Kreese," on this blog, will be played, with a hissing Old-Man-Anger(tm), by Senator John McCain (Exaggerated cough suggesting feigned detachment). Both McCain and Kreese were significantly damaged by the 'Nam. And we don't mean just mean here the peripheral physical damage. Damage with regards to a notion of fair play was exacted by the war. This is very Part 1 of Somerset Maugham's Razor's Edge, no?

Just as McCain appears to believe that the Presidency belongs to him ("Defeat does not exist in this dojo, does it?"), Kreese was all over that cheap-ass trophy. Bob Dole, the last of his generation competing at the Presidential level, had a similar sort of campaign rationale in '96. Kreese, similarly, felt that he owned the All-Valley Karate championship and every year was the formal ceremony lauding the superiority of his Cobra-Kai technioque. When Kreese ordered Daniel Larusso's leg swept, it was not unlike McCain approving those ridiculous William Ayers ads.

Enter: Axelrod and Obama, also known as Miyagi Do Karate.



(image via chicagosports)