Letters to the President #1073: 'Survival of the fittest'

Reporter's Note: Republican contenders are tearing it up in Iowa, while the President cools it in Hawaii.

Dear Mr. President,

It must be very satisfying for you and your fellow Dems to watch the Republicans eating their own in Iowa these days. Winning is easy if the other team turns on itself.

Then again, as I like to remind folks, the political news cycle is so darn short these days, I wouldn’t even bet on Tuesday’s troubles having an effect on Thursday any more. The GOP will, in all likelihood, grind through all these differences and eventually rally around a candidate, and then it will be game on.

Frankly, sometimes I think that the smartest play for any candidate would be to keep a low profile, just generally keep in the game, and wait until the last possible moment to try to surge to the front.

We used to play a game in Junior High gym class called One Acre. The idea was that everyone spread out all over the basketball court, the coach threw three big red balls into the mix, and we started whipping them at each other as fast as we could. If you were hit, you were out; if you caught the ball, the thrower was out.

Although it was ostensibly an “every man for himself” situation, inevitably, friends formed coalitions which would surround and pick off the most threatening opposition, very much in the same fashion that you pols gang up on front-runners in big races. The more the field was whittled down however, the more you would see those confederacies fall apart, and without warning erstwhile allies would turn on each other.

Sometimes it would look like everyone was about to be wiped out in the chaos, but one player would always emerge; stronger, quicker, better positioned than the rest. And in the end it would come down to a titanic battle between the last two men standing.

That’s what you have to look forward to, no matter how messy things may look on the Republican side now. Not trying to ruin your vacation...just saying.

Hope you’re having fun on the beach. It has been raining here, so you picked a good time to be away. Give me a call if you can, and let me listen to the surf, eh?

BTW-I forgot to mention: Did you see Drew Brees break the NFL record for most passing yardage on Monday Night? Magnificent! Who Dat!

Regards,
Tom