Some thoughts on the campaign in advance of the last day of voting tomorrow…
Timing matters and, as any sports coach will tell you, it can’t be taught. You have it or, alas, you don’t. The same might be said for good fortune. That’s to say, success in political campaigns rarely has a monocausal explanation. Hindsight permits one to assemble the jigsaw and see how it all made sense, but that’s a far cry from presuming that it was inevitable that this kind of puzzle could only be put together this way.
Nonetheless, the genius of the Obama campaign – and, I assume, the candidate himself – was recognising that a confluence of events over which he had no control himself had created conditions for a presidential run that were unlikely to reoccur in such favourable circumstances as in 2008.
Political campaigns happen in particular places at particular times.
Britain’s best politics newsletters
You get two free articles each week when you sign up to The Spectator’s emails.
Already a subscriber? Log in
Comments
Join the debate, free for a month
Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first month free.
UNLOCK ACCESS Try a month freeAlready a subscriber? Log in