Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory!

I have come to the realization that there are some people who consistently mess up good opportunities in their lives, and then justify it as bad luck or the fault of others. I am not talking about the unfortunate people who fail due to bad circumstances, financial and physical handicaps, etc. The people I describe have the capability to perform well, and, in fact, do very well occasionally. But they have the frustrating habit of doing some thing amazingly stupid when things are going so well for them, and losing everything. The Indian cricket team is a good example. The Indian team is stacked with talented players who have played brilliantly in many matches. But they just fall apart at crucial stages of matches when the result counts a lot. Few days ago, they lost a chance to stop Australia’s streak of 15 consecutive test match wins, by losing three wickets in the final minutes of the match! In USA, we have the Democratic Party who also exhibits this frustrating trait. In 2000, the Democrats failed to retain the office of the President after eight years of prosperity under President Bill Clinton. Worrying about the Lewinsky scandal, Al Gore kept away the still popular President Bill Clinton from campagining for him, and paid the price. In 2004, the Democrats shoved aside bold and aggressive candidates like Howard Dean and John Edwards, and chose a timid John Kerry, who was too decent to respond in kind to the ugly tactics of the Bush campaign managed by Karl Rove. Now, in 2008, people in USA are sick and tired of the last seven years of the Republican Administration, and are ready to elect almost anybody from the Democratic Party as the next President. So, what do the Democrats do? They are moving toward chosing Hillary Clinton, the most polarizing of the three Democratic candidates for the nomination (Barack Obama and John Edwards being the other two). Meanwhile, the scrupless ‘take no prisoners’ campaign style of Clintons (both Hillary and husband Bill Clinton) is doing havoc to the unity of the Democrats. Their careless remarks about Barack Obama, have brought the dreaded race issue to the front, and have now broken the guaranteed support of the black population for the Democratic Party. In a recent primary election in Michigan, although Hillary Clinton was the only candidate in the ballot, 40% of the votes were for “Uncommitted” as protest against her candidacy! At best, Hillary gets only 50% the votes of the males of the Democrats. She attracts very few Independents (people who have not registered to either Democratic or Republican party), who comprise about 30% of the electorate and determine the final outcome of the Presidential election. She is so disliked by the Republicans that they are going to come out in unison to see her defeated-- while many Democrats (like me, possibly), may stay home disgusted with her campaign tactics (This will also bring down the other Democratic candidates who run along with her for the Congress). The ‘coup de grace’ will be the New York mayor Michael Bloomberg entering the race, seeing an opportunity with weak Democratic and Republican candidates. That will a drain a lot of votes which normally should go for the Democrats, and let the Republican candidate sneak thru to victory. I see a disaster coming, and the Democrats once again ‘snatching defeat from the jaws of victory’!