A Baseball Analogy

[babylonsister]

http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2012/10/9/9825/99209

A Baseball Analogy

by BooMan
Tue Oct 9th, 2012 at 09:08:25 AM EST


Yankee shortstop Derek Jeter has more playoff hits than any other player who has ever lived. He has scored the most playoff runs. He's what they call a "clutch" hitter. He's most likely to get a hit when a hit is truly needed. Last night, in the seventh inning with the Yankees trailing 3-1, Jeter drove in a run with a base hit that made it 3-2. Yet, when he led off the top of the 9th inning with the Yankees still trailing 3-2, he made an out. He failed. And the Yankees lost. In 18 seasons, Derek Jeter has gotten more hits than Willie Mays did in 24 seasons. Only ten players in history have more hits than Jeter and they all took at least 21 seasons to do it. Derek Jeter is one of the greatest players to ever play baseball, but the Yankees can't count on him to get a hit every time they need one.

That's how I feel about a lot of the people who are being harshly critical of the president's debate performance. He may be the most talented and important player on the team, but he can't do it alone. He is going to make errors from time to time. Derek Jeter also made an error in the field last night, but I don't think the bench players went to the press after the game and said that they lost because Derek Jeter played a less than perfect game. They lost because the other team did better. They lost because eight other hitters on the team failed to deliver the winning hit. They lost because their pitcher surrendered three runs. They might have lost because of how their manager filled out their batting order.

Presidential elections are not games, but they are competitions. They are ostensibly competitions between two sets of men (or women), but they are really contests between the right and the left, and their organizations. The two sides pick their standard bearers hoping that they have what it takes to survive the spotlights and the relentless pressure, and deliver the message effectively enough to win. Barack Obama is a unique talent, at least as rare as Derek Jeter. His debate performance was not up to his own standard of excellence, and it made all of our jobs harder and possibly eroded our eventual margin of victory. But people need to look in the mirror and ask themselves what contribution they are making to victory before they start sniping at their star player. Barack Obama is the first Democrat to win a majority of the vote since Jimmy Carter. Remember that. He can do it again if the other players pull their weight. And that means you.