All fall down

In 1967 a horse named Foinavon won Britain's Grand National Steeplechase. His odds were 100-1.

Foinavon did not win because he was a great horse; he wasn't. He won because all the front-runners fell going over one of the notorious obstacles that make the Aintree course — and the race — a legend. The front-runners piled up on each other. Foinavon was so far behind that he missed the pile-up and was able to get through and clear the jump as the others were only barely regaining their footing.

I keep thinking of that Grand National as I watch the Republican pile-up. If Democrats are "winning," it's because Republicans are losing, not because we are the better bet in the race. I'm as happy as the next guy to see BushCo's well-deserved fall from grace, but I want Democrats to be the class of the field, to win not by default, but because we've got what it takes to be winners in our own right.

My heart falls to know that we're coming out of the gate with the focus-group-tested slogan "We can do better." Not exactly a thundering message, that. But I'm hoping that somehow we'll pick up speed. In that same race my husband and I had our money on another long shot, Red Alligator, who finished third. By the following year "our" horse had muscled up. And, glory be, he won! In his own right.

So I am hopeful. But only just. When I hear Wes Clark say, "We're the party of values, faith and national security," and then go on — in a couple of well-chosen bullet points — to say just what that means, my heart lifts up again. When I hear the touts talking up Clinton, Edwards, Kerry, Biden et. al., well, folks, we can do better. And we must, dammit! (We could start by deep-sixing that stupid slogan.) But I'm keeping my money in my pocket for now, waiting for that dark horse who has the sinew and stamina to break through the pack and lead.