Why a Clinton-Bush presidential race fills me with nothing but despair

Anyone but these two

Prepare for Clinton-Bush.
(Image credit: (Illustration by Lauren Hansen | Images courtesy Brooks Kraft/Corbis))

Have you ever felt as if a mysterious black cloud of despair was rising from the great depths of the universe? That it was cresting over the horizons of your life, blotting out all sunlight as it closes in and paralyzes you in fear? And maybe you felt that this slow-motion tsunami of dread was a deserved punishment for you personally, and humanity in general. And you realized, as I have, that this unstoppable, groaning wave was a natural outgrowth of your own moral torpor — the listlessness you had demonstrated over and over again, allowing injustices, petty cruelties, and incompetence to extend their reign over everything you loved, until finally it crashed on you, plunging you into a darkness beyond the reach of light, hope, and redemption.

That's pretty much exactly what it feels like to read the words "clintonemail.com" for a whole week, and realize that Democrats have no other response to that story but to shrug and press on. It's that feeling that grips your throat when you realize that Jeb Bush is buying up every brain on the right-wing worth buying, and that his challengers look confused and weak.

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Michael Brendan Dougherty

Michael Brendan Dougherty is senior correspondent at TheWeek.com. He is the founder and editor of The Slurve, a newsletter about baseball. His work has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, ESPN Magazine, Slate and The American Conservative.