Arnold must have been nearly 50 at the time. He always reminded me of George Blanda, the seemingly ageless quarterback-kicker who was still playing -- in his 40s -- for the Oakland Raiders -- members of the AFL in those days.
Arnold died today, a few days from his 90th birthday.
He lost his wife of 66 years in March, then he hurt his hip. I've heard friends of his lament that he really died of a broken heart.
Or maybe the rest of us just needed to hear that song again. It doesn't seem to get much airplay anymore.
But 2008 is a good time for it.
This is a time when gas price increases are unrelenting. In case you haven't heard, a gallon of gas went up again today, once again setting a record. It costs, on average, $3.65 now -- and oil costs $124 a barrel.
In fact, the energy crisis has gotten so out of hand now that WRTV in Indianapolis reports that a near-riot broke out at an Indianapolis gas station where motorists had lined up to get gas at $3.55/gallon before the latest price increase was posted.
I guess $3.55 will seem like a bargain before too long.
And this is a time when pressure continues to build on Hillary Clinton to drop out of the race for the presidential nomination.
Former Sen. George McGovern, the Democratic nominee 36 years ago and a super-delegate who had previously pledged his support to Clinton, announced earlier this week that he was switching to Barack Obama.McGovern urged Clinton to concede defeat and withdraw from the race.
I heard McGovern say that Obama reminds him of Abraham Lincoln. I have to wonder -- what is it about Obama, besides his Illinois address, that is reminiscent of Lincoln?
Frankly, I don't see the resemblance.
For that matter, do Democrats want to take their cue from a man who lost 49 states to Richard Nixon in 1972?
Actually, McGovern has a certain amount of experience with this sort of thing. Like Obama, he was an insurgent candidate who rolled up an early lead in the primaries, then weathered a series of wounds (inflicted by himself and others), including an "Anybody But McGovern" campaign waged by Democratic stalwarts like Hubert Humphrey and Ed Muskie who wanted to deny McGovern the party's nomination "for the good of the party."
Or perhaps for their own good.
Not unlike ... today.
In 1972, Humphrey and Muskie represented the past in the Democratic Party; McGovern represented the future.
Just as, in 2008, Clinton represents the past in the party; Obama represents the future.
Other than that, I guess, there's no real similarity between 1972 and 2008. Except for the fact that both election years featured unpopular wars.
But Nixon's handling of Vietnam, his phased withdrawal of the troops and the "peace is at hand" proclamation in the weeks before the election, bolstered the public's generally favorable opinion of his foreign policy.
And that made McGovern's task, against an incumbent president, that much more difficult.
Obama doesn't face an incumbent in 2008. But the incumbent party faces an increasingly frustrated and skeptical electorate.
Change is in the air. So why does Obama trail John McCain in public opinion polls? Shouldn't he be leading the Republicans' presumptive nominee?
Back in 2007, when the identities of the nominees were unknown -- and, if anything was being taken for granted, it was that Hillary Clinton would be the Democratic nominee -- polls showed a generic Democrat handily beating the Republican in the general election.
Today, we know the identities of the nominees, and the polls show the Republican leading.
Does this have anything to do with the divide between the so-called Starbucks Democrats and the Lunch-Bucket Democrats?
Is Obama perceived as too elitist to win the Lunch-Bucket Democrats, who have proven themselves to be reliable participants in elections over the years -- and who played a significant role in Republican victories in seven of the last 10 presidential elections?
Can someone make the world go away? Eddy Arnold isn't around anymore.
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