Can Obama Overcome the Urkel Effect?
I am not at all concerned about the Bradley effect–the theory that secretly racist white people tell pollsters they’ll vote for a black candidate like Barack Obama but will actually pull the lever for a white one like John McCain. I am, however, deeply worried about the Urkel effect, which holds that voters leaning toward Obama will walk into the voting booth and suddenly think, I cannot take four years of listening to that giant-eared nerd. Because people are starting to realize that Obama is not all that cool. He’s earnest like C-3PO, emotionless like Spock, overly practical like Encyclopedia Brown and incredibly skinny like C-3PO, Spock and Encyclopedia Brown.
