I was in Boston on the weekend the Associated Press, and other esteemed arbiters of American democracy (Fox News, CNN, et cetera, et cetera,) preemptively declared Joseph R. Biden, Jr.—nominal son of Scranton, Pennsylvania, and of the Roman Catholic Church—the forty-sixth President of the United States. You’d think the Patriots had just won the Super Bowl. A continuous stream of cars flowed by, honking in celebration. Windows and soft-tops were down, even in the brisk November air, as spontaneous paraders hollered in jubilation. (When I say I was in Boston, I ought to be more specific: this was Newbury Street, the heart of the city’s yuppie district. I doubt the mood was the same in Southie.) …