What else could happen

What a bad time to take a break. There has been so darn much stuff in the news. This must be excruciatingly painful for the striking writers. Especially the ones who do comedy. Little pearls lost forever, the falling trees that were never heard. Boo-hoo!
Anyway, allow me to catch up with some bullets.The Chavez dictatorship bid was gloriously rebuked. Don Imus slithered back, but to buy in he sells out. Senator Clinton's brilliant political machine throws a rod. Their bag of slime tactics against Obama implodes, exposing for good what they're really made of. Obama's kindergarten presidential aspirations and drug use may end up being Clinton's "screaming Dean" moment. Two Clinton workers quit over phony e-mails saying Obama is Muslim (still beating that dead horse) and another high level operative resigns over the Obama drug use flap. Sen. Clinton apologizes to Sen. Obama on a tarmac no less. The horror of it all! Poor Hillary.
Former President Clinton seems to keep lapsing into the belief that it's he that's running, but sadly, any way you cut it, he seems to have lost the magic.
On the positive side Sen. Obama may have had his Reagan, "I will not make age an issue..." debating Mondale moment, when saying to Sen. Clinton, "Hillary, I'm looking forward to having you advise me as well," cooling her laugh track sounding jets over a question about having ex-President Clinton operatives working on his campaign. She knows now that not only can he think on his feet but she's likely to get burned anytime she tries that tactic again.
Now to our lamest of duck presidents. National intelligence estimates don't matter to him. Damn the torpedoes! How about his press secretary who admits she didn't know what the Cuban missile crisis was. Beyond comprehension! And under court order not to discard evidence of detainee torture, the Bush administration's CIA destroyed video tapes of it's harshest interrogation tactics. It almost makes you wonder had they not told them not to destroy the tapes whether they would have. Maybe it's that old youthful, rules are meant to be broken thing they're motivated by! Then you have talk of Paul Wolfowitz being brought back. I'm speechless.
Now we find out that 2 years ago operation "brain drain" was ordered by the White House and was launched by the CIA against Iran to get high level Iranian scientists to defect in an effort to curtail work on their nuclear programs. This is cold war type stuff and It's as old as the hills but they only managed to recruit seven people. They can't even get this stuff right and it's probably a sign of how laughable Bush has made us. Were like a bunch of Neanderthals the world is speeding by. By hanging onto old defunct policies we are ever becoming less significant on the world stage and all we can do is wait for it to end. Can you imagine not having term limits, even Venezuela has now been enlightened.
Why is the notion of a shrinking world or call it a global community so utterly distasteful that they resist it it all costs? Why is a perpetual locked-horns-with the-world plan seem viable to them? One can only guess as they continue to sell their personal pathology to us by quickly translating everything as a threat to national security. Drop the national and the statement becomes pretty much true and guess what? That's how it feels to be alive and human. A few words that do work well together that they might consider are firm-but-fair.

Why Barack Obama?

It's very early in the game but Barack Obama is an interesting candidate. Maybe at this point it's more because the rest of the field is so damn predictable than anything else but, I have to say that not since Bill Clinton have I been compelled to watch a candidate as closely as I have Senator Obama. Yesterday he stepped right in it with his "wasted lives" comment about soldiers who have been killed in Iraq. Without missing a beat he made all the right steps to rectify the situation. It was really just a misstatement and resolved quickly, to my satisfaction anyway. This is an insight into the man, not something huge but something a little more raw than the usual stuff and should be considered. It's a rookie error and it's good to come clean and learn this lesson early. After all look at what happened to Senator Kerry on a similar issue or Senator Biden the day after his announcement. Both anything but rookies and it finished off one and it remains to be seen with the other.
Obviously the big question is can a African American be elected? Incidentally, I'm not particularly moved by the African American argument that Obama has not had the proper experience to represent true African Americans. He no doubt has experienced discrimination and is well aware of it's history in this country. Empathy can go along way to fill the gap if there is one. I'm not African American so I suspect I may be missing the point but two years from now I think that Senator Obama will have swayed a lot of people in this country regardless of their backgrounds.
Furthermore, I think that every person who voted for Vice President Gore, who did win the popular vote in the last election, could theoretically vote for Senator Obama. I'm not saying the country has suddenly gone color blind but the disgust factor with the current administration is so strong that Senator Obama may just provide the best alternative at the right time.
A long shot? Absolutely but, with Hillary Clinton and John Edwards as his chief Democratic rivals it's not that unlikely he could get the Democratic nomination. Unfortunately for them they each represent too much of the past . More than at any time I can remember, people want something new and different in Washington. Senator Clinton is well known enough for people to recognize that she is currently having to stretch beyond what she really is to measure up to the bar recently raised by Senator Obama. And people don't even want to think about what her predicament in her husbands indiscretions and cover up tells them. This still haunts conservatives as well as liberals, and everyone in between for that matter.
Senator Edwards is just plainly an average politician living in a 28000 square foot house worried about the poor Hurricane Katrina victims. His best chances are at a V.P slot but highly improbable.
On the Republican side Senator McCain will likely get the nod unless Mayor Giuliani becomes even more Republican than he seems to be trying to be lately. Just how good is he anyway? I don't believe he would be in contention had he been the mayor of New Orleans when Hurricane Katrina hit. No doubt he did a lot of good for New York but in a New York minute the rest of the country could pick him apart for lack of experience. And if your a pro Iraq War guy and you have a choice between Giuliani and McCain, who are you going to vote for? So if it's McCain and Obama, I think Obama has a chance.
There is of course that other outcome which personally I don't care for, being a Clinton/Obama ticket. As time rolls on it will become more apparent how difficult Senator Obama's goal really is. Unfortunately his ultra liberal voting record is sure to get in the way. I also believe that Senator Clinton will realize that Senator Obama nicely counteracts her weaknesses. But I do think that it would be a hard pill to swallow for Obama.
A whole lot can happen between now and the election but for now, why have I like so many others, near irrationally taken to Barack Obama? That's simple, he's believable. It's worth your time to watch him because you think what he says is truthful. You keep listening and it just keeps sounding better and better and before you know it your even feeling hopeful again and that's a good feeling. So for the sake of hope I'm watching him very closely. I know he has a very non traditional background to say the least but traditional backgrounds sure didn't get us much with the current administration. (to say the least)