Playing the Middle Against Both Sides - #politics

No one is giving Barack Obama much credit for continuing to try to be President of the United States at a time when the nation, politically and ideologically, is split in half.

Despite repeated setbacks and rebuffs, he is still trying to do what he was elected to do: Be President to the people on both sides of the big divide.

So he is not likely to veer sharply left and become President of the Progressives. And those on the right long ago decided to treat him like the Antichrist or, on a day when they are feeling magnanimous, merely as Public Enemy #1.

Personally, I wish the President now would side strongly, firmly and loudly with the Progressives, the liberals and moderates who still believe it is possible to take care of the least among us while also creating jobs, restoring education, encouraging science and fighting our way out of the Great George W. Bush Recession.

But then, President Obama would not be doing the job he was elected to do, which is to serve all of the people, even the ones who have tried long and hard to wreck his Administration at every turn and thus prolong the nation's economic woes for their own political gain.

In any case, a presidential move to the left would only raise the outrage and partisan resistance of the right, widening the great gap even more and further deepening it.

If Barack Obama is not re-elected, the next President -- Perry, Romney, Bachmann or ? -- likely will not try to represent anyone to the left of deep right field, except with sneering lip service.

In that case, the political gridlock will worsen and the right-left divide simply will expand as battered Democrats pull out their now-long list of grievances and seek revenge and full payback for all that the Republicans have done to them during the Obama Administration.

Electing a President in 2012 who is to the right of center will just give us four more years of stalemate and empty, futile political posturing.

Like it or not, America's economic recovery and psychic recovery will have to happen somewhere in the murky center.

It will never happen in the now sharply defined right or left.

-- Si Dunn

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C-130 Pilot vs. Commander in Chief

I'm not buying Texas Gov. Rick Perry's contention that he is more "military" than President Obama. Yes, Mr. Obama was a community organizer, and he did not serve a tour of duty in any of the U.S. armed forces. And yes, Capt. Perry flew Air Force C-130 transport planes. By the way, thank you for your service, Governor.

Still, there's nothing more "military" than being the Commander in Chief of the U.S. Army, the U.S. Air Force, the U.S. Navy, the U.S. Marines, and the U.S. Coast Guard. You head all five branches at once, and you deal daily with the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Pentagon and assorted military advisors.

You make decisions that send thousands of men and women into harm's way. You also make other life-and-death decisions that far exceed a pilot's responsibilities to a C-130 flight crew or squadron. For example, you give the final go/no-go decision on whether or not to invade a supposed ally's airspace and territory to kill or capture a major leader of international terrorism. You try to convince allies to stay the course as you wind down two unpopular wars you inherited mid-battle. You make repeated trips to Dover Air Force Base  to witness and salute the flag-covered coffins coming home from combat operations and overseas accidents. You try to comfort the families of those who lost sons, daughters, husbands, wives, brothers or sisters in operations that you okayed. And you try to decide which defense programs or military operations should continue and which can be curtained to meet both dwindling economic resources and dwindling political and popular support. Oh, and you stay prepared to launch nuclear-tippped missiles in response to an attack on the United States or key allies.

In my view, President Barack Obama has now garnered one hell of a lot more overall military experience than any ex-C-130 pilot currently seeking the Republican nomination.

-- Si Dunn

Volunteer to Fight for the U.S. Economy

Things now are officially so bad in the Great Recession that those of us near the bottom of the economic food chain need to start doing something--anything!--to try to fuel a recovery from the bottom up.

President Obama and the Democrats on Capitol Hill--with almost no constructive help from the Republicans--are struggling to do what they can, within the painfully slow, inefficient and chaotic framework of U.S. politics.

Meanwhile, many among us are suffering and getting their butts kicked. We need to try to help them, today.

Can you start a business, no matter how small? Can you create a job, even part-time, temporary or something for a consultant to do? Can you do it today?

Will you do it today?

Can you buy something extra? (It almost doesn't matter what: a latte, a Lamborghini, a Lava soap bar, a lava lamp, a leg waxing, a loaf of bread.) Almost anything you buy can help save or create a job. Can you buy something today?

Will you do it today?

Can you use and pay for somebody's service? Get the gutters cleaned, get a bicycle repaired, get a haircut, get a pizza delivered--today?

Will you do it today?

Can you donate money or food to a food bank and clothes, unneeded tools and other useful items to Goodwill, the Salvation Army and other organizations and agencies in your community? Can you do it today?

Will you do it today?

And don't forget churches, whether you attend or not. Many churches now are struggling to keep unemployed members, parishioners and strangers afloat even as they try to keep their own doors open, too. Can you donate a few bucks to one or more of them today?

Will you do it today?

Anything and everything we can comfortably afford to do needs to be done...today. Now. Immediately.

Do it today.

Start pushing the economic recovery from the bottom up and keep pushing. Do it today.

Maybe those at the pinnacle of the economic food chain soon will learn how to stop playing "gotcha" games (we can only hope) and start helping push recovery dollars downward where they are now desperately needed.

And maybe we'll all meet in the middle soon and hope things never get out of control like this again.

But it all starts by doing something today.

-- Si Dunn

Republicans Confirm Move to Parallel Universe

WASHINGTON (D:O) -- While their party leaders proudly unveiled the presentation folders for their details-to-follow "Road to Recovery" budget alternative, anonymous sources within the Republican Party quietly conceded today that the GOP soon will move "lock, stock and barrel of tax cuts" to a separate universe "where no one can ever again attack our plan as the 'Road to Ruin.'"

One source explained: "We're moving everybody and everything--within certain limits--to a much better world. It's a parallel universe where no one will ever have to pay taxes, and there are no pesky poor people, homeless veterans and unemployed middle-class families to gum up our strategies. It's a world open to those solid citizens who make $100,ooo and up, on a steady basis."

The name of the parallel universe, the source added, is still being debated within party circles.

"Some want to call it 'Rushmore,' and some want to call it 'Jindalville.'" A conference committee is attempting to come up with a compromise, another GOP source emphasized.

Not everyone likes the move, the second anonymous source conceded. "A number of Republicans who make less than $100,000 say they feel betrayed and may become Democrats. Or Libertarians. Or Communists. Their point is that they can't stay in the Republican Party if it insists on leaving them behind in this reality."

-- B.W. "Blanque" Page, Washington correspondent for Dateline:Oblivion.

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The Republican Ticket from Hell

According to CNN Political Ticker, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal is defending Republicans who want President Barack Obama to fail. He has joined conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh in wishing aloud that the President's efforts to rescue the American economy will flounder, so that millions upon millions of people will suffer and somehow, magically, sweep the G(NO!)P back into power.

So, there you have it: The G(NO!)P ticket in 2012 will be Jindal/Limbaugh or Limbaugh/Jindal.

Either way, it will be the political ticket from hell.

Gov. Jindal and radio-mouth Limbaugh keep talking past the point that if the President's efforts fail, the havoc set in motion by the Bush era (and the Bush errors) will leave the nation severely damaged, and much of the resulting destruction will be directly tied to, and properly blamed upon, Republicans' obstructionism and resistance in this time of crisis.

"NO!" is not an economic plan. But it will look great on campaign bumperstickers: "Bobby & Rush in 2012? Just Say NO!"


-- Si Dunn

Health Insurance? Help Us Afford It

The Associated Press has reported that the health insurance industry is offering "for the first time to curb its controversial practice of charging higher premiums to people with a history of medical problems."

If you've ever had a medical problem, then lost a job or started a small business and tried to buy individual health coverage, you likely have run into this little problem:

If you need it, you really can't afford it.

Republicans have long pushed for "market solutions" to the health insurance problem. And the "solutions" the market keeps delivering tend to be priced somewhere beyond sky-high.

According to the AP article posted by CBS News, "[a]bout 7 percent of Americans buy their coverage as individuals, while more than 60 percent have job-based insurance."

The percentage for individuals likely would be much higher if monthly premiums for health insurance did not rival or exceed mortgage payments and car payments. Meanwhile, people with employer-provided health insurance are paying sharply higher premiums and co-payments and getting squeezed hard, too.

"The offer here is to transition away from risk rating, which is one of the things that makes life hell for real people," health economist Len Nichols of the New America Foundation public policy center told the AP. "They have never in their history offered to give up risk rating."

According to the AP report on the CBS News site, insurers hope to head off the creation of a government insurance plan that would compete with them, something that liberals and many Democrats are pressing for.

The AP report did not mention that Republicans long have opposed government-sponsored health insurance plans, touting vague "market solutions," instead. These are the same "market solutions" that have helped keep many of the 47 million or so uninsured Americans priced out of the health-insurance market and in the "if you need it, you can't afford it" category.

The current offers from the insurance industry fall short in one very big category: small business, which creates the vast majority of new jobs in the American economy. Small businesses, under the new proposal, would have to keep paying higher premiums and deal with risk ratings. One sick employee could send premiums through the roof.

So the news on risk ratings seems to be significant, but now is not the time for the Obama Administration to ease off on its health-insurance plans. If anything, the White House needs to ratchet up its proposals and keep holding the health-insurance industry's feet to the fire.

-- Si Dunn

It's the BushCheneyRoveLimbaugh Economy, Stupid

It's funny--yet not really funny at all--how the current economic crisis suddenly exploded into public view just a few short weeks before the end of the Bush-Cheney-Rove-Limbaugh Administration. And lawmakers were given something like one week to come up with massive amounts of bailout cash, or else the American and world economies would all swirl down the tube like a flushed toilet.

Conspiracy theorists might postulate that Republican insiders were frantically trying to keep the meltdown hidden until BushCheneyRoveLimbaugh made it out of office, so the economy then would implode just after President Barack Obama was inaugurated. And Democrats would get all of the blame for the collapse just as they tried to put forth their agenda of change and help for the downtrodden middle class and poor.

Anyway, it all blew up on the GOP's watch, and the elephant boys now are feeling the wrath from people all over America and the world while they frantically try to deflect the criticism toward President Obama--and make it "his" economy.


“Never underestimate the capacity of angry populism in times of economic stress,” Robert Reich, a professor of public policy at the University of California, Berkeley, and labor secretary under President Bill Clinton, recently told the New York Times. “A big challenge for President Obama will be to maintain a rational and tactical public discussion in the midst of this severe downturn. The desire for culprits at times like this is strong.”

The blame needs to stay squarely on the true culprits: the "free market" Republicans who pushed financial regulation almost completely out of the economy and let crooks, pirates and others driven by greed take over and rip us off while steering corporations, funds and worker benefits straight into the ground.

Former Vice President Dick Cheney recently has said "Don't blame us for this mess." He was just trying--very unsuccessfully--to steer the spotlight away from the economic sins of the past eight years, during which he helped advise and preside.

It's still not Barack Obama's economy--not yet. We're still trying to cope with the financial horrors of the BushCheneyRoveLimbaugh economy. And we will continue trying to cope with them for many months to come, until the Obama Administration's frantic flurry of emergency measures finally starts turning things around.

So, yes, do blame the free-market, anti-regulation Republicans for this current mess. Keep the spotlights squarely focused on BushCheneyRoveLimbaugh--and make them keep paying the electric bills for the illumination, as well.

For a long while, it seemed that the messes in Iraq and Afghanistan would be their main--and dubious--legacy. But those are small potatoes now, compared with the huge pile of burnt hash browns the GOP and their free-market cronies have made out of the American and global economies.

Once a recovery starts to take hold, remember who refused to help and cooperate in our nation's time of peril: the House Republicans and their incessant "No!" votes against the Obama Administration's proposals; and most (but not all) of the Senate Republicans, who keep clinging to the failed policies that nearly sent us into the Great Depression of 2009.

Oh, and especially the real head of the Republican Party: Rush "I Hope Obama Fails" Limbaugh.

--Si Dunn

McCain-Palin Ticket Is Now Imploding, Right Along with the Economy

By Si Dunn

Hey, it's your stupid economy, Republican leadership.

Your promises of more tax cuts and more "market solutions" now are falling on deaf ears as terrified voters suddenly realize they are facing what one prominent retail analyst has warned will be the “worst Christmas shopping season in a century."

Layoffs are surging. Families are losing their homes, their health care and their savings. And many large and small businesses are toppling into the massive financial wreckage you created by overdoing deregulation, then encouraging (and allowing) too much risk and greed.

You can't save yourselves now with wild-ass claims that Barack Obama is a terrorist or that overturning Roe v. Wade will create 20 million new jobs.

The uncommitted voters are waking up, taking a long, hard look at the vacuity of your platform and fleeing in terror toward the Democrats. Or, they are just fleeing. Either way, you ain't gonna get their vote, Jack. And you're gonna lose big-time among the contested seats in the Senate and House, as well.

Ordinary people finally are figuring out--after years of partisan gridlock--that "divided we fall." The momentum is shifting toward one-party rule again, and this time, the Grand Old Party will be marched outside the velvet rope.

The McCain-Palin ticket has bailed out of Michigan, and it's now starting to get its butts kicked in the polls in Ohio, Virginia and a few other key "battleground" states.

In desperation, the GOP is sending its Swift Boats out to attack. But all they are doing is colliding with each other and smashing into big walls of voter rejection and fatigue. William Ayers? Who cares? What about my job, my savings, my house, my Christmas?

Obama-Biden may not be the best governance team on the planet. But compared with the bizarre and twisted package the Republicans have put forth, they are far and away the best and the brightest for these troubled times.

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Putting Lipstick on This Pig of an Economy

By Si Dunn

Here come the Republican Swift Boats, right on schedule, firing tubes of lipstick at the Obama-Biden campaign.

That's all they've got, folks. Lipstick. They're trying to smear lipstick on the pig of an economy they have created (and looted) over the past eight years. They desperately hope you won't notice how ugly it is--and keeps becoming.

But lipstick attacks or no lipstick attacks, they can't hide the deep pig plop they will leave behind as their legacy once they finally get their butts booted out of Washington in 2009.

The Rove-McCain-Palin-Bush-Cheney ticket is smart enough to realize "It's still the economy, stupid." But with their long track record of economic misfires, lipstick is now all they have left to put into the Swift Boats' torpedo tubes.


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Karl Rove: The King Who Would Be Doofus?

By Si Dunn

So now we have the once-vaunted "architect" of the current Bush Administration calling Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Biden a "big blowhard doofus," at least according to CNN.

Biden has responded to the reported name-calling by wryly terming Rove "a great American..." and managing to keep "...pain in the ass" under his breath.

Over time, as the incredible wreckage from eight years of Rove-crafted neocon rule slowly is cleaned up, history likely will become less and less enamored of Karl Rove. (Already, it doesn't exactly think he is peachy keen.)

For starters, various committees and agencies with subpoena and indictment power will be looking at records and compelling sworn testimonies. And investigative journalists and determined historians will have greater access to people, papers and political autopsies left behind by Rove's "architecture" during George W. Bush's two four-year terms in the White House.

Will Karl Rove ultimately emerge as the biggest "blowhard doofus" of them all?

Stay tuned.

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Hurricane McCain

By Si Dunn

I dislike and deeply distrust neoconservative Republican politics. But I give good marks to John McCain for his level-headed decision on Sunday to abbreviate the Republican National Convention and send some delegates home as Hurricane Gustav approaches the Gulf Coast.

I hope the GOP will be able to resurrect at least some of their convention plans after the storm and have their fair shot at good media coverage during the runup to the Nov. 4 general election. I also hope they can mitigate the unintended financial damage to vendors and hotels in St. Paul and Minneapolis now that nature has chosen to trump the Republicans' political spectacle.

I still believe Barack Obama and Joe Biden represent the best hopes for change to the nation's broken economy, trashed political system and deeply damaged international standing.

But score one for McCain and the Republicans for putting nation ahead of party as Gustav roars toward a fragile coastline still trying to recover from hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

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John McCain to Fight Global Warming by Cutting Earth's Atmosphere

By Si Dunn

WASHINGTON, D.C.--Building on his promise to preserve and extend George W. Bush's tax cuts for wealthy Americans, Republican presidential candidate John McCain announced today that he will fight global warming by removing 50 percent of the nitrogen from Earth's atmosphere by 2012.

"It's mostly an inert gas, folks. It just floats there, takes up space, and does nothing to contribute to economic growth," McCain declared at an impromptu press conference near the Lone Sailor statue at Washington's Navy Memorial. "So we're gonna suck it straight out of the sky and start creating more room for carbon and other aerial byproducts of a robust, growing economy."

To avoid a nitrogen glut, McCain also announced a plan to encourage automakers to voluntarily retrofit existing SUVs and other gas-guzzling vehicles to run on nitrogen by 2058. "Yeah, the cars will be pretty old by then," McCain conceded. "But if they are kept up on blocks in a decent garage, they can provide affordable transportation and housing for the poor--housing that the federal government won't have to subsidize--fifty years from now. What low-income family wouldn't want the chance to live in a classic Ford Expedition or Chevy Suburban or Lincoln Navigator and also drive it around burning almost-free nitrogen?"

A spokesman for the Obama campaign had no immediate comment. But a well-placed Obama consultant hinted that the Democratic contender may now be working on a plan to reduce hot-air emissions inside the Beltway. "He'll say that we deserve a cooler government. And the best way to get it is to reduce Republicans in the House and Senate by 60 percent, or more, by 2012."

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Republicans Promise FREE Gas for All!!!

By Si Dunn

CBS News has reported that Republicans once again have blocked Democratic efforts to tax bloated oil profits and use some of the money to fund research and development of alternative energy sources.

The Republicans apparently have a new energy plan of their own. And here are some key details, leaked exclusively to Dateline: Oblivion by sources deep within the GOP.

"Making President Bush's tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans permanent, at least into the 29th century, will drive down gasoline prices by $3 a gallon immediately," one high-level Republican promised.

"And if drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Preserve in Alaska is approved and made permanent," another top-level source added, "gas prices will drop by at least another $3 a gallon, right away."

Asked if this means what it seems to mean, yet another top-level GOP policy wonk grinned enthusiastically. "That's absolutely right! If gasoline prices stay below $6 a gallon, the federal government then will have to start paying you to drive! Is this a great plan or what? All you have to do is let us extend a few little bitty ole tax cuts out toward infinity--which ain't nothin' but an '8' tipped on its side, anyway--and then kick a few mangy seals and caribou out of the way. Next thing you'll know, you'll be topping off your Hummer again and getting rebate checks every time you fill up!"

Sources equally deep within the Democratic Party said they are aware of the secret Republican energy plan. "We have moles--secret Obama admirers, in fact--already at work within their ranks. Whether they try to bring this scheme up for a vote before the November election or after President Obama is inaugurated, it will be toast. We'll even stage a big photo opportunity and cook it in a solar oven, to save energy," the Democratic source declared.

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What Now for Hillary?

By Si Dunn

The Democrats’ nominating mess/process effectively could be over by early June. But many political columnists and political leaders want Hillary Clinton to drop out now, while she’s riding high in West Virginia and still--theoretically--has some sort of mathematical chance, visible at least through rose-colored magnifying glasses.

A slim majority of Democrats are ready to nominate an inspiring speaker—Barack Obama—-who won’t have quite enough political experience to pull Humpty Dumpty America back together again and also take on an enormous list of challenges at the same time. Not without one hell of a lot of economic and diplomatic Superglue and significant help from both sides of the political aisle. (And don’t count on much from the Republican Party, of course, except grumpy lip service and petulant foot dragging, once John McCain and many GOP incumbents are trounced at the polls.)

Pundits such as E.J. Dionne of the Washington Post also want Sen. Clinton to forgo any thoughts of the vice presidency in favor of becoming “a powerful figure in the Democratic Party”—-which, in case he hasn’t noticed lately, she already is. Dionne wants her to clear the way for a “Clinton supporter” such as Sen. Evan Bayh of Indiana, Gov. Ted Strickland of Ohio, or Gov. Ed Rendell of Pennsylvania to become the vice-presidential nominee.

Any of these gentlemen no doubt could be reasonably good veeps. But now is not the time for “reasonably good.”

Whether Obama and Clinton secretly like each other or hate each other, millions of people from many diverse corners of this nation have voted for them in almost equal numbers. They want inspiration—-“Yes, we can!”—-but they also know the challenges ahead demand deep ranges of national and international experience, much of which Hillary Clinton (and well-picked advisors) can provide.

Many voters also believe the time is long overdue to break two glass ceilings at once in the White House: race and gender.

We can’t have a co-presidency, of course. But an Obama-Clinton (or Clinton-Obama) ticket would present the strongest possible combination of inspiration and experience. We will need that—-and we will need them--to help get us off our dispirited butts and start cleaning up the massive wreckage left behind by Hurricane Bush.
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Democrats for McCain: Are You Crazy?

By Si Dunn

Pollsters analyzing the Indiana and North Carolina primary results are again reporting a disturbing trend that has been seen in earlier primaries.

A number of voters in the Democratic elections are saying they will switch to John McCain if Barack Obama or (to a much lesser extent) Hillary Clinton is not the nominee.

Of course, some of these party-hoppers are Republicans who have showed up at Democratic polling stations specifically to vote against Clinton or Obama. They are hoping to help steer one candidate or the other into the general election in the belief that John McCain can beat them.

Others are Republicans so disgruntled with the Bush Administration that they are willing to back "an inspiring speaker"--Obama--despite his unabashed liberalism and somewhat thin record. Yet, if Obama is not the nominee, most of those Republicans say they will slink straight back to McCain rather than vote for Hillary Clinton and her slightly more conservative agendas. Never mind that John McCain basically is George Bush in an older--and, okay, yes, genuinely battle-scarred--flight suit. (And never mind that neither one of them could possibly outfly the embattled president in Independence Day.)

Some Democrats completely enamored of one candidate, however, say they will abandon the party and vote for John McCain in November if Obama (mostly) or Clinton (to a much lesser extent) is not the nominee.

Which raises three questions for these voters: (1) Are you crazy? (2) Have you paid any attention to these past eight years? And (3), do you always choose political petulance over practicality and common sense?

We need true change this time, not another pilot who will keep up the bombing runs on Iraq and the nation's economy.

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Clinton-Obama or Obama-Clinton (Again!)

By Si Dunn

They both want to serve, and the current predictions are, they each will reach the Democratic Convention with no clear advantage over the other.

So here's the proposal: Let them both serve. It will take both of them to help straighten out the enormous messes that the current Administration will leave behind.

By convention time, whoever has garnered the most delegates should be the candidate for President, and the other one should be willing to run for Vice President. No angry arguments, no bitter backroom deals. Drop the balloons; start the grand speeches.

Glass ceilings will be shattered, greatly minimizing race and gender as future issues in American politics. Two very good political camps will be melded into one unstoppable November steamroller. And both candidates will end up in the White House in positions of leadership, power and influence.

With such an agreement in place and known, Senators Clinton and Obama could stop the negative bombing runs on each other. They could focus harder on giving us their visions for our future and let us simply compare them and decide.

Individually, they are very vulnerable to savage attacks by Republican "swift boats." The GOP's "more of the same, only slightly different" message will not resonate with voters this fall. So the inevitable strategy will be to make endless torpedo runs:

"...And, when Obama was eight years old, he grew fascinated with the changing shapes of clouds and soon became a card-carrying member of the Weather Underground. "

"...And, when Hillary Rodham Clinton was six years old, one of her classmates punched her on the playground, and she cried and started espousing liberal causes. Do you really want a crybaby liberal as Commander in Chief?"

Together as running mates, however, Senators Clinton and Obama would be the Republicans' worst nightmare. The GOP swift boats would steam in and start blasting away at a wide array of targets (both Clinton and Obama do have plenty of baggage that reflects political radar signals). But the swift boats ultimately would sink themselves (and John McCain), because voters quickly would tire of the constant explosions of negativity and just tune out the strident yammerings.

Hope and change. Those are the two main messages that will resonate this fall. John McCain and the Republicans can't offer those visions this time. Together, however, Clinton and Obama can...no matter whose name is listed first on the ticket.

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My Baggage Can Beat Your Baggage

By Si Dunn

Yawn. Another Democratic “debate.” Another rash of unscientific online polls claiming Obama “won.” More newspaper articles contending Clinton put Obama “on the defensive.” And major television journalists still harping on flag lapel pins, angry pastors and invisible snipers.

One more voice of opinion won’t matter in this cosmically insignificant scale of things. But here it is, anyway-- just another tiny crackle in the rising, roaring, utterly unfocused static of the blogosphere.

In the Philadelphia television event, Sen. Clinton came across as more competent—and advised and rehearsed—particularly on matters of international affairs, while Sen. Obama came across as more genuine but a bit less ready to serve, particularly on matters of international affairs.

Hillary’s main credibility problem is that her face still lights up with a “Gotcha!” little smirk and smile when she gets an opportunity to score a political dig against Obama. It’s at least partially her inability to disconnect from old-style politics that keeps her low in the polls of personal likeability.

Barack’s main problem is that he is still—bottom line--more smooth political style than actual political substance. Of course, in America, style almost always wins over substance, because most people don’t like to pay any attention to details until after something happens that that they don’t like.

Hillary Clinton may yet squeak out a win in Pennsylvania. However, she may not win the nomination unless she learns very quickly how to come down to the level of talking with (not just to) voters directly across a kitchen table, over coffee and cookies, with absolutely nowhere else to go for a few hours on a rainy afternoon.

She does have baggage; she’s right about that. Countless people have rummaged through it, and some are still rummaging through it, desperately looking for any nuggets of undiscovered dirt—or any new clues as to who she really is behind that policy wonk facade.

But we all have baggage that we struggle to deal with or hide or ignore or wish away.

As our potential leader and commander in chief, Hillary Clinton needs to sit down with us now and tell us honestly, in unflinching depth and detail, how her famous baggage has affected her, how she deals with it, and, most importantly, how she will keep dealing with it if she returns to the White House next January.

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Democrats for McCain? Few Will Remain

A new poll is raising flags of hysteria and giddiness among some of the political candidates’ supporters and opponents. And once again the media is focusing mainly on how those flags, metaphorically, are rippling and popping in the wind.

We still aren’t being told enough about who the candidates really are, what they really believe, where they get their advice and counsel, how they really define the major issues facing the nation, and why they really think they can make a difference.

According to CNN, a recent Associated Press poll shows that Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and John McCain are essentially tied, and McCain may be “benefiting from the drawn out Democratic primary race.”

The AP survey also supposedly found that “[c]lose to a quarter of Obama supporters reported they will back McCain if the Illinois senator fails to get the nomination, while a third of Clinton backers said they'd vote Republican if Obama is the Democratic nominee, “ according to the CNN story.

Actually, it’s difficult to believe that that many supporters of Obama and Clinton would throw over either Democrat in favor of at least four more years of rip-off economics, Middle East quagmire, and political stalemate.

In many other news accounts and blogs, there have been numerous reports of Republicans saying they have had absolutely enough of their party’s hard rightward drift and economic decline under Bush-Cheney and see little hope of meaningful change under McCain. They would rather vote for Obama or Clinton than bear any further responsibly for the possibility of a John McBush Administration.

It’s a safe bet that most Democrats who say they will back McCain if their candidate loses are just trash-talking to hear their jaws flap during the run-up to the Democratic Convention. Once their candidate does lose, and they realize it’s the other one vs. John McBush-McCheney, they’ll likely eat their threats and vote, even if grudgingly, for real change.

Yes, it would be something of a change to have an older Caucasian male succeed George W. Bush. Of course, given the history of the American presidency, that would scarcely count as any difference at all.

Obama-Clinton or Clinton-Obama--either combo would represent the all-time breakaway ticket for change in American presidental politics.

It will take a mega-change like this to start reviving the national economy and, more importantly, the national spirit, in January, 2009.

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Memo to Obama, Clinton and McCain: Shut Up About Each Other, Already

By Si Dunn

All's fair in love and war--and politics.

That, of course, is just the polite way of saying nothing is fair in love and war and politics--particularly politics.

So now, in a suppposedly tight race for the White House, we are stuck once again in a short lull between "key" Democratic primaries.

Meanwhile, the candidates and their campaign staffs are busily finding any direct and obtuse way they can to try to discredit their opponents' potential abilities to be commander in chief or national healer or shining beacon of peace and hope to the troubled world.

Oh, please, Senators Obama, Clinton and McCain. Just shut up about each other now, please, and get on with explaining yourselves.

Convince us why you (without any further mention or slam of your opponents) should be the next President of the United States. Tell us what you (without any further mention or slam of your opponents) propose to do about the national economy, the housing crisis, the war in Iraq, and America's shattered world prestige, to name just a few of today's troubling issues.

Put away the race cards, the White House cards, the combat cards, the patriot cards, the religion cards, the ringing-telephone cards, the retired-generals card, the endorsement cards, etc., etc., ad naseum.

Skip the overseas "fact-finding" photo ops and the strident demands for apologies, retractions and resignations from each other's campaigns.

Rise above this petty crap. Step out of your political Green Zones--and Twilight Zones.

Between now and the November general election, just show us and tell us who the hell you really are and what you propose to try to do about the many incredible messes the current Administration will leave behind in January, 2009.

That's what we voters want and need to know. Who are you, what needs to be done, and how you think the massive mountain range of problems should be approached.

Most of what else you are doing and saying right now amounts to absurd, empty posturing and a babble of irritating noises that we voters can, and will, shut off very soon.

So shut up about each other already. Tell us something that we actually can use to help us decide.

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Republicans for Obama--AND Clinton?

By Si Dunn

If Hillary Clinton loses the crucial and tightly contested primary races in Texas and Ohio March 4, one important key to her defeat will be the sudden surge of Republicans crossing party lines to vote for Barack Obama.

Despite Obama's strongly liberal track record, many disenchanted GOP voters have begun to view the Illinois Senator as someone who truly can bring much-needed fresh air to Washington and work constructively with political leaders on both sides of the aisle.

In Texas and Ohio, registered Republicans can choose to vote in their state's Democratic primary, rather than casting their ballot for the likely GOP contender, John McCain. And many will do just that--mostly for Obama. The irony here, of course, is that Republican leaders such as Karl Rove really wanted Hillary Clinton to be the nominee to go up against John McCain in the general election.

Indeed, many months ago, some key GOP leaders began urging Republicans to vote in open primaries for Hillary, so flyboy McCain could score an easy "mission accomplished" victory this November. They considered Senator Clinton both a very easy and strongly polarizing target.

What the Rove-ites and other Bush Administration nabobs didn't count on is that many everyday Republicans meanwhile have grown sick and tired of their own party's fiercely partisan politics and ultraconservative attitudes toward social and environmental issues. The U.S. economy now is swirling around and around in the toilet, and McCain's stated willingness to stay a hundred years or longer in Iraq has further dispirited many moderate, liberal and even conservative Republicans. The Democrats' strong message of change, whether voiced by Sen. Obama or Sen. Clinton, is resonating with them, too.

One other ironic note: some conservative Republicans recently have been urging their fellow conservatives in Texas and Ohio to vote for Hillary Clinton, because she is now seen as being politically more conservative than Barack Obama! These GOP conservatives fear a nationwide groundswell is growing stronger by the minute for Obama-style liberalism. At the same time, they also see their not-so-true-conservative John McCain's chances of getting elected now plunging out of the sky like a 500-pound bomb. Their one remaining hope to keep some faint semblance of conservatism in the White House is to help Hillary Clinton beat...Barack Obama.

Republicans for Obama--and Clinton. Truly, it's gonna be a long fall for the Grand Old Party!

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