Falling into the Presidential Primaries
September 3, 2007 by David Schleicher
Much has changed since I last posted about the primaries back in March. There have been 678,933,562 debates amongst the Republican and Democratic candidates for President, and beyond even the worst predictions, the Bush administration has continued to plumb the depths of ineptitude resulting in about the same number of resignations–good-bye you rascally Rove, fare well Gaucho-Gonzalez.
As we head into Fall, things are just heating up.
Here’s my rundown:
THE DEMOCRATS:
Hillary Clinton: I have to hand it to the lady, she has done an amazing job improving her image over the months through the debates, and she was dynamite on the David Letterman show last week. Just look how often the other candidates deferred to her leadership when thrown ridiculous hypothetical questions and how well she turned things around to her advantage without coming across as sour-faced ball buster. She’s shown she has the experience, possesses stamina, is willing to listen to other ideas, has an intimate knowledge of the political system, and most importantly, has a keen wit and can be personable when needed. I still think she might be too much of an “insider” and isn’t as progressive as I would like, but her stock is rising and she has erased much of the negativity that was surrounding her image earlier in the campaign. The old gal is still the frontrunner.
John Edwards: The ridiculous Anne Coulter jabs at him put him back in the spotlight (a bit), and his wife’s public battle with breast cancer while still on the campaign has ignited his movement. He’s now got the backing of the big workers’ unions and is showing strongly in the Iowa polls. The negatives people pin on him are invalid: They say he is a hypocrite because he talks about “Two Americas” and claims to fight for the poor while he gets $400 haircuts and builds the biggest family estate in all of North Carolina. They also don’t trust him because he is a lawyer. Well, he made his vast fortune as a lawyer fighting against big corporations and collecting huge sums of money for workers and the little guy. Isn’t getting rich by fighting for fairness and the common man while sticking it to the powers that be part of the American Dream? The fact that he was so profitable at fighting against special interests and scoring big windfalls for mistreated workers and middle class folks is proof that he could be wildly successful in an executive position doing the exact same thing. So far he’s run the cleanest, most progressive, and most vividly detailed campaign of any candidate from any party. The silly idealist in my hopes his grass-roots campaign speaks to the American people more so than the big bucks of Clinton and Obama in the long run, but sadly that could be wishful thinking in this day and age. Just check out his plans for troop withdrawal in Iraq, achieving energy independence, universal healthcare, and improving our education system on his website to see what I’m talking about: http://johnedwards.com/about/
Barack Obama: He’s still a great speaker and has that youthful charisma that everyone seems to love, but he’s slipping. His inexperience is showing, and Clinton has clearly outshined him in the debates. Some of the things he has said (like his comment about our delicate relationship with Pakistan) don’t make sense and seem rash and ill planned. He’s fumbling while veterans Clinton and Edwards are trotting along. I don’t know if he has the stamina or the good sense to see this through, but there’s still plenty of time for him to improve and get back on track.
The Rest: I still like Bill Richardson’s credentials and Joe Biden’s off-the-cuff style. Gravel and Kuccinich, though they speak the truth, are traveling sideshows. Did I leave anyone out? Oh, yeah, Dodd, what a dud.
THE REPUBLICANS:
Fred Thompson: He’s about to announce his candidacy any minute now. His gruff, hard-nosed conservative, pandering to Middle America, no-nonsense “Law & Order” style will go far. His trips from the limo to the red pick-up truck reek of the same hypocrisy that plagues our current administration’s gung-ho cowboy image.
Mitt Romney: I still can’t believe this guy is the frontrunner. He’s an unabashed flip-flopper who speaks robotically in political buzz-speak. Ever notice how he always name-drops Ronald Reagan and ends every sentence with “the future?” Sure, he looks presidential, but c’mon, he’s a Mormon. Isn’t everyone watching “Big Love” on HBO? It’s a great show, by the way. I’m not a fan of organized religion of any sort, but Mormons are just one step above Scientologists in my book, teetering between legitimacy and total what-the-F-insanity. I almost hope he does win the primaries, because he is the only Republican I feel would most assuredly lose the national election.
Rudy Giuliani: Put his seedy personal life aside and ask yourself one question: Do you want a leader who will respond moderately well in response to a major disaster, or a leader who will be smart enough to prevent a major disaster from happening in the first place? Rudy’s fear-mongering will surely bring about another 9/11 that he will plan to rise above while putting the entire nation’s safety on the line for his own ego.
John McCain: I was blinded by my sentimental feelings for his 2000 campaign against Dubya Bush in the primaries when initially judging him back in March. He’s aged very poorly since then, has lost complete touch with reality and thinks things could actually work, and in fact are improving, in Iraq. He’s one of the few candidates I can say I respect as a person, but his campaign has been derailed by his own inane actions and inability to surround himself with a competent team of advisors.
Mike Huckabee: He’s the type of guy that could come out of nowhere. His Christian-based conservative values come across as sincere rather than self-righteous, which makes him hard to dislike even when he says incredibly stupid things like he doesn’t believe in evolution. His fiscal responsibility and shedding of over 100 pounds as governor of Arkansas make him appealing to those who want government to slim down their budget while the American people slim down their waistlines.
The Rest: Ron Paul has become a broken record, but I still respect the guy for sticking it to his own party so unapologetically. The rest of them…who cares?
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Check out my past coverage of Election 2008:
http://davethenovelist.wordpress.com/2007/01/01/run-your-own-race/
Huckabee is a dark horse for the Republicans. Besides his pro-gun and evolution “debate”, I think he is a Democrat in disguise. But I like him most of what we have from the Republicans.
Democrats, I still like Edwards. And that’s not horseapples.
David, wish I had seen this posting before. Certainly love what you had to say about Hillary, but thought your comments about the other candidates were insightful as well. I will link to this on A Rake’s Progress. Congratulations on the accolades for your novel. May it make you filthy rich like Edwards — and you can say it was all part of the American Dream!
Rake, thanks for checking in with those kind words. –DHS