February 14, 2008

Camelot? Maybe... and then some....

It's great to see not everyone falls in line with what Obama is doing & saying. A buddy of mine said everyone is drinking the Kool-Aid.

Truth is, I feel like I poured and stirred the Kool-Aid. I've been making the call for him as the Dem candidate since our first threads went out (when Hillary was the presumptive favorite). Methinks Republicans prefer the Hill for two resaons: 1. As I've mentioned, she will galvinize Republicans to get out the vote against her,... 2. She voted for the Iraq invasion (and I'm not here to quibble/debate that one, just my guess). Besides those two points the two are Platform-wise almost identical. Except for two things... 1. Hill wants Universal health care, while Obama wants to make it affordable enough that anyone can do it 2. Say what you want for how he'll do it, but if your gut doesn't tell you that given the exact same agenda, Barack won't get things done faster, than that's a genuine surprise.

I do not think experience counts for much in the presidency... I just don't. I think that fallacy is perpetrated by the man behind the curtain. Reagan was a governor (no nat'l office), Clinton was a governor (no nat'l office); Barack is a one-term Senator. Those congressmen in yesterday's Clemens fun only supported that idea. I wouldn't trust some of them to mow my lawn. I think it takes hard work, common sense, and the ability to build a consensus from a divergent audience to get 85% of the presidency done well. That last 15% is what makes stars or makes Nixons (although, even that is not totally fair, given his excellent foreign policy abilities that will forever be overshadowed by his later exploits).

Some have said that Barack is formulating the new Camelot. This is potentially better - and more real - than any Arthurian legend. I think Barack is bigger than Camelot, because there was no way near the amount of scrutiny then that there is now -- to that point, something could come to light eventually that dispels some of the O Myth, but even that is unlikely. JFK overcame being Catholic... oh, and his dad Joe may have bought him the nomination at the Dem Convention. Barack is where he is, despite the following obstacles:

- He's biracial
- His name sounds similar to the worst terrorist known in the U.S.
- His dad was Muslim - see above
- He has three years in nat'l office
- He is pitted against a modern political family dynasty - the Clintons
- If nominated, he'll face a war hero, (who he's currently polling better than)
- He has admitted not only to smoking pot... but inhaling
- What he's hoping to do has never been done

To most other candidates any one of those points would make it tough to win in states from every corner of the country -- he has 'em all and he's won in everywhere.

Crazy point? If you were 20 years old today, you've been voting for two years and the only last name for any president in your lifetime has been either Clinton or Bush. And whether that's happenstance or true laziness within each party, I'm happy rebooting the electoral process.