Move away from the bus

Hormonal politics make me nervous. I'm the one you'll see laughing nervously and edging away.

Which brings us to Barack Hussein Obama. Dignified and measured in speech like William F. Buckley (RIP), as charming and as photogenic as Ronald Reagan. 'There you go again,” again. Teflon. Yes We Can. Oh, and issues, too. What those two did for conservatives, he's doing for liberals. That is, making them palatable to the mainstream.

Bill Clinton doesn't count. He always played the left-of-center good ol' boy. Just Billy Carter with brains and a testesterone imbalance.

Oh, Obama's liberal. The Senator with the most liberal voting record according to one of those groups that does ratings. I'd Google it if it was up for debate. Many, if not most, of his supporters back him because of his positions. But they sure go down better with a dose of corn syrup.

If he's elected, there's going to be a lot of anger when the sugar high wears off. Because, really, how's he going to clean up influence peddling with Harry Reid leading the charge? We always come back to the sad fact that the parties are more alike than they are different and they're both beholden to lobbyists.

Getting us out of Iraq? Sure, but when? Armies are like trains; they don't stop on a dime and it takes just as long to get them moving in the opposite direction. I seem to remember Richard M. Nixon's campaign promise to get us out of Vietnam. He kept it, but only after a few 'surges'. Before we got “peace with honor” it became “Nixon's war”.

That's not to say it doesn't matter who's elected. President Obama would push the Democrats’ agenda, albeit with the usual success rate.

My main worry is that he might be Jimmy Carter with style points: such a nice guy that he's ineffective. He must be tougher than he shows publicly to rise this high, and I'm sure that his public persona is calculated and fine-tuned. It's just that I remember a friend from Trust Territory days bemoaning Carter's policy toward Chile and Pinochet during his 'State Department' posting there. He thought we'd gone soft and that had encouraged the hostage-takers in Iran.

Of course, Obama's got to get past Hillary Clinton first. She's changed so much from the church girl who worked for Barry Goldwater and became a social worker that I don't have a read on her, but I've never understood women anyway. It's like men are from Arkansas and women are from New York(?). She's down, but I wouldn't count her out yet.

McCain will be waiting, draped in a full-length flag.* Doing the Giulani doesn't look like a sure-fire winner this election cycle, but the military has been a huge part of the Republican base for quite awhile. He's also got to blow some smoke to calm the fundy Hucklebees.

Obama versus McCain? It'll be an interesting match when we know their tag-team partners, especially since McCain has a few positions like global warming that usually belong to Democrats. Most independents don't have a clue about his voting record. Some even say Ralph likes him.

The Obama campaign? You can dance to it, Dick, so I'll give it an eight.

Oh, and the picture? I’d bet that the Obama campaign or one of its friends leaked it to Drudge. He’s such a dweeb he’d believe it came from Clinton’s camp. The setup is just too perfect: release it before someone else does and get some sympathy points at the same time.

* Standard McCain disclaimer: this in no way belittles his sacrifice for our country or the character he showed as a prisoner of war.