Electioneering
Last night the Goodwife and I caught a rerun of John Edwards announcing his candidacy on the Daily Show With Jon Stewart (hey... he promised he would!!).*
Observations. Edwards is at ease with himself, and understands that building the longterm goodwill of young voters is crucial. After all, he's like nineteen years old himself and can run for President like ten more times if he doesn't make it in '04. Those young voters will someday be old and responsible voters, and may think better of him due to this dimly remembered moment.
He has a great PR team, but he's not a naturally hilarious or charming guy. That's fine. Bill Clinton could charm the pants off William F. Buckley and get him to pose for photographs. I don't want that again.
Smaaaaart.
But do I want him for President? I'm not so sure. First, he's practically invisible. Second, a quick look at his website finds him pushing for a new federal law for every ostensibly "liberal" cause under the sun-- pay inequity between the sexes, affirmative action, racial profiling, one year of free college tuition for all eligible comers, etc. etc., all of which are really nice ideas (and he does have some good ones), but right now he's coming across as a carefully-calibrated pleasantly liberal bleeding-heart.
Part of the reason Howard Dean is doing so well is that he has rage, which sets him apart from the rest of the pack. Only Joe Lieberman, who rather unexpectedly growing in my esteem, has the stones to stand toe to toe with him. But Dean has made some missteps recently that make me less confident that I want him to be President. He's still the best of a runty litter, but I need to reserve my judgement for when the fight gets ugly early next year.
* Of course, Edwards than repeated his announcement last week in his home state of North Carolina. He's a lawyer.
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Edwards, like Graham, is a
Edwards, like Graham, is a deranged moderate.
Dean has some of the flightiness of McCain, which can be attractive, but ultimately is scary when you think of that flightiness holding a finger anywhere near the button.
Lieberman is the closest thing that this fallen world will ever get to an old school blue dog democrat. Which is ironic, seeing as he is a New England Orthodox Jew.
Funny how we could probably
Funny how we could probably do every one of the things on that list with a tiny chunk of the 167 FRICKIN BILLION US DOLLARS this thing in Iraq has cost us, SO FAR.
But Iraq will be worthwhile, because as we all know, the Kay report will show us where the WMD are, and it's due out in late September.
Now what time is it, again?
But do we want to do
But do we want to do everything on that list - I should think not.