Thursday Politics

I've had more time to think about the 20th (and final) Democratic Debate on Wednesday, and about the Democratic nomination process and I have some more thoughts.

I think Senator Clinton's campaign is starting to slide. I don't know if she was advised to whine about the media at the beginning of the debate or if that was all her, but in either case, that was a bad move. It made her look somewhat desperate and once the desperation starts to show in a campaign, it's over. She also got caught distorting the facts or telling half-truths several times, both by Senator Obama and by the moderators, and not just caught, but caught red-handed and flat-footed. I never had to opportunity to participate in debate in high school, but even I know that arguing against a strawman doesn't work. I know Senator Clinton is smarter than that, which is what makes me think she knows the nomination is slipping further and further from her grasp and this is causing her to make bad decisions out of a desperation to score points. At this point, I really think she could do a lot of good for the party to admit defeat, drop out of the race and throw her support to Senator Obama. That's just my opinion, though.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: Senator Obama really does seem to be very easy-going and nigh on imperturbable. He doesn't really get flustered, he doesn't seem to struggle to respond to criticisms. The fact that he has actual plans behind his policy positions in addition to his emotional message of hope makes him an ideal candidate for president in my mind. After two terms of neocons ruling the roost, and two years of and ostensibly Democratic congress rolling over on pretty much everything President Bush wants, many of us have become much more cynical and depressed about the whole direction the United States has taken. Senator Obama has impressed me with his ability to energize people like me with his message of hope, and I think that, above all, is what we need in the next President. As a wise woman once told me, the President sets the tone and topic of the national dialog. We've had two terms of "terrah, terrah, fear, fear!" I think it's time for "Yes We Can".