January 8, 2008...5:21 pm
Campaign 2008 observations
Bill Richardson: It’s kind of like watching my high school social studies teacher run.
Hillary Clinton: While I have no real affection for her or her politics, I can’t help but reflect sadly on the fact that she put thoughts of her own political career on hold for decades to help Bill run unsuccessfully for congress, win as Attorney General and then Arkansas’ governor, put it back together after he lost that office, win and hold it again and then run for president. She was then his First Lady for eight years, advising and defending him and trying to be every inch the active First Lady that her hero, Eleanor Roosevelt, was. I think you’d have to be a moron to argue (as Dick Morris apparently has) that all of this doesn’t mean she doesn’t have plenty of political experience — but I agree that it’s hard to run on that when your actual elected experience is limited to being a senator from a state you moved to specifically to gain the office.
But the sad irony is that it’s now come to this: now that she’s embarked on her own political career and is advancing herself as a candidate for the presidency, she is exactly what the Democrats don’t want to elect: a 60-year-old white candidate who can only run on her (hard to quantify) half a life of professional political experience when “change” is the thing and both sides seem to want younger, inspiring outsiders.
Barack Obama: There’s no doubt he’s inspiring to hear, but I’m wondering if he doesn’t need a vice presidential choice that will bulk him up a bit. Choosing Edwards would, as was once said of Al Gore and Bill Clinton, put an exclamation point on what he has to offer instead of balancing it out.
Also, it’s got to be a little bittersweet to be doing well in the presidential race while Kenya’s going nuts and members of your family are still there.
John Edwards: What, exactly, does he mean when he keeps saying he will “take the power” from interest groups and corporations, and that “we have a fight on our hands.”
I heard him differentiate himself from Obama on CNN yesterday by saying that Obama wants to sit down and negotiate with drug companies and corporations, and he thinks “we’re in a fight” and “they won’t give up their power.”
It sounds like rev-em-up flamethrower language and I get that you’ve got to do that at this stage, especially if you’re Edwards — but won’t you eventually have to sit down and negotiate and work with entrenched interests and large corporations? It’s not like you can become president, meet with their representatives and kick them in the nuts. I’d like to hear more of what he has in mind with all this.
John McCain: I never thought we should count him out and now I’m just enjoying watching him fight the urge to actually punch Mitt Romney.
Mitt Romney: Seems like if you’re going to dish it out like that, you’ve got to be able to take it. Isn’t he a little worried about turning off supporters with this “hey — don’t be mean…” stuff every time anyone says anything about him?
Mike Huckabee: Clearly the most charming of the Republican candidates — but are hardcore conservatives actually going to get behind this guy? And does he want them to?
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