Tuesday, February 27, 2007
I couldn't stay awake for all of the Academy Awards, but it seemed to me that the big winner was Al Gore. He even had the coattails to get a win for an indifferent Melissa Etheridge song. (Are there more than two decent Melissa Etheridge songs? It seems unlikely.) David Remnick gets it right, I think: "[D]espite the burden of injury and injustice, Gore, more than any other major Democratic Party figure, including the many candidates assembled for next year’s Presidential nomination, has demonstrated in opposition precisely the quality of judgment that Bush has lacked in office. Gore’s critiques of the Administration’s rush to war in Iraq and of the deceptions used to justify it were early, brave, and correct. On the issue of climate change, of course, he has exercised visionary leadership. With humor and intelligence, and negligible self-pity, he dispensed with the temptations of political martyrdom and became a global Jeremiah."
He even wore a nice looking dinner jacket.
An interesting thing about the slate of current Democratic candidates is that the front runners all seem to have substantial problems. Clinton's problem is that she is unpopular with both the left and the right. Too bad about the Iraq vote- she cast it with an eye towards the right, afraid-- like so many of the sheep in the Senate-- to take on a President who was riding high. Being unpopular with liberals and conservatives does not mean that you are popular with the middle (whatever that is)-- it means you have no base. Edwards was everyone's second choice the last time. I don't see that changing this time. Obama's lack of experience doesn't bother me, but it is an issue. Biden is an idiot. Richardson, who I like, is obscure, and I don't see that changing. Dodd is not white enough. Dennis Kucinich (campaign slogan: "I was right last time") is still Dennis Kucinich-- the boy mayor of Cleveland who set his own hair on fire. A bigger problem for all of them is that they are already out there-- Hillary made a big mistake by declaring this early. I still see a Nixon-like comeback as a possibility for Gore-- his little shtick on Sunday was eerily reminiscent of Tricky's appearance on Laugh-In.
He even wore a nice looking dinner jacket.
An interesting thing about the slate of current Democratic candidates is that the front runners all seem to have substantial problems. Clinton's problem is that she is unpopular with both the left and the right. Too bad about the Iraq vote- she cast it with an eye towards the right, afraid-- like so many of the sheep in the Senate-- to take on a President who was riding high. Being unpopular with liberals and conservatives does not mean that you are popular with the middle (whatever that is)-- it means you have no base. Edwards was everyone's second choice the last time. I don't see that changing this time. Obama's lack of experience doesn't bother me, but it is an issue. Biden is an idiot. Richardson, who I like, is obscure, and I don't see that changing. Dodd is not white enough. Dennis Kucinich (campaign slogan: "I was right last time") is still Dennis Kucinich-- the boy mayor of Cleveland who set his own hair on fire. A bigger problem for all of them is that they are already out there-- Hillary made a big mistake by declaring this early. I still see a Nixon-like comeback as a possibility for Gore-- his little shtick on Sunday was eerily reminiscent of Tricky's appearance on Laugh-In.
// posted by Bill @ 11:39 AM 
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