John's Blog

Now you've done it...gone and thrown your hat into the ring, making official what pretty much everybody except Hillary knew was a foregone conclusion. Becoming the instant front-runner at this very early phase may not be the best place to be, since it places you in the position of having the race to lose. Seldom do we see the early leader emerge victorious since there is way too much time for an event that could change the momentum, although the brain-trust and money that she has assembled makes her a formidable candidate.

The problem that her entry poses for me is that the wife is a big Hillary fan, and she seems to expect me to be one as well. Like we can't find enough to disagree about without help from Hillary? Although the prospect of having Bill back in the White House is intriguing, I'm much more excited by the possibility of Edwards or Obama as the Democratic standard-bearer. And who knows, a dark horse could yet emerge to join the already crowded field and leave everybody in the dust.

It isn't that I wouldn't love to get behind a woman candidate; and no, I'm NOT in the gutter for once! But I'm bothered by her pandering to the right wing and her early and continued (until just recently) support for the war. Also working against the viability of her candidacy is that she many times comes off as stiff, cold, or insincere which can be a problem when your main opponents are brimming with camera capturing charisma. On paper, she's probably the most qualified candidate, but I'm not sure that is what is going to matter in the end. Let's not forget that the last President was elected because most Americans wanted to have a beer with him. I really wish they would have just had the damn beer, and not pulled the lever in the voting booth.

Tags: politics, pointless rambling