The War and The Race

Alright kiddies. Forgive me my delay in posting, but there have not been many presidential run bombshells and, well, to be honest, I was pretty sick and tired.

But your girl is bouncing back and what is in the news? What is always in the news – war is the topic of the day.

The Democrats have rolled out their ambitious 100 hour plan/manifesto and they are tackling some mighty big issues head on. Chief among them is a national minimum wage hike and capping the cost of prescription drug costs. I am also hearing the faint rumblings of a “national health care” plan. I anticipate being called a socialist commie in about 10, 9, 8…damn. There went Fox News. Yep. It’s official. I’m a socialist commie. Wait until they find out my views on subsidized part-time daycare and extended job protections for maternity/paternity leaves of absence. They’ll think I’m a Nazi.

Again, the real issue is the one that the majority of Americans voted on in this past election – the Iraq war. Or more to the point, how in the hell are we going to get OUT of Iraq without looking like bumbling, incompetent idiots. As usual I hate to be Debby Downer – no, I really do! – but we are a bit too late on both of those objectives. We no longer even have an articulated goal or definition of “success” in Iraq, we are seemingly way more vested in the democracy of the Iraq people than they are themselves, and the rest of the world has already seen the little man behind the curtain. This ain’t purdy folks.

I feel like we are in some clichéd sitcom where the comedy of errors has gone on so long that no one even bothers to ask if the joke is funny anymore.

Well, this joke is no longer funny. The President’s “surge” idea is just another word for “escalation” or “throw more water on that oil fire” or “we have deemed the lives of American soldiers expendable”. Sending MORE troops to achieve an objective that isn’t even an objective with an enemy that cannot be defined or defended against goes beyond foolish at the speed of light and head-first into criminal.

Some pundits speculate that this is all political posturing – America’s last stand before we pull-out. Even that is a fool’s agenda. This is beyond pageantry at this point. If you feel the same way I strongly urge you to contact your senator. Sure, the wartime power we gave Bush after 9/11 makes them about as impotent as Bob Dole after he misses a dose of the little blue pill, but if you are like me, you will at least sleep better at night.

With all of this warring and lawmakering it would be easy to forget that for all practical political purposes the 2008 presidential election is underway. Easy to forget if you do not read People or watch TV that is.

It is official folks: Obama is sexier than John McCain and Edwards doesn’t not hate black people.

In other news, Joe Biden should be announcing any day and the Good Reverend Al Sharpton is considering tossing his Blue Magic into the ring.

When Al Sharpton runs for President he’s not running for President. It means someone has not told him what he wants to hear and he wants a seat at the debate.

Could it be some Dems are already slacking on courting that black vote? It seems Brother Al thinks so.

And I have heard plenty of rumblings about an Edwards-Obama ticket. That rumbling always leaves me vaguely confused. Why in the hot hell would Obama play second to Edwards? The other way around, maybe.

But the ticket dream that keeps me up nights is an Obama-Biden ticket. Yep. I said it. And the order is no mistake. Obama has the “it” factor and should capitalize it to no end, if that is his heart’s desire. However, I do think that Biden’s experience and breadth of foreign policy knowledge could add some gravitas to the unseasoned Senator from Illinois.

Here’s hoping the boys – and Hillary – can stop measuring themselves long enough to do what is best for us all.