080210 Across the Party Aisle

I had hoped that the Democratic Party would surprise me and have a leader in the presidential race by now and I would not have to do another political blog already. As I gave my views on each of the Republican candidates last week, I am going to need to do the same for the Democrats now. They will appear in alphabetical order.

Hillary Clinton. Senator Clinton made perhaps the scariest comment that I have heard in 2007. She decided to capitalize on the public’s emotions on the price of gasoline and heating oil by crafting a policy that makes a good sound bite but which will make all Americans worse off in its simplistic over reaction. Mrs. Clinton has advocated taking away the profits of the oil companies. The statement hits a nerve while you are standing at the pump. Who is she taxing though? If this was Venezuela, the profits taken would be those going to Hugo Chavez and his inner circle. As they are taking all of the oil profits, the Venezuelan refineries are literally falling apart leaving Venezuela lurching toward Iran’s predicament of sitting on huge oil reserves but importing all of its gasoline. American oil companies are owned by the owners of the companies’ stocks. This is largely the retirement and pension funds of nearly every major employer in America. Nationalizing the nation’s energy industry would take away over fifty percent of the income to the retirement accounts of most Americans. She would, in effect, bankrupt most pension funds and force the government take over of our retirement. The same government employees who are overseeing the failing social security fund will now have our pension funds. The same regulators who took over our health care back when it was affordable and the envy of the world by forcing HMOs on us will be in charge of our energy supply. With no profits, the energy industry will cease exploration, alternative research and upgrading our refining capacity just as the Chinese expand on all of these fronts. Besides importing lead covered toys, we can import leaded Chinese gasoline.

That is an issue worthy of a whole separate blog so let’s move on. In fairness, after entering public consciousness with an ill though out health care plan in the nineties, Mrs. Clinton has adopted much more mainstream positions on most issues. As a senator from New York, she has made herself more accessible to and responsive to the citizens of this state than I would ever have believed. While she is no Daniel Patrick Moyihan, she has generally done more good than harm in her role. From me, that’s a compliment to a politician.

The one thing about Hillary Clinton that we can know for sure as her positions shift is that she will galvanize those her dislike her into electing John McCain. As someone who respects and admires Senator McCain, I do not have a problem with this. I know two people in my daily life who plan on voting for Mrs. Clinton. The sole reason both of them plan to do so is that it is “time a woman was president.” Neither of them voted for her in the primary and I do not believe either has registered to vote. I doubt they go to the polls in November.

John Edwards. Senator Edwards has dropped out of the race. While he was in, he campaigned as the champion on the working man. He continually reminded us of his mill working father. He berated those in power and with money. While the price of his haircut (more than my monthly health insurance premium) made headlines there was little publicity to how he interacted with the working class. When not on the campaign trail, he has not enjoyed having them around him. I have not heard any mention of Senator Edwards endorsing either of his rivals. Either he does not want to anger the party winner by supporting the wrong candidate, or he has no affection for either.

Barak Obama. It is hard to imagine why Senator Edwards would dislike Senator Obama. He is a charismatic man who energizes his audience. He seems like a very nice man. Of the three Democratic candidates, he is probably the most electable.

Barak Obama’s campaign centers on the word “change”. In fact, it rarely radiates far enough away from it for us to even know what it means. I have scratched my head wondering exactly what he would change or how he would do it. It is questionable whether he knows either.

What “change” does do, is skip over the nasty issue of experience and qualifications and these are what the senator lacks. A first term law maker, he has so far failed to make any laws. It is tempting to point out his lack of foreign policy experience and wish he had served on the foreign relations committee or the armed services committee, but that overlooks his total lack of experience in economic policy. Our country remains at war and is teetering on the brink of recession and he is running on his lack of experience as his main theme.

The unspecific ideas he has made passing reference to are not new ideas but are all from programs that his predecessors have tried and which have not worked. His most ardent supporters are the nation’s youngest supporters who do not remember how badly these ideas failed. Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it.

The most convincing argument I have heard anyone over thirty make for Barack Obama is that it would send a powerful message to the world. I have not heard it explained what this message is or why we need to send a message. Is it that we can elect a black man? I am guessing that is the message. Is it really important enough to give the most important job in the world to an inexperienced man just so we can hope somebody likes us? If so, why not elect a more qualified black man?

Across the aisle. Since I began typing this out (these blogs are usually written days in advance), Mit Romney has dropped out of the race. He has spent a ton of his own money on this race and, although he is in second place, it would take Devine intervention to gain enough delegates to win. It was no longer worth it to keep spending the cash. Mike Huckabee, who does believe in Devine intervention, may stick it out because it is not his money that he is spending and he wants some concessions at the convention. Ron Paul, a dark horse in a field of eleven is now one of three and as long as people keep sending him cash, he will keep pushing his message.

Since it is no secret that John McCain has a personal distrust of Mister Romney and his tactics, there is little to no chance there would be room for him in a McCain White House. Governor Romney is widely known to now plan to bide his time at try to run against a sitting Democratic president in 2012.