Movin' On Up.

It's been nice posting on this blog for the past couple of weeks but I'm here to say that I'll be no longer writing on this blog. However, this is not the end of my blogging career, I will now be writing on http://stjohnsdemocrats.wordpress.com. I hope you can keep up with me over there and enjoy other St. John's Democrats' views. For now, may POliktics rest in peace somewhere in a deep chasm that is the virtual universe.

ADIEU!

Lost In Translation.

Today Hillary Clinton spoke out about the controversy surrounding her comments about R.F.K. and Obama. She said, "Almost immediately, some took my comments entirely out of context and interpreted them to mean something completely different -- and completely unthinkable." Personally, I agree with her that she didn't mean it the way it came out but I also do understand how some people might be offended by her statements.

It was just bad judgment on Clinton's part to make any statement like this especially at such a fragile time right now for the Kennedy family. This issue has been overblown by the media and by some people on the Obama campaign, but not Obama himself who has urged to put this matter behind us. But I repeat myself again that this is another instance where an unnecessary controversy can hurt Obama in the general election.

Puerto Rico.

Both Democratic candidates are in Puerto Rico now campaigning for the somewhat important June primary there. Once again, Obama is forced to waste potential time to campaign for the general election because Clinton still refuses to drop out of the race despite all math against her. She is now resorting to desperate needs to explain why she isn't dropping out of the race, using the R.F.K. example recently.

Young vs. Old.

John McCain is currently 71 years old (turning 72 in August) and Barack Obama is currently 46 years old. Age will be another factor in November that hasn't concerned many people because the issue of race is still relatively more-talked about on radio shows and all across America. However, the age gap will be another possible divisive factor when it comes to people voting in November for the next president.

Age will not just be a factor for voters, it will also be a factor for the candidates when it comes to choosing a running mate. John McCain would obviously be expected to choose a relatively younger running mate, possibly a Sam Brownback. On the other hand, Obama would need some more experience and age on his side and can be expected to choose an older, more experienced running mate such as a Joe Biden.

Today, John McCain was deemed in 'excellent health,' and healthy enough to hold the office of the President of the United States of America. Yes, John McCain maybe completely healthy now but at his age medical problems can arrive at any moment. Age and experience are completely two different things. Both candidates need to evaluate themselves and their needs while picking a running mate and they should keep in mind that age can be both a good and a bad thing.

No. 2.

John Nance Garner, a former Vice President, once said that the office of vice presidency as "not worth a bucket of warm piss." Times have certainly changed since then and the office of vice presidency is gaining more importance. This easily seen as there are rumors floating around that John McCain and Barack Obama have already begun their search for a running mate. In this crucial upcoming election, the vice presidential candidates can either make or break a campaign.

The burning question for the Democrats is that is Obama willing to settle his differences with Hillary Clinton and choose her as his running mate? Personally, I believe that Obama will not choose Hillary because of the fact that she has somewhat minimized Obama's presidential chances by staying in this race even though all indications are that Obama has it pretty much wrapped up. It's most likely that Obama will either choose John Edwards or Bill Richardson.

The State Of Confusion: Florida.

Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are both in Florida today, but for two entirely different reasons. Barack Obama is there to establish an early campaign for November in this traditionally swing state. Mrs. Clinton, on the other hand, is there to try to convince the D.N.C. to seat Florida's delegates. Mrs. Clinton refuses to acknowledge that Obama pretty much has the nomination wrapped up, especially after the night where Obama reached the majority of pledged delegates.

Ted Kennedy.

Today the famous Senator from Massachusetts, Ted Kennedy, was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor. There's not a doubt in my mind that he will make it through and will be fine in the end. Kennedy has long been one of the most respected and most powerful people in Washington D.C. He has become as big as an icon for the Democrats as Franklin Delano Roosevelt was in the 20th century and he has endured so much in his life, such as the deaths of his brothers, that I believe he will defeat this disease.

Judgment.

John McCain today, speaking in Chicago, Illinois, said that Barack Obama has "reckless judgment in response to Obama's planned diplomatic ways in dealing with Iran. I would have thought that McCain was talking about himself. After all, he's the one that voted for the Iraq war, which turned out to be a humongous mistake of judgment on his part. Obama opposed the war from the very beginning which obviously shows that he has the capability to make the right choice even though it might be very unpopular, especially politically.

Obama made it clear why he believes the United States should take more of a diplomatic attitude towards the world by saying, "Why shouldn't we have the same courage and confidence to talk to our enemies? That's what strong countries do. That's what strong presidents do." Although Obama may not have much as experience with foreign policy as John McCain has, it is obvious that Obama has the better judgment and that is easily seen through all the soldiers we have lost in Iraq.

Hillary's Analogies.

Today, in Kentucky (who has its primary on Tuesday), Hillary Clinton said "If we get everybody turned out, it's going to send a great message to our country that you don't stop democracy in its tracks." The truth is that democracy has already rolled down its tracks and has arrived at its destination; Senator Barack Obama. If Hillary refuses to acknowledge that she's behind on all three important fronts: pledged delegates, super delegates and the popular vote, she's simply in denial.

She also said "think about this as a hiring decision," when the people in Kentucky go to the polls on Tuesday. If this is really a hiring decision, then America has spoken and she's definitely not getting a call-back. It's positive to note that Hillary's analogies and attacks on Obama aren't really getting to Obama's head as he instead focuses his attention on McCain, as the whole Democratic Party should.

McCain vs. Obama. Round 1.

John McCain and Barack Obama are finally getting a chance to fire some shots at each other, with Hillary Clinton basically out of the picture. Their first fights have been over their views of foreign policy. There has been controversy over how each of the candidates plan to treat some of America's foes in the world. McCain wants to continue foreign policy the way President Bush has been doing it, but Obama is willing to take more of a diplomatic approach.

Obama has continuously called the strategies of Bush and McCain as "fear-mongering" and has called for McCain to differ his foreign policies to the failed ones of President Bush. Though the Republicans think that the attacks on Obama are hurting his candidacy, it's actually helping because now the Democratic Party has something to come together against. The Republicans are only hurting themselves when they attack Obama with unreasonable logic.

Obama Stands His Ground.

Senator Barack Obama responded today to the controversial comments that President Bush made yesterday by saying "After almost eight years, I did not think I could be surprised about anything that George Bush says, but I was wrong." Don't worry Barack, most of us have been surprised by Bush's antics multiple times. Bush never seems to disappoint our disappointment in him.



President Bush is taking his politics of fear to new levels and the worse thing is that John McCain seems to be a great fan of the Bush politics of fear. Obama makes an excellent point in saying that McCain "still hasn't spelled out one substantial way in which he would be different from George Bush when it comes to foreign policy." I'm pretty sure that America will not vote for a candidate that will basically continue the failed of policies of our current President.

"This is bulls**t."

While in Israel today celebrating that country's 60th birthday, President Bush took a sharp blow against the democrats by comparing to Democrats wanting to "appease" with Iran to the way people in Europe let Hitler come to power. Joe Biden, the Senator from Delaware, simply responded to Bush's remarks by saying; "This is bulls**t." Obviously the President is willing to compare anyone that is open to having talks with some of our enemies, to Nazis, and that's simply put.

You know those simple proverbs that you tend to hear and you feel as if everyone on planet Earth has heard them at least once in their lives. Well, I thought that "Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer" was one of those. Apparently, the leader of the free world still is ignorant to that fact even though he is the engineer of one of America's greatest military mistakes, the war in Iraq.

President Bush at this point is simply out of touch with world issues at this point in time and needs to adapt to the modern world. We can no longer just simply ignore countries we don't particularly like and expect that to solve all of our problems. After all, aren't we the country with the world's greatest military and democracy? If we are, we should definitely start acting like one and stop hiding from our enemies.

To make this into an analogy, imagine this, the world is a high school, America is the captain of the football team and the strongest kid in the school. If a problem arises with another student, America wouldn't be the one to go hide and avoid the other student, the other, weaker, student would be the one hiding. America would have the guts to go talk to that school since it has nothing to be afraid of and convince them to act appropriately.

President Bush kinda understands this but apparently not enough because instead of convincing weaker countries he just largely ignores them, and when the problem really becomes something serious, he just beats them up (Iraq.) So, it's time that we realize our powers and abilities and not just use our muscle, but also our brains. Obviously, President Bush doesn't realize that the silent treatment is only effective in insignificant social matters and does not work on a global scale.

Obama/Edwards ticket?

Forget about Hillary Clinton's lost Presidential hopes, now it looks like she has lost any possible Vice Presidency hopes also. Today, in Michigan, John Edwards officially endorsed Barack Obama for President. This is mostly an apparent political move because Edwards obviously was waiting things out until it got obvious that there was a presumptive nominee. This endorsement is the final straw that broke the camel's back for Hillary Clinton's campaign.

This endorsement is much more important than people realize simply because Edwards represents the voting bloc that Obama has struggled with the most; white blue-collar, suburban voters. I feel that it's no surprise that Edwards endorsed Obama the day after a land-slide victory for Clinton is West Virginia. This definitely puts a huge dent in any possible Clinton momentum after West Virginia and leaves Senator Clinton's campaign on life support and there's not much life to support.

A Party United, Against Itself?

Whenever I go to my barber, Hana, we always have some friendly, although sometimes serious, conversations about politics. We were recently talking about the split in the Democratic Party thanks to the bitter race between Senator Barack Obama and Senator Hillary Clinton when Hana said:

"You know what they say now right? There are three parties. Republicans, Democrats, and the Clintons."

What might just seem as a playful political joke is definitely not one which is apparently seen in today's West Virginia exit polls. According to CNN.com:

"Almost as many of Hillary Clinton's West Virginia supporters would vote for John McCain as would for Barack Obama, exit polls show."

According to the same article,

"If Obama were the Democratic nominee, 36 percent of Clinton supporters would vote for him in the fall, the polls found.

But 35 percent said they'd cast their vote for McCain instead."

I know that a lot of Democrats say that Mrs. Clinton should stay in the race but when you start seeing numbers like that, you know it's time to close things up. After 8 years of Bush, Clinton has still somehow managed a way to separate Democrats among from each other and risk losing one of the most important presidential elections in modern history. If Clinton is as truly dedicated to keeping the Democratic Party together as she says she is she needs to realize that her candidacy is putting the whole party at risk for decomposition.

And even as she probably will win West Virginia today, she needs to come back down to planet Earth from whatever far away galaxy she has been traveling in and step out of the race and actually give the Democrats a decent chance at taking the White House back in this fall. You have to set aside personal ambitions sometimes if it's for the good of the people, especially when you have homeless veterans on the streets, rising gas prices and a potential McCain administration that would just make matters worse.

Obama takes a super lead.

The time has come for Hillary Clinton to drop out of the race for the Democratic Presidential nomination. Major evidence of this can easily be seen in her losing the super-delegate lead, according to CNN. Clinton had maintained a super-delegate lead throughout most of the primaries and this recent news of Obama overtaking that lead is clearly a sign that there are no hopes at all left for Mrs. Clinton.
It's time for the Democratic party to unite and settle their differences if they really expect to take back the White House this November. Every day that Clinton stays in the race is a lost day for the Democrats as each day Republican John McCain gathers election funds while Obama is still having to deal with Clinton. The D.N.C. needs to force Clinton to step out of the race because the fat lady is singing.