Political comparisons

I do hereby promise that once we have elected whomever we elect as our President I will not write a political blog for at least three months after the election.

With that said.....I couldn't help but pass along the recent political fodder. If you are offended in anyway, it is what it is.

More facts can be found at http://www.factcheck.org/.

* If you are born in Hawaii, raised by your grandparents in Kansas, you're 'exotic, different.'
* If you grow up in Alaska eating moose burgers, you're a quintessential American story.

* If your name is Barack, you're a radical, unpatriotic Muslim.
* If you name your kids Willow, Trig and Track, you're a maverick.

* If you graduate from Harvard law School, you are unstable.
* If you attend 5 different small colleges before graduating, you're well grounded.

* If you spend 3 years as a brilliant community organizer, become the first black President of the Harvard Law Review, create a voter registration drive that registers 150,000 new voters, spend 12 years as a Constitutional Law professor, spend 8 years as a State Senator representing a district with over 750,000 people, become chairman of the state Senate's Health and Human Services committee, spend 4 years in the United States Senate representing a state of 13 million people while sponsoring 131 bills and serving on the Foreign Affairs, Environment and Public Works and Veteran's Affairs committees, you don't have any real leadership experience.
* If your total resume is: local weather girl, 4 years on the city council and 6 years as the mayor of a town with less than 7,000 people, 20 months as the governor of a state with only 650,000 people, then you're qualified to become the country's second highest ranking executive.

* If you have been married to the same woman for 19 years while raising 2 beautiful daughters, all within Protestant churches, you're not a real Christian.
* If you cheated on your first wife with a rich heiress, and left your disfigured wife and married the heiress the next month, you're a Christian.

* If you teach responsible, age appropriate sex education, including the proper use of birth control, you are eroding the fiber of society.
* If, while governor, you staunchly advocate abstinence only, with no other option in sex education in your state's school system, while your unwed teen daughter ends up pregnant , you're very responsible.

* If your wife is a Harvard graduate lawyer who gave up a position in a prestigious law firm to work for the betterment of her inner city community, then gave that up to raise a family, your family's values don't represent America's.
* If you're husband is nicknamed 'First Dude', with at least one DWI conviction and no college education, who didn't register to vote until age 25 and once was a member of a group that advocated the secession of Alaska from the USA, your family is extremely admirable.

Campaign mutterings of the week

This has been an interesting week in the Presidential campaign - for the Democrats that is. The Republicans are snoozing on the back porch while Hillary and Barack duke it out.

A couple of observations that everyone surely is seeing and hearing on the news. It appears that the vetting of Barack Obama in this campaign is starting to kick into gear. After hearing nothing but good words about him for the last year, we have begun to hear some smatterings of typical campaign jabbing that all candidates running for office are expected to endure. Geraldine Ferraro had a few things to say about the potential biases and then of course the pastor of Barack's church was outed for his controversial sermons at the pulpit.

Now what I don't like to see is the race card being played every time something is uncovered in Barack's past (or present) or when he is criticized. I think we have seen Hillary criticized as much as she can possible be criticized - and God knows there is probably more out there that someone can dredge up - but to avoid discussing or criticizing Barack's shortcomings or past political decisions just because he is an African-American is wrong. He is to be judged by all of his outstanding achievements as well as his mistakes - fair and balanced.

This is what running for office means folks. Your clean laundry and your dirty laundry are hung out for the world to see. It is showcased in the political ads and debated among every political talk show host on every political program. No one is safe when you are running for office. We have to get a grip here. If we do not know about his failures or shortcomings then we cannot make a valid decision at the polls.

Which brings me to my next topic. There is such a close race going on between Hillary and Barack why do we think that the Hillary supporters will rally behind Barack - or vice versa - when it comes to the general election? I am growing fearful that these two "history defining" candidates are SOOO big that it may just land a Republican back in office. Those conservative independents that may have voted for Hillary in the primaries may not vote for Barack in the main election.

Whomever lands the Democratic nomination is going to have a tough road against John McCain anyway. We don't need the divisiveness occurring in our party right now. Speculation abounds about who Hillary or Barack will choose for their running mate. I am not sure that Hillary can win without Barack nor could Barack win without Hillary.

Now McCain is an old man. He cannot win a foot race with Barack or Hillary. However, he has several months to prepare himself for a race against either of the Democratic candidates. He will strike hard. I am not so sure that the Democratic run for office has not gotten so out of hand that we have forgotten why we are doing all of this. I am not so sure that Barack Obama has the intestinal fortitude to win in a general election based on the last year of campaigning. The snowballs that he has been thrown are not the same balls that he will be thrown if he is the nominee.

The fact that he has had a pretty easy time of it thus far could end up hurting all of us if a Republican is elected into office again.

Obama vs. Clinton - or is it?

The latest news to hit the stands this week was that Oprah was going to speak at several campaign stops this weekend in support of Senator Obama. The idea is that the most powerful woman on television (not ready to say "the world" at this point) will attempt to woo her female fan base into voting for Obama.

Can Oprah pull women voters in enough to vote for a man instead of voting for Hillary? This is the question of the day. We have a very strong candidate in Hillary - well-educated and tremendous governmental experience. I am going to go out on a limb and say that probably 75% of the women in America would love to have a woman as President of the United States. So based on that I don't know if Oprah can swing the female vote to Obama over Clinton. I mean.....this isn't her book of the month......this is for the most powerful office in the U.S.

I like Oprah and I admire her for creating her empire out of nothing. She is the role model for what you can do if you only put your mind to it. She is living the American dream. Now....all that aside.........I don't think it will be as easy to "sell" Barack Obama to women as it is to sell one of her favorite novels. Women want to be assured that there is someone in office who can relate to them. Someone who can reel America back into place, mend fences with our allies and get us out of this stupid war. For centuries (post 1940) it has been the woman who has kept the house in order and kept families together. There is just a maternal instinct that goes along with being a woman and it is that instinct along with her education and experience that makes her the candidate for which women would be drawn. So it is time to bring this "U.S. house" in order.

So we need to remember, Oprah isn't running for office. She is only campaigning for Senator Obama. It is not Oprah vs. Hillary. This weekend, it is not just about who is the better educated/experienced candidate, it is about who appeals to the most women.