The Race to 2008: Initial Impressions

So, as we all know, there are less than two years remaining before Chimpy McFlightsuit leaves Washington, DC. Simultaneously, a number of "esteemed" candidates have staked their interest in taking over the White House. As such, I thought I'd share some humble impressions I've had so far about the pending election:

1) Come together RIGHT NOW, dammit - Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton - two names you've undoubtedly been overexposed to right now - are essentially running on mirror platforms right now which centers on bringing both sides of the aisle together to make our country better than before. Uhbama - a name I gave to him after seeing how often he says 'Uh' when speaking - touched on this U-N-I-T-Y concept back in 2004 when he was a candidate for the Senate speaking at the Democratic National Convention. As recently as yesterday Hillary did a similar thing when speaking at a High School in Iowa.

To me, there's a critical issue in running this type of platform. Attempting to appease both sides of the aisle won't work because much of the country will simply not vote in a particular way. Instead of reaching out to the same groups that have a part in keeping the Democrats out of the White House, perhaps their energy would be better spent getting more voters out instead. As of right now, an absurd percentage of the country doesn't even go out to vote. Tapping into this group may be key to victory, instead of trying the Kerry tactic of moderation.

2) Conservatives in moderate clothing - As a self proclaimed cynical libertarian, I don't see the particular appeal in any of the mainstream candidates at this point. That being said, the two front running candidates for the republican party (I'd say McCain and Romney) are being painted as moderates with little good reason to me. The fact is:

1) Romney is moderate because Mass. (a left leaning state) has forced it on him and
2) McCain looks moderate because the country's been run by ultra conservatives for the past few years.

At this point, I'd just say that anyone who is still regretful about 2000 should not let that keep them from looking closely at what the records state.

These are two thoughts I have for now on the topic. As we come closer to 2008 I'll have more. For now I'm going to bang my head into the wall or something.

-TBC