The Ephemeric

It's been an interesting few weeks for anyone following the US election primaries. I got my vote in to New York and helped ignite what has become the Obama revolution. That this relatively young man, a fresh breath of competent air in the bloated windbag that is American Government, has suddenly risen to prominence when no one thought he'd be competing with Clinton a few months ago just goes to show that the system works, and that the little people can make a difference. There is a change coming about in America, and it will result in a government that doesn't run the country based on the bible, that doesn't lie to the general public and use fear to control the masses! The leader will not be someone who is full of crap and resorts to low smear tactics (unless hillary wins, in which case it will be) this election is showing the power of appealing to young idealistic voters who want to be taken seriously again on the world stage, instead of being the butt of every other country's jokes.

Obama has now taken the lead, and if all goes well, he could win the nomination. It is an exciting time to be involved in politics. Even if you have to put up the odd ignorant naysayer who judges a candidate without even knowing the facts. Who criticises a man with competence and integrity just because he hasn't held a position that deem to be 'experienced' enough. He was a state senator for 15 years before he was elected to the senate, and has done a lot of good work in that time, all of which, on top of the specifics of his philosophy are plainly available for all who care to actually look into it. That is a lot of experience, even if it's not as much as some of the less competent candidates, you can't go putting a minimum level of experience on this job beyond what's already in place: Obama has got as much experience as anyone his age, if that's not enough then the minimum age for president would be higher than 35.

His opponent Clinton has taken a bit of a low road in recent times following her poor run of form. Every day now she releases another snipe or attack in the media. I have a high opinion of the American voters (on the democratic side anyway) and I'm sure they'll see how this is a clear sign of desperation. Specifically now she criticizes the fact that Obama won't debate with her prior to the wisconsin primary. Seemingly a valid point, it completely sidesteps the fact that he has two debates planned already post wisconsin, and the only reason she wants more and more debates is because her campaign is out of money, and quite frankly she has no means to campaign otherwise, whereas the Obama fundraising campaign is going strong due to the passion and commitment of his supporters. Of the three remaining (likely) candidates I think she is the least likable by quite a distance, and after her husband's similar comments lost her south carolina, I would be wary of putting her foot in her mouth. Giuliani and Romney employed similar tactics and they are both out of the race now. Let's see if she does any better...

On the other side Huckabee is a depressing notion, an evangelical religious president... even worse than bush... god can you imagine. If he were president then i tell you, we would be no worse than the other side, than the fundamentalist muslims in this world that are so chastised for their extremeness. Mccain is a decent guy, one of the few candidates who is not completely fake and full of it, and also an American hero, for what that's worth. With him though, he is quite old, he isn't the freshest of faces in the system and there is the worry really that he is too far embedded in said system for him to really bring about any change. He is a safe option, but in this world today that doesn't seem enough. Drastic changes are needed to repair the country, its foreign relationships and general image in the world that has taken such a pounding the past 8 years.

One thing we can all agree on, thank god that 8 years is done with now, shame on all of you who forced it upon us by voting for Bush/rigging the elections.