Put a sock in it, Barack

Now back in Australia, there is passionate frustration at being distanced from the campaign developments - which is absolutely ironic since the Internet age keeps me right up to date with every hop and hiccup. I am "virtually" there.
And, at the moment, railing with fury at Barack Obama for taking his negative campaigning.
At first, I was rather interested in Obama - the bright, young, black candidate. I watched carefully as he established a campaign. I went out and bought his books and read him - and I was even more impressed. He is very good with the written word.
Then I went along to see and hear him in person.
And I felt hollow.
All the positive feelings just melted...dripped into little puddles of disappointment.
There was now "there" there.
Something about Barack Obama was thin and insubstantial. Something about Barack Obama was not right. I could not put my finger on it. I just accepted the old gut feeling - and it was with relief.
He was absolutely no threat to Hillary Clinton as the best Democratic candidate.
He is not ready, not right, does not have the goods...

But he has stayed in there with a loud and enthusiastic youthful supporter base.
For all those who are new to politics, he is a dream candidate.

It is a marked sign of his unreadiness, his amateurism, his unworthiness that he has now turned his campaign not policies and the priorities of the nation but to attacking Hillary.

His idea of winning the race is not to be better but to cannibalise his own kind.
He should be gunning for the very dangerous Mitt Romney, that famous Mormon. Or the rising creationist Mike Huckabee.

Hillary has responded philosophically.
She does not need to rear up and make a fuss. She has suggested that he replace the old negativity with a bit of hope. And she is just getting on with it.

Which is one reason that she shines on as the primary primary candidate.

Hills and the MySpace outreach

Never slow on the uptake, Hillary, one notes, has been campaigning brilliantly from within the ranks of youth. There are several worlds in which to sustain a profile these days. The classic hustings of the trail, the stump speeches from town to town, and then there are the "other" towns, the virtual communities which are huge, powerful and often cohesive.
Hillary has sustained a strong presence on MySpace which is virtual home to a daunting mass of brightly bubbling young people as well as much of the music industry. I am told that if you are in the music business, a MySpace page is de rigeur.
If you are trying to communicate with music consumers, with young people generally, MySpace also is de rigeur.
Hillary's team was quick to put her in there and to know how to escalate the message. Some 14703 have signed up as her friends and thus are eligible to receive postings of her blog. The blog is posted regularly - clear and coherent policies right there in your face, so to speak.
Today she talks about education, the most valuable investment the country can make.
It costs a fortune. Hillary suggests:


* Lowering the cost of college through a $3,500 tuition tax credit, enough to cover more than 50% of the cost of tuition at the average public institution for many families.
* Increasing the Pell Grant.
* Strengthening community colleges and training programs.
* Improving college graduation rates.
* Providing additional aid for people who do public service.
* Simplifying student aid.
* Providing clear information about the real cost of college well in advance to help families plan.

Meanwhile, here's to AL GORE, the first man since George Bernard Shaw to win both an Oscar and a Nobel Prize.
Perhaps the Nobel prize may make some of the American anti-environmentalist right wingers wake up, just a little bit. Or will they only think the prize is a commie conspiracy?

The Fred factor

Now Fred Thompson has had his first official exposure on the dais amid the hard-working lineup of Republican presidential candidates, the political pundits, endlessly and laboriously chewing the cud of opine, seem to have pronounced him okay.
Not great. But at least a fresh face.
If you could call that overexposed face "fresh".
In fact there is nothing fresh about Fred. He is a tedious ego.
I thought his attitude in the Republican debate was patronising. Quite frankly, he gives the impression that he thinks he is just such a star that becoming president would be a come-down.
The media questions him for laziness and commitment. Good questions.
But the public, especially in America, has an inbuilt admiration not just for successful people but for television stars. Despite the fact that he is potentially a worse president than Bush, despite the fact that his first debate was beyond lacklustre, despite the fact that he could not be bothered to exert himself in campaigning like the others and entered the race at the last possible moment...despite all, there are lots of wide-eyed fools out there who are agog with excitement about him - and he will probably fare well in the polls.

It should all make more sense.
One can only hope that common sense prevails and, in the end of the day next November, all the Republican candidates are irrelevant.

Hillary - racing like a thoroughbred

The Iowa caucuses are just a couple of months away. So is the New Hampshire primary, come to think of it. The year has been racing forth mercilessly.
I continue to admire the incredible stamina of the leading candidates in sustaining the pace required to get the message across, meet the people, raise the profile…
Hillary now is so solidly in the lead that one has to fear that the opponents’ dirty tricks campaign are around the next corner. It has been a pleasure to watch her, the thoroughbred of political candidates, pull out into first place and keep the pace up without a backward glance.
Obama, who has never missed a chance to have a snipe at Hillary, has ramped up his television advertising in a last-minute bid to catch up with Hillary. But, last month he failed to show up for a Democratic debate in Iowa. What a mistake. I am not sure what his reason was but it was a golden opportunity for Hillary to shine – and she did.
The more she is diligently and consistently out there, the more the people are realising that she has depth and experience. She is spectacularly well informed and, oh my, she is disciplined and she is strong.

I have not mentioned John Edwards for ages – because he really isn’t worth a mention. He has campaigned with great confidence and determination yet again. But he simply is not “it”. The daddy working for the mill patter now is tired and no one will forget that $400 haircut. It was the lethal misstep. That is all it takes in politics.

Obama has not made one, but there is still time. He is the Howard Dean of this primary – boosted by noisy young. But the young are flighty. I’ll take a punt that half his support base has not even registered to vote.

Hillary has had a couple of close shaves, if one is to believe the beat-ups of Fox news. But, the more solidly she leads the pack, the more respectful the detractors seem to be becoming, as if readying themselves to accept her as president.
Even the old chestnut of how “polarising” Hillary is has not been getting much ink in the media.

Ah, yes, things are looking pretty good.