Clinton's "experience," so far as I know, essentially includes her spectacular health care failure, the Iraq War, Kyl-Lieberman, and renaming a few post offices in New York.  On what planet should these actions qualify one to be president in 2008?

Be nice to America. Or we'll bring democracy to you country.

Consider the GOP side.  The press kept focusing on Giuliani and Thompson even though they kept losing.  Duncan Hunter did better in some of those first races and they still ignored him.  Ron Paul definitely did better than both of them, he's still in the race and they press still ignore him.  But Giuliani is "America's Mayor" and Thompson was a TV star.

That's why Ferraro's claims are simple-minded.  She's focusing on the one thing that actually  has no bearing on the situation.

~~~THIS SPACE FOR RENT~~~

1. Unlike many, I actually do think Clinton's experience as First Lady is valuable experience and that, on balance, she is better prepared to take over the Federal Bureaucracy on Day One.  That doesn't mean she will make better decisions, but she has a better grasp on what decisions will need to be made.

2. The has been a sexist component to the coverage of Clinton's campaign.

3. Obama would not be generating the same excitement if his biography (of which race is the most compelling part) were not so unique.  

I say this because Obama's success owes more to his astounding vision, feel, and understanding of politics than to any other factor.  He's left some of the smartest political analysts and observers in the dust.  I still feel like I've had a better grasp on what he's attempting to do that any of the other well known left-wing bloggers, but I was a little late to catch on.  

Obama is a lot like Bill Clinton in this regard.  He has vision and talent that far outstrip his contemporaries.  Obama has some faults, but none of them seem as epically tragic as the Big Dog's.  

I think it is simply false that this race is coming down to whether sexism or racism are bigger factors in American politics.  Obama is struggling mightily against racism in the south and border states.  Racism is probably the reason he cannot win in Kentucky and West Virginia, and why he lost so badly in Tennessee and Oklahoma.  In the Deep South, he has overcome this because the African-American population is larger, but he can't overcome it in the near south.  

I have seen no regional sexism.  

So, I still think race is trumping sexism, but even if I did not, the reason Obama is winning is superior talent, superior campaign, and superior strategy.  

And that speech he gave in 2002 isn't hurting either.

Do I feel a special pride because he's African American. Yes. Is that the reason I support his candidacy? No. It's about 514th on the list. Trust again that there are Black folks I wouldn't elect dog catcher, just as there are white folks and brown folks and women of all colors that I wouldn't elect dog catcher. And Hillary falls into that category.

I am so very tired of this. All this is a female face in a high place. What's that going to do for me? Not flippin' much. She wants to be judged fairly? Well here it is:

I do not want dynastic politics. I STRONGLY detest her imperial attitude that she will act "for" me instead of "with" me. It's the difference between an ethos and politics of "Yes We Can" and "Yes She Will"--with a dollop of her unoriginality.

And the fact of the matter is, she wouldn't be anywhere without her husband. Point blank. That's not to say that she isn't intelligent, but her vaunted "experience" lies in being a corporate lawyer and First Lady. No one's answered me about a question I've asked again and again: how was her Wal-Mart board membership supposed to help my Mom working at Sam's Club? And WE make about what--66 or 69 cents for every white guy's dollar? 77 cents wouldn't be fair, but a step up for me. I'm not impressed.

And then she's given her Senate seat when other, life-long, more qualified folks (read: Nita Lowey--maybe if Hillary becomes president she could compete for the seat finally) could serve just as capably, if not moreso.

Barack Obama earned everything he's ever achieved. And he has a vision for this country and for this party that is refreshing and a damned long time coming. She. Does. Not.

The Steinems and Ferraros just grow more and more offensive everyday until their very visage sickens me.

I don't mean to sound mean, but pretending that DLC Hillary Clinton is a feminist just to get her what she thinks she is entitled to is disingenuous. Hillary's more in the Independent Women's Forum camp than mine. I resent it. Completely.


Can't hear ya, Peach!

Obama isn't successful because he is black. He certainly gets votes from African Americans. But there are a lot of other black politicians (or politicians of any race) that would be laughed down if they announced for President. Obama has run a remarkable campaign. He is a very good public speaker and he has connected and invigorated a lot of voters.  

Ultimately, what qualifies you for a run for the White House is the number of delegates you get. So far, on that scale, he's the best Democrat this year.

Barack Obama isn't being hired as a bureaucrat at some state department of transportation. He's receiving the support of the general public. Black people like him, white people like him, men like him, and women like him. Is there some element of warm fuzzies involved in supporting a black candidate in the context of this country's shameful racist past? Yeah, that's probably true for a lot of white people. But that never translated into broad white support for any of the other black folks who have run for public office.

The bottom line is that Barack Obama has broad appeal to people because of the content of his character.

I still have my reservations about the unknowns, but the way I have seen him handle himself tells me that this is a smart guy with basic decency and no small measure of personal grace. Hillary is smart, too, but she has shown herself to be lacking in both basic decency and grace. None of those things would change if Hillary Clinton was a man or if Barack Obama was white.

Hillary Clinton is infuriated by that because, as part of the Dem establishment, she wanted to keep the racial divide perpetually in place as a source of black votes. Everyone knows the drill: the Dem candidates show up at a few NAACP events, promise the moon, and then forget black people exist for another four years. The ascendancy of Barack Obama, on the other hand, indicates the desire of the voters to actually heal the divide rather than weep crocodile tears while cynically exploiting it. W.E.B. DuBois' color line still exists, but it's rapidly blurring, and the political parasites that profited from it are not adapting quickly enough to survive.

---Cthulhu for President: Why vote for the lesser evil?