POLITICS AND NATURE

It is now a two person race to the finish for the party who has had one successful president since John Kennedy was shot in November, 1963. There is so much coverage of race and gender the media lost focus on what the contest is for.

There are two qualified, motivational, exciting candidates looking to make history by entering the White House as the President of the United States of America on January 20, 2009. This is exciting for the Democratic Party. Each has strengths and weaknesses but each seems up to the challenge of leading a country confronting massive deficits, a war without end, fiscal crises in the market place, a loss of standing abroad, a deteriorating infrastructure, an education system in need of repair, important investment needs in future, environmentally friendly technologies, and a general lack of faith among the people re: what we stand for.

Barack Obama:

He is a motivational speaker par excellence. He has the ability and the charisma to incite people to action and to generate excitement throughout the country again. He is intelligent, thoughtful, and willing to listen to others, all things this nation has sorely lacked over the past seven years. An able politician with the backing of many bright young people and his support among political movers and shakers is growing. He has the opportunity to restore respect for America again in the world. His lack of experience is troubling. But that was the argument against John F. Kennedy, Ronald Reagan was governor of California but that's about it, and Bill Clinton was a no name candidate who was governor of  Arkansas, one of the last states to register in anything on any scale. His judgement seems sound, his ability to work with others is proven, and his vitality is clear. If he loses, he should run for governor of Illinois.

Hillary Clinton:

She has proven her dedication to spending her life as a reformer and as an advocate of family issues. She is awfully intelligent, well spoken, and I would say courageous. She has been fighting the good fights for her entire adult life and she has been effective. She showed her ability to work with others on all sides of the aisle, she has been steadfast in her support of the troops and, no small feat, she was able to win against all odds in the Senate race in New York. The problems with Hillary are not her credentials but the complete contempt she brings out of so many people through the country. People don't seem to need a reason to despise her with all the fiber of their beings. Hillary in office can assure some form of backlash from the Republicans and vicious attacks from right wing radio nuts and Fox TV for the next four or eight years, depending on her performance. They'll call her all sorts of vile names like "liberal" and demonize the ground she walks on, while she is more likely to govern as a moderate and the last time the right wing got that hot and bothered, the country turned out pretty well as a result. If she loses, she should spend her days in the Senate and give up the fight, although she'll probably head right into another run at the people's house making the twilight of her career akin to Michael Jordan's lackluster efforts with the Washington Wizards, she may have fun, but winning a title will be out of reach after this go around.

I, for one, will be personally proud to support either of my party's candidates for the Oval Office and I hope the turnout continues to be as large as its been and people keep being engaged in the process.