Zeitgeist Zephyr

Despite the absolute hilarity and outrageousness of John McCain’s recent ads against Obama, a serious consequence of these ads has arisen.  Obama’s lead in the polls is rapidly closing, indicating how truly brainwashed the general American public has become as a result of negative TV ads.  (That’s not just my opinion, what else has happened in the last week that could lead to a drop in the polls?) The harsh reality of negative campaigning is that if an accusation is made a certain number of times, whether it’s true, false or an opinion, it’ll become a fact and even believable.   

Watching TV doesn’t allow a person to fully process the information they are taking in.  That’s why it is relatively easy for Hollywood to accomplish the primary goal of making a good movie: making it believable.  As long as you can keep the attention of the audience, they’ll watch it and follow the story line and believe it as though it’s actually happening.  The same thing goes with campaign ads and even the 24 hour news networks to an extent. If you want to know the candidate, read up on them.  

If you don’t want to take the time to read their websites and all of their positions, at least open a newspaper or read an article online once and awhile.  By reading, you’ll be able to process the information better form your own opinion on an issue, rather than being spoon fed “spin” from the opposing candidate.    

I just hope that even though Obama is now 5 points behind McCain that he continues to run an honest campaign without the smear and spin ads that John McCain has been perpetuating.  The sweetest wins and the best losses are those which are the culmination of job done honestly. 

Link to the Barack Obama site Fight the Smears

I would include a link to a page fighting smears against McCain, but I could find no such page.  If you find a page, tell me! 

“Si, se puede!  Yes, we can!”

Tuesday night, after the final primaries of the 2008 election, Barack Obama gathered enough delegates to capture the Democratic nomination.  Later in the day on Wednesday, Hillary announced her plans to officially drop out of the race this weekend. 

While many Democrats are still hopeful that a potential “dream ticket” might result with Hillary as the VP candidate, I’m seeing this as being increasingly unlikely.

First of all, Obama learned of Hillary’s intentions of dropping out of the race from the media.  He even called her twice on Tuesday evening but only received her voicemail.  In order for an Obama-Clinton ticket to work, the candidates need to at least talk to one another on key issues; this is an apparent road block for the two candidates.

The other reason is that even though Hillary will be throwing her support to Obama, they are ideologically different and have had different track records through the campaign season.  As a proud Kansan, I would suggest Governor Sebelius as a VP candidate.  It is already inevitable that she will receive some sort of cabinet post (perhaps Secretary of Energy?) so this is by no means a stretch of the imagination.  She and Obama also share a track record of unity, where Hillary is still viewed as a divisive candidate.

Only time will tell if Hillary receives a VP position on the Obama ticket or not.  I would suspect that if neither candidate makes any significant move in the next week to make it happen, it won’t happen at all. 

Either way, as Barack Obama put it on Tuesday night: 

“Our party and our country are better off because of her, and I am a better candidate for having had the honor to compete with Hillary Rodham Clinton.”

Yes, March is here, and with it that old weather saying, “in like a lion, out like a lamb.”  For those here in the Kansas City area, it has definitely been coming in like a lion, with rather blustery conditions defining the first two days of March.  It has yet to be seen if March will, in due process, go out like a lamb.

March is coming in like a lion as well on the political front.  To start off the month will be the primaries in Texas and Ohio, which could settle once and for all who is the front runner on the Democratic side.  Then again, it might not.

Hillary and Barack are running two campaigns with similar platforms on the issues, but two entirely different ways of gathering votes.  In the past week, we have seen the Clinton campaign run ad’s that are questioning Obama’s ability to handle sudden international crises.  To which the Obama camp reminds us, who out of the two supported the now disastrous Iraq war?

 We have also seen, whether done voluntarily or not by Hillary’s campaign, an attempt to spread more rumors about Obama’s cultural heritage and religious beliefs by circulating images of him in traditional Somalian garb.  Wait, is this a picture of Hillary dressed in traditional garb as well?  Tsk, tsk.

I readily admit, even being the avid Obama supporter that I am, that Obama might not have all of the experience that Hillary offers.  They have both, however, been in the U.S. Senate for a similar period of time and Hillary’s time as First Lady overlaps some of Obama’s time as an Illinois state senator.  During his 1997-2004 tenure as Illinois state senator, Obama was a lecturer of constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School.  He also spent a lot of time as a community organizer while living in Chicago.  Obama can produce a long list of leadership accomplishments, in particular an ability to work with people.  Don’t trust me?  Read his memoirs or any web bio about him. 

I’d be willing to trust someone who promises change and a different way of doing things than someone who, honestly, still represents the status quo.  Hillary Clinton is ‘old politics.’  Barack Obama offers to bring a responsible sensibility and a sense of pragmatism to a political system in desperate need of repair.  

Using a Biblical reference, America is in the lion’s den.  Obama appears to be the lion, March 4 will determine if his roar (his charisma) lives up to it’s ability to ’rally the troops.’  It will be an interesting week indeed.