Michael Jackson TalkRadio Content

onna Brazile was Al Gore's campaign manager in 2000. Recently she proffered the thought that if by Oscar night he has pared down some 25 or 30 pounds, and should his documentary on global warning win him a golden statuette, "Lord knows". After that, should his nomination as one of those being considered for the Nobel Peace Prize select him as the winner of this most prestigious of awards, for his work on climate control, he could end up an announced candidate for the presidency. And then, "Lord knows". One name that becomes unelectable, for sure, is San Francisco's mayor, Gavin Newsom. There were those who pictured him as a poster boy as a future Democratic party candidate. He's been having an affair with the wife of one of his best friends and closest allies, his campaign manager's wife. Lorena Bobbitt where are you when we need you. Turning to the Republicans one question might be, will conservative voters believe that the former Governor of Massachusetts, Mitt Romney, who was, when last we met him, formerly pro-choice, is now anti abortion? Will evangelical Christians back a devout Mormon like Romney? He's been offering himself as the more conservative alternative to Rudolph Giuliani, the former Mayor of New York and Senator John McCain. In the most recent CNN poll Romney was winning support from just 7% of Republican leaning voters. US News and World Report put it well, "Romney is probably the strongest White House hopeful that Americans have never heard of". Where he ends up, I have no idea, but I'll wager he'll be a challenge to all the announced, and yet to be announced candidates before too long. We've spent more than a decade watching Senator Hillary Clinton. Is she a person with too many images for us to sort out ? She's changed and grown as she has morphed from the wife of the candidate, to becoming the Senator and now presidential candidate in her own right. She's a survivor who knows how to be tough and who has learned she has to be liked. I like her and respect her, which is more than I can say for many others who have been the occupant of the Oval Office, or will be seeking to be the next president.
Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill) has been in the race for the presidential candidacy for just three weeks, and there is no doubt that his presence continues to cause a buzz and considerable interest . His support is growing and his campaign team is hard at work assembling the nuts and bolts of a national campaign; he does not, at this stage, have a deep database of major donors. He is only now building a political infrastructure to keep a-pace with his growing popularity. His somber remarks at the Democratic National Committee meeting last week were well received. Obama told the crowd, "There are those who don't believe in talking about hope. They say. 'Well, we want specifics, we want details, and we want white papers and we want plans'. We've had a lot of plans, Democrats. What we've had is a shortage of hope. And over the next year, over the next two years, that will be my call to you." The past few weeks have been one unending power play by President George Bush: from Iraq and the war to the firing of federal prosecutors. The White House has been both aggressive and defiant. We have, for the good of the country, two other branches of Government. His expansive notion of power has brought him into greater friction with the legislative and the judicial branches. On Iraq, for the first time, Congress is fighting back. He believes that he, and he alone, has the constitutional authority and the power to wage war. The Financial Times had a powerful editorial headlined, "George Bush and the imperial presidency". The sub-heading, Congress can and must rein in the power-hungry president". One can but hope.