Relaxation tip: Ignore the presidential campaigns because it’s 15 months before November 2008. It’s six months before any primaries that matter. Why get worked up? A good part of the chaff will be be blown away by either luck or strong campaigners so you won’t get your hopes up for some goofus.
Entertainment advice: Enjoy the presidential campaigns now. Some of it actually is fun, not to mention educational. (I speak for many nerds who find education is entertainment.) Maybe you’ll catch the goof that kills the chances of a candidate — live, before it’s in the cable-news loop and repeated so often you almost feel sorry for the goofus.
I was in the former camp until My Beloved and I heard about the CNN/YouTube Democratic debate held Monday night. All questions came from voters who presented them on YouTube clips. The eight Dems all were pretty adept at both obvious and left-field questions. Both easy and odd queries were presented in a variety of formats, including being sung and with props.
The moderator directed questions to “all” to two to four candidates while a question for a particular candidate went first to that person then to one or two who wanted to rebut. There were no closing statements, and no question requiring all eight to speak. This kept the show moving. A Republican YouTube debate will be in a few weeks.
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of Illinois, Arkansas and New York left herself exposed in a couple of questions but no candidate took the bait. She was the most presidential, but in the months ahead the most vulnerable.
Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del. was uniquely courageous. A citizen spoke in a video clip about the need to protect the interpretation of the Second Amendment meaning all sane, law-abiding adults may own all sorts of weapons. He held up a military style assault rifle, calling it his “baby.” A couple of candidates responded by defending gun ownership while advocating better identity checks for felons and loonies. Biden wonderfully did not pussyfoot:
I tell you what, if that’s his baby, he needs help. I don’t know that he’s mentally qualified to own that gun.”
The audience gasped. But Joe held his ground. I bet he supports Americans’ right to guns, but he’s not going to act like other candidates and ignore the obvious. -30-
