Are You Experienced?

"So often in Washington experience means doing what we have been doing over, and over again. Well, to me that's not experience if what you are doing isn't working." - Barack Obama

I have been on various forums where there are heated arguments between Obama and Hillary supporters. Hillary supporters are accusing Obama of having no substance with a razor thin resume to become president on "day one". These people tend to be traditional democrats who are very party oriented. Yet, if Hillary doesn't get the nomination some of them said that they may look at Mccain.

They claim that Hillary is the best person to compete with Mccain because she has the most experience. I can't see how Hillary could compete with Mccain based on experience. She my have more experience than Obama (some have argued that Obama has more experience than Hillary in the State Legislature), but does she have more experience than Mccain? Mccain has been around forever and was in the Hanoi Hilton when she was in College. No democrat still running can say they have more experience.

We are in the mess we are in because of people who have "experience" Cheney, Rumsfeld, Greenspan all have long resumes of running things in the public and private sectors.

If democrats were so concerned about the experience thing they would have went with Biden, Dodd, or Richardson, but they decided to go with the party's "superstars": Hillary and Obama. Given that decision, dems are not going to be able to compete on experience. Our only hope is the vision thing and mobilizing independents and first time voters around a whole different paradigm and grassroots movement to end the war, reform health care, fight against global warming, and create jobs.

Nobody can deny her negatives. I keep running into people who are afraid that Hillary will get in there and not be able to accomplish anything because there is this irrational hatred toward her. I know dems and liberal independents who do not like her. There are people who voted with the Greens in 2000 because they really resented the Clintons for NAFTA, welfare-to-work,
and not doing enough for the environment. It is not just the right who hate her. There is a resentment of her about her vote for the war and her inability to admit she made a mistake with that vote. Refusal to admit a mistake seems too similar to Bush and it disappoints.

Hillary can get the rank and file democrats, but can she get the support of independents, the fastest growing political group in the Nation? If Obama gets the nomination he can steal from the pool of independents that would go for Mccain (his only political strength) and wouldn't mobilize the right wing as much as Hillary would do.

You can be the biggest policy wonk in the world, but if people are turned off by you (even if it is undeserved) how will you get things through?

When it comes to Clinton, experience means baggage, old ideas, and a top down method of governing. Obama's experience with grassroots can serve him well to turn his candidacy
and presidency into a movement for change. Change requires the American public to be motivated to put pressure on government to respond to their needs.

What our country needs is a reset button from the past 30 years in terms of foreign policy, economic development, and the general mood in this country and elevates it. We need a brilliant man of color named Barack Obama to represent us in the Middle East and to the world.

I am not saying Clinton would be a bad president. She would be a fine president. Obama would be better in my opinion. If she gets the nomination I will work for her, but it would be in the spirit of being against a republican Whitehouse rather than any enthusiasm for Clinton.

President Pelosi, Please!

Can We Call This Impeachment Thursday?



So I made my call thttp://impeachforpeace.org/impeach_bush_blog/?p=1384o President...err...House Speaker Pelosi to register my support for impeachment of BOTH Cheney and Bush (in THAT order, please). If we can impeach a president for a trivial thing as lying about a consentual extra-marital affair no one cared to hear about in the first place, why not impeach these two incompetant and beligerant actors against our constitution and our security.

Here are Kucinich's documents relating to the impeachment of Dick Cheney for high crimes and misdemenors. Vermont senators voted Friday to call for the impeachment of President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney.

Impeachment sites:

Impeachbush.org

Impeach for Peace

Democrats.com Impeachment page

CNN's Impeachment "reality check"

Quotes of the Day:



"The genius of impeachment lay in the fact that it could punish the man without punishing the office."

Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.

"When people ask if the United States can afford to place on trial the president, if the system can stand impeachment, my answer is, "Can we stand anything else?"

George McGovern

"Impeachment is not a remedy for private wrongs; it's a method of removing someone whose continued presence in office would cause grave danger to the nation. "

Charles Ruff

"The only conduct that merits the drastic remedy of impeachment is that which subverts our system of government or renders the president unfit or unable to govern. "

Charles Ruff

"[Imeachable conduct is] misconduct by public men, or, in other words, from the abuse or violation of some public trust." - Alexander Hamilton

"All in all, the framers would probably agree that it's better to impeach too often than too seldom. If presidents can't be virtuous, they should at least be nervous."

- Joseph Sobran

Ideas for Protesting The Current Administration



There are emails circulating on A Great American Gas-Out, but this hasn't been verified as a real campaign as yet. I think instead we might want to really hurt the oil companies by pledging to Vacation in the Backyard in the Summer of 07. Instead of taking road trips like the Oil Companies are expecting, just stay at home and spend money at your local tourist traps or hold BBQ's where you talk about organizing politically and getting people registered to vote. 40 Summers ago it was the Summer of Love -- maybe this will be the Summer of Change?

Never The Twain Shall Meet: Cheney and the Truth

It is not that Cheney wouldn't know the truth if it mistook him for a turkey (or a lawyer) in a turkey shoot. Cheney has a blatant disdain for the truth. Truth is to Cheney as water was to the Wicked Witch in Wizard of Oz. It would melt the latex off his cyborgian skeletal structure.

So the news today is that Cheney was trying to work his evil mojo over at Wolf Blitzer's place. He claims that talk of blunders in Iraq and/or lack of credibility are "Hogwash." He also goes on to say in regards to a Congressional resolution in opposition to the escalation of the war "It won't stop us." (How so very cyborg-like, Dick. It is nice to know how much you listen to the people's representatives)



Then he says that the bottom line is that they have had "enormous successes" in regards to Iraq. Yeah, that is why the American people booted the republicans out last November because you guys were having enormous successes. Then he says he thinks Rumsfeld did a "superb job."



Dick, can we talk? You have a credibility problem. Do you know why? You have been caught in so many lies they could fill volumes. I don't know anyone outside you, Bush, and your inner circle who would be able to say with a straight face that Rumsfeld did a "superb job"

The conventional wisdom and truth is that Rumsfeld was an incompetent bungler, who you didn't have the balls to fire until after your party got run out of town.



Dick you can go on trying to make the press, the democratic party, and all those who are against your plan on Iraq as wanting us to fail, be quitters, or any number of other ways to suggest your critics want to undermine the country or the troops. If we "fail" or have to pull out in a humiliating matter with all the consequences you claim will happen it will be solely your fault and the fault of the Bush administration and the republican party. It is not the troops that will fail, because they are courageous professionals, but you and George Bush who will be failures. It is this Administration who dragged us in under false pretense and then went on to bungle the operation and misuse our men and women in the Armed Forces. You cannot blame the democrats (ok, you can blame Lieberman) or any of your critics for your failures.

Truth, this is Dick.

Dick, this is Truth.