BernieHund: The Political Watchdog

Oh, for heaven’s sake!  Of all the inane things that can come up in an election, this has to be the one that puts the icing on the cake… not to mention the most embarrassing.  I’m talking about the Democratic “Food Fight.”

Once again, I stand behind my support for John Edwards.  A few days ago, I mentioned that being the white man in the election cast him as boring in the eyes of the electorate.  At least he can stay on point and discuss the real issues.  So, as the black man and the white woman sling pasta and pie at one another, this is what is being said about John Edwards:

And, to that end, I must share a few comments and points that further support Edwards as my candidate of choice.

As Paul Krugman writes today in The New York Times:

“On the Democratic side, John Edwards, although never the front-runner, has been driving his party’s policy agenda. He’s done it again on economic stimulus: last month, before the economic consensus turned as negative as it now has, he proposed a stimulus package including aid to unemployed workers, aid to cash-strapped state and local governments, public investment in alternative energy, and other measures.”

And as Christopher Hayes writes in The Nation:

“The fact remains that the Edwards campaign has set the domestic policy agenda for the entire field. He was the first with a bold universal health care plan, the first with an ambitious climate change proposal that called for cap-and-trade, and the leader on reforming predatory lending practices and raising the minimum wage to a level where it regains its lost purchasing power.”

As Ezra Klein writes in The American Prospect:

“Much more so than Obama, it was Edwards who forced a new style of politics, untethered by the fear and timidity of the 90s, adamant that liberalism was an electoral boon and economic justice a popular sentiment. Knowing they had to defend against his challenge, both Hillary and Obama edged closer to his appeal.

“It left the Democrats in a much stronger position overall, and forced them to argue for, and commit to, a much broader and more inspiring agenda than we otherwise might have seen.”

As Kevin Drawbaugh reports for Reuters:

“Ask corporate lobbyists which presidential contender is most feared by their clients and the answer is almost always the same — Democrat John Edwards. One business lobbyist said an Edwards presidency would be a ‘disaster’ for his well-heeled industrialist clients.

‘I think Hillary is approachable. She knows where a lot of her funding has come from to be blunt,’ said Greg Valliere, chief political strategist at Stanford Group Co., a market and policy analysis group.” 

When I wrote about the racial/gender issue a few days ago, I was referring to the voters who were asking themselves if they could vote for a black man or a white woman.  I was referring to the media… and I won’t name them because that would only give them the recognition they so desperately seek… who keep talking about Hillary’s eyes filling with tears making her too fragile or the cadence of Barack’s speeches in black churches making him too black.

Now, for heaven’s sake, the black man and the white woman are acting like a bunch of high school kids in a cafeteria food fight.  And, they are picking teams to support this idiocy.  I say to them that with the behavior they are displaying at this time… both the candidates and their staffs…. neither Barack or Hillary appears to be qualified for the Presidency.  If either candidates believes this is setting the example of uniting the party, or will unite our nation, I will say that both are dividing the party and if this rhetoric continues, the division can become irreparable in the upcoming election.  As a white woman, I say that I don’t give a happy damn about who is the blackest or who is the most feminine.  I’m not casting my vote for black or female.  We need a leader, a real president with some degree of restraint that knows what is important and what is a waste of time.  I suggest that neither Obama or Clinton has enough confidence in the black vote or the woman’s vote to rise above the whining and pandering that has distracted all of us from the issues that will affect our nation’s future come 2009.  I regret feeling the necessity to say that.  But, it’s a truth I am feeling as a plate of spaghetti flies past my head.  

This debate (I do apologize to those who really debate) is out of control and exemplifies unusally childish behavior between two people who should be above the fray.  Each one is reacting to the other like a child throwing a temper tantrum in public.  It’s a disgrace.  Of course, we have learned something about these two candidates, they ”re-act” rather than “act”.  That brings me to a serious point.  Can anyone remember when George Bush had his childish moment?  “Saddam tried to have my daddy killed.”  And, we see where that immaturity got us… straight into a war.

So, sitting in the back of the room is John Edwards, the candidate who has something to say that is relevant to the future of the country, for everyone in the country, black or white, male or female.