Living in MN (sigh) ... Politics ... birdwatching ... on the road in Tennessee (ouch!) ....

If we can believe Paul O'Neill, Dick Cheney told him that Reagan proved that deficits no longer mattered. What he meant by that, is that going into deficit didn't hurt the chances for being re-elected. In the sense that O'Neill meant when he discussed them, deficits do matter. Our economy has been hurt badly by the deficit. Deficits are behind the huge oil price increases and deficits are behind the inability of the US to use its influence anywhere in the world. After 8 years of Bush all we have is the gun and if we won't use it (and we usually can't) we can't get anyone to listen. We can't even get the Indians to listen and they are making billions from us.

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As of today I have 'chosen' Barack Obama as my selected candidate. Given that I didn't vote in a primary or caucus I put the quotes around 'chosen' because I have actually chosen anyone in any legal vote.

There are difference between the two. Right now I would agree more with Hillary's health plan then Barack's. I would agree with Barack on whether or not to drop the Federal gas tax during the summer months. In real terms the differences are small. Right now I agree more with Hillary's approach to healthcare then Barack's but I don't prefer either's approach - I think a single payer system is the only way that makes sense right now. Outside of the minor differences one should be struck by the similarity. Both has Chicago ties, both are married to lawyers. Even their education is similar, Hillary is Yale and Barack is Harvard. I think we will be well served by either.

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One shouldn't have to make excuses for one's pastor.

In the relatively years I went to church regularly (age 1 to 18) I don't think anything was said by any of the clerics who ran the churches I attended that I would have had to apologize for. Barack Obama doesn't have that luxury, the 'senior' pastor of his chuch has made statements than cannot be justified unless one is willing to disregard the meaning of words. That now retired pastor is Jeremiah Wright.

One can easily understand Black rage in the 1960's but the 1960's are a long time ago. The basis of Black Liberation theology is an effort to graft Christian rhetoric to the needs of the Black Power movement. Someone like Wright uses that remembered anger as a way of building the emotional power of his sermons. Perhaps it meant something real 40 years aog, but when used today, it is almost a carnival trick, and nothing more. When you read the sermons and don't share the remembered anger, they are unconvincing. Yes, America has done wrong, but does that justify attacks by people who have not been wronged by America - at least not wronged in any way that a non-Muslim could understand. Osama bin Laden was angered that American soldiers were on holy Muslim soil and that they were defending a holy Muslim country.

A trained cleric like Wright should know how to express himself clearly. Wright's rhetoric, once the emotion was removed, seemed to be justifying those attacks on this country. Wright isn't alone in this, but he is important only because one of his flock is running for president. More than just the carelessness of the wording, there is a dishonesty. Yes there was the Tuskeegee experiment, but does that mean that the US government helped create the AIDS virus? Yes the US government has done wrong, but what government hasn't? Is this an excuse for murder? Would Wright have made the same careless statements about the Sept 11th attacks if he were in NY or Washington where many of his flock would have known the name of people who died.

Both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton share a cautiousness that can be destructive. Hillary Clinton, who must have known better, supported the war resolution that George Bush used to get us into Iraq. Barack Obama, must have understood the evil of Wright's rhetoric, but he was too cautious to risk taking a stand.

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1968 was a tumultuous year, but after many demonstations against his presidency, the hated Lyndon Johnson decided not to run again. Whatever one thinks of Hubert Humphrey he was a confirmed liberal - certainly he had more liberal credentials than Robert Kennedy had (RFK worked for McCarthy). Because they hated Johnson, the left abandoned Humphrey and helped Nixon win. 2008 is hardly in the same class as 1968 but the Democrats are unwilling to grow up and pick a candidate. Hillary Clinton seems willing to sacrifice the party for her personal ambitions.

The country needs a change, maybe McCain, once in office can drop his silly campaign rhetoric and govern more like the senator he has been.

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