Sunday, January 06, 2008

Iowa Caucus Notes.

Obama

When Obama was in the Illinois Senate (from a Chicago Machine controlled district elected with no opposition) we was a very popular person that every one assumed he was a moderate Democrat. His voting record was one of the furthest to the left in recent history. His US Senate experience is similar.

His other election experience was running for congress without machine endorsement and losing. In his run for US Senate both the primary and general election candidates were mired in scandal.

Iowa is his first victory against solid opposition and he fully deserves the congratulations. But the cynic in me asks is this also perhaps a sign of Clinton electoral weakness.

Having a very hard left voting record does not hurt in a Democratic primary, if he gets the nomination it will be interesting to see if the Republican candidate can portray to independents that he is too far on the left.




Huckabee

Huckabee’s win, no matter who gets the nomination is a positive thing for the Republican Party. The Social Conservative wing provides too many votes to be excluded from the process if the Republican Party wants to win in November.

No, they won’t hold their nose and vote for Clinton but might stay home or vote for a protest candidate. More importantly the Social Conserative's provide a major portion of the people power that just doesn’t just vote but takes the message out on the street and convinces the marginal voter. If Social Conservatives only vote the Republicans lose the election.

They have shown that they can deliver, the rest of the party needs to reach out to them and support their issues if it wants to win. Huckabee‘s victory provides a good starting point. Huckabee on the other hand has shown virtually no comprehension of the fiscal and defense concerns of the rest of the party. He needs to reach out and get on board with other wings if he wants to be nominated.

5 comments:

Mark said...

Still love your blog, but as Democrat find myself on opposite of political spectrum. However, Huckabee is my favorite Republicsn. Touch of W.J. Bryan. But really needs to play down "God wants me to win." Jack

hank_F_M said...

Jack

Boy would life be boring if every one agreed all the time.

Always glad to have you show up. if you have commnet on somthing you disagree with leave a note.

Mark said...

How do you stand on Huckabee claim as God's candidate. I still think he needs a little clarification on that. But still like my W.J. Bryan comparison. And BTW he is damn likeable. Jack

hank_F_M said...

Jack

I’m really not sure about him.

Peggy Noonan has what seems to be the best comment I’ve read so far.


Peggy Noonan


From the mail I have received the past month after criticizing him in this space, I would say his great power, the thing really pushing his supporters, is that they believe that what ails America and threatens its continued existence is not economic collapse or jihad, it is our culture.
They have been bruised and offended by the rigid, almost militant secularism and multiculturalism of the public schools; they reject those schools' squalor, in all senses of the word. They believe in God and family and America. They are populist: They don't admire billionaire CEOs, they admire husbands with two jobs who hold the family together for the sake of the kids; they don't need to see the triumph of supply-side thinking, they want to see that suffering woman down the street get the help she needs.
They believe that Mr. Huckabee, the minister who speaks their language, shares, down to the bone, their anxieties, concerns and beliefs. They fear that the other Republican candidates are caught up in a million smaller issues--taxing, spending, the global economy, Sunnis and Shia--and missing the central issue: again, our culture. They are populists who vote Republican, and as I have read their letters, I have felt nothing but respect.
But there are two problems. One is that while the presidency, as an office, can actually make real changes in the areas of economic and foreign policy, the federal government has a limited ability to change the culture of America. That is something conservatives used to know. Second, I'm sorry to say it is my sense that Mr. Huckabee is not so much leading a movement as riding a wave. One senses he brilliantly discerned and pursued an underserved part of the voting demographic, and went for it.


See my notes in the main post. Even if he wins and over all does a good job as President I think his base support will be disappointed in what he actually able to do.

has had several interesting articles on him. Here is the
Latest which comments on some Catholic issues.

hank_F_M said...

A worthy goal for any candidate is get blogger to fix the link function in comments.

icckkk!

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