Debatable Impressions

I enjoyed watching the CNN debate last night. I thought that the democratic candidates showed that our party has the potential to exercise the type of leadership that is going to be necessary to repair the severe damage that the current administration has done, both domestically and internationally.

At this point, I have not decided which candidate I will vote for in the primary. There are some that I like more than others. The debate tended to reinforce that, and I thought a couple candidates did very well. Yet none of them made what I consider any serious blunder, and each candidate’s supporters have reason to believe their favorite did well.

With 100% certainty, I can say that I will support the democratic nominee for president in 2008. My focus today isn’t to advocate for one candidate, or to attack another. Rather, I had a couple of impressions that I thought were important. I’m curious what other DUers think about these things.

First, I thought it was obvious that Wolf Blitzer of CNN favored one candidate, and was looking to discredit and/or marginalize the others. A number of his questions seem to paraphrase a Woody Allen quote, by stating that we are at a crossroads, with one path leading to complete tragedy, the other to unqualified catastrophe ….. could you please give a one-word answer as to which route you would lead the nation on ?

The best questions, by far, came from the audience. CNN felt it necessary to provide journalists’ interpretation, but the strength of the citizens’ concerns came through. At other times, I thought the CNN folks failed to address what appeared to be organized audience interference with a couple of candidate’s responses to questions.

As we move further into the primary season, I think that the debate provided food for thought on a number of important issues. Despite the unpopularity of the Bush-Cheney administration, and the odd cast of characters in the republican primary, I do not think we can afford to take the ’08 election for granted. The Cheneyites are intent upon increasing tensions with Iran, and the possibility of some military strikes on targets within Iran is real. More, the republican machine is going to be working overtime in the next year to attack democrats; this will include any nominee, as well as our candidates for the House and Senate. It will get ugly, and you can count on the "journalists" in the lap dog media to do their best to help their masters.

The republicans do not have the only machine in the business. We see folks from various camps attempting to "spin" the results of the debate. Even on progressive internet discussion forums, you read things about what a wonderful job Wolf Blitzer did, or how the audience reaction to one candidate "proves" his or her lack of popularity. Baloney. Reject such obvious attempts at perception management. Think for yourself.

Our candidates seem to offer differences, from wanting to fine-tune the national machine, to wanting to make large systematic changes. Which candidate best represents your values? Which one seems most likely to be able to win next November? Which candidate do you think would be most capable of getting programs through congress in the next four years? These are the important questions for people to be thinking about.