The Dems
First of all, I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised that if, at the next debate in SC, a handful of guys in long white coats don’t approach the stage and take Kucinich and Gravel away to waiting ambulances. These guys are absolutely certifiable! (The only reason Kucinich is even still in it is because of his hot Amazon-like wife, although come late Fall even she won’t be able to save him.).
The 2nd tier candidates – whom I define as Biden, Richardson, and Dodd – were totally ineffectual – although Biden made some good points and came across as the only true realist on the stage. Given his impressive background, Richardson should be doing much better on the immigration and foreign policy issues, but he just isn’t that exciting. And Dodd is just a total “Dud.” Only Biden has a shot of making it out of this middle (and thoroughly uninspiring) tier.
Which, of course, brings us to the Big Three – Hillary (“I wish it was the 1990’s”) Clinton, Barack (“I’m going to nationalize health care without raising taxes”) Obama, and John (“The War on Terror is just a bumper sticker”) Edwards. I don’t care what the polls are showing, these three are going to have to really bump up their game in order to have chance of winning the election.
Hillary spent all of her time pining for the 1990’s and her husband’s presidency – which is the “kiss of death” in the key swing states. Obama, other than wanting to retreat from Iraq immediately without a strategy to win the War on Terror, needs to be more forthcoming about the tax impacts of all of his Great Society-like programs. And Edwards, who looked like he just came from the local tanning salon, simply lacks a realistic world view. To say the War on Terror is just a bumper sticker means that you really don’t have a clue about the global danger facing America and its allies from Islamist extremism.
I honestly watched with an open mind, hoping beyond hope that at least one of the Dems could attract a liberal Republican like myself – but no dice! Nobody in this crew would qualify for Secretary of State, let alone POTUS. Many of my Dem friends who watched the debate with me were similarly underwhelmed. And the couple of independent voters watching with me were giving the “gag” sign halfway through! Not a good sign my friends!
GOP
In contrast, the GOP “outlier” candidates weren’t as crazy as Kucinich and Gravel – even guys like Paul, Hunter and Tancredo more than held their own.
The second tier – Thompson, Gilmore, Brownback, and Huckabee – were very impressive and made some excellent points.
The GOP Big Three – Giuliani, McCain and Romney – all did very well and were extremely impressive. Romney was actually the most upbeat – focusing on the future and global economic success. While none of them was able to separate themselves from the pack, they made it clear it will be a horse race to the end.
Clearly, it’s going to be a very close nomination process on the GOP side with 5-6 excellent candidates (including Thompson – the actor – if he gets in). On the Dem side, it’s going to be an uninspiring nomination process among 3 or 4 mediocre candidates (unless Gore gets in late to shake things up – but certainly not regarding the excitability factor). I feel very good going into the summer doldrums about where the GOP candidates stand – what happens in Iraq come Fall/Winter will tell the tale.
But for now, suffice to say that the Dems currently running are uninspiring, unexciting on a substantive level (even Obama), and can’t answer the basic question of “If we retreat from Iraq now, then what?” By contrast, the GOP candidates have firm and specific policies and positions.
[I’ll be back later this summer with a post about Pelosi’s “Do-Nothing” 110th Democratic Congress and how, absent severe changes, this will also work to the GOP’s favor in ’08].