Tuesday, January 01, 2008

The Democrats' Deep Bench

Good Things for the New Year 1

The Gruntleds spent New Year's Eve in the traditional nerdy way: watching CSPAN. The highlight of the evening was a speech by Michelle Obama at a senior citizen center in Iowa. She was just magnificent, and her account of her husband as a smart, decent leader was inspiring. I have had an Obama sticker on the van with the GRUNTL plates since last summer. Michelle Obama would make a great first lady. And Barack Obama, young though he is, would make a fine president of the United States.

Obama is not the only candidate on my van. I put three stickers on at the same time, and they form my favored ticket: John Edwards for president, Barack Obama for vice-president (for now), and Gen. Wesley Clark for Secretary of State. Edwards is at the top because he is most insistent on building a safety net for the poor, which should always be the top domestic priority of a Democrat. I would be happy to have Wes Clark as president -- I voted for him in the primary in 2004.

What is most remarkable to me is that I could crowd my whole van's rear with the names of Democrats I would be happy to vote for. I think Hillary Clinton would make a fine president, even if she maintains the Clinton policy of unnecessary trimming of principle. Bill Richardson is great -- I expect that he will be our vice-presidential nominee, regardless of who is at the top of the ticket. How often do we have a governor of New Mexico with the foreign policy experience to be Secretary of State? Joe Biden is a real statesman. Chris Dodd has turned into a fine legislator. And looking to the future, I am still hopeful about former Virginia governor Mark Warner, who was My Guy in the shadow race a year ago. And Jim Webb, the leading Fightin' Dem elected to the Congress in 2006, will be a force for good.

The Democratic Party [note to faux hicks: that's Democratic Party, not Democrat Party] has the deepest bench. This is good for the Republic, now and in the future.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Do have any picks for the GOP side?
The Dems scare me on defense and judges. But if I did had to choose it would be Hillary ( I can't believe I admitted that in public)because she seems the strongest of the Dems defense-wise.

Gruntled said...

I like McCain the best of the GOP hopefuls, but he has given up so much of his "straight talk" this time -- and for a mess of pottage, I think. And I think he is wrong the Iraq war. But he is right on torture and campaign finance, and pretty good on many other things.

Anonymous said...

You menton a ticket of edwards and obama,where is the experence. Noone would go for that team. Obama has no experence from a global viewpoint and tends to not vote when the chips are down,check his Ill. record. Edwards would be good as HUD Sec but note he left the senate because he knew he would'nt be reelected.