Down To Three

I just finished the transcripts of the Democratic presidential debate, and I can say with no doubt, that it's down to three. Clinton (by default), Obama and Richardson.

Dodd and Biden are indistinguishable. They speak Democrat-speak and you can smell the spin wafting off of them from a mile away. Edwards has all the foreign policy aplumb of a jar of pickles. The very idea of him promising education to people in foreign countries in order to make America safer has got to be the most ludicrous idea I've heard in a long time. Obviously the guy from Alaska is a crank. Kucinich wants to impeach Cheney. That was a bad idea four years ago when it was new, talk about bullheaded. Dismiss those five.

The only real contest of ideas, personality and leadership is between Obama and Richardson. Richardson because he's already acting presidential. You simply can't take that away from him. He knows how to answer a question directly, he's demonstrated that he's thought about things and he is by far the most honest and straightforward of the lot. My first impression of him was right. He's a grownup.

Obama's also one who has given a lot of thought, perhaps too much. In his detail, he is proving to be a fast-talker like Bill Clinton, complete with intelligence and snappy answers to stupid questions. However, he still sounds too deliberating a fellow to be president. He's overly analytic, which isn't a bad quality, but he hasn't made the kinds of mistakes that Richardson has, to inform him about executive matters. Nevertheless, he made the most impressive foreign policy statements of the night vis a vis his directness about who Iran is and what they're up to, and who is to blame for the Palestinian situation.

Clinton. Well you just have to take her seriously. But quite frankly she remains in the hole with regards to personality. How it is she can't manage 'the woman thing' is rather striking to me. Which is to say, she does not exhibit the kind of charisma and charm a campaigner should have. There's really nothing new about her. She may as well be Dodd or Biden.