With over 70% of the Iowa caucus votes in, it is abundantly clear that the Iowa voters overwhelmingly favor Mike Huckabee on the conservative / evangelical side, and slightly favor Obama over Edwards and Clinton, who are in a virtual dead heat.
How Mike Huckabee came to prominence in Iowa is very easy to calculate. He pulled nearly all of the evangelical vote in a highly religious state. His message resonated with Iowa voters, and his "aw shucks" demeanor didn't hurt himself either. Iowans could see Huckabee as a friend and neighbor. Romney, stiff and polished, did not score with the majority of Iowa because he is the most urban of candidates. Iowa cannot relate to his appearance, and especially with his religion. In a nutshell (pun intended), they saw through the heaping stacks of bullshit Mitt was peddling, and who would know shit went they see it better than a farming state.
The Democratic side is much harder to fathom. Asserting his "change candidate" platform, Obama elevated himself into the top spot with charisma, and charisma alone, despite the overwhelmingly weak amount of experience he has in public office, or just about anything else. In one sense I like the fact that an overwhelmingly white state like Iowa would vote for an African American. It bodes well for a historically bigoted nation since day one. The fact that they are willing to place him in the White House at a most critical time in our history, with virtually ZERO experience is a real head-scratcher.
Lets hope as we go along in the 29 primaries to follow, we will encounter less naive voting blocks among the Democratic side. Voters who can see that a one time Senator from Chicago (and one who has rarely even cast a vote in Congress) doesn't have a snowballs chance in hell of occupying the White House. A vote for Obama is a vote for a Republican executive branch, and the usual stalemate with a Democratically controlled Congress. Vote with you head and not your heart people. If everyone voted with their hearts alone, our 41st President would have been Elvis fucking Presley. And that is the World According to Kimba (sore loser)
See you in New England for round two.
6 comments:
Obama did well tonight. Come on Kimba, give this man a break he deserves a cheer. Yes Clinton is a better choice, yes I will vote for her for the Presidency but tonight lets give cheer to something amazing. For the first time in a very long time people, regular people feel as they do and believe there vote will make a difference. We are witnessing a contest where Hillary must and will make her case and we the people will be better for understanding how sweet it is. Goodbye Bush our country has have had enough.
The future is Clinton against McCain.... Hillary does something that Bill did not do. Get 50% plus to agree.
Whoa....lets slow down here, Radar. Yes, the lily white state of Iowa voted for a black man, and that is an uplifting thing, racial equality wise.
But Obama is getting traction from this change thing. Nothing substanitive, just "change." But what exactly does that mean? He is going to have to drop the vague platitudes he is spreading and actually say something, and soon.
Change could be going from bad to worse. Change could be from Shit to pee. It means nothing. Bush had fear as his message, Obama has change.
Look at his victory speech. The only thing he said, in essence is he proved some pundits wrong. They said this couldn't be done, they said the country was too divided, .....blah, blah, blah. The truth is, the nation is still divided, and he only got 30% of the vote in Iowa. He didn't exactly "unite" anything, or anybody, did he?
His entire speech centered around a black man winning in Iowa. But this won't get the traction he is going to need. Barack the novelty is going to wear out quickly.
Hardball today equated his victory speech to Kennedy and Reagan. The press bent over backwards to praise Obama, and Chris Matthews ridiculed Clinton for "spin."
This whole inevitability choker the press hung around Hillary's neck hurt her. Now they are switching to Hillary the "status quo" candidate. She needs to remind the people that she was by Bill's side, she knows how he did it, and she can do it again.
Dodd and Biden dropped out, and where are these voters going? To the young guy, or for experience? Obama has a very difficult time getting mature voters on his side, and trust me, Biden and Dodd aren't going to sway the youth vote. And they aren't going to endorse the upstart Obama.
Flash will only get you so far. You need substance, and Obama has to get specific in his message.
On his side, Hillary needs to get people to like her more, and she is a complete failure on this front. Today, instead of being positive and congratulating Obama, she criticized the voters of Iowa saying they do not have a good track record of picking a winner.
On her side, Edwards is going to go after Obama. And he is one dirty son of a bitch. He would gouge the eyes out of his grandmother to get where he wants to go, and thats why he was such a good civil litigator.
Can Edwards and Obama actually make their inexperience into a plus?
The really true picture of yesterday in Iowa is; all Obama did was get two more electorial votes than Edwards and Clinton. Can he carry the big states? Thats wear the rubber will meet the road.
Kimba, I agree with you on many things and appreciate your overall professional demeanor. That said, what Senator Obama candidacy does for the Democratic party is remarkably taken us to another level. We are healing a bit when it comes to race in America which is good. In the past we have heard great speeches from Jessie Jackson and other black leadership and yes we still have a race problem in America and yes its wrong but it will not be the old guard changing this. It will be new and inexperienced moving the dial. What the right has been doing is a game of whole new level of bigotry where a persons faith or religion (even “theirs” now) is to believe to have relevancy.. If people of our country choose to foolishly vote for another tax and fear GOP candidate, it’s sadly because of continued apathy. What maybe 10% to 20% keep up with politics. 40% to 50% will Vote. The majority just do not give a shit including young people who are way past religious bias. Our nation has been amusing ourselves for decades and is slowly declining educationally while accepting 2nd place. Something, someone has got to start building it back up again. I believe it will be Hillary. But if Obama gets the ticket lets us back this man with fervent gusto. Many red states our in play and millions are seeing a whole different type of electoral process. Simply amazing, all with W finally going back to Neverland where he should of stayed 8 years ago.
The great news and something I hope you will agree. Senator Clinton will get better. It is not a cake walk to the nomination and we are watching history being made. Incredibly in our lifetime a woman or a man with color looks to be the eventual nominee. My hope is for a Hillary Obama ticket which would serve well for 8 years, not just for America but for freedom in action. We the people… WOW its been a long time thinking, We the people.
I appreciate the comments, but I just think Obama is the black Jimmy Carter. We elected him for his honesty, and look what we got.
If we elect Obama out of a sense of "making history", or in an effort to show bigotry is dead, we might not have our thinking caps on, and will get what we deserve.
That being said, I watched his 11:30 am speech in a school in New Hampshire today, and he was very, very good. He hits all the right buttons without saying much of anything. Twenty minutes on hope.
Hope and change.
Personally, I HOPE he CHANGES and gives us a small glimpse into the bullet points of his plan on getting out of Iraq, or providing socialized healthcare, or how he will make college affordable to everyone, or anything he promises.
Personally, I would love to hear someone say NO. Can't afford it right now, never going to happen, not in the first term because we have more important things to worry about, etc. A little honesty. We hear the promises, but how is it going to work?
If we elect a Democratic Pres, his / her entire agenda will breeze through the Congress without objection. No checks and balances at all, and that is a scary thing in and of its own.
I think we need a debate without the audiences in the house. A quiet discussion around a table, like Charlie Rose.
By the way, do you think it was any coincidence Biden and Dodd dropped out just before New England, where they (at least one) could possibly pull double digit voting results?
I think if they would come out for Hillary, it would be worth a ten point bump in the polls. Also, she needs to be surrounded by the new guard in Congress, not Madeline Frickin' Albright, for God sakes.
Not sure about Dodd but believe Biden is cooing for a VP spot. Your right about Madeline Albright, heck even President Clinton looked sad behind Hillary the other night. Senator Clinton has got to be more likable and the only way to do this is, IMHO is let her go it alone. Nobody should handle her our give talking points. Her passion and common sense reading an audience will help take some rough edges off. She has been in the spotlight so long that anything scripted is going come out wrong. Obama is great talking on his feet while running an excellent campaign. She would do well to stop directly attacking and use intelligent questions to make her case. Heck just one good one will spring her momentum back. Doing it with class though, that is something she has to dig really deep to accomplish. The woman is amazing and needs to get people talking about how she fully deserves this opportunity.
I wonder what kind of deal Obama is going to make in finally supporting her? I just hope the hype surrounding him will not make the offer of Vice Presidency look like a loss.
Once again, a Hillary Obama ticket 2008. What's not to like? Charisma, intelligence and experience. Now put Bill in the background, thats powerful stuff.
There may be nothing she can do to stop this jauggernaut (sic) called Obama. He may just be the right "change" candidate at the right time.
Sort of like Clinton when he lost five in a row then swept the table with the primaries (the "Comeback Kid"). Tsongas never knew what hit him.
Tonight's debate should be very interesting. She can't push, but she will be like a lion watching Barack "antelope at the watering hole" Obama. She will be ready to pounce.
IF......if she loses in New Hampshire, then goes to a southern state like South Carolina....Obama could win the first four (if you want to count Wyoming). Powerful momentum.
Post a Comment