An Interesting, Maybe Remarkable Field

This is actually pretty remarkable.

I might not include your favorite and I have no intention of slighting anyone with this. I was looking at the slate of Presidential candidates and found this to be a remarkable time for us. These are not in order of preference and I’m even going to mix the parties together. My thoughts are not partisan as much as they are fascinated.

Hillary Clinton is the first woman who has a realistic shot at the White House. We have never elected a woman to be the President and have never nominated one either. The only nomination from either party for either President or Vice President was Geraldine Ferraro. Women have served as Governors, Senators, in Congress, and as Presidents/Prime Ministers of other nations and have done so with great distinction. People in England still revere Margaret Thatcher and Golda Meir was an amazing Prime Minister of Israel. Not an exhaustive list, to be sure, but we certainly haven’t set the pace for women’s rights around the world. To me, the big rap on her is that as a Senator from New York, she has become a Yankee’s fan, an obvious character flaw on her part.

Whether you like Rudy Giuliani or not, his career has been remarkable. He was a Federal Prosecutor in New York City with the primary responsibility of taking on organized crime, the Cosa Nostra. For many within the Italian culture, this was not seen as a good thing. Mafia leaders had a special vendetta against him because of his Italian heritage. Giuliani was highly successful and became the major of New York. His work in cleaning up mid-town and dealing with 9/11 put him in the national spotlight. He is a Roman Catholic who is on the ‘outs’ with his church because he’s on his third marriage and is pro-choice. He is a pretty tough guy. He grew up in Brooklyn and was a Yankee’s fan in Brooklyn. His numerous affairs are more easily forgiven by Brooklynites than this. And, like Hillary, he has the character flaw of still being a Yankee’s fan.

To the above two candidates, all I want to say is, “Let’s Go Mets!”

Barack Obama is a young (46) year old African American candidate. He is truly the first African American candidate who is running a serious campaign to win the nomination. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, to me, were more humorous interludes than serious candidates. Obama, however, is very serious and increasingly more popular. This nation’s history and difficulties with racism make Obama’s rise to be remarkable. It is amazing to see the crowds that he and Oprah have drawn together. In South Carolina. I never would have believed I would see such a thing in my lifetime----we may be growing up as a people. Obama has been called by some groups to be Islamic but he’s a long time member of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago. Unless I missed the memo that the United Church of Christ was now an Islamic denomination, he is a Christian.

John Edwards grew up in a blue color world.

John McCain is a true American hero, a former POW from the Vietnam War.

Bill Richardson is an Hispanic candidate.

Fred Thompson is an older, former actor. We’ve been down this route before, obviously. He did something great at the last debate refusing to answer a complex question ‘yes’ or ‘no’ with a show of hands. He refused to offer a one word answer to a complicated question. Good for him.

John Biden has run before and has been in Washington DC since he was 29 years old. He’s had a distinguished career. He has one of the great lines about Rudy Giuliani when he said that every sentence Rudy utters has a noun, a very, and 9/11 in it. I don’t know if it was fair or not, but it was a good line.

Mike Huckabee is another former Governor from Arkansas, the new home of interim coach Bobby Petrino. Any team that has Bobby Petrino as their coach has an interim coach... Huckabee is a former Southern Baptist pastor.

Mitt Romney is a former Governor from Massachusetts. It’s unusual to see a Republican candidate from Massachusetts which is most typically, a very Democratic state. Romney’s Mormon faith has challenged people’s religious tolerance.

Dennis Kucinich is an interesting guy with a populist flair and about $1.99 in his coffers. He’s the only one who has professed a belief in UFO’s.

Ron Paul is the most popular Libertarian of all time. Like Kucinich, he likes to walk to the beat of a different drummer.

There are others. Their distinction is that I didn’t write anything about them!