Political Posturing and Empty Threats...

Let's face it... there's no shortage of news that anyone with half an ounce of common sense can't get even moderately pissed off about...

Take, for example the recent 'speech' by still-President George W. Bush junior... lacklustre... totally remeniscent of perhaps a dozen or more speeches he's uttered (read: "read from his teleprompter") over the past seven years of his pseudo-presidency...

Does he still honestly think he's made any difference? How soon will he be returning to Israel to continue his so-called 'peace plans in the Middle East' to generate a once-and-final peace between Israel and Palestine? Does he honestly think he can accomplish it? Does it really matter at all what he thinks or tries to make people believe he's accomplishing anymore?

Yeah... I didn't think so either...

This kind of posturing is ridiculously common in the past few decades of politics... both above and below the 49th parallel...
Take, for example the decent bitter rivalries between Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton... at the aforementioned speech, neither even spoke a civil word to the other...For fuck sakes you two... GROW UP!This isn't high school... this isn't (well it shouldn't be) a popularity contest... it should be about instituting change... getting RID of the flotsam, jetsam and all the detritus that has marred your fair country for SEVEN YEARS... It SHOULD be about strengthening your fair nation and dragging it up from the mire it's been dropped into...

Senator Obama... I appreciate you being the underdog... and your political expertise is... well... lacking in comparison to some of your more-seasoned opponents... but even YOU as a Black man must recognise that Senator Clinton is fighting the same fight as you are... albeit from a different angle... fight alongside her... make her fights your own... and prove to be the better leader...That's how you win - for by belittling your opponents shortcomings you make yourself out as no better than a Republican...
You have the better presence... you are charismatic! (something the remainder of your opponents lack in some form or other) You have a stage-presence that makes people WANT to listen to you... I can think of another Black man in history with a similar effect on the populace... which is double disconcerting considering his unfortunate fate... (I refer, of course, to the late (but great) Martin Luther King, Jr.)

Senator Clinton... you're the veteran in this group... you've got the unique experience to have BEEN in the White House already) so you KNOW what's required... a fact that your opponents seem to want to try to exploit by calling you 'old guard'...Fools.
You have savvy, you have an edge and you have impressed the Republican voters with your economic proposals... so much so that you are among the two presidential candidates that has a real chance of inhabiting the Oval Office next year.
Additionally, you AND Senator Obama are both in the unique position to be the 'First' something in the American Presidency.
Full stop.
The First Female President.
The First Black President.
Either way, you're both heading uphill at a remarkably steep angle... and there's tons (infer from that however you will) of fossilized fuddy-duddies in the way... One of you WILL win the Democratic nomination... one of you WILL become the next President of the United States (unless John McCain or Mitt Romney SOMEhow manage to impress the Democratic voters enough with their blustery over-posturing... which I somehow doubt...)

The trick here is... you both will have to swallow a little pride and extend a hand of strength and common-purpose to your major opponent... This sniping and political back-biting that both you, Senator Obama, and you, Senator Clinton (also former President Bill Clinton) are issuing at each other is nothing short of embarassing... I'm watching from north of the border with disappointedness... for the more people (read: "voters") that you alienate with your immature mud-slinging will be notches in the belt of the Republican candidate... whosoever it might be...
It's time to start playing nice with the other kid in the sand box, you two... or the cake at the end of the race will be given to the other team.

Personally... I think that a 'Clinton-Obama' or 'Obama-Clinton' ticket would be a sure-fire way to immediate victory... would it be so wrong to work under the other? Do your idealisms differ THAT much? (I'll help you with that answer: "No.")

But that's just one liberal-minded Canuck talking...