Reconsidering Steve Francis

Has your first impression of someone ever turned out to be wrong? 

I hate admitting such things -- like the time in high school I misjudged an intelligent and well-connected scion for a nerd with nothing interesting to say.

It may be time to say again, I was wrong. After reading Chuck's post about Steve Francis -- the independently wealthy mayoral candidate funding his own campaign -- I thought, "Why does this man (Steve, not Chuck) think he can step into the public sector and do well?" 

It drives me kind of nutty when successful businesspeople try to impress voters with their cash and business acumen. 

Admitting I wrote off Steve Francis may not be the same as admitting I was a near-sighted fool in high school. Then again, it may be better to slow down and give some credit where it's due.

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Beyond Electability

"Bored Now."  That immortal quote from Willow Rosenberg pretty much completes my thoughts on the state of the race to be president. Voters from two more states voted on Tuesday to decide, or not decide, who might represent the Democratic Party in November.

If it were a fight about issues, I might be interested. If the two remaining candidates had competing visions for the future, the race might earn some attention. Rather, if anything, the primaries have become a battle of electability, and that doesn't serve the country well.

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Loyalty

There are few modern political heroes, but one of mine has definitely been James Carville.

The “Ragin’ Cajun” is the star of the documentary “The War Room” and, although not quite single handedly, he still masterminded former President Bill Clinton’s first campaign for the position of “most powerful man in the world.”  If you haven’t checked out this movie, and don’t mind seeing a Democrat win the presidency, please check it out.

James Carville is whip smart, articulate, and tough as nails. Over the years he’s appeared as the lone liberal on countless Sunday morning political talk shows (not counting any station bias, for those believing in a liberal media) and he filleted right wing punditry better than a master sushi chef on display.

I have held Carville in such high regards for so many years that I even pleaded with him in a letter before the 2004 election to run for president. This is a man who is so cool he appeared in JFK Jr.’s politically inspired magazine, George, where I remember Carville saying if he were elected president, every Tuesday would be red-beans-and-rice day.

Although the menu pleased me, it wouldn’t have been the sole reason he would’ve received my vote. I even love that he married Republican consultant Mary Matalin because it just shows how secure he is in his beliefs.

Alas, after so many years on a pedestal, Mr. Carville has at last finally let me down.

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Having A Public Debate

As I write this, my partner in the unraveling of America's moral fabric is in Hillcrest inputting names into a database. He's spending part of his spring break to volunteer with Equality For All as they gear up to fight proposed initiatives that might make it on to the November ballot.

Among the 47 proposed initiatives currently in circulation are several that would attempt to limit marriage equality efforts, including one that would amend the state constitution to protect the "essence of marriage" and eliminate domestic partnerships.

Interesting to me that this comes up while the issue of the constitutionality of marriage equality is still pending before the California's Supreme Court, with the oral arguments having just been heard on March 4. Someone might want to wait and see how the court rules on what the constitution currently says before proposing to change the constitution. Regardless of their stance on the issue of marriage equality, someone might think that acting prematurely would be a complete and utter waste of taxpayers' money.

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Following in Mitt’s Footsteps

Photo: Mitt Romney in San Diego, January 2008. Nicole Lozare/KPBS.  

Note to both Democratic candidates: Consider quitting.

It's not an option easily mulled over for highly educated, highly accomplished patriotic professionals, but consider the consequences.

By my biased calculations, Mitt Romney really should have won his party’s nomination. He has the familial and political pedigrees. He has the poise. Even for those critics who point to his record as governor of Massachusetts as proof of his being a flip-flopper, apparently it’s a non-issue.

After all, who blows hot and cold on more important issues than John McCain, the presumptive nominee? 

Just because Gov. Romney failed to hang tough in the race or to capture the popular right-wing vote, he still won respect. He showed a measure of leadership by choosing to withdraw from the race. I don’t buy that he was trying to save face after losing a string of states. Maybe he’s preparing for the 2012 race but even so, quitting didn’t hurt him.

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Blogku

Superdelegates
Michigan and Florida
Trouble in Denver

 
- Citizen Voices blogger Chris McConnell is a bookseller, freelance writer, former high school English teacher and odd jobber who lives in La Jolla.

Personal-Responsibility, Redux

Last week, I wrote about Democrats championing accepting personal-responsibility.

Oddly enough, it was the same week Eliot Spitzer spoke publicly about “letting his family down” by getting caught/spending fundraising dollars inappropriately/breaking his moral code/embarrassing the Spitzer family name...the list goes on. 

The news also ran stories about Florida and Michigan’s Democratic leadership lobbying Howard Dean and the Democratic National Committee to rerun the rules-be-damned primary elections and to legitimize voters’ dreams of picking an historic candidate.

There was one particularly interesting CNN Op-Ed piece about the topic written by Mr. Glenn Beck, the title of which, “Too bad, Michigan and Florida” dealt specifically with the importance of personal-responsibility.

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Extreme Democracy

Did you hear me on the "These Days" earlier this week, dear readers? I hope you did, as it was fun being on the show with Alma! We talked about what could be the end of the race for the main party seats, among other topics. Overall, I'm happy with how it turned out.

But, let's face it, American politics is a bit tame, compared to other places.

The worst thing we have is controversy over using Obama's middle name. A little silly, really, when people can buy 'Obama Bin Laden' shirts on the internet already. Is this a sign of what is to come in the coming weeks? I sure hope not.

But, over in Russia, as they are also dealing with a presidential election, we have Vladimir Zhirinovsky! Ah, this candidate is quite interesting. Two weeks ago, he was in a debate with one of the party members. Thanks to a friend from Russia, I know what they are saying.

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Survivor: American Edition

Americans are having a love affair with reality TV shows and I’ve noticed that this election has all of the elements of a good one: two teams fight against each other in small competitions, voting off members along the way until there is one final victor.

Enthusiastic viewers cheer on their favorite characters while being entertained by the bickering teammates and backstabbing shenanigans. Alliances are made and the plot twists and turns every week.  The drama of this year’s political game has turned into “Must See TV.”

Candidates have been voted off at as we discover quirky things we don’t like about them or as they aren’t able to keep up with the latest challenge. Like the buffs worn on Survivor, candidates drape themselves with the banner of their party and add a few creative touches to express their individuality.

And yes, they’ll eat a lot of unpleasant words during their stint on prime time.      

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Campaign Vertigo

The recent distressing Pew Research Report stating that 1 in every 100 Americans is currently imprisoned got me thinking about how weary I’ve suddenly become of these presidential campaigns.

I know Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are in a tight race for delegates and each need to win big in these delegate-rich states. And that John McCain struggles to gain traction with conservative cultural leaders like Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh.  I’ve also become painfully aware that Ron Paul has become even more marginalized in terms of substantive coverage, while Mike Huckabee gets mad-props for his “SNL” appearance, suggesting perhaps that Congressman Paul’s message is too sobering to be taken lightly. 

But we’ve got bigger fish to fry in this country than swallowing story after story about whether Clinton's people leaked “the photo” that repulsed the opposition.

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