HuffPo's Secret Weapon

Readers of the Huffington Post can find in one place the most comprehensive collection of stories on all things political, economic, social, entertainment, and general interest. Perhaps this accounts for the vast readership and recognition as a great news source, often referenced by the Main Stream Media. What is less well known is the cadre of loyal readers who post comments on a daily basis, dissecting the articles, presenting cogent analyses of the articles, additional details, and do battle with those who represent the right wing in some of the most entertaining back and forth to be found anywhere on the Internet.

Having joined the Off the Bus team during the 2008 campaign, I was blessed with the opportunity to post my blog and throughout the campaign that culminated in our historical election, I have shared ideas with a group of loyal Obama supporters. A community of regulars has emerged who use the comment section as a gathering place where no holds barred, no prisoners taken discussions on the merits of the positions they argue for and against. As a long time reader of the Huffington Post and blogger, I have come to find the comment section a rich public forum that provides a running commentary on current events, news broadcasts, breaking news as well as a political, economic, and public interest events.

Due to the progressive leaning of HuffPo, the overwhelming majority of regulars run the gamut of Independent to radically progressive posts. A few center right to conservative regulars are not only tolerated but welcomed in these online forums, however a few immature, vile, or psychologically unbalanced posters show up on occasion and are gang flagged for their continually abusive and profane rants. The moderators at HuffPo eventually ban them but a few of them are a recurring problem. The regulars call it changing socks and because the IP addresses of most Internet Service Providers are either masked or randomized at each log on, it is extremely difficult for HuffPo to permanently ban an abusive poster permanently.

I have a list of regulars that I read on a daily basis and warn you that once you read them and post a reply, you will be addicted to this form of expression. I have been posting with them for a while now and see that even as a blogger, I am challenged to match wits with a few of them; namely VolvoBirkenstock(banned from HP for some reason), Episcopagan, HumeSkeptic, AdLib, and Chillinout. These should be bloggers on HuffPo as they present cogent, factual and persuasive arguments on their posts.

I recognize the need to moderate the comments section to prevent vile, vulgar, personal attacks and such, but the degree to which the site's software automatically bans comments torments all regulars for its overreaching protection. Case in point; recent articles about the Israeli and Gaza conflict would flag the word Israel would cause a comment to await human release. An article about the use of the term Colored People would go to moderation for inclusion of the word colored or possibly black. So many articles are posted daily that it is impossible for human moderation on them, but so many innocent posts go pending that it is both frustrating and counterproductive to maintaining the commenter's loyalty.

The list of names below contains a few of the regulars that I have come to recognize and is incomplete. To my many friends here, if I've omitted you, it is my oversight. Please use the comment section to add those I've left out.

AdLib
VolvoBirkenstock
Kellygrrl
Macbabe
Carolab
BlueStateMan
Chillinout
buckugreene
donald6
Kevenseven
abby4ever
HumeSkeptic
Kquarksupercollider
Episcopagan
Xavieer
Rumplestilskin
MNMommy
Mimom
streakofrintintin
Mogamboguru
Hummahumma humma
Coinyer101
Dentuso
Lornejl
Mrsmdressup
Surferkit
GrouchMarxist
Mimom
CostaDelBarto
Rosal
Monicaangela
WLA
Suzycolorado
Midnightrain
Crapwhisperer
DACC
Paposter
bygollymissmolly
ExxonMcBushCo
Yermammy

McCain’s Counts

The fired lobby 5, The Keating 5, let’s count those, add the ones from his staff who robbed government land, now you need fingers and toes, to keep up with the slight of hand. McCain sold Federal land to friends, for 2 cents on the dollar. Maverick fooled us when he so often would holler, “The Earmarks, the earmarks”, If you're looking for the Straight Talk Express, Fah……….get about it, its permanently parked!

But don’t you fret, John, just hang on to the most famous Political Hack.

Charlie Black is the puppet master and you know who's on his strings, how many times do you have to kiss Bushes Butts, when they've done you horrible things. The lust for power makes even former POWs sour, selling their moral underpinnings. Tell us McCain when we expose you, What will be your next trick? Don't count on George or Dick, when they Solidified Power they gave you a swift kick. You took one in the guts. When they raided the treasury you got just paper cuts.

You own your own lake on your own spread, Got Cindy who keeps track of her money all in her head! After November you can jet home, once you and Cindy are alone, spend time figuring where it all went wrong.

An Open Letter To My Boricuan Brothers and Sisters

I am an American Black man who has raised a family here in the United States having lived through the Civil Rights era of the 1960s as a teenage political activist. Raised in New Orleans, influenced by the music of the Caribbean region, Reggae, Salsa, and Rumba; I feel a kinship with Puerto Rico and Cuba based in part on the way the music touched me. The rhythm was somehow in my DNA and though I sought in my teens and twenties to become a conguero, I had to settle for appreciating the art though it did influence my son enough to become a percussionist. But; my reason for writing this open letter to you, my brothers and sisters is on a more serious matter.

As you know, we have been engaged in a political election here in the states that will either solidify the powers in control of this country that cater to the wealthy, or usher in a system more focused on average citizens like me. I am a Democrat, having rejoined the party in 1992 to vote in the election that brought Bill Clinton to the presidency. I was proud to be represented by the Clintons during those years and even though the right wing eventually regained control of the White House and brought this country down to the mess we have in Washington now, I was happy to see Hillary Clinton running to perhaps return our nation to the mindset that prevailed then.

Over the past year, I have witnessed the Clintons, first Bill and soon afterward, Hillary tear away at the progress we had made in achieving racial harmony when they saw Senator Barack Obama emerge as a potent political foe to them. In a country where politics is often waged with dirty tricks and even political thievery like that we witnessed in Florida in 2000, a certain level of underhanded maneuvering is to be expected. But this is a potentially devastating tactic they have employed and could drive a wedge between Americans of different races that could give the Republicans the opportunity to seal their takeover of the American government and keep the interests of the wealthy here above the rest of us citizens.

What I am asking for is your help in beating back the disruptive tactics that the Clintons have resorted to. Barack Obama; a man of mixed heritage, a white mother and Kenyan father, has been painted as unelectable by the Clintons because of his skin color. Though he is a Harvard educated Attorney who was the first black student to head the prestigious Harvard Law Review and went on to become a community organizer and local politician before winning a U.S. Senate seat, they are trying to convince the remaining voters to

give her a lead in popular votes that could conceivably allow our SuperDelegates, political leaders who can chose to vote for any candidate and ultimately decide on the candidate the Democrats will put forth for the general election this November.

Many of my friends here are of Boricuan heritage, and since I am of Creole heritage myself, a fair skinned black man, I am often mistaken as Cuban or Puerto Rican. I know that your families are of mixed ethnicity as I am. You know all too well how the sting of color-based power has been used against minorities. Look at the backlash that is racially tinged against undocumented immigrants here in the U.S.. Hillary Clinton is against them being able to get drivers licenses. She has turned out to be just another power hungry rich capitalist interested in her own power at the expense of anything and everyone else. We need your help here in the states. Your votes count in the Democratic Primary and we need your voters to understand what your vote means to our collective future. If Hillary Clinton succeeds in her attempt to use your votes to put her in a position to steal this election, the rift she creates will be permanent and the future for your families and mine will be the worse for it. Do the right thing Puerto Rico, we need you to find the rhythm and help Barack Obama change this country, with our help for the better.

With Love,

Paul S. Peete

Things I'd Like To See

All Rights Reserved

I’d like to see Gonzo in Guantanamo writhing on a rack

Bush’s ship on the ocean floor Cheney’s heart attack

Limbaugh lose his larynx Clarence lose his Gavel

All those fools who think like them six feet below the gravel

New Orleans levees strong Mardi Gras with the people returning

Christmas last all year long Universal Health Care more than a yearning

Senator Craig quit stalling Fox News quit lying

Republican pollsters bawling Young black males not dieing

Arnold and Maria split and an Abdul overdose

Vick’s passing hand get bit Trump n’ Rosie co-host

Paris Lindsey Nicole and Britney jailed for Robbery

R Kelly and Scooter in jail Hope for Whitney and Bobby

Bonds proven steroid free and Congress without a lobby

Crips Bloods Aryans and la M find themselves a hobby

All of our soldiers finally home and our civil liberties restored

Cities shine like glass and chrome their needs no longer ignored

Cuba ok’d for travel The New World Order unraveled

The rich show some compassion The poor become well traveled

Big Oil forced to get green African AIDs virtually unseen

Prisons become universities kids grow up heard and seen

Black women treated like Queens Rove come out of the closet

My Family safe from harm and banks work overtime counting my deposits

But what I’d like to see the most is Love from coast to coast

And to that end to all my friends I propose the following toast

May all the

Neocons be negated our Elections counted fair

Marijuana legalized and available everywhere

People without prejudice and leaders who really care

Relationships without hang-ups and happiness to share

Prosperity in all you do and God shine on your soul

And memories of a life fulfilled when we are frail and old

August Political and News Happenings

All Rights Reserved

I saw a headline that read, “Obama wants to clean up Washington”. The only problem with that is that too many Americans want him to do it, with a mop! But a lot of people in the country took a liking to him. Can’t call him an Oreo either, he’s half white half black! He’s raising more money than Hillary, especially from the web. Hillary is pissed at him for making her work harder than she planned on. That’s why Hillary showed cleavage in Congress. She would have shown a nipple like Janet Jackson but she wasn’t wearing a short skirt that day! Hey women know that tities work. Even other women look at tities.

A black president, will I live to see one? And to all you no matter how many times you say it, Bill Clinton aint black, ok! Folks were trying to call him the first black President, until he had to show his dick in the Paula Jones case! I know, it’s a stereotype, but black men don’t go around calling their tally whackers pricks.

John McCain is running for president with almost no money. That’s like trying to get a hooker with food stamps. Unless you catch em hungry you are out of luck. McCain is a dead man walking! His campaign staff deserted him like rats from a sinking ship! The way he sounded so dejected a couple times in interviews, maybe we should put him on suicide watch!

And John Edwards is sucking hind tit in the race for the nomination isn’t he! I think its because he gives mixed signals. His wife says that it’s because he isn’t female or black! Edwards says that if Bill Clinton can be black, he can be black! And judging from the way he preens in the mirror when combing his hair, he can be more feminine than Hillary. He went to New Orleans and helped people fix up their homes; then a company he invests in foreclosed on thirty-six homes there!

And then there’s Dennis the menace Kucinich! That fella is one smart lil Smurf! He got rid of that giant mole he had on his face that he had last time he ran for president; it was bigger than him. That mole was so big I thought it was running for vice president.

What is it with that guy Romney? He’s Pro choice one day he’s for right to life the next, he’s for Universal Health Insurance he’s against it; the dude is so conflicted he could have a debate with himself! He has the gift of gab too! He can talk out of both sides of his mouth at once! The Mormon is the only Republican that has had only one wife. That’s like being at the annual pimp awards with just one whore!

Rudy Giuliani’s daughter is supporting Barack Obama over her own dad! Talk about jungle fever! When asked about it Rudy said he doesn’t talk about his kids, looks like he doesn’t talk to them either!

Republicans voters don’t like any of their candidates. Are there any Republicans here? (If the answer is yes), Who do you want for President? I will rip anyone mentioned to shreds. (If the answer is no), Fuck Republicans! Bush 43 and 41, Reagan, Ford, Nixon; they haven’t been right since Dwight! At least when he left Office, he warned all Americans about the war machine; the military industrial complex. And it is complex alright! 12 billion dollars a week and what do we have to show for it? 12 billion a week buys A LOT OF BULLETS! The Chinese are loaning us the money to pay for em since our rich folks here don’t have to. We are spending so much money in Iraq and borrowing it from China, pretty soon China will own America and Iraq. They make almost everything we buy and loan us the money to pay for it! They are trying to kill us too and our dogs, poison toothpaste, poison dog food, poison toys, what next? Poison poison?

That Mike Huckabee, he’s funny! With a name like that you gotta have a sense of humor! He figured if Bill can come from Arkansas and wow the world, he could too! Mike, Bill went to Oxford, Ivy League schools and shit! Mike Huckabee went to Bible College! President Huckabee, it just doesn’t sound ‘Presidential’! He will be out of the race soon, as soon as Thompson beats him in a caucus or primary!

Speaking of Mike’s…Michael Vick is gonna do time for animal cruelty. Some folks want him to do time in a dog pound with a pack of vicious pit bulls! Mike’s own boys gave him up! I guess they didn’t know how to protect the pocket! In this case the pocket book. They copped pleas like they were going to do major time! If they were smart they would have let Mike keep making the money! Send them care packages and then open a Chinese Bar BQ when they got out! That’s right, Mike Vick would be a hero in China!

Michael Jackson is living in Dubai now. He has so many rich fans there they pay him millions of dollars just to attend birthday parties for their kids. That’s like paying Jeffrey Dahlmer to attend a weenie roast. Oh, he’s gonna eat some weenies alright! He preferred em still connected though.

Man we have bridges collapsing, mines collapsing, the housing industry collapsing, pretty soon there won’t be anyplace left for the homeless to hang out! And with the foreclosures going up like they are, you gonna have a whole lotta homeless folks.

I just saw a news account of a homeless woman who was attacked by a man trying to rape her and she called her boyfriend on her cell phone who came to rescue her. Is it me, or is there something weird about a homeless person with a cell phone? Where do they mail her bill? Or is it a throwaway? A throwaway with a throwaway! Don’t get mad at me! That’s what we treat the homeless like, throwaways! Even in Cuba there are no homeless people. They may not have new cars, but they have a roof over their heads! We are just the opposite here, you see folks sleeping in their Hummers here!

Another headline read, “Woman jailed with male prisoners”. When I saw a picture of her I figured the other prisoners would rather sleep with another man than with her. I’m not saying she was ugly; but the newspaper had dead bugs in it! To her credit though the picture in the paper was a mug shot! An ugly mug shot!

Speaking of mug shots, Paris Hilton, Lindsey Lohan, Nicole Ritchie; can Brittney’s mug shots be far behind? The way she has her head up her ass these days, it will have to be a shot of her behind! You know Kfed has a few of those, I ca see him hitting it from the back and sneaking out his digital camera.

Wow I saw that the BMW five series was the worst in side impact crash tests! I guess its because if you pay that much money for a car and get t boned, you may as well just die on the spot! The repair costs would kill you anyway!

Karl Rove is finally getting out of Dodge! Good Fuckin riddance! Yep he and W have been swapping spit so long George was all broke up on the White house lawn when he announced it. It’s like he was about to lose his mind! George is going on vacation to the farm in Crawford. Hell, he’s on vacation when he’s in the White House. A fool surrounded by incompetents. W has to trust folks like Rove and Cheney to get anything done. They have done him in too. Well to tell it more accurately, they’ve done us in! They screwed us with no Vaseline; just used crude for their oil of a lay!

Is it just me, or does Cheney remind you of a dirty old man on the prowl? I wouldn’t be surprised if we find out one day that he had a bunch of Iraqi boys hidden in his house. Especially those named Sodom.

The Simpson’s movie was a big hit in Europe. I guess they like seeing cartoon looking idiots that represent America. They saw George Bush and his gang that can’t shoot straight so often that it gave them a reason to believe that’s what we really are like.

Made the Simpsons look downright intelligent!

And what about that admitted pedophile Jack McClellan? No one has caught him in the act yet so even though he tells folks online how to find and seduce kids, he hasn’t been locked up in prison yet. They call them short eyes in jail. Hell they need to call them short lives out here on these streets. I can’t believe some Dad hasn’t fucked him up yet. Better yet, let him come to my hood. I know lil kids who will light him up.

I can’t believe this headline, “New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin says that the media coverage of two killings keeps the New Orleans brand up!” What brand is that Ray? Brand Expire? Murder Central? New Orleans is set to be the Murder Capital again. The two murder victims were suspected of having committed 18 murders between them! When one would go to jail the other would threaten the witnesses. They had a get out of jail spree card. Now Nagin wants to be governor! There are still towns in Louisiana where they would lynch Nagin if he showed up there trying to talk about voting for him.

Speaking of letting killers out of jail, how about the preacher’s wife? Yeah what’s her name Mary Winkler killed her husband and claimed she had PTSD. The courts bought her argument that she was in a trance when she killed her abusive husband. Called it a disassociative state where she had no recollection of killing him. So all a person has to do is say they don’t remember doing a crime to get out of it? Sounds like Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez to me, or Scooter Libby. Hell, before its over that whole damn Bush administration.

The Jena Six Fix

By Paul S. Peete

All rights reserved

Today I read that Reverend Al Sharpton visited Jena, Louisiana to pray with Mychal Bell, who was recently convicted of second degree aggravated battery of Justin Barker, a white schoolmate, in the first of six cases against the black students arrested for what was originally charged as attempted murder. The case stems from an on campus assault by a group of black students on Barker, who was punched and, according to witnesses, pummeled and kicked while lying unconscious. Barker sustained several minor cuts and scrapes, a badly blackened eye resulting in blurred vision for a couple weeks. According to testimony offered by Barker during the trial, he also experiences headaches and memory loss. The same evening after the attack, he attended a school function after being treated and released from the hospital.

What sparked this attack was a decision by 3 black students to sit beneath a tree at the school in September, which previously was only used by white students. Three white students placed three nooses in the school’s colors on the tree and were subsequently suspended for a few days. Though the school head requested expulsion, the all white school board decided on the suspension. This was followed by a number of incidents of racial taunting and ultimately, an attack on a black student at a party by a group of whites. Later an adult threatened black students with a shotgun, which was taken from him and later recovered from a car on the property of one of the Jena Six.

On December 4, 2006, Mychal Bell, Theodore Shaw, Bryant Purvis, Carwin Jones, Robert Bailey Jr and Jesse Beard were arrested and charged with attempted murder and conspiracy by the DA Reed Walters, who had earlier in an attempt to quell the unrest told an assembly of black students that he could end their live with the stroke of a pen. and one is still incarcerated unable to post the 90000.00 bond.

A controversial figure like Reverend Sharpton, always at the scene of racial incidents is a polarizing figure and in this case may even make matters worse. I’m not knocking Reverend Sharpton for his intent, he strengthened the reserve of the citizens there to stand against this treatment, but a solution from the people of the region is what is needed; a long-term solution to opening eyes to solving the problem. Neither are the school board and superintendent doing anything constructive to solve the problem; cutting down the tree that had the nooses solves nothing! The tree isn’t the one practicing racism.

Someone has to reach out to the students, both black and white to see if it is possible to bring them past this to a better understanding and appreciation of each other. Perhaps the adults are beyond help due to the legacy of Jim Crow some have embraced. I am a native of New Orleans and as a teen attended John McDonough High School in the first year of its integration. We had many racial flare ups that year and even all out battles on the campus grounds the day of Martin Luther King’s killing. This story makes me want to reach out and help these kids. The tragedy of the situation is that in this, the twenty first century we are still racially polarized in many rural communities and even in our large metropolitan areas the divides are apparent though economics are the tool of separation more than skin tone.

What can we do to improve the idiocy of this situation? The accused are possibly going to prison because the legacy of racism is visiting itself on them. The charges brought are more severe than warranted and the all white jury is predisposed to conviction as the tight knit white community of friends and relatives are serving as jurors and witnesses. Perhaps a sponsored showing of Hairspray followed by workshops on the film’s message of tolerance for racial difference would be a benefit to the youth of Jena and cities like it.

Young whites are as victimized by their beliefs as blacks believing that they are better than another human being simply because of their skin color. The town of Jena may be ok to live like that with its generations of segregation and population advantage of 5 to 1. But any of them hoping to enter the new world of globalization is in for some cruel truths that they will face. Global competition from people who don’t care that they are white, American, or think they are superior will challenge, overwhelm, or defeat them in the marketplace. Blacks who live under these conditions are either going to be motivated to do better, escape, or retaliate. We need not continue to believe these mindsets are inevitable!

It is imperative that we stand against this injustice and bring forth collective action to improve our nations’ racial relations. This is just the tip of the iceberg and may serve as a catalyst to spur us to face the vast divide that our country has yet to eliminate. In the year prior to the election of a new President, we see a woman and a black man as viable candidates and show the desire of America to move beyond our divisive past.

Its imperative to get the involvement of a corporation like Wal-Mart, located in so many of these communities, can show its leadership by sponsoring free showings of films like Hairspray, Amistad and other films that will be catalysts for change. By doing this, Wal-Mart can improve its Corporate Image perhaps reversing the tendency of larger communities to resist it’s presence there. Because the most prolific of Wal-Mart’s public philanthropy is through community grants, wherein they match the monies raised at a Wal-Mart site or a site where a Wal-Mart Associate is involved, the best approach initially is to interest some of the stores in communities like Jena of the need to have racial sensitivity exposure through a movie and a set of learning guides that use the movie as a vehicle for enlightenment.

Uncle Sam Wants You 20000 Dollars worth

By Paul Peete

All Rights Reserved

Since the Army recruiters have fallen short of their goals the last couple months even after the standards were lowered, age limit of recruits raised, and even arrest records overlooked in some cases, Uncle Sam is opening his wallet to entice the nation’s eligible citizens to enlist. Twenty Thousand Dollars if you agree to report within thirty days is the new incentive on top of the Fifty Thousand Dollars available for college already a recruitment perk. It speaks volumes as to the impact the nation’s attitude about this war is having on the military.

The politicians like to tout it as the all-volunteer services but a more accurate name is the Mercenary Military. Now this “Quick Shipper” bonus is being offered to those who are motivated by the cash; the economically disadvantaged. It has been the policy for quite some time to offer those with specialties in short supply in the military who reach the end of their commitment to offer larger and larger reenlistment bonuses and use all sorts of coercive techniques to push in theatre re-ups. It should be a cause for concern to all of us that the military is being supplied with soldiers whose loyalties are to the dollar and not their patriotism. Will they come home with their deadly training and experiences and use that same mentality to keep getting ahead. We saw what happened after the Viet Nam War how some veterans who were trained killers came back and caused an increase in violent crime.

We taxpayers are going to pay for this new incentive, lets hope that we don’t continue to pay after the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan end.

The Incredible Imperial President

By Paul Peete

The latest position by the White House, that the Justice Department has no authority to even consider the issue of Executive Privilege in the matter of the firing of US Attorneys in the Congressional investigation, is indicative of this Administration’s utter contempt for any oversight of Presidential prerogatives. By claiming that the US Attorneys are appointees of the President and therefore under its control, preempted from even investigating the issue posits a circular logic that tears to shreds the concept of separation of powers and the Constitutional intent of having coequal branches of governance.

Of course this should come as no surprise since this administration is accustomed to operating in a power vacuum ever since the Supreme Court in the 2000 Florida fiasco brought it into the White House. The subsequent Bush Supreme Court appointees insure that if the issue winds up in the High Court for final adjudication, the decision is predictable. I am a citizen with no legal or historical background other than a general knowledge; but all it takes to see where this is headed is common sense. President Bush has built a wall around the actions and decisions of his administration that makes a mockery of the concept of separation of powers. It galls me that we, through our elected Congressional representatives, are powerless to even challenge in the Justice Department, Executive claims of privilege.

While it is the President’s appointee who heads the Justice Department and its Attorneys serve at his pleasure, to deny them even the opportunity to rule on matters of privilege, regardless of the fact that Gonzales is sure to rubberstamp Bush’s position, he refuses to posit the issue before his hand picked Justice Department. Even a subsequent appeal to the Supreme Court would most likely back him. The Bush Administration in this latest act destroys even the already suspect appearance of the Balance of Power. With the judicial deck so obviously stacked in his favor, what does the administration have to fear?

Could Republican Congressional realization of the national disgust with the Bush Administration cause them to fear having this much power concentrated in the hands of a Democrat taking the White House in 08, forcing them to rethink the maintenance of an imperial executive branch? I can only hope that those entrusted with the legal system have enough sense to recognize that this administration is due to vacate the office in less than two years, that is if Bush doesn’t pull a Musharraf like power grab and refuse to leave at the end of his term. Based on the disparity in campaign cash pouring in and the polls showing Republican discontent with their own choices, they know in their heart of hearts a Democrat is likely to win in 2008.

Even the thinly constituted Democratic Congressional majority, so far stymied by the Republicans from exercising any counterbalance to Bush, may seize their sole alternative of issuing contempt citations and enforcing them in-house as the last level of safeguard against Bush. After all, a runaway Hillary or Barack White House should send chills through the Republicans and encourage them to maintain their counterbalance over an Imperial Executive.

He Said She Said

By Paul Peete

All Rights Reserved

Boy we finally have a contest in the Democratic Presidential race. Barack and Hillary are letting it rip after they had differing opinions of the rightness of talking to despots if elected. Barack gave Hillary the opening by answering without hesitation yes to a question posed by a citizen as to whether he would meet with the leaders of N. Korea, Cuba, Venezuela and Iran in his first year in office. She said that the Presidency is too prestigious an office to allow despots to use it as a propaganda opportunity. She scored one for the experience argument by seeming more cognizant of the protocol of the office, but she went too far the next day when she said it showed his naiveté. That freed Obama to attack her as naïve to vote to authorize Bush to attack Iraq on the premise that he would try diplomacy first. And he is free to operate with the gloves off now. He can say that he tried to stay above the fray but he can’t run away from a bully even if she is a woman trying to act like a man.

The old saying is that you can’t un-ring a bell! Well the bell for round one has rung and both Obama and Clinton are going at it like heavyweight contenders. A little he said she said is what this Democratic contest needed. So Hillary is trying to paint Barack as a rookie politician and Barack is going at her as a Bush-lite member of a political establishment that has run this country to the state we find ourselves in now. Barack is stressing the new direction he would take the country in. He even is characterizing himself as strong enough to have no fear of talking to anyone and smart enough to stand up to any attempts at upstaging American interests. But there is a wild card in this deck who goes by the name of Bill. America knows that Bill was able to stand on the world stage with anyone and come across as the leader of the free world.

What Barack has to do is paint Hillary as the wife of a great leader who was treated like a princess during her years as first lady and a Senator for just one term before he was elected. He must somehow feminize her role as first lady without trying to seem sexist, which would invite a racist perception of him to creep in. Hillary has to continue to act like the nomination is already hers and that Obama and Edwards are duking it out for the possible vice presidents job. John Edwards has to somehow get in this fight as something other than the referee and find a way to throw punches at the two of them and hope he can land a sucker punch while they aren’t focused on him. His populist theme has yet to make a dent in the frontrunners lead. Even his admission of making the mistake on the vote to authorize the war did little to force a similar concession from Hillary.

Edwards’s wife has been trying to engage Hillary in the femininity argument but she better be careful that she doesn’t make John Edwards look more feminine than Hillary. Having just gotten away from being pasted with the hair bit, the YOU Tube video of John combing his hair to “I’m so pretty” gave an interesting assent to Ann Coulter’s fag reference and John’s soft nature runs against the grain of America’s macho GI Joe image of its leaders. Remember the “who would you prefer to have a beer with” that Bush swaggered in on over a true war hero turned thinker!

So Obama gets to show a toughness now without seeming like the angry black man America so fears. And Hillary is stuck now having to face again an issue that was pushed to the background in recent weeks as she appeared well on her way to cinching the nomination. Edwards has to look tougher and get the blood boiling in the Democrats for a change. Carrying his home state in the early primary is a must for him, perhaps the only hope for him.