Clarion Content

So much is happening so fast it could make your head spin. New Hampshire is over and the pollsters had it wrong. They were calling for Big Mo to carry Barack Obama forward, but old Mo was nowhere to be found. Momentum is elusive, perhaps even ephemeral. It is important to remember that Obama hadn't thrashed Hill in Iowa. Even though she finished third, Obama only beat her by single digits. In New Hampshire the pollsters had her trailing by a wide margin initially. The Clarion felt the race seemed to pivot on a single question asked to Hillary by a New Hampshire freelance photographer Marianne Pernold Young, 64.

"As a woman, I know it's hard to get out of the house and get ready. My question is very personal. How do you do it? How do you, how do you keep upbeat and so wonderful?" she asked.

This question and her response won Hillary New Hampshire.

Here is the video link.

The question that some cynics are asking this week is was this response for real? Is Hillary such an actress that she can tear up on command? The Clarion surely would believe that Bill could tear up on command. We surely believe Hillary is a poll driven creature. Her spinners and handlers were telling her and the media in the transition to New Hampshire from Iowa that the key was softening her image, connecting with the voters personally, as the agent of change, winning the emotional battle with Obama. She was already winning the policy battle and it wasn't doing any good. Check out the insightful, Jon Meacham's thoughts here.

Watch the clip. Did she fake it?

Sadly this week also saw the race waving goodbye to New Mexico governor and former Energy Secretary Bill Richardson. Too bad, Bill, we hardly knew thee. What the Clarion did know was at least interesting. The patrons of the liberal left at NPR said he was the strongest anti-pollution candidate. The Clarion thought for sure as a man who had lived in Mexico, and then in an American border state, he would have a valuable perspective to add on the immigration debate. He was unapologistically vanilla. He never gained traction, never made a splash even though he is a funny and personable fellow.

The campaigns head to Michigan and South Carolina next. In Michigan the debate will be about the recession and jobs. The Democratic candidates have little of value to add to this debate, but it will be interesting to see what happens in the Republican primary, will the voters go for the protectionist populist claptrap of Governor Huckabee? Or will the respect the honest but difficult position that John McCain is laying out, "Some jobs are gone forever."

It is obvious America is not going to be able to compete down to the bottom of the global manual labor manufacturing wage scale. We have to move forward, there is no ground to be made moving backward. Education and technology training are the keys. Incidentally, the Clarion would have thought that this would be a natural position for fomer CEO Romney, but he is such a poll driven phony, that despite his natural proclivities and past statements, this year in Michigan he is creating out of air a new populist stance. By announcing, this week he is opposed to raising mileage standards for cars and Suvs, Romney has shown again, he is as craven and demented as can be. Hopefully, Michigan voters won't be fooled.

Labels: 2008's President, Politics