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Super Tuesday 2008
Published on February 05, 2008 I have always supported the
Democratic Ticket in all presidential elections held in America. When I
first came to America in 1969, �Tricky Dick� (Richard M. Nixon) was the
president who took office in late January 1969. Nixon, a Republican
politician who served as the vice president for President Dwight D.
Eisenhower for 8 years, was at the helm. He promised during the campaign all
throughout 1968 that he would pull out troops from Vietnam once he becomes
the president. This is the promise that he reneged. His evil counsel, Henry
Kissinger, engineered the proliferation of Vietnam War to neighboring
countries such as Laos and Cambodia. In 1972, the Democrats put forth the
candidacy of Senator George McGovern, a liberal candidate, who promised to
end the war in Vietnam. However, he was soundly defeated by Richard Nixon.
But Nixon paid very dearly for bugging the Watergate Complex office of
McGovern�s election headquarters. I never liked even one Republican
candidate who ran for the White House. The first time I was allowed to vote
in presidential election, it was 1984 when Ronald Reagan was reelected; this
time the Democrat had nominated Vice President Walter Mondale, a descent
man. But Reagan was immensely popular then for whatever reasons not quite
understood by me. Reagan�s 8 years in office resulted in huge budget
deficit. He promised to make the federal government a small one but ended up
making it a big one. America had the choice to elect
another descent human being, Governor Michael Dukakis, in 1988 but the
nation elected George H.W. Bush instead. Dukakis was a victim of vile
campaign attack. George W. Bush knew how to scare people and he did that
with negative campaign. Bush�s 4 years in office was uneventful and was
plagued with savings and loan scandal. In 1992 Americans elected Bill
Clinton. Thanks to the Third party candidate, Russ Perot, who stole enough
votes from Bush to help Bill Clinton win the election. In 2000, George W. Bush received the
nomination from Republican Party and ran against Vice President Al Gore.
Even though Gore received more popular votes, he lost the election to Bush.
Thanks to the U.S. Supreme Court that did not allow the recounting of votes
in Florida. George W. Bush�s presidency is mired
in Iraq War, a misadventure totally based on false intelligence gathering.
The Islamic terrorists did a favor to Mr. Bush in 2001 when they hijacked
four passenger airlines and rammed two of them against the World Trade
Center killing nearly 3000 innocent civilians. Mr. Bush took the opportunity
to send troops to Afghanistan and Iraq. The rest is history. Bush who
inherited a healthy economy with budget surplus transformed the nation�s
economy into a sick one. With gas price escalating and economy shrinking,
the nation plunged into a recession in late 2007. As of this writing, the
Federal Reserve cut down the interest rate three times to revive the anemic
economy. No one is certain how severe the recession would be and when the
economy would turn around. Under this dire backdrop the two parties,
Democratic and Republican, are selecting their candidate. I will not address
the Republican race in this article. Let me stay focus with the Democratic
Party�s choice for the candidate who very probably will run in November
against Senator John McCain who looks like would become the torchbearer of
the Grand Ol� Party. Senator Obama is a freshman
legislator from Illinois who gave a fiery speech in the summer of 2004 at
the Democratic Convention when Senator John Kerry became the party�s
candidate to run against George W. Bush. Barack Obama was elected as the
senator from Illinois in the same year. Later he was sworn in 2005. He
quickly established himself to be an effective legislator while learning the
inner workings of Washington. Barack Obama decided to run for the
office of U.S. President two years after he became the senator. However, the
field was very crowded as Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, senator from New
York and ex-First lady, Senator John Edwards, Governor Bill Richardson, and
Congressman Dennis Kucinich all vying for the grand prize, i.e. to receive
the party�s nomination. Once the primaries get going the field was narrowed
down to two candidates. Senator Hillary Clinton and Senator Barack Obama
were competing against each other for the party�s nomination. Both the
candidates have received millions of dollars as donations. On Super Tuesday,
February 5, 2008, democrats living in 20 states will vote in the primaries
and the polling results will give us an idea who might get the party�s
nomination in the summer of 2008 when the delegates will convene to choose
their candidate. Earlier polls have indicated that
Senator Hillary Clinton was leading Obama by single digit percentage points
but a day before the Super Tuesday the race was tightening. Indications are
that Obama may win in few populous states and so will Senator Hillary
Clinton. Senator Obama received the head
start when he won the contest in Iowa but he came up second in New Hampshire
next to Senator Clinton. But in South Carolina Senator Clinton was soundly
defeated in late January 2008. President Bill Clinton and his daughter
Chelsea campaigned extensively in South Carolina, which has many African
American electorates. Unfortunately, President Bill Clinton injected racism
into the campaign and for that he was reprimanded by many senior Democrats,
and civil rights leaders. On Martin Luther King holiday the Clintons made
some controversial comments telling the Americans that it was President
Johnson who was instrumental in enacting the civil rights laws. The
contributions of the slain civil rights leader, Dr. Martin Luther King, in
mobilizing the public opinion for changing the laws were underplayed by the
Clintons. This unfortunate development greatly displeased many liberal
Americans. Suddenly, we witnessed that racism was brought into the primaries
by Clinton camp. In my humble opinion this unfortunate development coupled
with president Bill Clinton�s unbridled remarks in South Carolina have cost
Senator Clinton some votes. Soon she realized that a mistake was made. On January 31, 2008 both Obama and
Clinton participated in a very civil debate where they complimented each
other and refrained from making barbed comments against one another.
However, Senator Obama boldly made the assertion that while Senator Clinton
went along with Bush�s decision to invade Iraq, he opposed the decision.
Clearly, Obama wanted to establish himself as the anti-war candidate. Senator Obama�s campaign speech had
energized many Americans especially the young college kids when he portrayed
him as the agent of change that America needs so desperately. Many people
saw the reflection in him of President John F. Kennedy while others saw
reflection of Dr. Martin Luther King. Senator Obama is a gifted orator,
undoubtedly. His message is getting through to the electorates. Many people
consequently opened their purse. One thing Obama campaign does not lack is
money. It is the testament that many Americans liked his views on myriad
topics such as healthcare reform, doing away with the evil influence of
corporations in politics, a drastic change in foreign policy including
bringing back troops from Iraq and Afghanistan. Americans who aspire to see a change in their nation is supporting Senator Obama. They say that Senator Clinton represents old politics, which include the influence of special interest. It will be interesting to see if Obama�s candidacy catches fire. One thing is for sure. President Kennedy�s daughter, Caroline Kennedy, her cousin, Maria Shriver, and the slain president�s youngest brother, Senator Edward Kennedy all had thrown their weights behind Senator Obama. This is unprecedented and the like of which have never seen before. This has made the Clintons very unhappy. But life goes on as usual. Soon we will know whether Obama will become that dream candidate who will have the support of the majority electorates. Therefore, stay tuned. --------------------------------
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