Day: February 20, 2008

Internationally Speaking

With all the dynamics in the the US election cycle, I have not had much time to write on international affairs. I apologize, for it use to be my strong suit. I just cannot get enough of the happenings in this fascinating contests.

There have been a few developments in the world that deserve a post or two. One Kosovo has declared independence from Serbia. US applauds the move, Russia condemns. That alone is something, since there seems to be a revival of the old Cold war days and now the US and Russia are once again heading into a head butt on the international stage.

Across the world there is mixed emotions. Countries that are dealing with their own separatist movement are worried that it will spill over into their country and political scene. This will be worth watching to see who does what and to whom.

Yesterday the news came out that Castro resigned from the presidency and the parliment, but would remain the head of the Party. The US said nothing has changed until there is true democracy on the island. But behind the scenes, since Raul is a bit of an economic liberal, business is getting a thumper with the prospect of the opening of the country to their claws.

The embargo will remain in place. But with a little opening business will rush into the island and stake their claims to the profits that could be made from the island. we will have to watch the situation develop. Both Clinton and Obama are for keeping the embargo in place. But will that change? Only time and circumstance will dictate what will occur.

Lastly, the ruling party of Pakistan lost its ass in the recent election. there are calls for musharraf to step down–yeah right! He will hang on until he is forced to resign. The new government has said it wants talks with Islamists. If you listen real close, you may hear Bush’s ass slamming shut.

All three of these situation will most likely be put on back burner until November and the general election. Things could change. Mostly likely they will not.

The Wisconsin Primary

Holy Moly! That is 9 straight wins for Obama. And again it is by double digits. Clinton just cannot buy a win. The Clinton campaign threw all it had at him and it was not good enough. He was accused of plagiarism, his wife was called unpatriotic, he was nothing more than words, and he is inexperienced. Not one of these made a difference. Clinton lost and lost big.

Obama won the majority of white men, that would have voted for Edwards, were he a candidate. Of course he won the black vote. He won the youth vote and made in roads with blue collar workers. White women went for Hillary, but only by 3% over Obama. Seems Clinton is losing these voters as well. The elderly are still voting Clinton overwhelmingly. And she is still carry the under educated vote.

In an exit poll responders were asked about the negative ads and attacks. 53% said that Clinton was the most negative and that it had turned them off. But will this deter the Clinton machine? Probably not. The negativity is not working, but what else do they have at this point. Now one can see why the desperation is there.

On the Republican side–McCain wins the primary–GO FIGURE!

Both McCain and Obama gave speeches that were more like the general election had already begun. McCain laid out his strategy, he will hit him on foreign policy, inexperience and the war. Obama, in his speech will hit McCain as the voice of yesterday and business as usual. McCain’s speech was like he was at the Elks Club pretty cut and dry to the point of boring. On the other hand, Obama’s was like a rock concert….lots of energy and hope.

There was also a Caucus in Hawaii, but as of this writing I have not seen any results to report on. That will be another post for another day.