Our Presidential Candidates in Light of the Crisis in Pakistan

Strange how easy it is to see the candidates clearly these days! There are significant stressors impacting them. First, there's Christmas. Surely they all felt entitled to a day or two of relaxation and family time, and found those anticipated days compromised by the pending Iowa caucuses. They may be travelling to Iowa without spouses and children. God knows some of them look sexually frustrated and/or just a tad hungover!

Now they have to be johnny-on-the-spot with their reactions to Benazir Bhutto's assassination yesterday, and the situation in Pakistan. This morning on msnbc's Morning Joe program, candidates are being interviewed.

Bill Richardson, who sells himself as a been-there-done-that candidate, thinks we should just ask Musharraf to step aside and allow an interim government to take over and move forward with elections. As if there is time or space for even a split-second vacuum in a nuclear-armed country that is descending into chaos! As if Musharraf would go for that! He's harboring Al Quaeda in the northwest,isn't he, and we expect him to do our sweet little bidding?! Bill Richardson's p.r. kids apparently told him to stand out in the cold Iowan snow for his TV interview this morning- good move! But then Mr. Richardson had to mess it up by looking uncomfortably cold and top it off by complaining about the weather. Not so tough after all?

When Giuliani takes the stage, he's comfortable and tough, and can rest on some laurels. But why must he be a one-man show? How hard would it be to say "I promise I'll select the finest advisors in the land to help me?" Oh that's right- his track record on selecting advisors is crooked, something he may not want to reference right now.

Romney looks like a very well-dressed and polite life-long shoe-salesman in a fancy department store when he talks about the Bhutto assassination - OUT OF HIS ELEMENT!- no way we can let him be Commander-in-Chief in such a dangerous world climate!

Huckabee- with his fake bookshelf cross- and his preening folksy goodness- would be, as the latest catchphrase has it- "Huckicide." Obama and Hilary just don't fit the bill right now. It's Osama Bin Laden, the Taliban, Al Quaeda and nuclear weaponry we're up against! People who wrought the devastation of the World Trade Center, the Buddhas of Bamiyan and and so much more. Doesn't Obama need to be a few years older to deal with the villains in the Middle East? And who wants to see Hillary over there, getting shrill with the big guys? Not me!

Chris Dodd, so honorable, composed, competent and experienced- with years on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee- knows what he's talking about, speaks clearly and firmly about everything, and on-the-spot about the dangers of a vacuum in Pakistan - Why can't people hear him?!?! Check out his amazing credentials at www.chrisdodd.com/about.

Right now, in the ever-evolving perceptual gestalt of the field of candidates, only Dodd looks safe to me. He will have the best advisors, not just favored friends around him. He's strong and consistent. He makes sense.

Then what are these murmurings of a Bloomberg-Gore ticket? What then? How about if Bloomberg just uses his wealth to target and raise the quality of life for young potential extremists around the world? Then instead of being steered by fantastical visions of virgins in heaven, they could experience the satisfactions of capitalism and free enterprise. They could be educated to understand and appreciate all the world's greatest art, music, literature, architecture, history, nature, philosophies, and to join the greater human experience, including love, kindness, and democracy. But there's not enough money in the world for that. What could change them? Who could save us?

Best Presidential Campaign Ever? (And Giuliani Makes me Feel so French!)

There's no shoo-in yet for either Presidential candidate, but some days it seems like a done deal. Then the tide turns, and it just keeps on turning. These folks are fighting hard. They're no sprouts. We're definitely going to have to stay on our toes for this bunch. It's so much fun, because the more you fine-tune your observations,the more interesting the wide-open possibilities become.

At first it seems obvious that a Democrat has to win. Democrats need to stamp out the mess that Georgie Porgie and his boys have made. For awhile, led on by the media, you thought it had to be the Clintons. "How could Hil-Bill-y lose? All that experience, his calculated charm, her brains!" But then you get vaguely sick just thinking of them in the White House again, her strident voice, her awkward faces, his cockiness, his unzipped pants, his thumb in the air.

So, after hearing a few good sound-bites, you realize that Barack, though young and relatively inexperienced, is hip to the jive and smart as can be. He and Michelle are definitely au courant.That's what we want isn't it? A hip president, son of an anthropologist, someone the Boomers can nurture and cherish?

Then there were those internet questionnaires circulating to help you pick your candidate. Almost everyone I heard of, Republican or Democrat, politically savvy or not, got Christopher Dodd. I suspiciously wondered if the Dodd campaign had designed trick questionnaires, or if Dodd really is the best man for the job. He's thoughtful, smart, dedicated. It's hard not to love him when you hear him in interviews. Not quite telegenic enough?

Then, Bill Richardson takes the stage and you wonder why you hadn't really noticed his presidential-ness before. He's always quick to let you know that he's comfortable as a negotiator on the world stage. Isn't that what we need? A big good-looking guy who's been around the block?

Of course we have to love John and Elizabeth Edwards, especially Elizabeth, who can take the bull by the horns and campaign forthrightly while facing down cancer. Joe Biden has given a lifetime of service to the nation and has the character that comes from overcoming loss and sorrow. Don't forget Dennis Kucinich, who could face down any aliens from Venus who decide to come on home.

But...but...maybe all Republicans aren't so bad either? John McCain certainly isn't bad. He has his badges of courage and his scars from torture and solitary confinement in the Vietnam era. He has really been there and done that. He knows the enemy. He's given the nation years of service.

Mike Huckabee is all of a sudden fascinating, actually pretty astonishing. Can you believe, a Southern Baptist preacher from Hope, Arkansas? He's definitely front and center for me today. His eloquence in last night's debate, his sound and fearless clarification of Biblical allegory and his unflaggingly sensible responses brought me open-jawed out from the kitchen, dish-rag in hand.

Giuliani makes me feel so French- a pied a terre? A menage a deux? So? he's committed a few "crimes" of the heart- ain't love grand? And on top of that, you get a feeling that he could face down Tony Soprano, overlook some things, make a deal. We kinda need that too, don't we?

Mitt Romney has the looks. But his hurt-little-boy-look is getting on my nerves. How smart is he, really? Most candidates' flip-flops can be forgiven as human, but Mitt's steadfast Mormonism does not provide a logical backdrop for his changes on major issues like abortion. If you are steady in your beliefs, and you are selling yourself that way, then you better REALLY be steady. He's not.

Fred Thompson's lazy-hazy stardom and his lackadaisical approach are fascinating.Why do it? This is a new style of Presidential candidate- one who doesn't care too much! Then we have the nutty but interesting smartness of Ron Paul, bringing it home that the Constitution should be front and center.

It's just a wonderful run-up to the nominations, and a real education. I'll be sorry when it's over. Can't we just put them all together and pick at least three to be Co-Presidents?