From Macbeth:
If you can look into the seeds of time,
And say which grain will grow and which will not,
Speak then to me, who neither beg nor fear
Your favours nor your hate.
Shift around the letters, and it becomes:
Who will win the hard race for the high honor of President of our United States: Obama or McCain?
Anyway, I know I’ll forgo any wonky eleventh-hour guess.
Tie?
With just a month left until the election, polls indicate that Barack Obama has a healthy lead in both the popular vote and electoral college projections, and the Democrats in Congress are looking strong as well.
After 2004’s disappointment, I don’t want to put too much faith in the polls, but I am feeling cautiously optimistic.
But this week’s question isn’t about predicting the election. Let’s suppose hypothetically that Barack Obama does win next month. Let’s say that the election maintains a Democratic majority in the House, and Democrats wind up with 60 seats in the Senate (enough to block a filibuster).
This would basically put the Democrats in control of the agenda for at least two years, longer if the voters are pleased with the results.
So, the two questions I pose to my mostly liberal readership (but also my few conservative and moderate readers as well) is this:
If the Democrats were to take control, what would you like to see happen? What would you expect would actually happen?
From Henry VI, Part Three:
Nay, stay, Sir John, awhile; and we’ll debate
By what safe means the crown may be recover’d.
Shift around the letters, and it becomes:
McCain wanted to bail. He’s shy!
Obama wanted fresh eyes. Joy!
Lehrer wanted a brawl. Envy!
Do Barack Obama and John McCain have the same web designer?
From Much Ado About Nothing:
…an two men ride of a horse, one must ride behind.
Shift around the letters, and it becomes:
Biden (DE) was rumored a shoe-in for the mention.
From Henry V:
But if the cause be not good, the king himself hath a heavy reckoning to make; when all those legs and arms and heads, chopped off in a battle, shall join together at the latter day, and cry all, “We died at such a place;” some swearing, some crying for a surgeon, some upon their wives left poor behind them, some upon the debts they owe, some upon their children rawly left. I am afeard there are few die well that die in a battle; for how can they charitably dispose of any thing when blood is their argument? Now, if these men do not die well, it will be a black matter for the king that led them to it, whom to disobey were against all proportion of subjection.
Shift around the letters, and it becomes:
The latest primary melee offered some hard choices. It was a moment for me to do what I really feel strongly about.
I like Hillary, and I’d help her win in a jiffy, but I heeded Barack Obama’s calm knoll for hope, and really prefer to see polls let him win.
Senator Clinton voted for the war and fogey Senator McCain’s philosophy is to keep goading it on.
I went for the fledgling Barack Obama because he had the most wisdom about the war when it was thought less than patriotic to challenge the president. That was the integrity and judgment that we need to see deciding in the White House.
However, any one of them would be better than goofball Bush.
By now, you’ve probably seen the “Yes We Can” video, but I found it inspiring and wanted to post it here anyway. Enjoy!
And if you thought that one was inspiring, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet:
Discuss.
It’s still too early for any kind of meaningful speculation about 2008, so I will only offer rumors, gossip, and sarcasm.
There’s a rumor going around that if Al Gore wins the Oscar tonight, he’s going to announce his candidacy for President. I’d love to see Al Gore run, but he really doesn’t seem interested. I do think he’s going to win the Oscar though.
On the Republican side, Giuliani’s burning up the polls, and I think he’d mop up in the general election. I can’t see myself voting for him in the general, though we could do a lot worse. But once the primaries get going and conservative voters learn who he is and what he stands for, he’s not going to have, for lack of a better word, a prayer of winning the nomination.
To clarify earlier comments, I like both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. I just don’t think either of them is going to be our next president. Biden and Edwards are both starting to look pretty good, and, okay fine, I am still holding out hope that Gore will still decide to run. Is that so wrong?
But I did enjoy this satirical take on the typical criticism of Hillary Clinton from The Onion.
