Reflections on the First Week of January 2008

© Dr. Gary D. Lemmons, January 6, 2008

Well, it looks as though the people…at least those in Iowa…are looking for a change. On the Republican side, it seems that Mike Huckabee represents that change. Huckabee is a social and religious conservative. Unlike the current occupant of the White House (who is a corporatist), Huckabee is on record as being more fiscally liberal than some of the others in the field. So, if he is elected, no one should be surprised (as we were when Georgie showed his true colors) that he will go along with increased spending be it by the Democrats or Republicans.

If Huckabee should win in New Hampshire, he would be in a good position to do some real broken field running. McCain may be the only one who can stop him. We shall see.

McCain has his own baggage.  His McCain-Feinstein ACT, which, let's face it, limits freedom of speech, despite the ruling of the Supreme Court (they, like the Congress and the Presidency, screw-up royally sometimes), has cost him a lot of votes.  His position on dealing with undocumented immigrants has not endeared him to social conservatives all that much.

(Incidentally, just as a side question, if illegal aliens are really just undocumented immigrants, does that mean that bank robbers are really just unauthorized bank tellers?!?)

On the Democratic front, Obama appears to have tapped into the sense of the people. I’ll bet Hillary is fit to be tied! Be on the look out for a massive Clinton attack between the New Hampshire Primary and "Super Tuesday."

Stick a fork in him, John Edwards is done. He had to win in Iowa. He didn’t.  New Hampshire could give him a bit of the "resurrection" promise, but, failing that, he becomes a member of the Eugene McCarthy, Edmund Muskie, Gary Hart, Teddy Kennedy, Harold Stassen club.

If Romney goes down in New Hampshire, it is over for him too, albeit, he has the dollars to hang on through “Super Tuesday.”  Our good "religious conservatives" just can't let go of the notion that the former Massachusetts governor, who is a good Mormon, has two other wives and a quiver of children out there somewhere!  My problem with him is that he it too much the corporatist and he thinks the No Child Left Behind Act is wonderful in it present form!

Just a few more days and the boys and girls of the General Assembly will be back in session under the Gold Dome.  Do you feel as sick to your stomach about that as I do? Wonder if we could get a good SAT score from the composites of those of the leadership of that crowd?

It is going to be interesting to see how long it takes the corporatists to shoot down Speaker Richardson's proposal to change the state taxing philosophy from an income centered form of robbery to a consumer one?!? Richardson is to be applauded for thinking outside the box, but, let's face it, he is no Tom Murphy and the "old man from Haralson County", himself, would have been hard pressed to have gotten rid of property taxes.  County commissioners, city council members, and school board members around the state would suffer from a "Britney Spears moment" if the General Assembly seriously considered that possibility.

Have a good week.