Obama 2012

I'm watching the Republican presidential debate right now, and it's growing clear to me that we're looking at another 4 years of Barack Obama. That's assuming he runs for re-election, of course. If the Democratic party starts from scratch, it might play out differently, but the gathering of eight potential Republican candidates is not looking good. Mitt Romney is not a good candidate to my mind, certainly not as a Republican. Can any of the others beat Romney? I'd say no. A couple have a shot, but it's tough. And then can any beat Obama? At this point, I'd say no.

I'm not a Republican. I'm an un-enrolled voter with Libertarian leanings. To me, from a somewhat objective standpoint, it's a bad omen when the most attractive candidate seems to be Ron Paul.

Right now I think is a golden opportunity for some charismatic and brilliant independent candidate to campaign hard for the job. Because even though it's early, it's looking to me like the writing is already on the wall. I would love it if an independent candidate actually won the Presidency and proved that the whole silly partisan way we've been running elections in this country can be circumvented. I consider our present system at worst unconstitutional and at best bad for America.

In any case, this debate wasn't much of one. More like a "who can claim he espouses the most conservative Christian ideologies" popularity contest. I'll keep my eye on one or two of them, but it doesn't seem like most of these people can think enough for themselves. And who was that woman there? She proved with every word out of her mouth she had no business being on that stage.

And while I'm on the subject, I'd like to implore all candidates in all future debates to just SHUT UP AND ANSWER THE QUESTION. Stick to your time, DON'T pull that "can I just respond to that question five questions ago?" DON'T twist everything into a way to take up time talking about your pet issue ("I don't support that policy, but I do support jobs!"). But most of all, and I know this is sticky, don't waste your time pandering to the voters or the folks asking questions. We KNOW you appreciate the military service of the veteran who just asked you a question. Guess what, so does everyone else on that stage. So stop wasting 5 minutes thanking his family for his service and just ANSWER HIS QUESTION. That speaks far more than your platitudes that you think make you look good.

Of course in the end it shouldn't really matter since the President is elected by Electors. But as we go into primary season, to me it looks like the only hope the Republicans have is if the Mayans were right; if we're all still around for 2013, I see another inauguration for President Obama in our future.