Super Tuesday is Here

As I write this late Tuesday evening, I’m still waiting for Mr. Obama to stop talking. Did no one give him the memo that at the end of Super Tuesday you are supposed to say a few words to your supporters and then step off the stage…not give a complete stump speech? Did no one give him the other memo that said you should wait for the candidate who’s currently speaking on TV to finish before you take the stage yourself? After all, it’s only polite to not shit over another candidate’s air time.

Don’t get me wrong. I think Mr. Obama is an electric speaker. It’s tough to not want to get into the rhythm and join with the chorus. The trouble is, and the thing that has been a growing reason why my support of Clinton has solidified over the recent days, is that while he’s been speaking well, he hasn’t really been saying anything. There’s a lot of describing the problems, and the things that should be addressed, but not a lot of specifics about what he specifically intends to do about them. Mrs Clinton has been throwing out plans. Sure, I think think her forcing people to buy health insurance is whack, but at least I know what to expect.

I pretty sure that Obama supporters are going to say that I’m not watching the same candidates that they are. That’s fair. We all tend to start seeing the favorable in those we support, and the unfavorable in those we don’t support. Human nature. I’m certainly not immune.

The thing I am most definitely certain about is that I still won’t be supporting any of the Republican candidates regardless of who the eventual Democratic nominee happens to be. The biggest issue for me with this is economics. The Republicans are all favoring supply-side/free-market policies. As I’ve said in other articles, we’ve done this twice now, and we’ve proved that it doesn’t work. It’s time the Republicans start thinking of a different economic model if they truly want to be the economic saviors of the U.S.

Mr. Huckabee seems to think he’s found his grail with FairTax. This has been a topic I’ve been researching. A MySpace acquaintance whose effectively a FairTax evangelist has urged me to take my time and research it well. While I can’t say that I’ve reached a final conclusion, I do have to say that I increasingly feel that it’s all smoke and mirrors. Something that looks good on paper (like pure communist socialism), but less than ideal in actual implementation. This isn’t the article to explore that, but it almost seems like a supply-side approach to tax reform–that we can reduce taxes and still come up with enough to fund the country. But as I said, this is a topic for deeper exploration at a later time.

One thing about the primaries I found personally revelatory came from the exit polls. They consistently showed the younger voters going for Obama, and the older voters going for Clinton. Upon reflection, I realized that for the young, first-time voters, the choice in candidates is clear. After all, Hillary Clinton had been First Lady and then Senator for as far back as they can remember. So for the young, the race is akin to JFK vs Bess Truman or Eleanor Roosevelt would have been in the early 60s. It explains a lot, I think.

I still have many hours of pouring through the exit polls. Even the quick peeks I’ve taken through the evening have been fascinating. That Latinos have been favoring Clinton is interesting considering they are the largest minority demographic in the country. The signs that those who earn under $50,000/yr are favoring Clinton while those who make more favor Obama is also interesting and also complicated.

It all makes for very interesting reading, these polls. When you extrapolate out to the general election, you can see why the Republicans have been lobbing attacks more in Clinton’s direction than Obama’s. Just on the surface of it, it seems that Clinton poses more problems for whoever the Republican candidate turns out to be.

But…it’s much too early to start thinking about such things. There are still many more primaries to go before we know how the dust will settle.