Who in Four Years?

I promise--this is my last political posting for at least two weeks. I need time to absorb and digest the events of the past 48 hours.

Besides, I've been neglecting the entertainment side of this 'blog.

Anyway--the following was written in response to some comments at the weblog of my buddy Jack Curtin:

So--who can the Democrats run for president in four years? Not Edwards--he will have to carry the baggage of this campaign and could not possibly win the primaries, let alone the general election.

But like Pierce, I think we need somebody with the ability to boil down his positions to a few brief sentences...as bad as I think that style of campaigning is for truth in the body politic. The problem, of course, is that thinking people KNOW that solutions to this nation's problems cannot be reduced to bumper stickers...and those of us in the progressive wing of American politics are, above all, thinking people.

That's OUR problem...and it was Kerry's. WE saw that his "nuanced" way of looking at things was the way to examine a problem and find the right answers. But the other side of the nation's political spectrum wants answers NOW! and is unwilling to wait for a thoughtful response--they demand immediate action, even if it turns out to be disastrous.

So--who should run in 2008? I suspect that, like the pre-Carter period, we'll have no idea until somebody seems to emerge from the pack, probably someone nobody has even considered yet. I heard Matt Lauer suggest to Barack Obama this morning that Obama is presidential material...but I don't buy it in this political atmosphere. A liberal black man with a "strange" sounding name? He'd be lucky to carry Illinois and New York. Chris Matthews has been suggesting--though without supporting--Hilary Clinton...and as my wife said, "This country isn't ready for a woman president, not after THIS election."

I think we'll all be surprised--perhaps not pleasantly--at who emerges in the Democratic Party over the next four years. Actually, I'm more concerned over who the GOP will choose to follow Dubya. Can you imagine one of those new nutjob senators elected last night running?

Unfortunately, I can.