What Does It Mean?

Well, the Iowans have spoken. They have chosen Huckabee and Obama. Since this is the first of 28 more primaries, what impact will it have and what, if anything, does it tell us about the general election.

Let me first say that I had thought both of these candidates were unelectable in the general election. I still think Huckabee is. Maybe I am naive, but I can't see the country electing a baptist minister to the oval office, much less one named Huckabee. That combined with his poor record on taxes and his open borders/amnesty position on illegal immigration should doom him among true conservative voters.

Obama is a different story, and not because of his race. I don't believe that most Americans are inherently racist. I did believe that they would judge him on the issues and his lack of experience. I was wrong about the record, but right about the racism, or lack thereof. The mainstream media has made an industry out of speculation concerning the racism of American voters. This primary should put that to rest, although somehow I think it probably won't. A relatively unknown black candidate with an Arab name won a primary in the whitest of white states in the midwest. That is a historical event, and one that should be celebrated.

A man who has basically just arrived in the Senate normally wouldn't have a chance at upsetting someone like Hillary Clinton. But Clinton is tremendously unlikable. Even Liberals who want to like her seem to have a hard time with her. Obama, on the other hand, is immensely likable. He can be a very inspiring speaker. I would vote for him myself if I wasn't familiar with his classically Liberal voting record.

What Obama brings to the table is something that Senator Clinton couldn't buy for all the tea in china, a personality. He also brings the hope, perhaps false hope, of an end to vicious partisan politics that people crave right now. Huckabee apparently speaks to the voters in Iowa in a way that a polished Governor from the Northeast cannot. It is their loss, Mitt Romney is a tremendously accomplished man whose record puts Huckabee to shame.

In spite of the results in Iowa, I will still maintain that Huckabee will fizzle out. I can't say the same for Obama. To tell the truth, if I had to pick a democrat, it would be him.