Expense forces longshot Vilsack out of presidential race - Los Angeles Times

Expense forces longshot Vilsack out of presidential race - Los Angeles Times

Vilsack is out. I actually heard him speak in a radio interview shortly after he announced that he was running and he did have some really good, sound strategies and plans. He had strong ideas concerning the environment, renewable resources, and plans to get us out of Iraq. When I heard them I thought, wow, I like how that guy thinks! He had solid ideas.

But, ironically, so do almost *all* of the democratic candidates running for the '08 presidential slot. Honestly, on paper (or over radio waves as the case may be) all of the candidates sound GREAT. Many are touting the same basic principles - let's get out of Iraq, let's fix our healthcare system, let's improve education and fix the mess that is "No Child Left Behind", and let's end the corruption in Washington. I think the differences we need to look at aren't so much about - what do the candidates stand for. But more of - who can really get us from point A to point B and actually make the changes?

Vilsack's leaving the race due to financial concerns is good in that it opens up Iowa for another candidate. Is it a bad thing that politics comes down to who has the "star" power to raise the big bucks needed to play the game. In a way, yes. I'd love to see campaign reform take big business and corporations completely out of the process. I'd love to see all campaigns about the people. But we have a long way to go until then.

The way that I feel star-power isn't a bad thing is in the whole idea of energy. I feel that if more people were actually involved in the political process that we'd be a lot better off than we are now. If people felt passionate enough to take part in more than just voting for president every 4 years (or not voting at all) then we'd really see amazing things happen in government. So what does star power have to do with it? I think the time is right for a candidate who can really move the poeple into action. I can totally see people getting behind a Hillary Clinton or a Barack Obama and really wanting to shake things up. In fact, I'm already seeing it. Whether in the Hillary camp or the Obama camp I am hearing and seeing a lot of really motivated, excited people who want to get out and just DO something. Everyone on the Obama or Clinton website is aching to make a difference and they all want to jump in get their hands dirty helping promote their candidate. It's amazing really.

This is the first time I've felt a fire under my behind to plunge in and really get involved in a presidential election. So to me, if someone like Hillary or Barack has the star power, the charisma, the energy (that special difference), to pull in poeple that have otherwise felt disenfranchised or just plain disinterested before, then I say it's a good thing. A very, very GOOD thing.

Senator Obama's campaign has a huge and growing grassroots connection of people like you and me taking fundraising into their own hands in really unique ways. I'd love to see this as the norm in political campaigns and not the "unique" thing. It might not be the difnitive answer, but it's a start.

happy Monday...