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The Wisdom of King Solomon
February 11, 2008 @ 09:02 am
By Candace Suerstedt
Wow, I’m kind of impressed. Mitt Romney has left the race.
“In this time of war,” he has decided to “stand aside for the good of the country,” and the good of the party so that the Republicans can defeat the Democrats.
You’ve got to admire that. True, he suffered a crushing blow on Super Tuesday with John McCain’s decisive lead, but I’m trying to be less cynical and believe that this was, at least in part, a selfless act.
McCain has lost a formidable opponent, but he is still opposed by a passionate conservative political movement in his own party. Hillary Clinton knows a little about that, since a passionate anti-war movement opposes her in her party, a situation that should only strengthen Barack Obama’s position.
Now, if the Democrats can learn something here. I pray that Obama and Clinton are able to conduct themselves with civility as they continue down the rock-strewn path of campaigning. If only they can step over those rocks and resist the temptation to throw them. John McCain is suddenly looking very presidential and both Democrats must immediately drop any inclination to pettiness or smallness of spirit. (And Hillary, stop the eye rolling and smirks; they do not become you, Dear.)
It is imperative that the Dems not break out in an ugly brawl, especially along racial and gender lines. Both Obama and Clinton hold the keys to that scenario; if they get low down and ugly, so will their followers and the damage from that could cause McCain to become the next President of the United States.
Is that what we want? Can we stand a greater military commitment in Iraq in as well as prepare to take on Iran? Can our millions of citizens without health insurance expect “free market solutions” to suddenly become affordable enough to acquire? And the Bush tax cuts… tell me again….whom exactly do they benefit?
Time to get real, Democrats. We have two qualified candidates but cutting the baby in half is going to kill the baby. We need the wisdom of King Solomon to guide us, if we are going to prevail.
P.S. Note to Nader-Don’t even think about it.
- Candace Suerstedt is a filmmaker and a mother of three who lives in Coronado.
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Great call for an ethical campaign. What with all the Republican ads attacking Clinton… Yeah, I’m glad the Democrats at least have taken the high road for now.
Given that Romney spent more than $30 mil of his personal fortune only to get spanked on ST like a child acting out at church on Sunday, I would have to say that “suspending his campaign” wasn’t as selfless as you give him credit for. Not to mention, he went ahead and took a couple of cheap shots in that speech. So much for un-flung stones.
As for this race being civil, it seems to have been respectful (for the most part) of late. At least between Clinton and Obama. But those on the right are already using gender to chip away at Clinton’s reputation, and much of what they disseminate in the way of literature and punditry is overlooked by the media, accepted by people of all parties and perpetuated by both (note how even you patronized her by calling her “dear” up above). Obama will face similar tactics---should he be the Democratic nominee---but there is no way that blatant racism analogous to the blatant sexism already underway, will be tolerated. We are far too “PC” for that. Civility is not long for this election year and either it’s going to get ugly. What is really sad is that we’ll tolerate and quietly accept the denigration of an extremely qualified candidate simply because she is a woman.
Lastly, as for McCain appearing presidential, that’s all smoke and mirrors. He didn’t look so presidential when he appeared on Meet The Press a few weeks ago and flat out lied when directly confronted on his contradictory statements about where he stands on the tax cuts for the rich.
It’s looking like the republicans are going to cut the baby in half too.. I even heard a republican say they were going to vote for the Democrat because McCain was a Democrat anyway.. so they want to send a message to the party that they don’t want re-packaged Democrats..
Sounds like a good voting strategy.. any republicans listening??
I think that obama should win because we knows what we want and he understands whats happening today.OBAMA SHOULD WIN,HE IS THE BEST!!