Conversations on Political Insanity

If you didn't catch Obama on Jon Stewart's The Daily Show when the Senator was in New York last week, you can see the video on RealClearPolitics. Stewart, who is often a brilliant political comedian, reads some increasingly sensationalist headlines on Obama's campaign against Hillary and then poses the question: "Has the insanity of this process sunk in on you yet?"

Being an independent, I thought that was a great lead-in for a statement about our corrupt partisan political process and how we need to change how politics is done in this country if we are to create a new direction for the country. Obama answers that we need some "normalcy", and relates a story about preparing for an 8:30 am debate, "It's always a shock to the system when, Sunday morning, you wake up and you're face-to-face with Mike Gravel." (titter, titter... you know the drill...)

Hmmmm..... Well, not so funny. If a candidate for US President is not so game to come face-to-face with Mike Gravel, how willing would he be to come face-to-face with independent candidates who aren't under the constraints of a partisan dictatorship? (see Larry Reinsch and Co. for Rock The Debates asking Barack Obama The Question: whether he would debate independent candidates after the primary. Obama decries the "winner-take-all system" and claims "general sympathy"...)

Or how willing would he be to come face-to-face indeed with the American people and make a statement against the partisan good ol' boys (and girls) club? Apparently not so much... Word is, Obama still has not scheduled a promised meeting with New Hampshire independents, and from what I'm hearing in New York, his Brooklyn Marriott rally was packed with real people (hell - only a couple of New York pols have had the muster to go up against the Clinton machine to endorse Obama) but he didn't really go for it. Hey -- it's New York. Take on Clinton-the inevitable? Appeal to the 47% of the black vote in New York City that went outside the Democratic Party and voted for a nonpartisan mayor in 2005? Apparently not...

It's beginning to look a lot like Obama is running for VP.