On Iowa
It's been awhile since I've backed a winning candidate. It sure feels good. Obama had a convincing victory tonight. It wasn't very pronounced, but I heard a little of MLK at the beginning of his victory speech--the intonation as much of the words. I still have problems with some of his policies--it's not simply cutting tax cuts for multinationals that's the real problem here--but the overall vision is still compelling. A more engaged relationship with the world and a politics of hope rather than fear. It's rhetoric, sure, but that's what the presidency is about to some extent.
Obama is an interesting contrast with Huckabee. He lacks the folksiness and approachability--he uses humor much less and is a much more dignified figure. But to me, that's part of what makes him inspirational--his gravitas offsets his lack of experience. Say what you will about his lack of experience, I haven't heard Obama come across as uninformed (or even bumbling) in the same way that Huckabee has in the last week. On Huckabee, I'm of two minds. I differ with some basic assumptions: he maintains that conservative vision of individual self-determination that honestly just doesn't match reality for me. We don't live and make choices in isolation. Yet I'm glad that he represents that changing face of American Evangelicalism, one increasingly concerned with poverty and the environment as well as with social issues. I wouldn't be upset with a Huckabee-Obama matchup (though I think Obama is clearly the more capable candidate at this point). I'd probably put my chips on McCain on the Republican side at this point (I'd be severely disappointed with either Romney or Guiliani). That would be the toughest race for the Democrats to win.
With the coming months not holding much promise on the sports front (the Bears are done and the Bulls don't merit much attention), this will be an interesting horse-race to follow.