Politics again

While I don't like to get political in seriousness because I am an outsider, never going to make a dent in what is and always will be the moneyed world of 'politics,' I consider myself perfectly free to make comments on politicians or politics in general.

My thought this morning was that, until this morning, I'd only been interested to see whether Hillary's machine was greater than Obama's machine. By machine I mean the support structure that raises them to the level of presidential candidate. That could be money or influential people, but I think mostly money because that's what influential people do, they get money to go your way.

I thought Hillary would have had a better machine, since she's been in the loop longer, and she has the benefit of Bill's connections. Obama's machine is much hidden, but that one connection I read about to a slum lord is no small thing. He comes from Chicago, not only notorious for corrupt politics, but in truth, somewhat effective in accomplishing their aims.

It appears now that a machine is not enough, Hillary has some disadvantage on a personal level. She's a woman, she's short in stature, and her speaking is easily more shrill than Obama's. I'm not sure what is so inspiring about a man who doesn't clearly articulate what it is exactly he will do in office, and where he's tried to articulate, he makes vague and unrealistic promises. But then again most candidates do that don't they? His success may also be in part due to his wide appeal, described this way in his Wikipedia entry: Supporters and critics have likened Obama's popular image to a cultural Rorschach test, a neutral persona on whom people can project their personal histories and aspirations.

What I'm trying to say is that I think I predicted wrong, I thought Hillary had a better chance, because of her connections and history on Capitol Hill. Obama appears poised to defeat her for the Democratic nomination. Who would have guessed that would happen. I guess the majority of Dems would rather take an unknown quantity than a woman.