It's Getting Ugly Out There...

It's getting ugly out there, folks. And actually it's the Democrats who are turning ugly much more than the Republicans. Remember Iowa (yeah, ages ago wasn't it?) when we were talking about Romney and his political hackery in his constant negative attacks upon Huckabee and McCain? And the same in New Hampshire? Well, that seems to have gone by the by, and the contest on the Republican side has actually been rather civil in the past week through Michigan, Nevada and South Carolina. Surprisingly so with 6 Republican candidates fighting for every vote on offer. Ronald Reagan's 11th Commandment seems be to have re-asserted itself a little bit in the past week - 'Thou Shalt Not Criticise a Fellow Republican.'

But it sure seems okay to criticise a fellow Democrat! Those three are attacking each other pretty heavily. And it annoys me that they are. I feel that the Democratic campaign, which is supposed to be about breaking glass ceilings and encouraging change, has had a little too much of the stench of politics as usual about it. These are supposed to be the candidates of change, who can reach across the aisle to form a grand coalition that will solve the problems facing America and re-cast the USA for a prosperous 21st century. How can the Democrats claim to be able to bring change when they can't bring change to their campaigning?

It's intensely frustrating that the negative campaigning works so well, too. Do we honestly think that Barack Obama is a closet Reaganite? No...there's no way you can paint him as such. But you can't deny the transformative effect that Ronald Reagan had upon America, whether it was for better or for worse (and Obama made no statement about whether it was for better or worse.) Of course, from the Democrats perspective, Ronald Reagan did a lot of harm to their interests, but that isn't to say that he wasn't a stand-out President from the recent crowd, for good or ill. In 1984 Ronald Reagan swept 49 states. It's clear that he had more of an overall influence on America than Bill Clinton did. But suddenly, according to the Clinton campaign, Barack Obama is a Reaganite! It's the same weak interpretation with a view to attacking a candidate which Obama supporters used in their criticism of Clinton for playing the 'race card'. It's not as explosive an issue, but it's the same spirit. Take something that's completely ridiculous and apply it to comments without context.

And I've forgotten to mention John Edwards in all of this... Well...