All Three Candidates Have Their Political Liability Supporters

While Senator Barack Obama is the latest of the remaining three standing contenders to have to apologize for one of his supporters, both Hillary Clinton and John McCain have also attracted their share of supporters who may be a bigger liability than a help.

The Clinton campaign had to cut ties with former New York Congresswoman Geraldine Ferraro acting as an advisor after a goofy racial comment about the sucess of Barack Obama and his race. For some reason, the Clinton campaign forget what a drag Ferraro once had become for the doomed 1984 campaign of Walter Mondale as her tax problems emerged as an issue during the campaign. Not only did Ferraro help to doom any chances for Mondale, but her problems seemed to cast enough of a spotlight on her family and probably led to legal problems for both her husband and son as well.

And the McCain campaign is not immune either. In an attempt to appeal to the political right, McCain has drawn in controversial Televangelists such as Rev. John Hagee of Corberstone Church of San Antonio and Rod Parsley of Ohio. Hagee remains a controversial figure not only for his extreme sermons, often peppered with attacks on Homosexuals,Catholics and Islam, but also his extremely high salary compared to nearly all televangelists. Hagee also appears to nearly lobby for an attack on Iran by the U.S. military in some of his programs as well. And although Hagee tries to appeal to the "family values" crowd, he is on his second marriage since his first ended with claims of "infidelity" in the divorce papers, and Hagee was defrocked by the Assemblies Of God, leading him to set up his nondenominational Cornerstone Church.

Unlike the Democratic candidates, who are both on their first marriages, McCain is also on his second marriage like Hagee, but likely the "family values" issue will be used by the Republicans again this year, even if this is simply hypocrisy. Ironically, Senator Obama may be the most damaged by the sermons of his former pastor at this time, however both Clinton and McCain have attracted their share of supporters who are a political liability as well.

Senator Obama Now Just 414 Delegates Short Of Victory

Senator Barack Obama is now just 414 delegates shy of the magic number of 2,025 delegates required to win the Democratic nomination at 1,611 estimated delegates, and is still the odds on favorite to capture the nomination. In the latest daily Rasmussen Poll he also holds a seven point lead among voters for the Democratic nomination over Clinton. Clinton is farther back with 1,480 estimated delegates and would need to capture 545 delegates to win the nomination. Although she is favored in the upcoming Pennsylvania contest, Clinton is still likely to lose in a number of upcoming contests such as Oregon and other states, which makes her quest virtually a mathematical impossibility to capture the nomination.

Clinton may have attempted to put a lot of "spin" on her popular vote wins in both Ohio and Texas, however both states fell far short of any broad delegate gains for Clinton. In Ohio she captured just 76 delegates compared to 69 for Obama, which is hardly any broad win. And in Texas, although she narrowly won the popular vote, her loss in the caucus actually gave her less total delegates than Obama. Clinton left Texas with 106 delegates compared to Obama's 109.

Senator Barack Obama is still in the driver's seat for the Democratic nomination with Clinton virtually too far behind to catch up unless some really big political earthquake should suddenly happen. If she loses or barely comes out ahead in delegates from Pennsyvania then her mission would be even more difficult. In fact, for the entire total of delegates awarded from the "miniSuper Tueday" contests of Texas, Ohio, Vermont and Rhode Island, Clinton came out ahead by a mere 6 delegates, 208 to 202 for Obama, which is far short of any real big win needed.

Clinton may attempt to appear as a candidate on equal footing comparable to Obama. But the delegate total picture tells a whole different story. And some of the absurd racial nonsense coming from the Clinton campaign the last few days is most likely a sign of the frustration of some members of her campaign who realize the very difficult and most likely hopeless battle that she's involved in. Even if she manages a big win in Pennsylvania, it is still highly unlikely that she will capture the Democratic nomination. Clinton's back is certainly up against the wall right now. The delegate total math makes that most clear.

Iraq Mess Getting Worse Again

So far this week, 12 American soldiers have been killed in a new wave of renewed post-"Surge" violence in Iraq, as Al Qaeda and other extremist elements have found new cracks in the tightened security situation. And unfortunately all of this is only about to be as expected. In Iraq terrorist and radical Shiite and Sunni militia elements have always eventually found new ways to adapt to any new military tactics by the Americans or Iraqi security forces, and find new ways to attack with suicide bombings or other types of violence.

John McCain may have staked the entire future of his presidential ambitions on the platform that the "Surge" is working. But the history of the war since 2003 has always been that the radical elements in Iraq would always find some new way to eventually undermine any new security arrangements and continue the cycle of deadly violence. Nothing is easily solved in the MidEast ever.

Last month American deaths hit a low point of just 29. But with the renewed violence in Iraq this month as well as the 33% upswing in Iraqi civilian deaths in February, it is plain to see that any new security arrangements since the "Surge" have been compromised as the radicals have found new ways around this security to launch their deadly attacks and to plummet Iraq back into a terrible cycle of nearly uncontrolled violence once again. Further proof of the worsening cycle of violence comes from radicals sending the fingers of American hostages as proof of their crimes and the murders of more tribal leaders who oppose Al Qaeda in Sunni territory.

All of this renewed violence has yet to really catch up with the MSM. But especially the renewed violence against Americans will no doubt make Iraq a main front page and leading news story once again very soon, and will certainly put pressure on John Mccain and other "Surge" supporters who were once again all too quick to want to declare "victory" once again in Iraq.

Just like Afghanistan, where the Taliban and Al Qaeda elements have renewed their cycle of violence there over the last few months, Iraq is beginning to follow the same deadly path where no military solution seems to completely solve the violence problem before the situation seems to worsen again as the radicals always seem to find some new holes in any new security arrangements. Iraq is certainly going to be a major story in the news along with the economy at this rate by the November election and only remind the voters of the bitter Bush legacy and question whether they want to elect John McCain to continue the status quo.

America's Dangerous New Proxy War In South America

These days Washington views everything through a prism of terrorism it seems. And Washington's views on the latest and most dangerous new military tensions between Colombia, Equador and Venezuela certainly reflect this view from Washington that every conflict can be resolved by bombing away opposition movements.

In South America on March 1, Colombia launched a successful military attack within Equadorian territory to attack a guerrilla camp and kill the international spokesman, Paul Reyes, of the leftist Marxist organization, FARC, which has created serious tensions between neighboring Venezuela as well angering Equador. Certainly FARC is far from a saintly organization by any means, which has financed itself through kidnappings, drug dealing and even Human Rights Watch has condemned the sexual abuse of young girls involved in this guerilla movement by some leaders of the organization who have misused their power. As much as 30% of the 15,000 estimated fighters involved with this guerrilla organization may be under 18 years of age. Children over the age of 11 are considered to be of age to become fighters in this organization with many child soldiers. Many in Colombia are drawn to this organization as a way out of poverty rather than really drawn to the Marxist revolutionary philosophy.

It is an easy mistake for Washington to want to compare FARC to a terrorist organization such as Al Qaeda. However the cycle of poverty in Colombia as well as the lure of easy drug money seem to draw many young followers to this military outgrowth of the Columbian Communist Party. However the attack to kill the international spokesman of the organization, Paul Reyes, has ended any good efforts for the government of Colombia to work out some cease-fire or peace settlement terms with this organization. Reyes has met with the NYSE head Paul Grasso, and members of the Clinton State Department before in some attempts to bring this organization to peaceful terms.

Washington has a strong military client state stake in Colombia, providing $600 million each year in military aid to the government. Yet this government in Columbia must really resolve the serious issues of extreme poverty that influence so many to join an organization such as FARC or involvement in the drug trade. Simply bombing away opposition groups such as FARC or killing the leadership who are at least willing to take part in some peace talks is really no solution.

Colombia is unfortunately a major supplier of illegal drugs to the U.S. And it certainly serves the interests of the U.S. to put a stop to this terrible epidemic. However, a proxy war by Wahington against an organization such as FARC really does little to raise up the economy of Colombia and replace the dangerous drug trade and poverty with viable new economic opportunities. The terrible poverty in Colombia and the related problems associated with it really require a far more intelligent answer than simply attempting to bomb away poverty.

On so many levels FARC is hardly any good organization by any measurable means, however it represents the social and political frustrations of many in Colombia. Any organization that takes hostages for ransom money to finance itself or deals in drugs to finance operations cannot be admired on any level. Even many leftist leaders in Columbia are completely disgusted with FARC taking hostages for ransom. But FARC continues to represent the serious social problems within Colombia. Colombia needs to resolve many social problems and Washington must be careful not to provoke a wider new war in South America that could represent further dangerous disruptions for oil from the region. A war in South America is the last thing the troubled world oil markets need right now.

Oil November 2000: $28 A Barrel. Oil March 2008: $106 A Barrel. Replacing The Bush-Oil Industry Plutocracy: Priceless!

In the highly disputed November 2000 election, the oil industry interests which were the major supporters of buying the Bush Administration into power and creating an oil industry run plutocratic form of government in the U.S. were able to get their way on a wide range of tax and environmental issues dealing with the oil industry as well as allowed to develop the foreign policy that created the drive to war in Iraq, yet oil prices did not fall as result of all of this. Oil actually increased from $28 a barrel in November 2000 to topping $106 a barrel at one point in today's commodity trading.

The oil industry has been given every possible favor and advantage with the Bush Administration that it helped to buy into power. For example, with the EPA, the oil industry was given a special pass to delay until 2014 to remove the cancer causing benzene that is in such high quantities in Alaskan oil. Currently only BP produced oil uses a complex filtering site to filter out this dangerous cancer causing substance from the Alaskan oil. Automobile pollution control systems do not filter out this highly toxic substance that pours from car exhausts. Yet despite these special rights and costing cutting advantages by the oil industry, oil prices only continued to rise like a skyrocket.

And the oil industry attempted to secure cheaper oil by ramping up the nation to invade Iraq under absurd claims by the Bush Administration that the heavily weakened government of Saddam Hussein which was subject to both tight UN controls, sanctions and weapons inspections presented some WMD threat. Again this did not result in cheaper oil, as the U.S. only became bogged down in a protracted conflict with first hardliner supporters of Saddam Hussein such as hardcore Baathists, then caught between a civil religious sect war between rival Sunni and Shiite sects as well as Al Qaeda elements when Bush challenged them to attack U.S. forces in his "Bring it on" invitation.

The Bush Administration brought in 43 members of the oil industry, including former executives and major stockholders including Bush himself, compared to 33 members who were associated with defense contractors, and the only net result was war and war for oil that failed miserably to bring on better prices for the American consumer.

It was thought that Iraq contains 225 billion barrels of undiscovered oil, which would have constituted a 98 year supply for the U.S. Instead all of the sectarian and Al Qaeda generated violence only made the easy development of this oil very difficult and actually decreased the oil output of Iraq below that of the days of Saddam Hussein.

The oil industry formed plutocracy government of Bush did bring about better prices to the American consumer. Only huge profiteering at record levels for the oil industry has resulted, and Republican members of Congress even attempted to block a Democratic drive to tax these record profits.

The American consumer will now be looking at $4 a gallon gas very soon and outrageous heating bills for oil heated homes because the oil industry was given the control of the American government and this has only resulted in oil approaching a level nearly 4 times the price per barrel since the oil industry bought Bush into power.

Would You Buy A Used War From This Man?

If anything, a McCain term as president would only mean little more than being a third Bush term and bring in all of the prowar public policies that Bush brought in. As a war for cheap oil, Iraq was a miserable failure that only resulted in higher prices. Oil was only $28 a barrel when Bush entered office, but actually topped $104 a barrel yesterday. In any measure, the oil company driven war in Iraq only failed to bring about more supply or better prices. It was a huge failure for the old-time colonial imperialist foreign policy of the major nations using military force to invade weak developing nations to seize their mineral assets.

Iraq was thought to have 225 billion barrels of undiscovered oil, which would have been a 98 year supply of oil for the U.S. at current consumption rates. Instead the U.S. got bogged down into first a protrected battle mopping up the most hardline of Saddam's Republican Guard elements, then Al Qaeda and secular combatants from the warring Sunni and Shiite sects, and the widespread development of oil in Iraq by the very same oil companies who wanted the war to begin with soon fizzled.

John McCain means little more than years and years more of a U.S. commitment to the Iraq mistake, if not even an even worse effort to attack Iran as well. The problem is that no MidEast problem is quickly resolved, and any commitment into the MidEast ends up in decades or even centuries of problems. Do you really want to buy a used war from these men?

The Witch Strikes Back!

Just when it looked ever so likely that the voters of America might just reject the same old politics as usual and embrace the fresh new and hopeful candidacy of Senator Barack Obama, the Clinton attack machine pulled out all the claws and nails and joined in with the Republican attacks on Obama and sucker punched up his campaign ever so badly and raised a whole number of unfair and overblown attacks and cut into his 11 state win momentum. Clinton managed to pull off wins in three of four contests yesterday with her selfish tactics, in which she could care less what damage actually does to the Democratic Party in November as whole, just as long as she can win the nomination for herself is the only moral justification behind her resurgent efforts to wrest the nomination back from Obama.

Clinton apparently successfully raised some fresh voter doubts about the "experience" factor of Obama with her 11th hour "red phone" ads. However Obama appeared to be too much of a gentleman, or not really interested in party destruction to raise the real problems of any real Clinton "experience". The fact of the matter is that when Clinton was in charge of things it often ended up either in scandal or miserable failure. From her law office she helped to leave the Whitewater mess as a dangling problem dogging the early days of the Clinton White House. As First Lady, she managed to allow the White House "Travelgate" mess to happen under her leadership as well. When she took on the responsibility of promoting the Clinton Health Care plan, it not only miserably failed, but she also proved the inability to work that well with others including the Republican opposition members of Congress. Clinton also never served in the military, yet according to her "red phone" ad she claimed that America needs her military experience answering the red phone if a real crisis develops. God help the country if she's ever elected president and has to answer the red phone during a real crisis given her history of past failues. Even her campaign was in desperate condition with her back against the wall because it was not all that well managed either, with no real viable plans that extended beyond Super Tuesday, allowing Obama a wide opening to assert his candidacy to the old politics as usual Clinton machine.

Clinton didn't prove that she was the superior candidate this Tuedsday, only that she could raise a particulary nasty campaign when she's under pressure and facing possible political elimination. Maybe that sort of a nasty politics could possiby win a general election. But should it? It's morally bankrupt on so many levels. Right now Clinton has barely proven that she can even win her party nomination with her form of old style politics and personality.

The Republicans may choose their leadership by handing it to some old guard loyal party member whose time has finally come even if it is often long past their most useful years, much like the old Soviet poliburo once did. Reagan, Dole and McCain certainly seem to carve from this model. You can hardly expect to progress or advance of the social agenda under such leadership. Obama offers something fresh, a staunch progressive liberal for a change and is certainly a far better messenger than Clinton and more likely to deliver the goods in the end.

Obama also brought in millions of new or disaffected voters, including some Republicans tired of politics as usual. Unless his campaign can pick up the pieces and wrest back momentum from Clinton, then any Clinton-McCain November matchup will mean four more years of the same old politics as usual crap from either of these two. The Obama campaign is indeed standing at a crossroads today with some serious soul searching going since the dust settled on last night's results.