Jump Al, Jump

I'm just sayin'.

Bill Richardson: Worth a look

As I've said before, there are no circumstances under which I can foresee voting for anyone other than the Democratic nominee for president. Certainly ANYONE in the Democratic field, up to and including Dennis Kucinich is vastly superior to the current occupant of the Oval Office.

That being said, I am currently leaning towards Bill Richardson, and, at the very least, hope he gets earnest consideration by other Democratic voters.

I can understand Hillary's appeal, with her immense warchest and connection to the previous Democratic president, but he stances and approach, for me smack too much of the Democratic party of the past, with its dedication to big money and special interests.

Obama still serves as the most inspirational Democrat in the race, and, along with John Edwards, strikes me as the future face of the party. But frankly, given the mess the current president is going to leave for the next, I'd prefer someone with more executive experience and international expertise.

To my mind Bill Richardson is someone who embodies both.

From Robert Guttman, Director of the Center on Politics & Foreign Relations at Johns Hopkins, blogging at HuffPost:

Richardson is knowledgeable on the foreign policy issues of the day. His background as a congressman, United Nations Ambassador and Energy Secretary plus his frequent successful role as a roving diplomat who goes abroad to solve problems from Sudan to North Korea were readily apparent.

As he said in his talk, "I am a governor with foreign policy experience". Looking at the fact that four out of five of America's last presidents have been governors (Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush) and they have hailed from southern or southwestern states - Georgia, California, Arkansas and Texas - and you see in New Mexico Governor Richardson a competent and competitive Democratic candidate for president in 2008.

Richardson is exactly the sort of person one used to expect to get from Republicans, smart, tough, and competent. And I'm increasingly of the mind that he is exactly who the United States will need as its next president.

(Unless Al Gore decides to run.)

Oscar thoughts

Blogging to you from the greater Los Angeles area, your CaliBlogger is obligated to post his thoughts on the Oscars, so here they are, in no particular order.

Scorsese should have a trunkload of Oscars, and the fact that The Departed is not his best work is beside the point.

And by the way, when he joined the group of Spielberg, Lucas, Coppola, and later Nicholson, the entire center of gravity here in LA shifted to the sidestage of the Kodak theater. So many heavyweights in so small a space ran the risk of coalescing under its own gravity like some kind of cinematic black hole.

I love Pilobolus Dance Company and their silhouette images were clever, but every time they did one (after the first) the show, clunky to begin with, came to a grinding halt.

Ditto Ellen DeGeneres' set pieces, though they did show how darned cute and funny she is. Hint for next time, before trying impromptu banter with an actor at the Oscars, be sure to give them a script first, or a least warn them, Mark Wahlberg and Scorsese looked like deer in headlights, though Eastwood and Spielberg were a tiny bit better.

The band playing off Al Gore after his bit with Leo DiCaprio was a nice self-mocking touch (for both Gore and the Academy). Am I the only one wondering, though, just how does one make an awards ceremony "green"?

Least surprising moment: An Inconvenient Truth wins for best feature length documentary.

Most surprising moment: Melissa Etheridge wins best song over the Dreamgirls juggernaut, (though frankly Mrs. CaliBlogger agrees with James Wolcott).

Talk about coattails.

And one final thought, quoting Mr. Wolcott:

The most dispiriting thing about the Oscars so far is how good everybody looks. There's no hope for the rest of us. No one we can point to and say, Hey, he's in worse shape than I am. (Or she.) We might as well cancel our next facial and forget about every follicle of our hair glowing like a Van Gogh wheat field or polished mahagony.

Or, more succinctly, damn but these are good looking people!

Will Al run?

And there's another reason I haven't commented too much on 2008, the guy I really want to run hasn't announced and may not wish to run counter a Clinton juggernaut: Al Gore.

From Rolling Stone:

If the Democrats were going to sit down and construct the perfect candidate for 2008, they'd be hard-pressed to improve on Gore. Unlike Hillary Clinton, he has no controversial vote on Iraq to defend. Unlike Barack Obama and John Edwards, he has extensive experience in both the Senate and the White House. He has put aside his wooden, policy-wonk demeanor to emerge as the Bush administration's most eloquent critic. And thanks to An Inconvenient Truth, Gore is not only the most impassioned leader on the most urgent crisis facing the planet, he's also a Hollywood celebrity, the star of the third-highest-grossing documentary of all time.

Of course this may all be wishful thinking, but I don't disagree with the article's main premise: if Obama, Edwards, or someone else manages to put a dent in the Hillary machine, Gore is well positioned to step in as a unity candidate, and raise buckets of netroots money virtually overnight.

I know who I'd be making out a check to.