Tiers on my PIllow...

The major press is always harping on the fact that the six Democrats running for President fall into two tiers, with the top tier consisting of Clinton, Obama, and Edwards, and the second tier consisting of Biden, Dodd and Richardson.

How does a one term Senator like Obama make the first tier? Charisma? What Charisma? He is a media creation, pure and simple, and I think Senator Biden, put his finger on it, as well as his foot in his mouth, but saying Obama was "articulate" and "clean".

Well, Obama is articulate, but his experience in government is minimal, and a lot of others can speak from a more solid base of government experience. But the press can't say what they want to say, which is,"Obama is a handsome black guy who, yes, is articulate and can reach a white audience and isn't this wonderful and see how it proves that we, who support him, are not racists". Obama draws crowds of students? Oh, super! But students as a group have an abysmal record of meager voter turnout. The fact remains that Obama is not a credible candidate.

But look at the so-called "second tier" candidates. This is a solid bunch. I think each and every one of them has far more experience than the "first-tier" and each could make a serious case for the presidency. While Biden suffers a serious case of political "foot-in-mouth" disease, he is one smart guy with tons of foreign policy experience. Dodd is another class act with many years in the senate. Richardson has tons of experience as a congressman, UN ambassador, governor and international negotiator. And they say this guy is " second-tier'?.

What Biden, Dodd and Richardson don't have is the sine-qua-non of this "hyper election cycle": money. More than anything else, and more so than any other time, money will be the deciding factor for this election. With so many states pushing for early primaries, no candidate will have time to develop a stand on issues, or to get a fair hearing in the major media, and thereby develop a following.

In years gone by, a campaign meant a long slog though which we were able to determine the character of the candidate. Now, many states are pushing up their primaries so as not to be made irrelevant by the winners in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina. So the presidential campaign is reduced from a character-testing marathon to a fifty yard dash that will be won by the candidate with the biggest wallet.

We get the government we deserve.