Letters to the Editor
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@ Fooled
Clearly you see things that I don't. I didn't think the LBJ thing was a big deal, though to steal a phrase from Joan Walsh, it was "tin-eared." But you can't honestly say that Bill Clinton wasn't invoking race when he brought up Jesse Jackson. Even Walsh saw it, and wrote about it.
As to the much vaunted experience question, Lincoln had less experience than almost any other president. He did okay. It was about character. Though if experience is vital, I'll point out that Senator Obama has held elected office much longer than Senator Clinton. Her "35 years" makes me cringe. She's counting her time as First Lady? Isn't that a little too Eva Peron for a US election?
I maintain that Bill Clinton was the best president since FDR. The country did astonishingly well under him, better than under Reagan who ran up massive debts. If Bill were running, I would vote for him in a second - or I would have prior to his campaigning for his wife. And Senator Clinton has done great things for New York. It is my ferverent wish that she replace the inneffectual Harry Reid as Majority Leader.
But, outside of all the spin, the distortions, the "misstatements" about things like Bosnia and NAFTA (really unforgivable to accuse Senator Obama of lying while you yourself are misrepresenting your own past on the issue) - outside of all that, if you can look to her campaign and really tell me that between the mismanagement of funds, the in-fighting, the lack of a coherent message of anything other than "I'm ready! Really!", the damage done to both candidates in the general to win the primary, the fear-mongering, the anything-to-win, and the fact that she had no plan other after Super Tuesday and so had to resort to smearing her opponent - if you can look at all that and say she's really an effective leader, nobody's fooling you but yourself.
As for the 'Crafty' label, I'd like to side with whoever said you could do much better. Myself, I like to stick to 'Senator'. For both candidates. It's something they have both earned, and whatever we feel about their behavior, they deserve that respect.