Obama--The President?

Polls, those measuring sticks for people's popularity, say Obama may win Iowa. OK. I'm politically in tune, watch the news--mostly Jim Leher--read The New York Times, sometimes the Wall Street Journal, The New Yorker, The New York Magazine, and now the Economist. Despite my excessive reading, I'm still at a loss how Iowa, that little state, can determine who will win, not only the party's candidacy, but the Presidential election. It's all a mystery to me. But this recent poll of Obama having gained on Clinton, but now possibly surpassing her, raises some interesting questions about whether this country is more ready for a Black president or a woman.

If someone would have posed that question to me a few years ago, I would have said a woman without question. But that was before a Presidency that has done more damage than thought possible after the devastation of September 11th. People, those that have been polled, although who these people are remains unclear, have said they would pick Obama before Clinton in the Presidential election. And these are the undecideds. It does give us pause to reflect on the President being a black man, even if he is only half.

I'm not sure whether this is signals a country really having made strides where race is concerned or we're just a country beaten down by this administration. I tend to think the latter, but that's my cynicism.

So, we will watch as Iowa gets its moment in the spotlight. And see how this outcome may determine more about the future of this country than any other election. There is no doubt whoever takes the helm has his or her hands full of dismantling the decisions that have done more to damage this country than any another known Presidency. The plethora of problems that plague this country from the economy, foreign policy, the mounting deficit, the devaluation of our currency, domestic woes brought on by the ever widening breach between the classes, and the laughable job we've all done to dismantle our public education, is enough for any smart person to decide to sit out on this election. But since we seem to breed more candidates, even if most are not qualified to run this country, we will surely be in for some nail biting moments during this primary.