Obama-Richardson: Will They Be the Democratic Ticket?

Political observers in some of America’s Western states have been floating the idea of an Obama-Richardson ticket since well before Barack Obama announced his candidacy for President.

Of course, most of them were projecting—and hoping--that the ticket would be Richardson-Obama. Despite his Washington experience and wide-ranging resume, however, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson quickly saw his presidential campaign overshadowed and overwhelmed by Hillary Clinton’s and Barack Obama’s high-profile battle.

The primary season finally will drag to an end in June, and then it will be up to the delegates and superdelegates to pick the Democrats’ standard bearer. Likewise, it will be up to the candidates and their campaign staffs to not alienate voters by endlessly playing “gotcha” politics with each other in the long, weary weeks until the Democratic convention in Denver, Aug. 25-28.

Most pundits predict that Senators Clinton and Obama will end up roughly splitting the remaining primary delegates, and no clear nominee will emerge in June. This projected stalemate already has resulted in some Obama supporters demanding that Hillary Clinton drop out of the race. And some Hillary Clinton supporters have responded by demanding that Barack Obama drop out.

Alarmed party leaders now worry that nasty rounds of charge and countercharge from the Clinton and Obama campaigns will alienate many voters and drive them toward John McCain or cause them to just stay home during the November general election.

Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen has suggested that the Democrats should stage a “superdelegate primary” in June to break the Obama-Clinton deadlock, so one candidate can emerge with clear sailing and avoid a bitter showdown at the convention. Party leaders including Gov. Howard Dean and Sen. Harry Reid recently were considering this and other strategies for ending the potential impass.

No matter which one finally gets the go-ahead, however, international credentials will be absolutely crucial to the next Administration. Barack Obama is a political rookie on the world stage. As a former First Lady, Hillary Clinton has been a lot closer to the action. Yet, much of her experience can be summarized as flying around in White House jets and dealing at ceremonial and informal levels with a wide range of major and minor issues. That counts for something, of course, and could shorten her learning curve in the Oval Office. Yet neither Democratic candidate actually has the kind of down-and-dirty international experience they will need to cope with the diplomatic and military disasters the Bush Administration will leave behind next January.

Former U.S. Energy Secretary and U.N. Ambassador Bill Richardson could be an excellent Vice President for either Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton. He has been an able negotiator during dangerous situations in North Korea, Iraq and Cuba. But so could one other former Presidential candidate who has been a strong background player in this election: Retired four-star Gen. Wesley K. Clark, who was NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander Europe from 1997 to 2000. Clark has extensive combat experience and held numerous command posts during his 34-year Army career. The next President may well need someone with this wide range of experience to help oversee getting the U.S. out of Iraq.

Indeed, Richardson and Clark likely will both be needed in some major capacity by the next Administration, even if the next President turns out to be John McCain.

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Video of the Day

Wow, they're really giving Obamagirl a run for her money!!! The singing is horrid and they all look so damn tacky! It's still funny as hell that someone would even upload this mess! Sorry for all the damn exclamations, but seriously! lol

Congratulations Girl!!!

AFP

It's about damn time that Angela gets her just due! Mrs. Bassett received a star on the "Walk of Fame" on Thursday. I've been a fan since her performance in the biopic " What's Love Got To Do With It" in 1993. I think most will agree that she should have won the Oscar. She's currently starring in the Tyler Perry drama/comedy " Meet the Browns" that premiered on Friday. Tyler Perry is featured on Yahoo for his box-office gross over the last few years. I think a nomination for " Akeelah and the Bee" would've been nice as well, just my two pennies!

Will The Sun Be Sued?

If you have been watching any of the entertainment media shows then you know that Lindsay was in a bit of a little sex scandal. She would've joined Pam, Paris, Kim, and others on top of the celeb sex tape list. Thank goodness someone is honest these days. Lindsay's ex, Calum Best immediately denied that it was her in the video. The tape has been all over Youtube and other viral sites. TMZ alleges that other images became available and the young lady in the vid doesn't even favor Lindsay. Congrats girl, you dodged a cokeless bullet!

Iraq: The American Surge...Toward Indifference

Once again, the Bush Administration’s Middle East political theater group has taken to the stage. It has struck its well-rehearsed poses and emoted its newest “We will prevail!” proclamations.

However, these latest performances almost could be likened to a Mel Brooks comedy, with various spokespersons singing, in chorus: “It’s springtime for bin Laden and Ahmadinejad!”

First, there was Vice President Cheney in Baghdad—again—for the (100th?) obligatory handshake photo with Nuri al-Maliki, then briefly—albeit bravely--venturing a short distance outside the Green Zone for “private discussions” over a well-guarded meal.

Then, President Bush went to the Pentagon, his own personal Green Zone, and declared that winding down his immensely unpopular war would show “evidence of weakness and lack of resolve.”

And John McCain, the man who would be Bush if elected this fall, met with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and declared: “We are now succeeding in Iraq.”

The looming problem for the Administration, of course, is that almost nobody is paying attention to these political skits anymore. The crowd mostly has surged home, numb to any more exhortations and proclamations about “victory” and “staying the course.”

That giant sucking noise the Bush White House now should be hearing is the sound of Americans increasingly growing indifferent toward the war as they hunker down to try to save their households, their jobs, their health insurance, their life savings, their lifestyles and their college funds for their children and grandchildren.

You don’t have to ask: What is the sound of one hand cashing a 401(K) withdrawal check…while the other hand is selling off the family jewels on eBay? It’s now happening all around you, and maybe to you, too.

Yes, Osama bin Laden may be hiding in the hills of Tora Bora; he may be ensconced in an apartment in Islamabad; he may be delivering pizzas in disguise in Cincinnati . (If we knew, maybe we could just sic him with a Hellfire missile and declare victory.)

But bin Laden doesn’t have a bad mortgage or a five-miles-per-$5-a-gallon Hummer. He doesn’t have grown children who no longer can afford to live on their own and have started moving back home or appealing to Dad and Mom for more financial aid. He also doesn’t have neighbors falling into foreclosure on each side of his cave--or condo--and burning down their homes or killing themselves out of desperation.

A recent CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll found that 71% of Americans now believe spending on the Iraq War is hurting the troubled U.S. economy. The poll also found that only 32 percent of American continue to support the war, while 66 percent now oppose it.

In a CBS News poll taken near the fifth anniversary of the Iraq invasion, 64 percent of respondents answered that the Iraq War has not been worth the cost in blood and treasure. And another CBS News poll has tabulated that three out of four Americans now rate the national economy as at least somewhat bad.

Here is one other painful statistic: The price of oil has more than quadrupled since two particular ex-oilmen took office in 2001.

George Bush and Dick Cheney likely will have their unfocused and unwinnable Global War on Terror for at least a few more months. But most of us will be paying scant attention. We are now engaged in our own desperate battles: for personal economic survival.

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Heather Mills is a Piece of Work

The saga of the divorce between Heather Mills and Paul McCartney is finally nearing a conclusion. This week, the judge and jury determined a dollar amount that Heather would receive for her short four year marriage to Paul. And it ends up being no chunk change - $48 million dollars! That works out to $33,800 per DAY of their marriage. There aren't too many jobs out there where you can earn that much...legally anyway.

So she gets the huge sum and then what does she do? Heather pours water over the head of Paul's lawyer, Fiona Shacklefort.

This is the before heading in to court picture and the one on the right is the after. She obviously had a bunch of water, not just a small glass.

What on earth would make a grown woman have such a tantrum - in a public place, no less - and dump water over another in such a childish manner? Heather said it was because Fiona called her a bunch of names before she met her. Hmmmm....

I think the judge is probably more on target...he said Heather was devoid of reality. Ouch.

John Daly: Failed Again

Remember John Daly, the golfer from the PGA who had a great reputation going about a decade ago? Then we had the fall from grace, a divorce and a little problem with alcoholism. With me now? Good, because he has surfaced again, in not so good light AGAIN.

See, John lost his PGA pro card from offenses during his pro playing time. The PGA gets to control things like that I guess...other sports should too. Repeatedly fail drug tests? No more $45 million dollar contract for you. Banned from the pro sport. How many athletes would clean up their act if there were severe - I mean real - punishments for their actions? A few, I bet.

Back to John Daly. See, their was this little known guy named Arnold Palmer (I hope you read the sarcasm there) who was hosting a charity event/golf tournament this week. And John Daly was granted an exception by a sponsor and allowed to play. He appeared for the first two rounds and managed a reasonable score. Then it went downhill from there.

He says he called the Pro shop to get his tee time and was told 9:47 by a woman. It turns out, that wasn't the right time. John slept in and missed his chance. See, any player that is late gets the boot and a substitute is called in to replace them. And John's sponsor who has been getting him in to venues with an exemption fired his sorry ass. He said John is more interested in getting his next drink on than playing a round of golf. He called to fire him and didn't even do it in person he was so peeved. Maybe John should take the hint and go to rehab! Look at him - does he look like a healthy golfer?

Video of the Day

I just want to say thank you to Tina, Cherri, and Si for keeping the sight afloat. I've been really going through it, but with the help of these awesome writers, All Things Scorpia has still been successful. I appreciate the dedicated readers as well. Hopefully, I can post more often in the near future.


" Ken Lee" is my favorite song by Mariah Carey! lol

Of Lust, Stupidity and Testosterone Suicide

Lust can be instantly fatal to your political career, as now-resigned New York Governor Eliot Spitzer has discovered. So can acts of incredible stupidity. Score a big one there for Spitzer, as well. He scheduled one of his high-dollar hooker trysts on the night before Valentine’s Day.

To his credit, at least Eliot Spitzer did not try to claim he was conducting a secret, undercover investigation under the covers at several hotels.

Former President Bill Clinton still remains America’s all-time champion bonehead, of course. He presided over strong prosperity and a balanced budget, then got hauled into Congressional impeachment hearings for playing tawdry tiddlywinks with a 22-year-old unpaid intern, Monica Lewinsky, inside the supposed sanctity of the White House.

President Clinton’s testimony to the effect that “I did not have sexual relations with that woman… (she merely had sex with me)” will long linger as an idiotic stain on what could have been a much grander legacy. Ms. Lewinsky, meanwhile, went on to sell handbags and have a brief TV career. More recently, she earned a master’s degree in social psychology from the prestigious London School of Economics.

In Spitzer’s case, a key to his downfall turned out to be a 22-year-old prostitute from New Jersey who was trying to earn enough money to stay in New York and make it as a rhythm-and-blues singer. By making it in a different way, of course, the infamous “Kristen” now likely will get a recording deal, as well as a book contract and movie offers. Entertainment moguls and publishers are quick to see the dollar signs where others just see sin and shame. (And, yes, we’ll probably buy her recordings, read her book, watch the made-for-TV movie and tune in once she starts showing up on Oprah and the late-night TV talk shows.)

Spitzer himself will go away in disgrace for a while and likely will face a ton of legal, family and marital troubles. Eventually, however, he may be back with his own tell-all, confess-all book, plus a movie deal and TV talk-show appearances—though probably not a recording contract.

Put lust and stupidity together, and you have dramatic downfalls stretching back through the entire history of human leadership. Senators, televangelists, judges, police chiefs, sheriffs, mayors, prosecuting attorneys, ministers, priests, star athletes—the list goes on and on.

Yeah, we men supposedly have been in charge during most of that time. And too often, we do a few great and noble things along the way, and then, seemingly at the peak of success, wake up one morning and can’t get our brains out of our boxer shorts.

Is social and political self-destruction somehow hardwired into our testosterone? Perhaps astute researchers can read all of the tell-all books and watch all of the tell-all movies and talk-show appearances and draw some scholarly conclusions.

Or maybe, we can just start putting more women into high office and see if they get caught with any boy toys.

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Elizabeth Smart: Five Years Later

It's been five years since Elizabeth Smart was returned to her family after being missing for nearly a year. The happy event is not one that many families with a missing loved one get to celebrate. And the Smart's know that and cherish the fact they were lucky.

In light of the five year anniversary, Elizabeth Smart and various members of her family have been making the press rounds. They are being advocates that you really can find missing children. Don't give up hope and never lose faith. Elizabeth is working with Federal officials to write a book detailing the experience and how to survive and thrive afterwards.

While no mention is ever made of what exactly she endured during those months of captivity, she was traumatized. Elizabeth's captors are still awaiting trial and Elizabeth says she will testify against them. In an interview with Good Morning America, she even fears they would seek her out again if they were ever released. She doesn't want that to happen, nor does she want them to be able to kidnap anyone else.

Elizabeth is a sophomore in college and appears happy and well adjusted. She doesn't seem to crave the spotlight, but knows that people want to see how she is doing, so she is doing interviews with the major news outlets. And for once, we hear and see a happy ending on the news.