Milbarge asked me for my take on the least objectionable Democratic presidential candidate. I will profess some ignorance of the lesser candidates policy points, so will focus on the Big 3.
Clinton
Actually seems like the most centrist of the three. Is not completely naive about foreign policy and the consequences of an immediate troop withdrawal in Iraq. She has some domestic ideas that could bring the economy to a screeching halt, but those are the same ideas that all of the democratic candidates have. So no points lost there, relatively speaking.
Edwards
There are two Americas, and he lives in the rich one. I’ve never been able to shake Bob Shrum’s story about Edwards using the story of his dead son as a tool to try and secure the Veep spot on Kerry’s ticket. Also have never liked that he started angling for the Presidency immediately after getting elected to Congress. He causes a level of distrust in me that few people are able to reach.
Obama
Don’t trust him a bit on foreign policy. Given a few more years on the national stage, that might be less of a worry.
To be completely honest, policy wise they all seem pretty much the same. This likely stems from the early debate clips where they all stood around agreeing with each other. So at that point it comes to whose judgment and character do I trust the most. That’s a hard one, because my initial take is “none of them”. I probably trust Edwards the least. Obama might not be horrible if he picks the right VP and good advisers. Oddly, Clinton doesn’t scare me much in her first term. She’d be too cautious to do something stupid and risk re-election. Clinton in a second term bothers me greatly, especially if she has the luxury of a Democratic congress. I can see her swinging for the fences to secure her place in history, and doing lasting damage in the process. For all of them, the Republicans taking back at least one house of Congress lessens my worry. 90% of the time my ideal state of government is deadlock.
For my pick, I think I have to go with Obama. He seems like his heart is in the right place, if not always his head. I just really don’t like the thought of another Clinton/Bush in the White House for some time. I’m tired of it, and I want something on late night TV other than 8 more years of intern/cigar jokes. The country needs to get out of the two family rut. The GOP took care of their end by not letting Jeb run. Too bad the DNC couldn’t do the same with Hillary.
Bottom line is the country is stronger than the President. We survived Andrew Johnson, we survived Woodrow Wilson, we survived Jimmy Carter. If the Democrats take the White House, we’ll survive whoever that is too.