My course is now clear. See, running for Mayor is a waste of my skills. Evidently all i have to do is talk about “change” and I would be the clear front-runner in the republican primary for president. In watching the debates (on both sides) it would appear that there is a substantial cash reward for the person who says “change” the most times.

I’ve never been involved in Presidential politics but what little experience I do have at the lowly local level leads me to wonder how exactly all of this “change” is to come about. I haven’t heard or seen much of what you would call “plans” that might indicate what the “change” might look like but it seems that this is a minor inconvenience. Politicians with decades of experience are now paragons of change. Even the Republicans are now terribly concerned about change.

For the Democrats, it is very easy to run against the White House. The economy is circling the drain, the housing market is imploding and the war has turned out to be much more difficult than was predicted. Such conditions make it easy to run against the party in power. Not such an easy feat for the Republicans.

For my part, I’m a bit tired of the “change” mantra. I do believe it is time for a change but I’m unsure that people with 30 years in the system are capable of delivering the change. On the other hand, I’m unsure that candidates who mention “change” as though it were necessary for them to continue drawing breathe are really my cup of tea either. Seems like to me that it is time for some details beyond glib campaign websites or 30 second answers during debates. Sadly, I doubt that this is in the cards.

Well, the ‘Skins came up a little short. Valiant effort but with Patrick Kerney in the backfield all day long it was just too tall a hill to climb. Seattle has a great defense and I expect them to cause some further trouble in the playoffs.

Obama and Huckabee emerged victorious in Iowa and I expect Mr. Obama to be a force in the nomination process. I’m less sure about Huckabee but it could happen for him too. Regardless of who wins on the Republican side, I believe they will have a difficult time of it come November. It is simply too easy for the Democrats to run on a change platform this time around: the President isn’t very popular, the economy appears headed towards the drain and fighting established insurgents in foreign lands is always a messy business.

On a local note, I read the article on the Liberty street property and am unsure what exactly is happening there. The article seemed to say that the owner is seeking a rezoning but the headline indicated he wasn’t. I haven’t seen any paperwork on it yet so I don’t really know. I expect that we will all find out for sure in the weeks to come.