Iowa Victors: Obama and Huckabee

Some thoughts on the winners of the Iowa caucuses:

Huckabee had a good night, but I don't think he has any legs to stand on beyond that victory. Why do I think this? Well, I have this habit of doing round-ups of the conservative blogosphere and they despise Huckabee. They're not just lukewarm to the man, they are disgusted by him. They recognize his charisma, but they see him as a Jimmy Carter-esque big government fundagelical. They also think he's got a slimy side to him as well. Just read this posting and especially the comments following it at a well-known conservative blog, and you'll see what I mean. And you can find this kind of thing on prominent conservative blogs all over the conservative blogosphere (not to mention prominent conservative talking heads, like Limbaugh and Hannity, who also despise Huckabee). In short, the conservative "base" would rather be waterboarded than have to support Huckabee in the general election. So, if he makes it through the nomination process and gets the nod, which I sincerely doubt, he'll be crushed by Obama (or Edwards, or even Hillary!).

As for Obama's victory, a couple of thoughts. First, unlike some others who are skeptical of an Obama candidacy, I've never seen the negatives about Obama that would warrant such skepticism. He has always impressed me and it surprises me that so many people have such a much higher threshhold of proof of ability and competency for Obama. The great thing about Obama is that he'll meet and exceed this higher threshhold. The way I see it, Obama has always been a blue chip starter but who has been treated like a walk-on scout teamer. Second, if his race was the questionable issue, white-bread Iowa should have put this decisively to rest.

And speaking of race, I wonder if John Hawkins of Right Wing News will look at the results of the white Democrat caucuses in Iowa and re-evaluate his claim that white Democrats are racists. Seems like white liberal folk have no problems voting for a black candidate.