OnePeople

Killer Phone Numbers

You have to wonder whether this is the end-product of a large-scale game of Telephone, or unnatural enthusiasm for The Ring taken to its logical conclusion.

Passing the torch

Is Jack Edwards the new John-John Kennedy?
Is Mexican the new Black?

One Disappointed Democrat

The most impressive thing about Kerry's selection of Edwards is that the force of JE's charisma (hair?) actually bumped Bill Clinton out of the news cycle. That's no small order--- Bill has been pimping My Life every night this week: Larry King, Jim Lehrer, etc etc...

Over a year ago, Clinton famously said that the Democratic party had two stars (not counting himself): Hillary and Wes Clark. The surprise of the primaries was that Clark went from super giant to white dwarf in as much time as it takes to say "endorsed by Michael Moore." Clinton had the numbers right but the stars wrong.

The fears of Edwards overshadowing Kerry on the campaign trail are overstated. Voters look at the ticket as a unit and will see a foreign-policy answer to the question, "if not Bush, then who" as well as a domestic-policy answer. The fact that it takes two different men to achieve this is not so important. The fact that the vice president has no formal role in determining policy is not so important either, as present office holders have shown.

And by the way, Edwards is only running for Veep, not for the Big Seat. Three years ago, we elected* Governor Bush, who, while in Austin was the 4th most powerful elected official in Texas and had exactly 0 foreign policy experience or knowledge, a demonstrated lack of interest in learning and rumored lack of capacity to learn. No one can say that about Edwards, who has modest experience as a member of the Intl Committee, but a reputation as a quick study.

Here's the point of this post: this is a nightmare VP selection for Hillary. If Kerry wins, Edwards is primed for 2012 (at which point Hillary will be 65 years old and Edwards 59). She has worked too hard over the years to be considered a centrist (witness her unwavering support for the war in Iraq) to run on Edwards' left flank. All she can hope for is that Edwards will get beat by Jeb Bush or Rudy G in 2012, and she'll get to run in 2012 at the Thatcherian age of 69.

What's missing from this simple picture? How about the fact that all the economic stimulus levers are presently at full throttle. There's really nothing that can be done to move the economy any further or faster. Which means that there's a good chance that whatever party is elected in '04 will preside over the chickens coming home to roost.

In time for the 4th

In case you were wondering... Title 36, Section 10 of the U.S. Code specifies that the flag shall be flown at half-staff:
* Thirty days from the death of the President or a former President;
*Ten days from the death of the Vice President, the Chief Justice or a retired Chief Justice of the United States, or the Speaker of the House of Representatives;
*From the day of death until interment of an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, a Secretary of an executive or military department, a former Vice President, or the Governor of a State, territory, or possession; and
*On the day of death and the following day for a Member of Congress.