Adam's blogbox: poor Hillary - Barack Obama is going to beat the pantsuits off her

Hillary says that if she knew then what she knows now, she wouldn’t have voted to give Bush the power to go to war.

It’s not really a very good excuse. How come Congressman Barney Frank knew enough to vote against her vote then? He knew the WMD story was plain old BS, and that Bush/Cheney were up to no good. Hillary knew as much as Barney Frank knew back then. She must have known WMD and all that, was all BS. So she’s simply lying about her vote then. Plenty people knew they were being spun. Does she want to say she was a complete Administration dupe?

The fact of the matter is, Hillary was afraid of being called soft on national security. She made a political vote -- not a vote from the heart, not a vote of sound judgment, and not a vote for the good of the country. She voted for the good of Hillary. She put her political ambitions ahead of the good of her country. Even today, Hillary is so scared of being called a dove, she doesn’t even put war with Iran off the table. Like all the Dems, she lags behind the American people, who want out of Iraq now. But do the Dems have the balls to defund the war? No, they’re scared they’ll be accused of not “supporting our troops” -- when the best way to support our troops is to get them the hell home.

Anyway, all this is more or less moot, because here is my prediction: Senator Barack Obama is going to walk the election in 2008 for President of the USA. He was totally prescient about the war for instance. He was against it from day one. At the time, he said he was not against all wars, just against a dumb war. He called it perfectly, the only Dem candidate who did.

Get used to it, folks, our next president is going to be Barack Obama. Nobody, but nobody, will be able to dim, scar, scour, wither or malign his charisma -- not even the Clinton machine.

Under any other circumstances, Hillary would have made it. In fact, she fully deserves to be president. She’s worked hard, she’s earned the right, she’d be a good president, maybe a great one, and I wanted her to president for the longest time, because she’s a woman.

But she won’t be able to stop Obama.

Here’s why. With Obama, it’s not about winning votes. It’s much simpler and more basic. Barack is going to make the country FALL IN LOVE with him. We’re not talking about winning votes here, people: we’re talking about a man who is so charming, he will WOO AND SEDUCE the entire country over to his side.

JFK all over again, except much sexier. The old saw says people vote for the guy they'd prefer to have a beer with; well, Barack takes that notion a whole step further and deeper into the American psyche.

Despite showing up in Selma yesterday because Barack had been invited to speak there, Hillary can say goodbye to the black vote - a month ago, black voters preferred her to Barack, now they prefer him. By the time the primaries come, Barack will have 100% of the black vote, which is 100% of the Democratic base. He will not only have 100% of the black Dems, he'll have 100% of the black Republicans, and 100% of the blacks who don't vote but will vote because he's their guy. Black kids of 18 who never thought about politics or voting before, will come out to vote for him. Black voters will get up from their deathbeds to vote for Obama.

And hey, I know there are twice as many female Democrats as there are black Democrats, as the Hillary-ites like to say, but that’s EXACTLY the point they’re missing. Those women won’t be voting for Hillary because she’s a woman, they will be voting for Obama because they’re women -- and he's the sexiest male candidate ever. A dream date. They will FALL IN LOVE with the guy. That's what charisma is. Hillary is a star, sure, but she just doesn't have the mega-charisma of Barack. Here's the difference between Hillary and Obama: Hillary is Olivia de Havilland; Obama is Cary Grant. Who is sexier? In a more modern analogy, Hillary is Meryl Streep, but Obama is George Clooney. Who's sexier? Who will get more votes? The fact of the matter is, America is going to take her panties off for Obama. Hillary can't beat such sex appeal.

That’s point one: Barack is the sexiest, charmingest politician since JFK.

But not only is Obama charm personified, he is the ONLY breath of fresh air around. The country will want, desire, CRAVE a breath of fresh air after eight stultifying years of Bush/Cheney. Barack is the new America, and this new America is very different from the old Hillary-McCain-Giuliani America. That old America is the America of the Cold War, of Vietnam, of the 60s, of the culture wars. Obama is way beyond that. That’s why he doesn’t even think in conventional old-America left/right, liberal/conservative terms. He’s a new paradigm. A new generation. Everyone under 40 can see that, and they will ALL vote for him. And anyone over 40 who is sick and tired of Bushes and Clintons and the whole partisan bickering stemming from whether you smoked dope or not in the 60s, will also sigh a heartfelt sigh of relief and vote for a fresh, new face.

Obama's newness goes with something else: his total sensitivity to whichever audience he is addressing. He always knows EXACTLY what to say. When questioned about his lack of experience, his answer was that Bush and Cheney had more experience than him, and look what they did. Can you think of a better answer? Obama is the most pitch-perfect politician there's been in America. He knows how to make young and old, Christian and Jew, male and female, North and South, EVERYONE, feel comfortable. He always comes off totally authentic, which is about the last thing Hillary can do. That's because he doesn't follow the style of old America.

That’s point two.

Here’s point three: more than anything, Obama is something else besides disarmingly and winningly charming and a totally fresh face. He’s also INSPIRATIONAL -- JFK and MLK rolled into one. Hillary just isn’t that inspirational, let alone that charming or fresh.

Because Barack is sexy, new and inspirational, he's going to crush the old politicians like a steamroller.

And here’s the intriguing thing. Who is Barack going to bring to power along with him to govern the country? The problem is, the country is so overloaded with old pols fighting old battles, he may have to reach outside politics for new faces. I hope he does. Like he says, it’s time for us to turn a new page.

Obama is the bolt-from-the-blue once-in-a-lifetime anti-Hillary anti-Bush anti-McCain anti-Colin Powell anti-old-pol -- the only really modern politician out there. He’s going to lay down a modern agenda in modern words. And I believe he will find some fresh, modern people to help him govern.

And it doesn't stop with America. Not only Americans will fall in love with Barack. I predict the whole world will. Obama promises to be the most successful politician of our time, anywhere.

Personally, I like him for a reason that has little do with his charm. I adore him because he is an intellectual, and a wonderful writer. Read his first book, and you’ll see. There ain’t nobody out there who can out-write, out-speak and out-think this guy. He’ll wipe the floor with anyone in any debate.

I'm totally chuffed that our most popular politician is also an intellectual. Black folks especially are in need of such a role model. Americans especially are in need of such a role model. It's time brains were hip again. We’ve had a series of rather dumb presidents – Reagan, the Bushes, Ford -- with the exception of Clinton, who though very bright indeed, is not nearly as intellectual as Obama. Clinton can’t write as well as Obama, for one. We haven’t had an intellectual like Obama in American politics since Adlai Stevenson and Patrick Moynahan.

It’s his charm, though, that is going to make Barack chew up the field. Jeez, he doesn’t even have to speak. All he has to do is smile. Barack has the best smile that I’ve ever seen on anybody in public life. There isn’t a film star who has a better smile. Try and think of anyone who can outsmile Barack Obama. Just try.

Barack Obama: he’s going to smile his way into the presidency and into our hearts. We're going to have a president we're all actually enamored of. At last. Finally. Mark my words.