Commenting on events, politics, and culture http://www.sunoasis.com/events.html In the mind-game that is modern democracy the Americans have two plays. http://www.sunoasis.com/events.html "Pundits" are in a quandary about the phenomenon called Obama . It's like asking why Elvis Presley caught fire in the mid-50's . It's something you could think about for a long time but never figure out. http://www.sunoasis.com/events.html Politics is the last to know. It is at the end-point of a complex brew of populism and advocacy based on problems too large to handle by groups of interested people. http://www.sunoasis.com/events.html Were it not for their ineptness I would say the Democrats are fait accompli for 2008. http://www.sunoasis.com/events.html#impressions10 My old pal Jude showed up the other day. I hadn't seen him in twenty-five years. He had disappeared during the Reagan years. http://www.sunoasis.com/events.html#impressions9 There's no question that Hillary Clinton is the strongest candidate in the field. http://www.sunoasis.com/events.html#impressions8 When I see families ruling the political roost the first term that comes up is, "benign despotism." http://www.sunoasis.com/events.html#impressions7 Things come and go; issues and players come and go. Two, three, four passages flow through a citizen in one lifetime. http://www.sunoasis.com/events.html#impressions6 Politics is a war most people survive and are better for the experience. http://www.sunoasis.com/events.html#impressions5 As the candidates appeared in debate on CNN http://www.sunoasis.com/may07events.html#1impressions Each epoch has its ugly words. http://www.sunoasis.com/may07events.html#impressions2 I don't think America is in great decline. Obviously, if a critical mass of people think so then it travels along a rather fated path. At that moment I, for one, will find a small group of people who don't want to decline and form a nice community of monks. http://www.sunoasis.com/april07events.html#impressions3 I bought a used book as a kid, I must have been nine or ten, and I was with my dad in a used bookstore in San Francisco. The book was Volume Four of a history of Rome, "Roman Supremacy," published in 1939. http://www.sunoasis.com/april07events.html#impressions4