That Darn Arne -- The Arne Carlson Blog

With Senator Barack Obama’s victory speech in St. Paul, the national Presidential debate has begun.  Contrary to many past Presidential campaigns where the candidates were centrists, this one promises to be a contest of sharp contrasts.  McCain, although not a neo-conservative, represents the more traditional right-wing of the Republican Party while Obama comes out of the left wing of his party.  This creates sharp differences and the resultant debate will likely create more national opinions as opposed to state and regional inclinations.  This could well tend to blur red and blue states and open the door to a possible national landside.

This will likely occur if the broad political middle leans decidedly one way or the other.   Hence, this election will be more about the middle and independents and less about candidates’ strengthening their hold on their political base as occurred during the last two Bush campaigns.  But, we will see……..

Both candidates have been surprisingly light in dealing with global warming as well as the massive federal deficits.  The reason for this avoidance is somewhat understandable since politics like to avoid pain.

Nevertheless, the next President will confront the most extraordinary challenges since Harry Truman assumed the Presidency in April, 1945.  Only a true national effort that transcends the narrowness of partisan politics will allow us as a nation to turn these challenges into positive gains.  Obama has touched on a national effort comparable to Kennedy’s call for a man on the moon, but has failed to give it a comparable sense of urgency.

The simple reality is that the day of happy talk may be over and our language expanded to include the word “sacrifice” particularly if we intend to truly develop alternative fuels and balance our federal budget.  The latter may well include spending reductions as well as tax hikes.  Prayerfully, Washington will also discover words like “competence” and “prudence”.

Nonetheless, history has shown that great challenges bring out the best in us and our leaders.

Jottings……

Coleman-Franken - the polls show that Franken is currently going in the wrong direction if he hopes to unseat Coleman.  The race was closer at the outset than now due to Franken’s tax problems and “pornographic” writings.  This will be a most difficult one to turn around.

VP Stakes – The first responsibility of a potential Vice Presidential candidate is to make certain that there is nothing in his background that could cause any embarrassment to the ticket.  Whether Pawlenty passes this first hurdle in the vetting process is uncertain.

Consider the impact of the collapsed bridge report that was delivered to the public last month.  It portrayed a Department of Transportation in turmoil as a result of politics dominating key decisions.  It was Pawlenty who appointed his Lt. Governor to serve as Commissioner and that decision may well be the one that drives a stake through his national ambitions.

The vetting process will undoubtedly review the extensive series of St. Paul Pioneer Press articles that ran early in Pawlenty’s administration about his hiding income and his involvement in a telecom company that had various brushes with the law.  There is also the suggestion that a key figure in that company played a significant role in picking Pawlenty’s Commissioner of Commerce.

While memories of the latter scandal may have faded, the bridge collapse remains seared in the minds of Americans.