Iowa This Morning: America's Face to the World

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Mary Lyon

It starts.

Ronald Reagan once said - "it's 'Morning in America'." Well, maybe morning has not yet broken over the political landscape, but I think a few things have at least dawned on America. The campaign to replace George W. Bush in November 2008 actually began, unofficially, LONG ago, but now, the game is officially on. Clearly it is time to start paying attention because we're now "on the clock". The results of the Iowa caucuses show the road ahead, at least among those who cared enough to step up and be counted on to start building that road.

Now we have a better idea, on both sides, what the voters want to say TO America, and what they want their votes to say ABOUT America. And to a lesser extent, perhaps, they're also indicating who and what they'd be okay living with for at least the next four years. But mainly, it seems to me the decision will be a telecasting to the rest of the world what America's face, post-Bush, will be.

So there you have it. Obama and Huckabee.

Mike Huckabee's victory on the GOP side comes in a state with a large and involved evangelical base. Never mind his latest gaffes.

1) He hadn't heard of that National Intelligence Estimate briefing on Iran NOT being as much of a nuclear threat that dominated news coverage early in December and more or less kiboshed the Bush/Cheney/PNAC dream of war with Iran. Hello? Uh - you want to be Commander-in-Chief? Shouldn't you have already started keeping track of these things?