Writing on the eve of the New Hampshire primaries and after the Saturday evening debates:

I was really interested to hear from the Republican candidates (all white guys pushing or over 60) that the Republican party was looking to continue the legacy of either George Bush or Ronald Reagan. How is that going to improve things?

I thought Obama really nailed it when he replied to a hostile question about Iraq, (and I’m paraphrasing) “Unlike the Bush administration, We will actually go after the people who were responsible for 9/11, and we will withdraw from Iraq, a nation that was not responsible for 9/11.” What a concept.

I thought Hilary Clinton, citing “35 years of experience in Washington” was a little over the top. Being first lady? Taking a run at health care reform, but ultimately failing? Carpet-bagging to be a Senator in New York? And what about the 13 years before she came with Bill to Washington….how does that count as Washington experience?

More than one Republican candidate called Islamic terrorism the existential threat of our age. Um…guys….how about climate change and peak oil? Neither party seemed to place this at the top of their priority list. (Maybe they are still mad at Al Gore). (And maybe they don’t make any connection about our insatiable thirst for oil and our relationship with the middle east…) Nor did they place the health care crisis at the the top of the list. Republicans are mostly concerned about illegal immigration, even as they hire firms who employ undocumented immigrants to do their landscaping.

The republican party is decamped to Planet Bunny. Look to Ronald Reagan. Stay cozy with all their business buddies. (Let’s bail out the banks while we’re at it). Build a wall across the Mexican border. Stay in Iraq…forever. No change for the health-care system…it is working fine.