Oprah and Obama, and some Hillary and Huckabee

The Golden Compass topped the movie list for the weekend, although not earning as much as the makers of the film hoped for. 26 million in the U S and 55 million in other countries is nothing to sneeze at, however. Parents with children accounted for half of the film's audience, so New Line is counting on family crowds that flock to theaters over the holidays to keep the movie afloat, a studio executive said. Has anyone reading this seen the movie?


If only Oprah were running for president. Then the crowds that are filling auditoriums in Iowa and stadiums in South Carolina might mean something.

Oh sure, there will be some who come to see Oprah that might remember that one of her "favorite things" is running for president, and he is "the reason for the (election) season".

Of course maybe some who come to see her, uh, him, are not that interested in politics anyway, but after listening to Oprah they might get "engaged" and turn out to vote or caucus, so Obama probably will get a few votes from Oprah followers.

But Oprah's experience with crowds and with influencing people do not make up for Obama's lack of experience in global politics and foreign policy. Hillary Clinton wins that issue hands down, and when it comes down to it, voters should realize the importance of having a president that can play on the world stage. And of course Clinton has her own superstar campaign aide that can draw even bigger crowds than Oprah. Bill!?

Obama's lack of experience is no where near republican Mike Huckabee's however. His lack of awareness regarding the National Intelligence Estimate that was released last week for over 24 hours reveals that he just isn't on top of things like a president should be. What a disaster a a president Huckabee would be.

And Huckabee's comments about AIDS 15 years ago, when it was certainly known that HIV was not spread by casual contact shows that he either was not up to date on the current knowledge of AIDS and HIV then, or he was playing to the homophobic and hateful religious right of 1992. He advocated quarantine for those infected with the HIV virus. Listening to his explanation of his comments yesterday, I guess he still plays to the homophobic crowd, but after all he is a Southern Baptist preacher.

So since someone made a (probably sarcastic) comment about the pictures of flowers I sometimes put on here, I will share some more. Camellias are in bloom, and I am waiting on one to bloom that we trimmed back severely a couple of years ago that usually blooms right around Christmas, and is just now about to bloom again. Until then, we enjoy this one on the other side of the house.







Here's a picture of the flower...really brightening up the Christmas season with some natural outdoor color.