This picture has nothing to do with the following post. But it has everything to do with why I sometimes can't. My best friend asked me a few days ago if I post something every day. Clearly the role of best friend does not compel her to read my blog. And for that, I love her all the more.

But the truth is, I do blog every day. Sometimes more than once. I just can't always get it in the computer. But my mind is always composing. What's funny about this is that I've been this way for years. But until blogger came along, I never had an outlet. I just talked to myself a lot. So having a place to actually put my thoughts on virtual paper has been such a cleanser for me. The fact that people occasionally tell me that they read it, while it never fails to surprise me, is really just icing on the cake. I'll tell you who loves my blog more than me, though, and that's Jeff. The poor guy has had to listen to way more than his fair share of my opinion-making over the past 15 years. He is SO thankful for my blog, because now he can listen on his own time. Or not. I love you, Baby.

There really has been a lot to talk about this week, but somewhere between the 250-page deposition I edited on bed sores (seriously disgusting), hosting Bible study, homeschooling, taking care of three kids and trying to get ready to leave the country for two weeks, I just haven't been able to get to it. So here's a brief commentary.

Obama scares me. I mean, really, really scares me. It's looking more and more like he's going to be our Democrat opponent this year. I'm not ruling her out, just because of who she is. But isn't it fascinating that Hillary is even still considered a viable candidate at this point? She has lost the last ten primaries. Has there ever been another candidate to lose this many in a row, face a crystal-clear loss of momentum, and not have already had everyone from the media to the party leaders calling for a withdrawal? I think that's just amazing.

The reason I'm so scared of Obama is because as soon as he's finished with Hillary, the focus will be on Obama vs McCain. Obama, the young, exuberant, energetic, charismatic, handsome and full-of-hope (not to mention more liberal than McGovern) Democrat, vs. the old white geezer. As much as John McCain was loved and admired leading up to his nomination, he will be equally spat upon when it's time for the media to get serious. I fear that we don't stand a chance.

Obama is somewhat of a messianic figure, isn't he? I mean, people are fainting (whether real or not) at his rallies. His followers gaze at him with more than just admiration. They appear to be worshiping him at times. He's almost like a cult leader in a way. And it is really going to be hard to fight a war of ideas when you're having to fight the war of popularity first. How many geeky kids are able to beat the captain of the football team for the student council presidency? It's not too common.

So it remains to be seen how this fight will go down. McCain hasn't had a really strong conservative record on a few issues, so I'm not really sure how he's going to compare and contrast himself. It's probably going to come down to the war in Iraq. Either you are for it or against it. Obama will use war fatigue to his fullest advantage. He's being followed by a bunch of people who have no apparent concept of the battle we face, and it is not the global war on poverty, even if he does want to commit $800 billion to it. It is a battle for the security of our nation. He may not want us fighting in Iraq. But I, for one, would sure as heck rather fight this fight in Iraq than NYC, Washington, D.C, Atlanta, Los Angeles or anywhere else in this country that I love. And those are the stakes we face.

Hillary definitely seems to be fighting a losing battle against this guy, though. Putting the two side by side is just sad. She looks like a miserable wretch. The whole plaigarism argument, while I'm sure it seemed like a good idea at the time, seems to have gone nowhere. The media was completely defending Obama on that one.

What amuses me about that whole thing anyway is that he was accused of plaigarizing a speech which quoted several famous lines in our nation's history, the most notable being "I have a dream," from the late Dr. Martin Luther King. One of the things I learned in graduate school (I have exactly 6 credit hours from UAB, thank you) was that Martin Luther King was a well-documented plaigarizer, if that's a word. His writings were full of it, including his doctoral dissertation. Now, I don't bring that up to besmirch him. Whether he did or didn't has no bearing on the incredible efforts he made in this country towards civil rights. And the point I'm about to make is probably cliche at this point anyway.

But don't you suppose that if we were talking about Ronald Reagan, for instance, it would be a well-known fact that he was a plaigarizer? It makes me giggle a little to think about how often the media would bring that up, if they could. But it certainly would have been thrown in there as a nice little side dish if there was a story about a candidate plaigarizing him, don't you think? Just something to make you go hmmmm....

So we will watch and see. Things should definitely pan out over the next couple of weeks. It will be fascinating to see what Mrs. Clinton does from here. At this point, though, I think the tears might be genuine.