Indeed… the job of the President, no matter his politics, is a hard and thankless one. In the interest of equal time:

1992

2000

I didn’t always agree with him, but I respected him, and thank them all for their sacrafice.

The political night continues…it’ll be short, I promise :)  Just got done watching Blog Wars on the Sundance Channel.  While the title would lead one to think that it would be about the back and forth between blogs in the political world, what it turned out to be is far different.  In the end it seemed more about the rise and endorsement of the left-wing bloggers then a balanced look at both sides.  But still, the behind the scenes look was somewhat interesting.  It could have been subtitled “How We Think The Daily Kos Is Changing Politics”.

As Teresa points out on her blog, the same old men (and women, of both parties) have been in charge of the country for a long time. According to the Congressional Research Service the 109th Congress was the oldest in history (average age 56 years (Senators averaged over 60 years! (Representatives averaged 55))). When you consider that the minimum ages for Representatives and Senators are 25 and 30 respectively, then you get some idea how long these people have been running the country. In fact the longest serving congressman is John Dingell, Democrat Representative from Michigan. Mr. Dingell first took office in 1955. That’s over 50 years! The founding fathers never imagined congressional terms this long. They believed in the citizen congress. Congressmen were meant to serve few terms and then return to their professions, politics where not meant to be their profession.

Obviously it’s time for some young blood, from both sides of the aisle. John Edwards has shown that the time of the young, internet savvy politician is, if not here, at least close at hand. Given that Al Gore invented it, it’s not surprising that Democrats/Liberals are often viewed as more internet savvy then their peers. Though being young and Democrat doesn’t automatically mean you’re an internet expert.

But at least the Democrat’s have somebody. Where is the internet savvy Republican/Conservative? Contrary to the popular wisdom; there are plenty of small-government-wanting, personal-responsibility-believing, technically savvy people out there. Why aren’t any in politics? Are they too intelligent? Is John Edwards simply the smartest idiot? I would be very interested to see how a internet wise conservative candidate (Republican or third party) would play out, I think the results would surprise a few people. If anyone knows of such a person, please let me know.