It’s been several days since I’ve written on Rural Thoughts. That’s because Kristi and I are on a trip to Southwest Florida to visit my mom and I just haven’t had a chance to write. But, we have been keeping up with the political news, have had some very interesting experiences traveling, and I have been anxious to write about them.

One of the most interesting stops we made on the trip down was at the Jesse Owens museum in Oakville, Alabama.http://www.jesseowensmuseum.org/ Oakville is the very rural area in which Jesse Owens grew up and laid the foundation for his greatness. Of course, Jesse Owens is one of the icons of U.S.A. athletics. This is due to the fact that he won a number of gold medals in the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, at the height of Hitler’s influence over the German nation. This was significant to the extreme, because Hitler was trying to convince the world that his version of the white race was superior in every way to all other races. Owens, an African-American, defeated outstanding German athletes in a number of events, as Hitler watched, embarrassing him and giving the U.S.A. a great psychological boost.

The highlight of the museum is a 45 minute film about the 1936 Olympics, with amazing films of the opening ceremony, with Hitler presiding, and of the Owen’s events. Owens himself narrates the film. According to the docent at the museum, the only place this film can be viewed is at the museum. I don’t know if that is true, but I do know that, although I have seen a number of films in my life about the Owens’ Olympic feats, there are a lot of scenes and facts from that film that I don’t recall ever having seen. The factual depiction of a society under the complete trance of an evil leader are scenes that all Americans should see, especially in this day and age.

One of the facts contained in the film that I found fascinating was regarding his gold medal in the long jump. Owens himself, as narrator, told very movingly about how his German opponent had befriended him, in spite of Hitler’s rhetoric, and had advised and assisted him in completing a successful final qualifying jump which got Owens into the finals. Owens and this German athlete, now dead, had maintained a friendship throughout their lives, and Owens interviewed his son on the film about their relationship. This definitely did not make the news at the time, once again showing that the mainstream media often fails to report some of the most important aspects of internationally significant stories.

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There’s more that I want to write about travels, but I’m going to skip to politics at the moment. A lot has happened politically since the last time I wrote. The number one event, of course, was the Iowa caucuses. I had predicted that Obama would win. In fact, way back in May I predicted, to some scorn, that Obama would win the nomination. I still think that is true.

Then there was the ABC News debate last night. We watched both the republican and democratic debates. The republican debate should have come second, because it would have been good for getting us ready for bed. The democratic debate was much more interesting and fiery.

I won’t try to assess who “won” the debate for the democrats, but I will say that it was interesting, as other pundits have pointed out, that Edwards obviously sided with Obama and was trying to knock Hillary down. Hillary deserved the attack, though, because she attacked Obama and was in no position to do so. After Edwards launched his broadside against Hillary, branding her as representing the “status quo,” Hillary got angry. This is a double edged sword for Hillary. Hillary is the cold, calculating woman, and her “control,” or “presidential” demeanor is one of the things that she runs on. But after Edwards chided her about being “status quo,” she got obviously angry. Her eyes got big, she raised her voice, and lost the Ms. Control Queen persona that she runs on.

During the one Sunday News Show that I got to see today - Stephanopolous on ABC, he said that he had gotten a lot of emails during that outburst, some of which said that Hillary had lost it, and others that said, “about time Hillary showed some passion.” I believe that is probably true, but I think that it so cuts against Hillary’s “Ms. Control,” Ms. Presidential,” “Ms. Experienced,” that I think over all it will hurt her. Perhaps Edwards will be hurt too, for attacking her so bad, but then again, with so many people, even on the democrat side concerned about the Clinton dynasty issue and moving backwards instead of forwards, perhaps Edwards will not be hurt. These are deeply ingrained issues within individuals, and it’s pretty impossible to poll them out. My gut feeling is that Edwards will not be hurt that bad, Hillary will be hurt a little, and Obama will gain from that. I think Obama is heading for a victory in New Hampshire, a victory in South Carolina, and the nomination. John Edwards will make a great attorney general! That may be a better place to take on the big corporations than being president. I think Obama is smart enough to sense what Edwards is asking for, and smart enough to know that he is right for the job. Time will tell.

The republicans are so out of touch. With their aggressive talk about immigration, they are pushing all of the "foreign" minorities into the democrat's camp. They are also alientating all the muslims with their war mongering. I must make an exception for Ron Paul, who speaks a lot of truth. He needs some grilling on the environment and public lands, (as well as other governmental authority issues) however. If the dems can't win THIS election, they might as well go home. Of course, we haven't brought the Green party into this discussion yet, have we? That might change my thinking.