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Super Tuesday (in more ways than one)
Joe Concha
 The word
"super" will be used today to mark two huge events in the Garden State.
For those who love politics and/or are deeply interested in this year's Presidential
election, today is, as you can tell by the cable news networks 24/7 coverage and by all of
the commercials flooding our airwaves, Super Tuesday. In all, 22 states will be holding
primaries to help determine who will be the 44th President of the United States.
For those who are still basking in the glory of the Giants improbable Super Bowl victory,
not only will there be a ticker tape parade down the Canyon of heroes in lower Manhattan
(complete with some players videotaping the event from floats for some odd reason
considering all of the coverage it will receive) but there will also be a celebration at
rainy Giants stadium this afternoon. It's only fitting that Giant players will need to
try to dance between the raindrops, as it was the only weather they didn't have to play in
during their four-city journey to the Super Bowl (heat in Tampa, cool but dry weather in
Dallas, sub-zero arctic conditions in Green Bay, and a living room setting in domed
University of Phoenix Stadium.
Someone asked me what conference the University of Phoenix played in when watching the
game on Sunday. I answered, "The Virtual Conference" because the University of
Phoenix does not physically exist. Instead, it is an online portal to take college courses
on. Just thought I'd share...
Anyway, it appears that Hoboken will see a decent turnout for today's primary if the buzz
around town is any indication. Most of those I spoke to on Sunday indicated that they
intended to vote for McCain, while there were a few Obama voters sprinkled in as well.
 One telling item concerned the lack of support (and downright animosity)
for Hillary Clinton. Maybe its Bush-Clinton-Bush-possible Clinton fatigue (28 years of
Bush-Clinton in the White House makes us look like Britain with the royal family) but
ultimately, it just seems like Clinton is viewed as a power-hungry phony who will say
anything (and cry on cue the night before a primary to jack up the sympathy vote, as she
did again last night) just to get elected. And having Bill compare Obama to Jesse Jackson
(see: A black guy who has no real shot of winning) hasn't helped matters either.
 So
what about Obama? As a Republican, I honestly have no ill-will against the guy. For
starters, nothing would please me more than to see Hillary go down (not in the Monica
sense) so in this case, the enemy of your enemy becomes your friend. He seems to stick to
his principles (such as being against the Iraq War before it became fashionable for those
like Hillary who did vote for it to now oppose it) and would like reach across the aisle
to make our government work more efficiently.
For those who are cynical about this prospect, cooperation between the parties CAN happen.
President Bush, despite being a lame duck and owning approval ratings in the 30s, was able
to work with Democrats to pass the economic stimulus package in a matter of days. And as a
result, those making $75,000 or less will receive a $600.00 check from the government in
June.
In other words, most residents of Hoboken will not be eligible under the "middle
class and below" stipulation of this package. Still, it was good to see the President
and a usually-anti-all-things-Bush getting something done quickly for the good of the
country.
So while Obama may be way off on several issues, he does seem to have the ability to
compromise if needed. Hillary, conversely, will polarize Washington like never before.
 As for the Republicans, I'm for McCain and have been for about four
months after seeing that Rudy's strategy to solely focus on Florida was doomed to fail. In
this space last December, I predicted a McCain-Obama matchup when both were trailing in
the polls. In the end, I just couldn't see Romney winning because of the whole Mormon
thing and the fact he looks like a Ken Doll with dark hair (See: not genuine), and
certainly couldn't envision Hillary getting past all of the negatives she brings to the
table. Let's hope the trend continues for the good of the country.
McCain, like Obama, also is unwavering in terms of his core beliefs. You may not like the
war, but McCain had been pushing for higher troop levels (now called the surge, which has
been extremely successful) since Day 1. Despite not getting what he wanted in this regard,
McCain continued to support the war and understood that Iraq was now a central front of
the war on terrorism. The American public gets this, which is why McCain  has been winning state
after state despite what should be a losing issue in terms of the Iraq war.
As for the Giants and their Super Tuesday, what more can be said? The Manning-Tyree play
was the greatest end-to-end sequence in Super Bowl history, and the defense brought back
memories of the old '86 Giants...with Justin Tuck morphing into the role of Lawrence
Taylor. It will simply go down as one of those days when you'll remember exactly where you
were when Plaxico Burress caught that fade in the left corner of the end zone with 35
seconds left.
 Politics
and sports. They are in essence the same thing: You have a winner, a loser, a running
clock, a final score, and fervent fans on both sides.
Enjoy the day.
Joe Concha is realhoboken.com's Senior Writer and somehow both a political and sport
junkie. Email questions or comments to realhoboken@yahoo.com
or use the message board on the homepage. |
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