The Mike Snyder Blog

If you haven't already seen it, you NEED to watch this YouTube clip of Democratic Presidential candidate Mike Gravel. Over the last several days it's accrued some 170,000 hits, and bloggers like myself are having a field day. Obama supporters, take note.

Oh. My. God.

Can you remember the last time you saw such candor from a politician? While the other candidates, including Clinton and Obama, play with rehearsed answers and stay politically neutral on the tough questions, Mike goes straight for the throat. Just who does that? Who has the political balls to directly challenge the front runner Obama ("Barack, who do you want to nuke?") and speak straight to the moderator ("Who are you afraid of, Brian?"). Whether you love him or hate him, it's hard not to respect a guy who uses the phrase "military-industrial complex" on national television.

In a way he reminds me of my grandpa. Also of Hunter Thompson, the late gonzo journalist. That's funny, because politicians aren't supposed to be like journalists. Then again, is politician a fitting label for someone with almost zero regard for, well... er, politics?

Something else that's been troubling me. In a weird and perverse way, Gravel is Bush's counterpart. Both speak their mind. Both seem to think they know the "truth" and the " right answer" without a shadow of a doubt. Might Gravel, like Bush, one day become a narrow-minded charlatan in order to feed his own agenda and personal vision for the world? Gravel isn't a saint, make no mistake. Some of his ideas seem unfounded and unpractical. His claim that the United States has nothing to be afraid of and should therefore disarm militarily is a dubious one at best. Did he ever wonder that maybe, just maybe, the reason the U.S. has nothing to be afraid of is because it spends more money "on defense than the rest of the world put together?"

In any case, Mike Gravel challenged all of America last Thursday. Every single one of us--Democrats and Republicans--is confronted with new notions of what a politician can (and should?) be. Mike reminds us that the national politics to which we are accustomed are not the end all, be all. This is a great gift to a country that is in a moral and inspirational rut.

But can a politician really get elected without political posturing? Without lies and empty promises? Without cautious and politically correct responses? Or more importantly, without $30 million in campaign contributions?