Got Change?

In an effort to be a responsible voter, I sat here in front of the computer last night watching the online feed from WMUR-TV in Manchester, NH, of the presidential candidates debate. I didn't watch much of the first one because, as I've already said, the likelihood of me voting for one of the Republicans in the primary is nill. But I did see the moment when ABC News moderator Charlie Gibson called all the candidates running for president to the stage, so New Hampshire (and anyone else not watching the Steelers-Jaguars game) could see everyone with any shot in hell of becoming president.
I also saw where Sen. John McCain turned to former MA Governor Mitt Romney and said he really was a "candidate of change"--a dig at Romney's ever-in-flux positions on a myriad of issues.
Change, of course, became the word du jour for the Democratic debate. Obama is an agent for change, John Edwards is passionate about change, Hilary is a change and has been a change. But it was New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson who noted that while change is great, one shouldn't want change...without experience. And that gets to the crux of where I am, as an undecided independant voter.
Let's face it: we all want a change from Dumbya (the 28-percent or however little it is now that still believes the Squatter in the White House is doing a good job be damned!)
But because idiot and his goon squad have made such a huge mess of things with our foreign policy and at home, I want the next President to be somebody who sees the problems and has the background, the knowledge, and the ability to make the changes necessary to repair our bruised relationships with the rest of the world, and close the growing gap between the haves and the have-nots in this country.
I'll be interested to see what happens Tuesday in my native state. And I hope that Bill Richardson sticks around if for no other reason than he was the one person on the stage at last night's debate who said what I was thinking.
That's an observation, not an endorsement!
Oh, and somebody please help Charlie Gibson with fact-checking! When he suggested that a married couple teaching at St. Anslem's College in Manchester would be in the $200,000 income bracket, I laughed! Did he forget where he was? Did he think he was sitting in a studio in NYC? It's so cute when the national media tries to "localize".