I know we have Bush fans and Kerry fans that check in at the blog, so let me offer my opinion on our current choices. They both stink! Sorry, but is this the best our country can up with? I know some would say, "Well you're just a cynic who would be disappointed in almost anyone chosen" and to that I would respond by saying you're probably right. But never in my lifetime have I been left with more of an empty feeling when contemplating my options for President.

Much of my problem with these two candidates is they are the same guy. Oh, not in their political positions, but in the way they grew up. Of course, George W. is the son of well-connected, wealthy politician, but did you know that Kerry grew up the son of a well-connected, wealthy diplomat. Bush and Kerry both went to a New England prep school. Bush and Kerry both went to Yale. Bush and Kerry were both members of the nefarious fraternity, Skull and Bones that only chooses 15 new members annually. Wow, what diversity!

When did becoming President become some kind of monarchy? If you think I'm jumping to my conclusion, who are the Republican and Democratic frontrunners for 2008? Jeb Bush and Hilary Clinton top the list of names usually mentioned. Let me put it another way, does anyone think that George W. Bush or John Kerry would have reached their current standings, without the high-placed connections they have enjoyed since birth?

What happened to the days when you had to actually be a self-made person to become the leader of the free world? Think of Abraham Lincoln who grew up in a small-town in Illinois, raised by a family that just scraped by. Ronald Reagan had much the same biography.

Even Bill Clinton haters have to admit that his life is a remarkable story. Clinton never knew his father, his stepfather used to beat his mother. His mother was the Tammy Faye Bakker of Arkansas. When you break it down, Bill Clinton was our first white trash President. And because of that, we should have never been surprised he stole some furniture on his exit. I mean come on, he's white trash! Bill probably thought the stuff was rent-to-own. Don't be surprised if some day he hawks some of the stuff on the Antique Roadshow.

I decided to share my feelings on this topic because of Kerry's selection of John Edwards as his running mate. Edwards connects with me, as I see a guy who has a clue what most American?s life is like. George W. Bush has glided through his whole life, trading on his grandfather and father's name. John Kerry has done much the same, while maybe not being able to trade on the same name power, as Gee Du(m)b has done, Kerry has had the bonus of marrying two different women with vast family fortunes.

Sure, Edwards is a very wealthy man from his days as a trial lawyer, but he didn't spend most of his life with a free hall pass. Many on the right have said Edwards is flawed because of this trial lawyer experience, but I would say that the majority who feel negative about his past career are corporate executives. Now, who do you think the majority of Americans feel more negative about, trial lawyers or corporate executives?
In the world of John Grisham and Scott Turow's best-selling books and movies, I think the notion of fierce hatred towards all trial lawyers is overblown.

Sure it's Kerry who is the Presidential candidate, but for many people who were just using the ABB method of voting (anybody but Bush), it's a lot more reinvigorating that Edwards is part of the ticket. Even if Kerry loses the election, it gives Edwards a national profile that keeps Democratic Party insiders from pushing the Hilary Clinton 2008 coronation and what a national wreck that would be for the Dems.

(Just in case you wondered, Slate's Mickey Kaus did not ghostwrite this piece.)