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Although I have previously expressed mild reservations about Barack Obama’s ability to get elected president, I have been very pleased to see that his big win in Iowa has propelled him to the front of the Democratic race.

I had long assumed that Hillary Clinton would steamroll her way to the nomination, but I’m glad to see that Obama has become much more of a contender now. Not that I have anything against Hillary winning the nomination—far from it!—but given a choice between the two, I’d rather see Obama get the nomination. Although Hillary makes a lot of her experience, I suspect her electoral strategy would end up being very similar to Kerry’s in 2004—and we all know how well that worked. We had an experienced candidate last time and another in 2000, and both of them lost to someone who was widely perceived as more personable. Why not try a charismatic candidate this time? 

It’s about time!

Karl Rove, Adviser to President Bush, to Resign

Karl Rove, the architect of President Bush’s two national campaigns and his most prominent adviser through 6-1/2 tumultuous years in the White House, announced today that he will resign at the end of the month…

The only bad thing about this news is that now Bush will be more reliant on Cheney to do most of his critical thinking.

I just finished reading Barack Obama’s The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream. The copy I have is now available if anyone reading this blog entry would be interested in reading it. (Offer limited to people living in Japan, or to people I know living in other countries.)

Senator Obama may or may not have what it takes to become the next President of the United States, but reading this book gives you the impression that he’s spent a lot more time thinking about what that job entails than the current occupant of that office. I wish him well in his campaign and expect to see good things from him regardless of the outcome of the 2008 election.

My politics are more pragmatic than partisan, which is why I found this news from my home state encouraging:

In Final Weeks, G.O.P. Focuses on Best Bets

WASHINGTON, Oct. 15 — Senior Republican leaders have concluded that Senator Mike DeWine of Ohio, a pivotal state in this year’s fierce midterm election battles, is likely to be heading for defeat and are moving to reduce financial support for his race and divert party money to other embattled Republican senators, party officials said.

Although I do not have anything in particular against Mike DeWine, the current Republican-dominated government has not handled its responsibilities well; so it is time for a change. Although I have my doubts about whether Ohio will actually elect a Democrat to national office (I think John Glenn was the last nationally known Democrat from Ohio), I would be glad to see that change come about. The fact that Ted Strickland seems to be enjoying a significant lead over J. Kenneth Blackwell in the governor’s race also seems to bode well.

Perhaps there is still time to shower a bit of money on DeWine’s opponent, Sherrod Brown.

I happened to catch this news tidbit on Digg today:

British Library calls for digital copyright action

The British Library has called for a “serious updating” of current copyright law to “unambiguously” include digital content and take technological advances into account.

In a manifesto released on Monday at the Labor Party Conference in Manchester, the United Kingdom’s national library warned that the country’s traditional copyright law needs to be extended to fully recognize digital content.

“Unless there is a serious updating of copyright law to recognize the changing technological environment, the law becomes an ass,” Lynne Brindley, chief executive of the British Library, told ZDNet UK.

Digital rights management (DRM) technologies and licensing agreements currently can impose restrictions on copying content that go beyond the requirements of copyright law. This needs legal clarification, according to the British Library.

I think the general public needs to hear more of this, because these days it seems like our rights, particularly with respect to issues like copyrights, are being defined more and more by corporations than by governments. At times I think we are at risk of losing the rights we once enjoyed as citizens and are acquiring in return only the so-called “rights” that companies choose to grant us as consumers. It is well beyond time that copyright laws were updated to reflect modern realities, lest corporations be at the forefront of defining our rights in perpetuity.