Wild Winds Blowing - all the way to DC

There is a wild wind blowing tonight on the Texas Coast. A strange energy of shifting winds is whipping the flag, which has been shredded.

Shredded could also describe some Presidential campaigns as as of tomorrow in New Hampshire. Slam dunks have turned into long shots. Long shots have turned into a growing Political Tsunami. Thomas Hardy's "Persistence of the Unforeseen" can undo man's (or woman's) best laid plans even with millions invested.

The winds racing past the balcony are not just strong. They are fierce and changeable. They seem to be in parallel with the winds of politics shifting in America.

Some writers wrote me and said "Obama is too inexperienced and McCain is too old." Folks I'm not making this stuff happen; just describing it. My analysis is on the big picture of what is happening, not whether it is what you want to hear. It's the reality and its impact.

Right now the reality is that voters want to hear the themes they are hearing from Mr. Obama. God knows we need something better than "the usual suspects" doing the usual bipolar, left/right limited thinking and fear-mongering.

Instead, people are responding to the magic sauce that Piped Piper Obama seems to have going for him. Apparently the last seven years have ignited a Category 5 desire for a whole new direction by tons of new people who have never voted, among others.

A person from Pakistan e-mailed me and said that we didn't need to change Presidents, only policies - so that we recognized human rights.

I told him that Americans believe that the only way to change our policies is by changing Presidents. Bush isn't going to change and even if he did at this point the damage has been done. It will take a new President to rebuild bridges and our global reputation.

We'll know tomorrow who the likely successors will be.

I close with the sad news that a friend and councilmember in Sugar Land lost his wife over the weekend in a tragic, freak traffic accident. My deepest condolences go out to Michael Schiff and his family. Jan was a volunteer star who made our community a better place than she found it. She will always remain so in the hearts of thousands.