Tag Archives: Barack Obama

Comment Rescue: Truth Teller Loves Him Some Pandering

One of our new commenters, Truth Teller, had a gem in the Hillary-pandering post a few days ago.

I noticed that Obama knocked her plan but failed to tell us what his plan. Another great speech but no solutions

I love how Truthy wants us to believe that Hillary is all making a proposal that needs to be countered. If Hillary come up with a plan that might save the average person $40. Hillary’s proposal will likely just provide a transfer of wealth to the oil companies and costs construction jobs and endangers our infrastructure, as needed road and bridge repairs get put on hold waiting for funding.

When asked about economists attacking her plan, Hillary went right into the Bush-like bashing of intellectuals.

“I’m not going to put my lot in with economists”… Clinton added that the tax holiday would work “if we actually did it right.”

So, Truth Teller and the rest of the Hillary supporters/Obama bashers, Hillary is wrong on this. And no, we don’t need a counter proposal, just like we don’t need a counter proposal to Ted Stevens’ bridge to nowhere. It is pandering, it is graft and it is beneath Hillary to suggest it.

It’s over, we just can’t get the fat lady to sing!

Obama Campaign Confirms Joint Fundraising Committee With The DNC

By Greg Sargent – April 25, 2008, 2:15PM

Obama spokesperson Bill Burton just confirmed to me that the campaign has set up a joint fundraising committee with the Democratic National Committee, a development that was first reported today by Mark Halperin.

The move is unusual in the sense that it’s typically the sort of thing that’s done once there is a nominee.

How Florida is Useful For the Democrats

Florida provides a very interesting case study for us. They were eliminated from being involved in nominating the Democratic Presidential candidate. So to a degree they are an unvarnished example of Hillary’s starting point.

None of the candidates campaigned there (except for ads that were run there as a result of some national advertising package). As such, it is a good example of what Hillary started with in the bank. One of the memes that Hillary and Rush and a whole host of people with a vested interest have trotted out, is that Obama spent huge sums of money and still couldn’t put Clinton out of the race.

In Florida, Hillary pulled 49.7%, while Obama had 33%. So that is a reasonable starting point for our discussion. Without spending a dollar, Hillary had a 17 point lead. This is likely because she is one of the most recognized women in the country. As a result, Obama has had to make up ground at every stop.

I don’t know how to value that sort of name recognition, but we can make some educated guesses. In Ohio, Obama had to spend $4.4M (Clinton $2.3M). That extra 2.1 million got him 6 points (Clinton dropped 4 points) and Hillary ended up with a net gain of 7 delegates (141 at stake).

One could make the argument that this is because his message isn’t catching on or whatever, but that is ignoring the assets that Hillary began with. Obama may have spent more, but Hillary already had millions of dollars worth of name recognition and a proxy message (guess who her husband is…).  I would argue that Hillary had $10M worth of assets in Ohio before she set foot in the state.

To not acknowledge this fact is ignorance or perhaps it is understandable. Many of Hillary’s new supporters have been itching at another shot at disparaging the Clinton Presidency.  These are people that compared Chelsea to a family dog and accused Hillary of being a lesbian, a murderer and a communist.  So the next time you hear a right-wing pundit say that Hillary is the Democrats only choice, consider the source.

FYI: Hillary did win by 10…oh well

dang!
AP’s current numbers, which most media sites (including TPM) are showing is …Clinton 1,258,245 54.69%
Obama 1,042,297 45.31%

Isn’t it interesting how they round up Hillary and round down Obama.  I remember rounding in elementary school and I don’t think the rules they are using are the right ones…

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Hillary Survives, But the Math is Still Not in Her Favor

So while you hear the media spin last night and this AM re: Hillary’s win, let’s remember a couple of things here:

1. Primaries are about winning delegates, and the Dems award their delegates in a proportional manner. Hillary may have earned 12 -14 delegates over Obama, but she still cannot catch up to him unless she wins everything, and wins it decisively, from here on out.

2. Six weeks ago, Clinton has a 20 point lead and a victory in Ohio which was supposed to be ominous for Obama. For Obama to close the gap means that he is still convincing undecideds (except for those who choose at the last minute). Hillary keeps her base. Obama gets voters who are new to the process — young voters, new voters, party switchers; while Hillary maintains her base. Net is that Obama is speaking to everyone and is convincing folks open to being convinced.

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OH MY GOD! HOW LOW WILL SHE GO…

New Hillary Ad Shows Bin Laden, Asks: “Who Do You Think Has What It Takes?”

By Greg Sargent – April 21, 2008, 11:19AM

Hillary’s up with a new, last minute spot in Pennsylvania designed to swing the late-breaking undecideds — and it includes a brief appearance by none other than Osama Bin Laden.

Though there’s no mention of Obama here, the crisis imagery, combined with the line “who do you think has what it takes,” are clearly designed to sow last-minute doubts about Obama’s fitness to be commander-in-chief, just as the “red phone” ad did…

Late Update: The Obama campaign is already out with a response: It’s directing folks to this video of Bill Clinton saying the following in 2004:

“Now one of Clinton’s Laws of Politics is this: If one candidate’s trying to scare you and the other one’s trying to get you to think; if one candidate’s appealing to your fears and the other one’s appealing to your hopes, you better vote for the person who wants you to think and hope. That’s the best.”

Late Late Update: Hillary’s new chief strategist says that there’s “nothing negative” about the new ad.

OMFG! Obama in Philly

(AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)Wow. Now I wish I had blown off my book club to see Obama. He drew 30,000 people to see him deliver a speech at Independence Hall. It was the largest crowd that he has drawn in the campaign (and that is saying something).

Let’s put this in context. Tonight in Philly there was a Phillies game and the Ringling Bros. Circus performance and he holds his rally on a Friday night in the city. This is an incredible draw. 30K with the Phillies drawing 45,000 and the Circus drawing about 17, 000 this kind of turnout has to be pleasing to Obama fans like me.

4 days to go. My prediction, Hillary squeaks out a small victory (5%) and concedes the race to Obama by Friday. But I’m an optimist.

For any night-owl Obama fans, there is a rally tomorrow night at the very symbolic 3AM near the site of the Tun Tavern in Philly. Obama won’t be there, but it is sponsored by Veterans for Obama and will culminate in a lit drop. I wish I could make it. It sounds like fun.