Tag Archives: Barack Obama

Remember how Obama got slammed for “wink, winking” Canada??

In what could become Hillary Clinton’s own version of the NAFTA-Gate controversy that caused Barack Obama so much trouble a month ago, top Clinton strategist Mark Penn reportedly met on Monday with the Colombian ambassador to discuss a bilateral free-trade deal — something his candidate has publicly opposed.

In a case study on the dangers of wearing too many hats, Penn’s attendance was in his capacity as the head of his lobbying firm Burson-Marsteller Worldwide. Expect the Obama camp to hit Clinton for this on at least two angles: Hypocrisy on trade, and having as her top strategist a lobbyist for a foreign government.

Nice huh?  This is going to kill her 3 weeks before Pa Votes. 

Have you seen the Obama Commercial where he states he doesn’t take money from Oil Companies?

Well, it’s pretty crappy add now that I understand the law. Obama can’t take money from oil companies directly because the freaking law says so and has for 100 years. He takes it from the Oil Companies employees though and their spouses.

I saw it Monday and was like wow that’s pretty cool of him…until of course I learned the truth.  Like I said, in the end he is still a politician.   Personally, I find this real shitty of him.   The add is really, REALly SHITTY too.  

We find the statement misleading:Obama has accepted more than $213,000 from individuals who work for companies in the oil and gas industry and their spouses. Two of Obama’s bundlers are top executives at oil companies and are listed on his Web site as raising between $50,000 and $100,000 for the presidential hopeful.

H/t Suburban Guerrilla.

Superdelegates Starting to Break

You may have noticed the Superdelegate widget on the left hand side of the site in the past few weeks.  Big thanks to Steve Newton for pointing it out to me.

Well in the last two days I have started to notice the numbers changing slightly.  Yesterday an Illinois SD committed to Obama.  Today, CT named Obama’s state co-chair as a superdelegate.  Perhaps we have nothing to fear from the super delegates.  Obama is closing the gap.  As they say, watch this space.

A Plan For Electoral Victory

I heard an interview with Ed Rendell on Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me about the need for Democrat unity.  Here is what he told a group of people in Florida:  Whatever happens with the Democratic nomination, roughly half of the Democrats will be disappointed.  After the nominee is determine (whenever that is) the other supporters have 10 days to be disappointed.  Go ahead and piss and moan.  Scream, if you must.  After 10 days, fall in line.  There will be no further bitching about what coulda, shoulda.

I am willing to take this pledge.  If you are willing, please do so publicly in the comments section.  Hopefully it will also help by tempering our criticism of “the enemy.”  The enemy is going to be John McCain, we should be prepared to meet him head-on.

Barack Obama’s More Perfect Union

Text of this remarkable speech here.

In fact, a similar anger exists within segments of the white community. Most working- and middle-class white Americans don’t feel that they have been particularly privileged by their race. Their experience is the immigrant experience – as far as they’re concerned, no one’s handed them anything, they’ve built it from scratch. They’ve worked hard all their lives, many times only to see their jobs shipped overseas or their pension dumped after a lifetime of labor. They are anxious about their futures, and feel their dreams slipping away; in an era of stagnant wages and global competition, opportunity comes to be seen as a zero sum game, in which your dreams come at my expense. So when they are told to bus their children to a school across town; when they hear that an African American is getting an advantage in landing a good job or a spot in a good college because of an injustice that they themselves never committed; when they’re told that their fears about crime in urban neighborhoods are somehow prejudiced, resentment builds over time.

Like the anger within the black community, these resentments aren’t always expressed in polite company. But they have helped shape the political landscape for at least a generation. Anger over welfare and affirmative action helped forge the Reagan Coalition. Politicians routinely exploited fears of crime for their own electoral ends. Talk show hosts and conservative commentators built entire careers unmasking bogus claims of racism while dismissing legitimate discussions of racial injustice and inequality as mere political correctness or reverse racism.

Just as black anger often proved counterproductive, so have these white resentments distracted attention from the real culprits of the middle class squeeze – a corporate culture rife with inside dealing, questionable accounting practices, and short-term greed; a Washington dominated by lobbyists and special interests; economic policies that favor the few over the many. And yet, to wish away the resentments of white Americans, to label them as misguided or even racist, without recognizing they are grounded in legitimate concerns – this too widens the racial divide, and blocks the path to understanding. Continue reading →

Dorian Gray Guest Post

This is more essay than blog post but it is a fine analysis, I think. It expounds on a similar point I was making this morning. Adult relationships are very complicated. There is no consistent, homogeneous path or clique or political party we can truly resign ourselves to. Why do we expect this from our leaders? Does a black politico really need to choose between the Condi Rice/Colin Powell path OR the Al Sharpton/Jesse Jackson path? Is this necessary? Is this healthy? Can we move on from this?

Sullivan juxtaposes homosexuality and conservatism (his personal experience) to reflect on what Obama is actually trying to do. When you have ten minutes today, give this a go:

The Testing Of Obama: Continue reading →

I’m not kidding when I say I put her on par with Bush

I really can’t stand this woman and the flat out lies disgust me at this point. I was listening to Hillieary this morning on NPR and I was yelling at the radio. My 14 y/o daughter was getting a lesson in how to listen to a politician not answer a question. If you have the stomach feel free to listen to her speak for 7 minutes.

Inskeep interviews her and the answers to some of his questions are beyond reason. They really are Bush like. It’s disgusting.

take this reply:

Hillary Clinton says the results of Michigan’s Democratic presidential primary should count, even if Barack Obama’s name did not appear on the ballot.“That was his choice,” she says in an interview with Steve Inskeep. “There was no rule or requirement that he take his name off the ballot. His supporters ran a very aggressive campaign to try to get people to vote uncommitted.”

WHAT!? ARE you freaking kidding? Yes, Hillary, it was his choice to follow the rules and not campaign there at all and not put his name on the ballots. Seriously man, how do people support this? GRRRRRRRR

UPDATE: Von Cracker adds some nice info too from Daily Kos… Continue reading →

I love this statement

Regarding a “Do Over” in Florida…

In a statement, House members from Florida said they were committed to working with the DNC and state officials to find a solution to ensure that their 210 delegates take their place at the convention. However, “Our House delegation is opposed to a mail-in campaign or any redo of any kind.”

call me f’ing crazy, but wouldn’t the solution have TO FUCKING NOT HELD THE PRIMARY as early as you did and were told not to? I love politics.

“This election is too important to do something that potentially could be fraught with mistakes,” Hunter said.

I guess it’s true that people in politics don’t have foresight, much less foreskin

Oh Snap! NO HE DITINT!!!

With all due respect, I’ve won twice as many states as Sen. Clinton. I’ve won more of the popular vote than Sen. Clinton. I have more delegates than Sen. Clinton. So, I don’t know how somebody who’s in second place is offering the vice presidency to the person who’s in first place. [Long applause.]…
But there’s a second point. This is an interesting point — I want you guys to follow me on this. You know Pres. Bill Clinton, back in 1992, when he was being asked about his selection for vice president, he said, “The only criteria, the most important criteria for vice president, is that that person is ready, if I fell out in the first week, that he or she would be ready to be the commander-in-chief.” That was his criteria.

Now, they have been spending the last two, three weeks — you remember that advertisement with the phone call, telling everybody, getting all the generals to say well we’re not sure he’s ready, “I’m ready on day one, he may not be ready yet.”