By admin on 1/29/2008 11:22 PM

Campaigning in Florida by Obama:  Zero.

Pledges Broken:   None.

Early States Betrayed:   Null.

Delegates Won:   Tie (0).

Keeping Your Promises and Your Integrity:   Priceless.

Some people will say and do anything to get elected.  For everyone else, there's Barack Obama.

By admin on 1/29/2008 4:55 PM

 This is a blog about Iowa politics.  Which is why I must continue to write about HRC's breaking of her pledge not to campaign in Florida.  Her actions most definitely do affect Iowa.  HRC's pledge-breaking puts at severe risk our first-in-the-nation status.  If rogue states like Florida (and Michigan, where HRC refused to take her name off the ballot) are not punished when they move up their illegal contests, in clear violation of DNC rules, all is lost for tiny Iowa and New Hampshire.  Only when candidates follow the rules of the DNC can Iowa and New Hampshire be safe.

By the way, in case you think it is just Obama supporters concerned about this, it most definitely goes way beyond that.  To take just one example, Clinton supporter Simon Rosenberg hit the Clintons fairly hard on his blog today:

"But there is a line in politics where tough and determined becomes craven and narcissistic, where advocacy becomes spin, and where integrity and principle is lost. I am concerned that this Florida gambit by the Clinton campaign is once again putting two of my political heroes too close - or perhaps over - that line. So that even if they win this incredible battle with Barack Obama they will end up doing so in a way that will make it hard for them to bring the Party back together, and to lead the nation to a new and better day."

Full post well worth reading Read More »

Iowa True Blue

By admin on 1/29/2008 2:28 PM

Roger Simon is one of the best political writers . . . well, ever.  So it's no surprise he has a fascinating piece in politico.com on Teddy Kennedy's endorsement speech of Obama; how strong it was for Obama, and how much a rebuke to the Clintons.  Read it here.

By admin on 1/28/2008 9:22 PM

Governor Kathleen Sebelius (D-KS) gives the Democratic response.  She addresses real, kitchen table problems:  jobs, housing, health care, the economy, and the War.  She has a nice call for unity -- "a new American majority" -- and asks for Americans, in her conclusion, "to get to work."  It is much more uplifting and forward looking.

 

P.S.  Numerous news outlets have reported Governor Sebelius will endorse Barack Obama, very soon.

By admin on 1/28/2008 8:30 PM

Three-quarters of Americans think the nation is on the wrong track, and merely one-third of Americans believe President Bush is doing a good job.  In a democracy, this is the closest you will come to unanimity.  I don't believe you could get more Americans to agree, say, that Elvis Presly is really dead.  Bush is a uniter after all -- the country is almost completely united, against him and his adminstration.

 

So Bush's final State of the Union is very much unlike either Ronald Reagan's or Bill Clinton's last SOTU; they were both popular (very popular, by comparison).  Both Reagan and Clinton used their last SOTU to put, or at least to attempt to put, a big exclamation point on their legacies.

 

Bush, by contrast, seems almost indifferent -- like even he knows there would be no point in trying hard.  The speech itself seems strangely devoid of any poetry or inspiration.  No soaring rhetoric; no lofty phrases; no call to arms.  It is really boring.

 

The first part of the speech is a dull laundry list of domestic programs -- education, energy, job re training, and so on.  The GOP electeds cheer and the Dems sit sullenly.

 

Bush seems a bit more energized talking about the success (or what I would say, "success") in the Iraq War.&nbs ... Read More »

Iowa True Blue

By admin on 1/28/2008 2:32 PM

Let's be clear:  January 3d was the single most important day in Barack Obama's drive to the White House.  It was his huge win in Iowa which propelled his candidacy forward.

But today was a close second.  Ted Kennedy's endorsement of Obama was powerful, moving, passionate, and compelling.  Video here; read the speech here.

Some say endorsements don't matter.  (It's been almost hilarious hearing the Clintons' camp spin and spin trying to downgrade this).  Marc Ambinder, as well as anyone, explains why the Kennedy endorsement is so critical, in a blog post here.

By admin on 1/28/2008 10:49 AM

Josh Marshall of Talking Points Memo takes the Clintons to task on their breaking the pledge not to campign in Florida. 

Marshall had previously written, "I don't think there are many people who are bigger fans of Bill Clinton than I am or who've expended more ink defending him and his presidency.  Nor am I particularly sold on Obama's candidacy."  [full post here]

But the Florida power grab was too much for even him.  Here's his current take:

"No Way.

By admin on 1/28/2008 10:34 AM

No one is more "Washington establishment" than Al Hunt.  So his piece, which harshly rebukes the Clintons for their current campaign style, is today's must read, here.

By admin on 1/27/2008 8:14 PM

Today, Hillary Clinton broke her promise to Iowa and New Hampshire.

Hillary Clinton previously signed a pledge.  The pledge was NOT to campaign in Florida, which had broken DNC rules when it tried to move its Democratic primary before Iowa's and New Hampshire's.

But now, after a staggering defeat in SC, and the impending endorsement by Ted Kennedy of Obama, she broke her word.  She went to Florida.

She not only went to Florida today, she is going to be in Florida on Tuesday night, the night of the illegal primary.  HRC is also saying Florida delegates should be seated (the DNC had stripped Florida of its delegates for messing with the schedule).

Do you think the good people of New Hampshire would have cast their votes for HRC if they had known then she was going to break her word?  Of course not.

PS.  Re the history of the pledge, here's the first few 'graphs in the New York Times from September:

September 2, 2007
Clinton, Obama and Edwards Join Pledge to Avoid Defiant States
By JEFF ZELENY

PORTSMOUTH, N.H., Sept. 1 — Three of the major Democratic presidential candidates on Satur ... Read More »

Iowa True Blue

By admin on 1/27/2008 12:17 PM

Several news organizations are reporting Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA) will soon endorse Barack Obama.  Those folks harboring "doubts" about Obama, at least that I have I've seen and heard, fall into two categories:  (1) those concerned Obama is not experienced enough; and (2) those concerned he is not progressive enough.  Regarding experience, if the democratic lion of the U.S. Senate, Ted Kennedy, believes Obama to be ready (and apparently believes it so strongly he is going to endorse in a contest he really doesn't have to), isn't it darn hard to claim Obama is somehow not ready?  In sum, if T.K. thinks you're experienced and seasoned enough to be president, you must be experienced and seasoned enough to be president.  Regarding progressive credentials, the same point.  Responses, anyone?