August 27th, 2008
I think Joe Biden’s speech tonight at the Democratic Convention was good, but not great. He made a few verbal flubs and failed, though not by a lot, to achieve the heights that Bill and Hillary Clinton reached with their respective speeches.
Hence, Barack Obama’s unscheduled appearance at the podium just minutes after Biden concluded his remarks gave the affair an emotional lift that would otherwise have been lacking. It was part luck and part smart planning.
And it perfectly set the stage for Obama’s speech tomorrow night before a crowd of 75,000 at Denver’s big football stadium. The expectations are great, which means the challenge Obama faces is huge. Anything less than carrying the ball for a score will be a letdown.
August 26th, 2008
In their recent ads, John McCain’s handlers have favorably featured Hillary Clinton more often than Mr. Straight Talk himself.
But I don’t suppose they’ll be spotlighting these comments from Hillary any time soon:
August 25th, 2008
Earlier today, I posted a McCain campaign ad in which a disgruntled Hillaryite said she’ll be voting for the Republican nominee in November.
Later today, the woman in the ad, Debra Bartoshevich of Wisconsin, SAID she thought McCain was pro-choice.
Here’s the ad again:
August 25th, 2008
She says she’s voting for the guy who laughed heartily when one of his supporters publicly called Hillary Clinton the B-word (rhymes with rich):
August 24th, 2008
And his ad unwittingly explains in part why Obama didn’t pick Hillary:
August 21st, 2008
After long periods of serious concentration over the past few days, I’ve come to the conclusion that Barack Obama will choose Hillary Clinton as his running mate.
The announcement might come as soon as today.
Yeah, I know this flies in the face of my frequent condemnations of Clinton over the past six months, and I recognize that Obama and Hillary aren’t exactly the best of chums. But in the final analysis, the pairing of the two on the Democratic ticket would make eminent political sense.
The principal rationale is that the choice of Clinton as a running mate would unite and energize the party as no other choice could.
Besides, there’s plenty of precedent for this sort of thing in both parties.
John Kennedy went with Lyndon Johnson, though the two had contentiously vied for the nomination — and despite the fact that the Kennedy family didn’t much like LBJ. (Bobby hated him, and vice versa.)
Ronald Reagan chose George H.W. Bush, no matter the negative stuff Pappy said about Ronnie when they competed for the GOP nomination. (Remember when Bush scoffed at Reagan’s “voodoo economics”?)
Another reason why I think Obama will go with Clinton is that he has to do something bold after this long and dramatic lead-up to the announcement. Any other choice would seem dull.
So, that’s my guess. I might well be wrong, but it wouldn’t be the first time. Hey, I initially thought Obama had no chance to win the Democratic nomination for a U.S. Senate seat from Illinois in 2004. An unknown black guy from Chicago with a name like that? Not gonna happen, I said.
UPDATE: Obama said something this afternoon that makes even more inclined to suspect that Hillary will get the nod.
USA Today reports:
“In an interview in Chester, Va., the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee said he’s made up his mind, but he would not say whether he’s informed that person yet. ‘I won’t comment on anything else until I introduce our running mate to the world,’ he said. ‘That’s all you’re going to get out of me.’
“Obama said it was a difficult decision. ‘We had some great choices.’
“Obama said he wanted somebody who is ‘prepared to be president’ and who will be ‘a partner with me in strengthening this economy for the middle class and working families.’
“He said he was looking for not just a partner but a sparring partner. ‘I want somebody who’s independent, somebody who can push against my preconceived notions and challenge me so we have got a robust debate in the White House.’”
Hmmm. Robust debate in the White House? Economy for the middle class and working families? Sparring partner?
Sounds like Hillary.
August 20th, 2008
So, it SEEMS that Hillary is out of the running.
Oh, well. She was a long shot, anyway.
Or was Obama’s use of a masculine pronoun just a decoy? Some folks are saying he’ll pick Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius.
UPDATE: Ralph Nader SAYS it will be Hillary, after all.
August 12th, 2008
On the basis of hundreds of internal e-mails and memos, The Atlantic is out with a sensational POST-MORTEM on Hillary Clinton’s failed presidential campaign.
The bottom line, as I read it, is that Hillary couldn’t effectively control her campaign staff, which strongly suggests that she was not qualified to run the country.
