The Democratic Party decided that Michigan and Florida may not hold contests before February 5, and if they do, they are not going to count in the nomination fight. All Dems running for president complied. Or at least that is what Hillary said back then. But that was then.
Michigan, Florida, And Sniper Fire
Sniper fire did not happen in Bosnia. Elections did not happen in Michigan, Florida. Wake up, Hillary. If two big states can be disbarred by the Democratic Party, one candidate running for president can also be disqualified by the Democratic Party. Either Hillary should stop acting like elections did happen in Michigan and Florida, or the party should consider disallowing her very candidacy. Rules are rules.
You Had Your Fun
Hillary, you had fun. Now leave. We are going to spend the summer on John McCain, not on you.
People are giving you money so you can pay off your campaign debt, all those unpaid bills. That is not money to keep campaigning.
Shameless
Bill Clinton has been shamelessly using the race card. He has been playing dirty. The 1990s are never over, that is what Bill Clinton is saying. He just does not get the new kind of politics. Barack is ahead in delegates, votes, and number of states, and Bill Clinton thinks his brand of slash and burn politics is still working.
If he loves his wife so much, he should go ahead and build her a Taj Mahal - he sure seems to have the money - instead of trying to play the race card on her behalf. A hundred million? Guys like Bill Clinton are not supposed to end up with a hundred million. Look what you did. Now Hillary thinks middle class is when you make $250,000 a year.
The Osama ad the day before the Pennsylvania primary: that was Bill Clinton's idea. The phone ringing three in the morning right before the Ohio primary: that was Bill Clinton's idea. The idea is that if you can get white, working folks scared, they will not take a second look at the black guy. Black guys are supposed to be scary. Shame on you, Bill Clinton.
For Bill Clinton to compare Jesse Jackson to Barack Obama would be like if I were to compare Bill Clinton to Mahatma Gandhi: apples and avocados.
McCain: Never Ready
If just getting older means you are ready to be Commander In Chief, there are tens of millions of seniors out there, many of them vets. What is Hillary doing trying to suggest McCain is more ready than Barack? Is that her way of suggesting she is young? Just look at old man McCain.
McCain was a lowly soldier in another war that should never have been waged. He was never Commander In Chief material, not then, not now. The guy does not understand economic issues, he does not understand military issues either. A hundred year long war? Was that not in ancient Greece? Times, they are a changing.
Yo, this is Barack Obama. Whassup? I know, I am cool like that.
Today I wanted to talk about race. I feel like I am on my way to becoming the first black president of America. I mean, I am not strictly black. If you do the math, I am half white. My mother who birthed me and who raised me, my grandparents who raised me were all white. My father was black, as in African. But then I am one of those guys, I have blood relatives on all continents, and if you will believe Lynne Cheney, in a few different parties.
Race is for real, but if you have my perspective racial differences and prejudices and divides just come across as so superficial and plain stupid. I would like to believe my face, my diverse background, my open minded perspectives are the future of this country. We are one people. Diversity is a good thing, otherwise they also have skyscrapers in Shanghai, but only our biggest cities can boast of diversity unmatched on earth. Diversity is strength.
Globalization and the internet are here very much to stay. We were once primarily an agricultural nation. Then we became an industrial nation. Overall most people won through that transformation. But while it happened, many people went through a lot of pain. We are now on our way to becoming a full fledged knowledge economy. We have to envision the industries, companies and the jobs of tomorrow. We have been losing the old industrial jobs for decades now. People have been hurting. I am not opposed to the economic transformation that is underway, for it will create more wealth for most people. But I am opposed to not helping people through that transformation.
It does not matter if you are black or white. If you are hurting, you are hurting. I just want you to know help is on its way. In a knowledge economy, human capital is king. You can't imagine a knowledge economy without universal health, without lifelong education. When you move from one job to the next, one career to the next, you should not have to lose your health care. You should be able to take health care for granted, that it will be there as you move about and on on your career paths.
There are many high school graduates who grew up thinking after a certain age your doors to college are permanently shut. That need not be true. It is never too late to take a college course or two. But not everyone will end up a rocket scientist. We are not about to become a nation of Ph.D.s. Many industrial jobs have been unfairly shipped abroad to nations that have gross human rights records, ugly environmental standards, and outright criminal child labor laws. I am a democrat, heart, body, mind and soul. I intend to use trade laws as tools to spread democracy and human rights and environmental renewal across the globe. And we are not just going to create the knowledge jobs of tomorrow, although that we are. We are also going to create the green industrial jobs of tomorrow that people with only high school degrees can hope to hold. Those green collar jobs, by definition, can not be exported.
I am very much for the economic transformation underway that will create more wealth for all of us. But a slice of that future wealth belongs to all of us, equally. We will use that slice to achieve the knowledge economy goals of universal health and lifelong education, and to help people with job retraining so their individual transitions are as smooth as possible.
I do not take the anxieties of the working white Americans or the working black Americans for granted. If I can not address those anxieties as president, I will not be able to tackle chronic poverty in the inner cities, something I very much intend to do.
Our economic anxieties are not white or black, they very much cut across the race lines. To blame the traditionally marginalized groups of people would be cowardice. If we have the guts to face our challenges like they are supposed to be faced, I think we are in a great position to create a win-win situation for most people. This is a new century. We stand at the cusp of a new millenium.
There is not a town in America today where globalization has not already made its presence felt. The thing about globalization is people who work towards achieving natural comfort around diverse people end up making more money. Diversity pays. Diversity fattens your bank account. We do need to take race relations in America to the next level. Race has to be talked about. Race relations are like a marriage. There is no marriage if there are no conversations.
There is a need to forge a new, positive black identity, one that is not about slavery and segregation, grave historical injustices that can never be forgotten, but then disease can't be identity. The new black identity has to be about digging deeper into our African heritage for its art, music, culture, religion, language, cuisine, and just plain heritage. The new black pride has to be about engineering a total debt relief for Africa. Your African heritage is not about the past centuries, although that it is. Africa is still there, vibrant, alive, very much there. To this day Africa is shortchanged like no other continent on earth. We have to turn things around there. As long as Africa is destitute, in the grip of corrupt dictators, disease, ignorance, black pride in America will always have a sore thumb. We have to make Africa an active part of our black identity in America. The hard work the Africans will do on their own for the most part, but our reaching out can make all the difference.
It is going to be a win win situation, it always has been in the past. Blacks earning the right to vote did not dilute white democracy. China and India doing well economically for the past few decades means we are not in a deep recession today.
We head towards a common future. Our biggest problems and challenges no one country can solve. And so we have to rise up above our old prejudices. That is the only way to create a better future for our children and grandchildren. That is how we will turn this into a more perfect union.
In The News Maoist Ex-Rebels Are Likely Leaders of Nepal Transition New York Timesthey appear to have won 217 seats, double that of their closest competitor, the centrist Nepali Congress ..... Prachanda, said he sought to advance peace efforts but could not “renounce every kind of violence,” only what he called “reactionary violence.” For Obama, a Struggle to Win Over Key Blocs his weakness among blue-collar voters, older voters and white voters. ...... racial attitudes in this country are changing at a breakneck pace ....... “Race is intertwined with a broader notion that he is not one of us” ....... “They react negatively to people who are seen as different.” ...... “Our problem has less to do with white working-class voters,” Mr. Obama told reporters Wednesday in Indiana. “In fact the problem is that — to the extent that there is a problem — is that older voters are very loyal to Senator Clinton.” Actor Snipes Gets 3 Years for Tax Charges New York Times three misdemeanor convictions of failure to file his income taxes. ...... an unlikely public face for the tax denier movement ..... he had a years-long record of defying the tax laws. ...... Mr. Snipes was indicted in October 2006 for filing a false claim for a $7 million refund (of taxes paid in 1997, before he stopped paying taxes) ...... Since 1986, Mr. Snipes has appeared in more than 50 films, earning at least $103 million, court papers showed, including more than $58 million in the years covered by the indictment, 1999 through 2004. McCain to New Orleans: Never again The Associated Press Indiana Primary Likely a Crucial Test in Democratic Presidential Race Voice of America Clinton has an uphill climb to the Democratic nomination, even with her convincing win in Pennsylvania. ...... until I see a collapse of Obama in North Carolina and a collapse in Indiana, I remain deeply skeptical that she has a path to this nomination ...... Clinton may be able to reduce his margin in the popular vote. ...... a disturbing trend for Obama, his inability to win over working class white voters. ...... roughly 300 remaining uncommitted superdelegates ..... more delegates, more votes and more states ..... it is toughening up Obama ...... no one has entered presidential politics with less experience than Obama ...... "Democrats are still winning the enthusiasm contest, they are clearly winning the [voter] turnout contest, they are winning the money contest, they are winning the congressional recruitment game, and they are also winning the expectations game. McCain's strength in the face of all of this is quite impressive" Youth vote growing, supporting ObamaBoston Globe 70 percent of Democrats ages 18 to 24 favor Obama, compared to 30 percent for Clinton ..... margins were similar regardless of whether or not the voters attended four-year colleges. ..... the upward trend in youth participation in politics has been building since 2000, he said. "This is a lot bigger'' than Obama Clinton's Win in Pennsylvania Helps Raise Millions in Campaign FundsVoice of America more than $10 million to her bid for the Democratic nomination in the 24 hours after her victory ...... 100,000 donors, including 80,000 new donors ...... Obama rejected Clinton's new method of measuring voter support ...... opinion polls indicate a very close race in Indiana. Clinton Claims Popular Vote Lead - Sort OfFOXNews 'Gang of Four' could decide Obama's fate after May primaries IndependentJohn Edwards; the former vice-president Al Gore; the Democratic Party leader Howard Dean; and the House speaker Nancy Pelosi – to intervene after the primaries on 6 May. ...... call on the superdelegates to make a commitment within 10 days .... the submerged racial prejudice of older white voters ....... poorly educated white voters have grave doubts "about a young, inexperienced African-American guy with an Islamic-sounding name and a highfalutin fluency with language". ......... Indiana's population is concentrated in the smaller cities like Gary, where he has a high profile ...... a nine-percentage point victory ..... A big part of Mr Obama's problem is race. The exit polls in Pennsylvania revealed that 20 per cent of voters think race is important and heavily backed Mrs Clinton. Lingering Doubts About ObamaTIME Pennsylvania, Michigan, Ohio and Florida--the Big Four that so often decide a presidential election. ...... on four separate primary days has failed to drive Hillary Clinton from the race, each time exhibiting a touch of entitlement and defensiveness rather than a fighting spirit. ....... Obama's college-town and urban strength The Incredibly Shrinking Democrats George W. Bush has been a historic screwup as President ..... Her campaign had been an assault on Obama's character flaws, real and imagined, rather than on matters of substance. ....... entered the primary as a fresh breeze and left it stale, battered and embittered — still the mathematical favorite for the nomination but no longer the darling of his party. ....... he was "friendly" with an American terrorist who had bombed buildings during the Vietnam era, and that he seemed to look on the ceremonies of working-class life — bowling, hunting, churchgoing and the fervent consumption of greasy food — as his anthropologist mother might have, with a mixture of cool detachment and utter bemusement. ........ you have to get the social body language right if you want voters to consider the nobler reaches of your message ........ most people make their choice on the basis of "low-information signaling" ....... Bill Clinton was the lone Democratic master of low-information signaling — a love of McDonald's and other assorted big-gulp appetites gave him credibility that even trumped his evasion of military service. ......... the relentless vulgarity of its questions, with the first 40 minutes focused exclusively on so-called character issues rather than policy. Obama was on the defensive from the start, but gradually the defensiveness morphed into bitter frustration. ....... Too often, Obama has seemed unwilling to get down in the muck and fight off the "distractions" that are crippling his campaign. ........ as a black man, he wants to send low-information signals that he is neither angry nor threatening ....... "Why aren't you guys wearing pins? Why isn't Hillary?" ...... He seemed fed up with campaigning — as any reasonably sane human being would be at this point — and embittered by the turn the race had taken. ......... I'm not sure that Bill and Hillary Clinton are reasonably sane human beings, at least not when they are running for office: they become robo-pols, tireless and seemingly indestructible. Senator Clinton was on fire in the days before the Pennsylvania primary, as energized as I've ever seen her. ........ She had embraced the shameless rituals of politics, including some classic low-information signals ..... threatening to "obliterate" Iran ...... It helps to be a warrior, for one thing. ...... the only way to reach the high-minded conversation he wants, and the country badly needs, is to figure out how to maneuver his way through the gutter. Next Stop for the Dems: Indiana Obama slightly ahead of Clinton, 40% to 35%. ...... in March, Indianans gave some $218,800 to Obama's campaign, and $79,600 to Clinton's ..... hoping to connect with nearby Obamanistas ....... His first neighborhood captains meeting drew just 5 people. Last week's drew 160. Why Do Women Need To Be Perfect? Kim seemed to have everything — a happy marriage, four well-adjusted kids, a well-to-do lifestyle, good health and a trim figure. ..... It turns out that Kim was distressed by the messiness in her house. She told Domar, "Every time I open a drawer or closet and see the clutter, I feel like a miserable failure." ....... your average, everyday woman who feels uncomfortable going to bed if there are dishes in the sink. ...... men on average worry about three things every day, but women on average worry about 12 things every day ....... I have never in my career seen a woman — and I've seen patients who are models and celebrities and such — who would look in the mirror and like everything they saw. What we do, no matter what we look like, is look in the mirror and zero in on the flaws. ....... I've treated a lot of young women in my practice with anorexia and bulimia. That's a pathological need to control one's body. ........ When she comes home, she looks right past the fact that the kids are fine and she focuses on his unshaven face and the pizza boxes in the garage and the laundry. She knows she's wrong but she can't help herself. She worries her husband is going to leave her for somebody who loves him for who he is and the fact that he doesn't drink and he doesn't beat them and he brings home a good paycheck. So I think it can be toxic in a relationship. ........ jotting down what that day you are grateful for, can have very significant positive impact on your mental and physical health Somalia Takes a Turn for the Worse foreign reporters and volunteers have been held for ransom by gangs, to the south, where they've been executed to show the low regard their Islamist captors have for the West. ....... the 17 years since it last had a functioning government ...... ecent fighting, and especially the latest in Mogadishu, are signs that Somalia is entering its bleakest chapter yet. ....... fundamentalist fighters will capture a town in a lightning raid and then retreat, more to show off their muscle than anything else ....... the al-Shabab, a band of mostly young men who adhere to Taliban-style Islamic codes. ...... the civilian suffering that has made Somalia one of the world's greatest and most ignored humanitarian disasters. Clinton Goes After Obama's Strengths CBS News attempting to re-write the presidential campaign narrative using a new two-pronged argument ...... The two talking points - pushed by campaign aides to reporters in conference calls, impromptu gaggles on her campaign plane and by Clinton herself in a round of network interviews, a morning speech in Indianapolis and a call with donors - are intended primarily for the consumption of the superdelegates who will decide the nomination. ......... at the end of March he’d raised $236 million for his campaign compared to $195 million for Clinton and $72 million for McCain ....... After the rally, she told donors on a conference call: “we’ve been just runnin’ on fumes.” Clinton, Obama each arguing that they are ahead in the popular voteCNN Clinton Not Too Sleep Deprived for a Debate ABC News Top House Democrat denounces Clinton campaign tacticsReuters speculation that Clinton is staying in the race only to try to derail Obama and pave the way for her to make another White House run in 2012. ..... the Clintons know that she can’t win this. But they’re hell-bound to make it impossible for Obama to win” in November Clinton's Pennsylvania win seen as giving her momentumXinhua the former first lady "is on a roll." ...... has Democrats wondering, if not worrying, about what role race may be playing Maoists sweep Nepal polls: final results AFP For Democrats, Questions Over Race and Electability New York Times Clinton ratchets up the rhetoric against Obama Globe and Mail Should Obama Play Rougher? TIME Clinton wins Pennsylvania Jewish vote with surprising easeHa'aretz Fresh Off Pennsylvania Victory, Clinton Raises Millions, Mostly Online New York Times Seizing on Primary Win, Clinton Says Tide Is TurningNew York Times Party leaders don't seem to care Clinton has taken the big statesSan Francisco Chronicle Obama, Clinton add endorsementsBoston Globe Clinton 'Confident' After Pa. Win ABC News Analysis: Obama still struggling to win key constituenciesThe Associated Press Clinton buys time with Pennsylvania primary winDallas Morning News Don't Call It a Comeback: Hillary Clinton's PA Primary Victory Village Voice Obama Shifting Focus From Clinton to McCainNew York Times Clinton Clearly Outduels Obama in Pennsylvania New York Times In his concession speech, he kept the focus on the presumptive Republican nominee, Senator John McCain, a subject Mrs. Clinton avoided in her address. ...... her strong performance among women, older voters and less affluent and less educated voters; among white union members with no college education, she won almost three-quarters of the vote ........ they were having their best night ever in fund-raising online, bringing in $2.5 million in less than four hours ...... her campaign is essentially out of money, with unpaid bills piling up ...... “I want the Iranians to know that if I’m the president, we will attack Iran,” she said. “In the next 10 years, during which they might foolishly consider launching an attack on Israel, we would be able to totally obliterate them.” Obama congratulates Hillary after Pennsylvania primary lossNDTV.com Victorious Clinton pleads for cash The Australian
Obama Site Visitors Redirected to Clinton Campaign Washington Post According to Symantec, someone embedded computer code into a posting on the Obama blog. The content in this case targeted a cross-site scripting flaw (XSS), an exceedingly common type of vulnerability that can be used to automatically redirect Web browsers viewing the affected page to another site.
All 50 states will get to vote, Hillary is not dropping out. It is a good thing that all 50 states will have a say in the nomination process. When was the last time that happened? Perhaps this is what Howard Dean meant by his 50 state strategy a few years back.
The superdelegates will decide. I hope they decide not long after the final primary/caucus. I hope they don't wait until the convention.
Barack will be the nominee.
Hillary will be his running mate.
These are the obvious observations to be made. And then there are other macro ones.
That superhit speech on race was not really about race, it was about Jeremiah Wright. The first black president to be has yet to give a speech about how he will take race relations in America to the next level. So far his strategy on race is to not talk about race. I disagree with it. That is like saying marriage does not need conversations.
I guess you could say these two by sheer presence in the White House will take race and gender to the next level. I disagree. I saw Indira Gandhi at the helm in India. India remained as sexist as ever. (Another Speech On Race Will Bring Victory In PA)
The biggest thing the next president and the president after that will do is help turn America into a full fledged knowledge economy. Hostility on trade might give solace to the "bitter" folks, but there is no turning the tide. An agricultural America became industrial, an industrial America will become a knowledge economy. There is more wealth in the future for most people, but you do have to manage the transition well. It has been done before, it can be done again. Major economic transformations are possible.
Who will tie the bell round the cat's neck? Who will tell the small town voters? Barack tried. Hillary pounced on him for trying.
Universal health, lifelong education: those are the buzzwords. But you need something more immediate for those already hurting. Better trade deals will help. I like the idea of using trade deals to spread democracy, human rights and unionization, better child labor laws, and so on in other countries. Better trade tools than W's berserk military.
Globalization has so far favored capital in both the rich and the poor countries. We progressives have to design a globalization that puts human capital on par with financial and physical capital.
And then there are basic political gimmicks. That Osama ad was Bill Clinton's idea. He pulled dirty on Barack also in New Hampshire. Obama 2008 made the mistake of crying foul. What it instead should have done is said it was Hillary's misadventure in Iraq that got America's eyes off the Al Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Bottom line is Hillary was going to win PA, it was only a matter of narrowing her margin. We did narrow it from 20 points to 10 points in just weeks.
In The News
Clinton Captures Pennsylvania San Francisco Chronicle exit polls show nearly 70 percent of Pensylvanians think Clinton went too far in attacking Obama. .... 55 percent, have not gone to college ...... Clinton won among white men 55-45 percent, less than in Ohio but a strong showing. She won overwhelmingly among white women 64-36 percent. ...... Obama has a huge advantage with more than $40 million in the bank; the Clinton campaign is in debt. A narrow win in Pennsylvania will undermine her ability to raise cash and impose its own hard reality. ...... Gun owners, church goers and rural residents went for Clinton about 60-40. ...... Clinton wins the overall white vote -- 80 percent of the electorate -- by 20 points. ...... The one in five voters deciding in the final week went for Clinton 58 to 42. ...... Seniors, another big voting bloc, went for Clinton overwhelmingly, 61-38. ...... Obama won amost all African American voters, 92-8. He is also winning among upper-income voters and recently minted Democrats. ...... Essentially, the race is where it was six long weeks ago. ...... The idea that superdelegates would hand her the nomination while he has more pledged delegates elected by voters sounds as crazy today as it did two months ago, and as disastrous for Democrats. ...... Neither she nor Obama were included in the country's founding documetns, she said in her first mention of her rival. "This generation will grow up taking for granted that an African American or a woman can be president." .......... She vows to turn "promises to action," "words to solutions" and "hope to reality." ...... Obama: He looks upbeat and confident. He's in Indiana, the next "decisive" state. ....... two wars, an economy in recession, a planet in peril. ...... With 85 percent of the Pennsylvania vote in , Clinton has the double-digit lead she fought for, ahead 55 to 45 percent. Clinton wins another primary - Democrats shrug San Francisco Chronicle Al Gore, who is estranged from the Clintons. ....... Obama's argument that he will win California hands down in the fall ....... he can put in play smaller ones like Virginia that she can't touch. ...... Obama's glaring weakness among the working-class whites Democrats ..... Obama's almost insurmountable lead in pledged delegate votes rests to a surprising extent on his victories in small caucuses, involving comparatively few voters, in deeply Republican states like Alaska and Idaho. His bigger primary victories are heavily weighted to Southern states such as Georgia and Mississippi that have large African American populations but are highly unlikely to vote Democratic in the fall. It is a point Clinton, her husband and her campaign have made with rising exasperation. ........ "If anybody thinks that I'll lose New York and California in the general election, there's no chance of that happening," Obama said today. ...... a victory that not only allows us to take over the White House but also will allow us to govern ...... Obama has won six swing states (Virginia, Missouri, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Colorado and Iowa) to Clinton's four (Pennsylvania, Ohio, Nevada, New Mexico and New Hampshire), leaving Obama with more potential electoral votes. ..... Obama is polling better than Clinton in California against McCain. Clinton gets make-or-break win in Pennsylvania Boston Globe "Don't write her off," her campaign chairman, Terry McAullife, told CNN from the ballroom. "She's fighting every day." ..... He started the month with more than $41 million on hand to spend on the primary campaign, while Clinton was $1 million in debt. ...... Obama is favored in four states -- North Carolina, Oregon, Montana, and South Dakota, which award a total of 198 pledged delegates. Clinton is expected to do well in West Virginia, Kentucky, and Puerto Rico, whose delegate counts total 134. Guam and Indiana appear to be toss-ups. ...... The battle for Pennsylvania grew especially testy in the last days. Clinton ran a TV ad featuring an image of Osama bin Laden and implying that Obama is not tough enough to be president. Obama countered with an ad accusing Clinton of running a campaign of "fear.'' ....... Despite a frenzied, six-week campaign to shake up each other's base, the electorate largely split as expected. ..... No matter who they voted for, 54 percent of Democratic voters said they believe that Obama will be the eventual nominee, while 43 percent said Clinton will win the nomination, according to the exit polling. Barack Obama's team stays buoyantLos Angeles Times Why Clinton Won Pennsylvania CBS News an electorate consistently divided on factors like education, race and income and also newly divided along religious lines. ..... intense media coverage of Obama's recent statements regarding small town voters, and a consistent characterization of him as an elitist both by the media and by the campaigns of Clinton and John McCain, these pre-existing social divides grew larger in this first contest since the story broke. ....... Clinton won 75 percent of the vote from white Democrats with a high school diploma or less - three times Obama's vote among these voters - compared to 56 percent of those with more education. ....... Part of Obama's ability to close the large lead Clinton initially had in Pennsylvania was a concerted voter registration effort - one which paid off for him. Among today's Pennsylvania Democratic voters 14 percent reported that they had newly registered as Democrats. Among these new Democratic voters Obama bested Clinton by 20 points - 59 percent to 39 percent.
