Some people say that Mr. Obama is too naive and unwilling to play the dirty game of politics. But for those paying attention, it’s clear he can play – as evidenced by the timing of his speech last Tuesday after his win in Wisconsin.
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Month: February 2008
The now infamous Times piece had many flaws, but it does point to a major flaw in Senator John McCain’s character:
Even as he has vowed to hold himself to the highest ethical standards, his confidence in his own integrity has sometimes seemed to blind him to potentially embarrassing conflicts of interest.
Kinda reminds me of this, the one thing about Gandhi that seemed really fucked up.
Except here, only Mr. McCain could know if the decisions he made in public that did benefit the clients of his lobbyist friends were the pure result of his convictions or more human considerations…
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Experience in history
George F. Will contrasting experience and inexperience in history:
The president who came to office with the most glittering array of experiences had served 10 years in the House of Representatives, then became minister to Russia, then served 10 years in the Senate, then four years as secretary of state (during a war that enlarged the nation by 33 percent), then was minister to Britain. Then, in 1856, James Buchanan was elected president and in just one term secured a strong claim to being ranked as America’s worst president. Abraham Lincoln, the inexperienced former one-term congressman, had an easy act to follow.
Frank Rich yesterday in the Times:
If the press were as prejudiced against Mrs. Clinton as her campaign constantly whines, debate moderators would have pushed for the Clinton tax returns and the full list of Clinton foundation donors to be made public with the same vigor it devoted to Mr. Obama’s “plagiarism.” And it would have showered her with the same ridicule that Rudy Giuliani received in his endgame. With 11 straight losses in nominating contests, Mrs. Clinton has now nearly doubled the Giuliani losing streak (six) by the time he reached his Florida graveyard. But we gamely pay lip service to the illusion that she can erect one more firewall.
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Obama messed up my “game”
I have the feeling this is a hoax. It’s just too perfect – too funny to be true. But the story is: a local reporter is hitting on some girl in Georgia and Senator Obama ruins this guy’s day by mistaking him for a kid and saying so at the conference. The reporter writes a story about it.
Mr. Obama decides to call the kid up to apologize for “messing up [his] game.”
Like I said – it’s gotta be a hoax. But supposedly this happened back in 2006.
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Hope Changes Everything
Nation of Islam minister Louis Farrakhan, known for his controversial rhetoric ((Including his anti-fill-in-the-blank)) was recently diagnosed with cancer. Today he dedicated his first major public address to boosting Senator Barack Obama.
Mr. Farrakhan called Mr. Obama the “hope of the entire world that America will change and be made better.”
This man whose religion has often spoken of the white race as “the devil” went on to say that: “A black man with a white mother became a savior to us. A black man with a white mother could turn out to be one who can lift America from her fall.”
The Obama campaign responded saying, “Sen. Obama has been clear in his objections to Minister Farrakhan’s past pronouncements and has not solicited the minister’s support.”
While there are many who will try to spin this to show that there is some sort of connection between Mr. Farrakhan and Mr. Obama, a more plausible explanation is that Mr. Obama – by practicing transformational rather than transactional politics is able to bring many people to support him who would seem to be at odds with him.
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Turn the page..
Many have attacked Andrew Sullivan for his harsh and repeated attacks on Ms. Clinton. I think they have a point. But this, for all it’s emotionalism ((Mainly regarding the video featured, which is not by Mr. Sullivan.) is a damning, near irrefutable (and short) piece which deserves attention.
Let’s turn the page. It’s time to be proud of our government again. Obama 08.
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