Obama's Plan

The Anchoress noted a Christopher Hitchens essay asking if Obama wanted to be president this time around. I admit I have thought the same. Obama supporters I know (given where I live, just about everyone) think that Obama expected to win. But lots of people run for president without expecting being nominated. And all of the third party candidates know they cannot win -- they are running to prove a point.

I wonder if that is why Obama waited so long to clear up the loose ends in his background — Trinity UCC, Ayers, and the rest. Could it also explain why he seems to have done little with the Foreign Relations subcommittee he was given.

If this is correct, be probably figured it was HRC’s time and he would lay the groundwork for a future campaign. Even if he did not take the VP slot, he would spend the next 4-8 years (depending on who won in November) chairing subcommittee hearings, distancing himself from Rev. Wright and Father Pfleiger, making sure Bill Ayers was more remotely in his past , and doing the “Senate statesman” rounds in Europe. T hen when it was time, he would be able to run as an experienced statesman.

Instead, he became “The One.” And despite everything, he is poised to be the next president.

Free Rides to the Airport

"If McCain gets in, it's going to be very, very dangerous," she says. "It's a critical time, but I have faith in the American people. If they prove me wrong, I'll be checking out a move to Italy. Maybe Canada, I don't know. We're at an abyss."

So says Susan Sarandon.

I never got the "I'm moving to X if Y gets elected" thing. I guarantee if HRC or Obama get elected, I am not moving to a foreign country. It is just plain silly. And haven't we heard all this before? Every celebrity seemed to threaten to move to wherever when Bush was elected then reelected. Other than Pierre Salinger, none of them did. And Salinger was not really a celebrity and he was living in France when he made the threat anyway, so he should not count.

Here is my offer -- I will give a ride to the airport to anyone who threatens to move if their favored candidate loses. So SHUT UP AND JUST LEAVE ALREADY!!!

Post Racialism

While I was never an Obama supporter, my hope for his campaign was that it would further along the cause of "post racialism." Face it -- race has been an albatross around America's neck since before the founding. Far too much is seen in the prism of race. And race has left America with a legacy of bitterness and anger with respect to 11 percent of our population.

Most major black politicians come to prominence through the traditional civil rights leadership. As such, for good or ill, they are too connected to the racial divide to really fight it, even when they run for office under the banner of black empowerment.

I hoped that Obama would transcend race (I have always seen him as the liberal yuppie candidate, not the black candidate) mostly because he did not have the usual path that most black leaders had. His father was not the descendant of southern slaves, but rather was born a subject of the British crown. His mother was white, and from a comfortable middle class background.

Obama lived for a while outside the US. When here, he lived in the least "white" state in the US and went to a somewhat exclusive school. So for good or ill, all the baggage, cultural and historical, positive and negative, that gets attached to the previous generations of black leaders did not get attached to him.

In some ways it was the same with Collin Powell. Powell's parents were Jamaican immigrants, not native US blacks. He went to West Point and was immersed in the military culture. Hence he was able to be himself, without reference to almost 400 years of the black experience in America.

That is what I really hope for Obama -- that he loses the presidency, not because he is half black, but because people decide he is not the one for the job (in the same way HRC lost the Democratic nomination, not because she is a woman but because people thought Obama was better). Yes there are lots of people who will not vote for him because he is black. But many others (white and black) will vote for him because he is.

Will Obama be that post racial transformational character? That is a lot to ask someone and probably very unfair, as he is trying to run for President and be himself. In light of the Wright fiasco, I am not sure we are there yet. But I think we are getting closer.

Some proof?

The daughter of the President of the United States gets married, the minister is black, and no one really notices! (Well, the Anchoress did and her reaction was the same as mine)

West Virginia

It was over so quickly I did not even have a chance to mix my martini!

Democracy!

My numbers were off a "little" (OK Bill and Rob -- a whole lot!)

But I still will not be surprised if the Democratic nominee is Al Gore.

My Prediction for Primary Day

HRC wins Indiana by 5-10%.

Obama wins North Carolina by less than 5%.

Delegates are evenly split.

And the winner is . . .

AL GORE!

Hilllary or Bust!

The blogosphere is alive with the sounds of everyone trying to figure out just what is going on with the Democrats. I suggest heading over to one of my favorite blogs, Ragged Thots, for some excellent analysis and discussion.

So why Hillary or bust (as my regular Rodak put it a few weeks ago)? It seems that the only HRC supporter in my neighborhood is also an Elvis fan. The HRC sign is next to a bust of Elvis (sorry for the bad photo, it was taken with my camera phone).

I am still trying to figure if there is any cosmic significance to this.

It's 3 a.m.

And Hillary Clinton is considering firing her ad agency.

Granted, I am a McCain supporter, but WHO thought this ad was a good idea. Just leaving aside for a moment the merits of what should be done about the foreclosure issue. But why would someone call the president at three in the morning to talk about foreclosures? Personally, I think it can wait until after breakfast. It is not like Citibank just launched a WMD at Cleveland. (HT: The Corner)

McCain in! Democrats still arguing

Who would have thought back last Fall, we would be here now. That the GOP would be set really since Super Tuesday and the Democrats fighting out increasingly ugly?

McCain gave a very good and gracious speech. He cannot go toe to toe with Obama on style, so he has to appeal to something deeper. I am biased of course, but I think he is doing that. And I know, with things still a mess on the Democrats side, he is smiling widely tonight.

A rather unfortunate screenshot

I know it is getting ugly between Obama and HRC, but this is sad.

I approve this message!

Tell the truth, when you saw this for the first time, you expected it to be a McCain ad.



I think all McCain supporters owe Hillary Clinton a thank you for reminding us why we support McCain for president.

(HT to Ann Althouse and IMAO)

Desperation!

Clinton surrogates apparently have been circulating a photo of Obama in Kenyan "elder" garb. HRC should never try and make fun of the anyone else on the planet was garbed.

What is that thing on her right shoulder? Oh, sorry, that is the future President Clinton.

(Somewhere there is a picture of me at 9, as an usher at my uncle's wedding. I am wearing a beige tuxedo, with a puffy shirt. Guys, it was the 70s.)

(HT to Vodka Pundit for the story, the picture and the snarky comment)

Obama's Supporters

Instapundit links to a San Francisco Chronicle opinion piece which notes that Barrack Obama, considered very liberal, is becoming the favorite of the hedge fund crowd. The author of the piece seems somewhat concerned that this is "hush money", so that Obama, once elected, will not engage in the progressive policies he promised.

To me, this is not surprising. Since Obama began his race, my take is that he is not "the progressive candidate" or "the black candidate." Rather, from Obama is the "liberal yuppie candidate." Last summer, I articulated this view to a friend who I would consider a liberal yuppie. Her response was, "well, we ARE the Democratic Party now."

Granted, there are lots of ways to look at the Clinton – Obama battle. It may be partially racial, in that Obama does well in states with few blacks and lots of blacks, but not ones with some blacks. Or it may be class based, a battle between the old Democratic Party (the "beer drinkers" supporting Clinton) and the new Democratic Party (the "wine drinkers" supporting Obama). But the better answer is that it is too complicated to reduce to such simplistic formulae.

Still, when yuppies look at Obama, they see one of them (or us – my wife says I am a yuppie too!)

Hillary!

We are watching Hillary Clinton's speech now. My comment was at least she is not using her faux southern accent. My wife's comment was that she hopes Hillary does not start talking in a Long Island accent.

Ann Coulter Endorses Hillary Clinton

Well sort of. She has said that if John McCain is the GOP nominee, she is CAMPAIGNING for Hillary Clinton.

Why? Because Hillary would be stronger on anti-terrorism. One piece of her proof, McCain opposes waterboarding.

I have always thought that Coulter is either a Democratic Party mole or doing an extremely subtle piece of performance art. Either way, she is an embarassment.

I really shouldn't be enjoying this as much as I am

So while the GOP contenders battle it out over who is Reagan's heir, who is the true conservative, or whether the conservative coalition is still viable, the Democrats have reduced the race down to whether Hillary Clinton is more black than Barrack Obama.

Apparently the Democratic establishment is not happy whenever a black man wonders off the plantation. Well, I say good for Obama. I now seriously want him to win the Democratic nomination -- because I fear not a Clinton presidency, but a Clinton campaign. A Clinton presidency would be well, another Clinton presidency. A Clinton campaign will further poison the political atmosphere in this country.

A McCain-Obama race will send Carville and Rove slinking back under their rocks.

But Then Andrew Jumps Anyway

So then, just when I have decided that Andrew Sullivan, has not jumped the shark, he jumps anyway. His latest take on the New Hampshire primary:

I'm not an expert on this, but is there an obvious explanation for why Obama had a 7.5 percent advantage over Clinton in New Hampshire votes counted by hand and Clinton had a 5.5 percent advantage in votes counted by machine? I presume that it's a function of differing locations, with the more urban Clinton districts relying more on machines. Is that the right inference?

Uh, yes. You figured it all out, not very hard. (HT: Instapundit)

Actually, it is pretty easy to understand. HRC won "old New Hampshire" the urban, industrial areas where the Clinton machine could operate full throttle. Obama won the more upscale, less populated places, the small college towns, of "New New Hampshire." Basically, Dunkin' Donuts beat Starbucks (I saw that somewhere today, though I forget where).

Unless of course, it is all a conspiracy by Karl Rove in connection with Diebold. Yea, that it.

MAC Really Is Back!

Of course, so is HRC.

So why John McCain?

As I promised a few weeks ago, why should America entrust itself to John McCain's leadership.

Reason number one is that of all the candidates of either party running, only John McCain is ready, on day one, to face the rest of the world. We can dream about pulling up the drawbridge and returning to the good old days when we minded our own business. We can fantasize that once George Bush leaves office the rest of the world will love us again.

But the truth is that the world is a dangerous place. Wishful thinking will not make it go away. Anti-Americanism long predates George Bush (when vacation in Italy in 1999, I got an earful from lots of Italians claiming Bill Clinton was a war criminal for intervening in Kosovo).

HRC represents a return to the vacation from history of the Bill Clinton years. Barack Obama does not have the experience and seems to naive. Romney would be a competent executive but would have to learn on the job. Giuliani would make an excellent Homeland Security director. Huckabee's foreign policy is an incoherent jumble and would be a disaster.

Hence, we need John McCain.

Obama!

Well, I was wrong on both counts -- Obama has taken Iowa. But it was close.

This was Edwards best chance and I think he will now fade. HRC needed to keep this close and she did, but if she loses New Hampshire she is in real trouble.