Posts with the tag 'Clinton'
The political commentariat is now operating under the assumption that Sen. Obama has at long last clinched the Democratic nomination by his landslide victory in the North Carolina primary and his near upset of Sen. Clinton in Indiana. This is wrong from the standpoint that Sen. Obama was effectively assured of the nomination following his string of victories following Super Tuesday, long before this past Tuesday. Indiana and North Carolina did not change anything except convince many of what was already, for all intents and purposes, inevitable.
Sen. Clinton intends to carry on, of course, because she is Sen. Clinton. As David Kahane writes, “She’s not going to quit because she has nowhere else to go, and nothing else to do. She lives for this, and without it, she has no life. In fact, without it, she doesn’t exist at all.” Since her husband raised his right hand in ‘93 she has been preparing for the day that she could raise hers. Until Sen. Obama’s nomination is official, she is not going to let that go.
Though it is all but inevitable at this point, it is only all but inevitable. That is how she will view the situation at least. She will look forward to large victories in the upcoming Kentucky and West Virginia primaries, hoping significant margins there will stoke further discussion of Sen. Obama’s inability to win over white, blue-collar voters and give Democratic super-delegates further pause as they size up the strength of Sen. Obama as a general election candidate. She will also continue to push for the seating of Michigan’s and Florida’s delegates at the convention (she sent a letter to Sen. Obama today laughably urging him to support that effort), arguing–not without some semblance of a point–that to deny those delegates seats would be to disenfranchise Democratic voters in those respective states and harm Democrats politically in what will be two pivotal battlegrounds in the fall.
Ultimately, these efforts will fail and Sen. Obama, warts and all, will accept the nomination in Denver this August. All that is really left to be decided is whether Sen. Clinton can and even wants to muscle herself onto the ticket and how exactly such a ticket would play in the fall. The race for the Democratic nomination is essentially decided and has been decided for sometime, but the saga and theater shall continue hence.
Tags: Clinton, Democrats, General Election, Obama
May 8th, 2008
There has been some debate about whether the extended Democratic Primary is helpful or harmful to either party. Obviously as Senators Clinton and Obama bash each other they do each other no great service in the long run. However, the flip side is that the Democrats have an active and involved electorate that is turning out in large numbers. However, watching cable news this weekend I thought, ‘I can’t be the only one getting sick of this’. The race and the candidates themselves still hold plenty of interest, but the coverage has grown tedious. The endless repetition of delegate counts, the blatantly biased punditry, and endless string of surogates pitching their candidates has become painfully dull. The race itself is incredibly interesting, the analysis of the race and endless ‘my candidate is great’ pitches on the news has to be wearing thin with many. Consequently, the attention being paid to the Dems, certainly a necessity at this point in their race, may have an additional downside besides the nastiness or bitterness they are engendering. There could simply be a ‘Democrat Fatigue’ that effects the eventual nominee.
Tags: 2008 election, Clinton, democrat downside, democrat fatigue, democrat politics, endless race, Obama, political campaigns, surogates, tedious politics
May 5th, 2008
The Los Angeles Times has an editorial on Senator McCain’s Time for Action tour, contrasting it with Clinton and Obama’s campaigns.
It’s not a new message from the Arizona senator, who follows an unpredictable political muse but typically favors smaller government and less regulation. Yet the context was important. Standing outside the Ohio factory Tuesday, in a state where Democrats Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton pandered to protectionists, McCain actually stood up for the North American Free Trade Agreement and free trade. The lost factory jobs aren’t coming back, McCain said, and rather than waging a futile fight against globalization, Washington should do a better job training workers for careers in the new economy.
As Ed Morrissey notes, the real story here isn’t necessarily the praise for McCain, but that a paper like the Los Angeles Times is calling out Clinton and The Leader of the New Hope for their blatant pandering. Ed links that with improving poll numbers in California for McCain, but I’m not holding my breath on that one.
Maybe tomorrow the New York Times will write a fair piece.
Well, no, they won’t, but its fun to pretend.
Tags: Clinton, John McCain, LA Times, mccain, Obama
April 26th, 2008
David Brooks of the
New York Times wrote an article questioning the ‘New Politics’ of Senator Obama.
…the aura around Obama has changed. Furiously courting Democratic primary voters and apparently exhausted, Obama has emerged as a more conventional politician and a more orthodox liberal.
He sprinkled his debate performance Wednesday night with the sorts of fibs, evasions and hypocrisies that are the stuff of conventional politics. He claimed falsely that his handwriting wasn’t on a questionnaire about gun control. He claimed that he had never attacked Clinton for her exaggerations about the Tuzla airport, though his campaign was all over it. Obama piously condemned the practice of lifting other candidates’ words out of context, but he has been doing exactly the same thing to John McCain, especially over his 100 years in Iraq comment.
This draws into question not only the question of whether Senator Obama is walking the walk of a new more civil and honest campaign style, but it begs the question what candidate is most capable of bringing change. Senator McCain has walked the walk. He has worked with Democrats to achieve legislative goals, he has run an honest and decent campaign. He has a record saying what he means and meaning what he says. Consider the difficulty of a Senator with 20 plus years experience earning the reputation as a strait shooter. One reason it has been so difficult for Senators to run for president is because their job requires compromise, and taking stands on a wide range of issues that Governors can often bypass. The Democrat candidates have the luxury of having a very short record with little to examine. Senator McCain has shown that political stress won’t make him compromise his principals. It is a person of that character and experience that has the best chance of bringing change to Washington style politics.
Tags: campaign style, Clinton, David Brooks, exageration, experience, gun control, honesty, hope change, integrity, maverick, mccain, New York Times, nyt, Obama, political change, tuzla, washington politics
April 18th, 2008
As an Independent and someone who never felt the need for others think the way I do politically, there are several reasons I’ve been able to become such a die-hard McCain supporter. While some of those reasons are issue and experience related, one element that has aided this non-conformist in espousing my political opinion is that Senator McCain has been running a very decent and honest campaign. In his NH town hall meetings he would often say how he respects those who disagree with him voters and political opponents alike, and that he won’t attack anyone’s character. This sort of ‘treat others as you wish to be treated’ element of his campaign is refreshing, and could also be politically useful.
I have a sister who a confirmed Democrat and ardent Hillary supporter. When she found out that I was a McCain supporter last fall she was not amused and went up one side of me and down the other for supporting a Republican, ending her rant by saying that I could come work on the Clinton campaign when Senator McCain dropped out. As political fortunes changed, I bit my tongue and behaved gratuitously in spite of my desire to act like a 12 year old. In the mean time several Obama supporters have treated her rather rudely, and she’s actually considering voting for McCain in the Fall if Senator Clinton doesn’t win the nomination. While my guess is that she is very unlikely to vote Republican, there is a lesson in treating people (including the opposition) kindly. It’s a refreshing tact that Senator McCain has taken in promising a civil and above board contest, and hopefully his good behavior will be rewarded.
Published at Purple People Vote
Tags: Clinton, democrat, drop out, golden rule, hillary, independent, John McCain, republican, sister, supporter
April 7th, 2008
One thing that all the campaigns seem to agree on is that there are stark differences between the positions of the Democrat candidates and Senator McCain. As someone who tends to be a middle of the roader, it’s striking how far left the Democrats have gone. Just looking at domestic issues, taxes, health care, spending, and free trade, there is no sign of moderation. Senators Clinton and Obama are championing big government in a big way, and it makes me nervous. They’re not offering modifications or refinements, they’re offering huge government programs, massive regulations, and red tape. Even when packaged with the moniker of change this is still poor governance, and economics.
Tags: big government, change, Clinton, mccain, Obama, red tape, regulations
March 10th, 2008
