The Unofficial Obama Blog

VP Prediction

2008-08-13T14:03:00.000-07:00

All the pundits keep on talking about Evan Bayh, Tim Kaine, and Kathleen Sebelius. Why? You may ask. Nobody really knows. Bayh is an unimpressive speaker with an unimpressive record who does not compliment Obama's manner of speech or prioritized policy positions. Tim Kaine has been a poor governor for the state of Virginia with his only memorable action having thus far been his inability to get a transportation bill passed. Kathleen Sebelius is a far more intriguing possibility, but she already has a slot speaking at the DNC (if they've already disclosed this, it seems that they would have done so in tandem with a VP announcement) and her record doesn't exactly go along with the Wednesday-night vice-presidential nomination theme. Which brings me to my prediction:

Wednesday night's theme at the DNC is "Securing America's Future". Wesley Clark's Political Action Committee's (WesPAC) motto is "Securing America's Future". Coincidence? No. Wesley Clark will be the Democratic Party's vice presidential nominee.

Some further pontification from Huffington Post's Judah Freed.

And just as a shot in the dark, I'm predicting this coming Monday, August 18th, say at 12pm EST, Obama will make this announcement.

For more commentary on this Clark character, check out www.obamaclark.com

Aside: I actually side with the folks at fivethirtyeight.com in my support for Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer as VP, but all the indications are pointing in the other direction. That said, I would be wholly content with Clark as the VP candidate.

Change We Can Believe In.

2008-06-05T09:11:00.000-07:00

When was the last time we had a candidate who walked the walk? Via Politico.com:

Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) is moving on two fronts to make transparency a linchpin of his campaign, opening his fundraisers to reporters and clamping down on the Democratic National Committee’s fundraising from Washington insiders...Beginning Thursday, the DNC will no longer accept checks from federal lobbyists or political action committees, mirroring the strict standard Obama adopted for his presidential campaign.

Contrast that to McBush's "reform" plans:

McCain's Lobbyist Friends

The winds of changes are a-howlin'...

Obama is Democratic Nominee for President

2008-05-06T12:44:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, Obama beat Hillary Clinton by a proverbial landslide in North Carolina (14% points) and lost narrowly to her in Indiana (by 1.4% points). Although this only marginally enhances Obama's lead in the primary (his victory was already nearly assured, excepting the possibility of a coup by superdelegate), it effectively changed the mainstream media's narrative of the race from "horse-race" to "Obama inevitability". Sadly, this has become a determining factor when looking at the fight for the Democratic nomination. But regardless of how the country came to the conclusion that Obama is the nominee, it is now a practically unanimous sentiment - and finally, FINALLY, we can turn the page to the general election...

Food for Thought

2008-04-21T14:59:00.000-07:00

New Obama Ad: Hillary Gets More Lobbyist $ Than McCain

2008-04-15T16:11:00.000-07:00

Another Potential Advantage to an Extended Primary

2008-04-09T17:10:00.000-07:00

Chuck Todd, political scientist extraordinaire, had this to say today about McCain's path to victory. Although the title, "McCain's Path to Victory," implies that it is an article chalk-full of advice on how McCain can win the November election, it is more of a commentary on the challenges of not having a clear opponent and the difficulty of having to wait to define oneself as a candidate. The gist:

He will either be the steady hand in uncertain times vs. Obama, or he'll be the breath of fresh air and openness in a campaign against Clinton.

As someone said to NBC's David Gregory, McCain will take up the space left by the defeated Democrat.

From a message standpoint, those are big differences. It is not easy to advance both, now, at the same time. McCain is trying, but ultimately, being able to refine one line of attack is a must, and that can't happen without a clear opponent.

Whether Hillary is staying in for altruistic or selfish reasons, the possibility remains that it may all be for the better.

Clinton Staying in for the Good of the Party?

2008-04-02T14:53:00.000-07:00

This is an interesting read from Katharine Seelye at the New York Times, opining that Clinton may be staying in the race to increase turnout and voter enthusiasm in the Democratic primary and to ultimately help Barack Obama become President of the United States of America.

Hmm.

Thousands of people are coming to her rallies now, and her campaign has organized events in post-Pennsylvania states where people are thrilled to be part of a process from which they are normally excluded.

Something not really focused on in the mainstream media:

It may not be apparent to the casual viewer of the news, but Mrs. Clinton is no longer dropping negative bombs on Mr. Obama. She has shifted her attacks, some of them quite trenchant, to President Bush and Senator John McCain, the presumed Republican nominee.

There has been some discussion in the blogosphere recently trying to spin Clinton's continued campaign as a positive thing for "big D" Democracy. But to suggest that this is the intention of the Clinton campaign is something wholly different.

Two Endorsements and A Poll

2008-04-02T10:32:00.000-07:00

Despite the incredibly slow and uneventful six weeks between the Texas & Ohio and Pennsylvania primaries, we finally have some relatively big news today out of the presidential race:

1) Lee Hamilton Endorses Obama

Not only does this endorsement give Obama some momentum going into the Indiana primary on May 6th, it also boosts his foreign policy credentials. Hamilton is a former representative of Indiana's 9th district as well as the former co-chair of both the 9/11 Commission and the Iraq Study Group. In sum, he's big time. This is what he had to say about Obama's foreign policy:

"His foreign policy is pragmatic, visionary and tough," said Hamilton, former Democratic chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives committees on foreign affairs and intelligence.

"He will work with our friends and allies. He will strengthen our ability to use all tools of American power and relentlessly promote the American values of freedom and justice for all people."

2) Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal endorses Obama

The Wyoming caucaus may have already passed, but this is still a big endorsement, both because Freudenthal is a superdelegate at a time in which every superdelegate vote counts and because he is a popular governor (won 70% of the vote in the 2006 election) in a state that is slowly shifting from red to blue.

3) New poll has Obama up in PA

This poll is a total shock, as the last time PPP did a poll two weeks ago, it had Obama down by 26 points. Kos questions its legitimacy. But damn!

The Brains Behind the Obama Campaign

2008-03-31T14:31:00.001-07:00

Here's an interesting read for anyone curious to get some biographical info on the more prominent members of "Team Obama":

Obama's Inner Circle

The overarching theme of the article is that these guys (and gals) can't be completely compartmentalized into a particular political ideology. In other words, their views and visions for the future can't be designated as "liberal", "conservative", or "centrist". This is part of the Obama meme of looking beyond the politics of the past. A choice example is contained in the profile of immigration advisor Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar:

Like Obama, [Cuéllar] believes that comprehensive immigration reform must go beyond addressing border security and the status of the nation's 12 million illegal immigrants to confronting the current system's bureaucratic failings, providing job opportunities for American workers, promoting economic development in Latin America, and determining "how our immigration policy reflects our values and needs as Americans."

Also of note is Legal Affairs advisor Cass Sunstein, whose articles I read ad infinitum in my US Politics 101 class in college and who wrote this eloquent article about Obama in the Huffpost 4 weeks ago.

More Delicious Propaganda

2008-03-28T09:57:00.001-07:00

From the Huffpost, a mashup video of Obama's "More Perfect Union" speech and Roger Waters' "Tide is Turning". Created by Bob Cesca:

Faux News Poster Child Speaks Out Against Faux News

2008-03-27T14:15:00.001-07:00

Yet another ostensible anti-Obama surrogate speaking out in defense of Obama (again, a little late on the newsbreak, but better late than never...):

Hillary's Poster Child = Anti-Hillary

2008-03-27T11:36:00.000-07:00

This is a little dated (only by a week, but things move fast in the blogosphere), but a great add created by the girl in Hillary's ridiculous, fear-mongering add about which candidate you want answering the White House phone at 3am. As has been recently pointed out, if Hillary's too tired to get her facts straight about her trip to Bosnia in the middle of the day, it's scary to think about how she would react to a phone call under president-like fatigue and sleep deprivation at 3am:

Dang.

2008-03-26T21:19:00.001-07:00

Nothing substantive here, but Amen.

...And we're back.

2008-03-26T21:04:00.000-07:00

Ok, it's been almost a year, but to my credit, the liberal blogs have turned around and become less critical of Obama. Many have even begun to vehemently support him. I've decided to start this blog back up because there's so much crap on the internet that you have to filter through to get the truth about Obama, it's important to have a central location to find it all. So here goes. I want to start off with a couple of good tidbits I discovered while perusing the internets the past couple of days. First, is this gem from the recommended diaries at Daily Kos:

Give Clinton a break!

Second is less funny but just as important in understanding the twisted nature of the mainstream media. I bring you Wright's most criticized speech by the major networks (in full, not just one random sentence taken out of context):

Wright's 9/11 speech

Simmer on those for awhile. Back atcha tomorrow.

Obama on Iraq

2007-04-14T09:17:00.000-07:00

Obama has recently come under fire from the premier liberal blogs for not having an absolutist enough policy on Iraq. A recent post by Matt Stoller at mydd.com says this:

"The Presidential contest has me in despair. As far as I can tell, all of our candidates except for Richardson and Dodd see no problem in keeping troops in Iraq. I hope Bill Richardson keeps talking up his plan. It appears that the Edwards plan for Iraq is very similar to the Obama plan; both assert that troops should remain in Iraq for humanitarian purposes."

Mr. Stoller's frustration with Obama's and other candidates' views is echoed by numerous other bloggers on both mydd.com and dailykos.com. Of course they are right to criticize the war in Iraq, both in its handling and in its inception. But now it is incumbent upon the President and the Congress to look toward the future of this conflict and how to best exit the country with minimal damage to both our military and the Iraqi people.

We entered this war under the premise that American lives are worth more than the lives of other people. The President explained to the American people that we had to fight the terrorists there before they could attack us over here, disregarding the fact that thousands of innocent Iraqi lives would be lost in the process. It is clear today that not only was this an immoral decision, it was a bad policy decision. We cannot continue to disregard other human beings' lives for the good our own country.

Pulling entirely out of Iraq could possibly lead to such a scenario. It is true that we are the face of evil in Iraq at this juncture, but that is primarily because we put an evil face on ourselves. Military solutions to situations such as the one in Iraq only beget more hatred and violence, as has been exemplified over the past four years. In contrast, humanitarian and diplomatic solutions to such conflicts are generally much more successful, and undoubtedly more moral.

What Barack Obama is saying with his Iraq policy is two-fold:

(1) We cannot disregard the lives of the Iraqi people just because we no longer want to be involved in the conflict and
(2) We cannot simply engage in a stalemate with President Bush just because it is politically savvy and/or it will ultimately force him to pull the troops out of Iraq. We are dealing with people's lives here. But, we also can't just hand him his war funding on a platter.THERE HAS TO BE ANOTHER WAY.

And that is exactly what Obama is talking about.

Defending Obama

2007-04-14T09:02:00.000-07:00

This blog is being established to give a voice to progressive bloggers in support of Barack Obama's presidency and his policy positions on Iraq and future policy controversies that arise in the liberal blogosphere. The purpose of this blog is not to blindly defend all of Senator Obama's policy positions, nor is it to relentlessly bash such liberal blogs as dailykos.com and mydd.com. It is merely to give a voice to those who feel their opinions on the Senator are not being sufficiently represented by the aforementioned sites and their ilk.