Archive for May, 2008
May 26th, 2008 -- Posted in American Politics |
Well I will admit I know even less about General Wesley Clark than I do Kathleen Sebelius however he needs to be mentioned since to the best of my research, he seems to be on the short list of potential VP candidates. The primary reason for him being included is that he is a former 4-star General of the United States Army hence having significant experience within the military and the Department of Defense. This experience would prove critical to Senator Obama who is seen by many people as not being particularly strong on national security compared to Senator McCain who has firsthand experience when it comes to military matters. From the Wesley Clark 2004 Presidential Website:
General Clark was born Wesley Kanne in Chicago on December 23, 1944. His father Benjamin died on December 6, 1948, following which his mother then moved the family to Little Rock, Arkansas. Once in Little Rock, Veneta married Viktor Clark, whom she met while working as a secretary for a local bank. Viktor raised Wesley as his son, and officially adopted him on Wesley’s 16th birthday. Wesley’s name was changed to Wesley Kanne Clark. Viktor Clark’s name actually replaced that of Wesley’s biological father on his birth certificate, something Wesley would later say that he wished they had not done. Veneta raised Wesley without telling him of his Jewish ancestry to protect him from the anti-Semitic activities of the Ku Klux Klan occurring in the South at the time. Although his mother was Methodist, Clark chose a Baptist church after moving to Little Rock and continued attending it throughout his childhood.
He graduated from Hall High School with a National Merit Scholarship, and helped take their swim team to the state championship, filling in for a sick teammate by swimming two legs of a relay. Clark has often repeated the anecdote that he decided he wanted to go to West Point after meeting a cadet with glasses who told Clark (who wore glasses as well) that one did not need perfect vision to attend West Point as Clark had thought. Clark applied, and received his acceptance letter on April 24, 1962. After leaving West Point, Wesley Clark climbed the ranks of the military relatively fast and his commanding officer at Fort Hood called him one of the army’s best and the brightest.
General Clark retired from the Military in May 2, 2000 and founded Wesley K. Clark & Associates in March 2003 which is a Strategic Consulting Firm. General Clark is also the vice-chairman and senior advisor for James Lee Witt & Associates; a crisis and emergency management firm in Washington D.C.The General is amazingly smart but endorsed Senator Clinton in 2007 so I don’t quite understand how he can be on the short list of potential candidates. That being said, he has a stellar military record with an understanding of every major conflict the United States has been involved in, going back 50 years.
General Clark is not without his share of controversy as a few sites seemed to suggest that he was forced to retire early from the Army. He is also on the board of several private corporations which is not something Senator Obama would like to have in a potential VP. Lastly the dissidentvoice.org has some interesting statements from General Clark which include him supporting President Bush in Iraq, and then later on stating that the invasion was a bad idea.
I like the General overall because he is smart, savvy and knows how to get things done in the Military ecosystem, however he seems to be tied to a few questionable companies and may not be the kind of person that Senator Obama needs in a VP. If I were to hazard a guess, I would say he has less than a 30% chance of becoming the potential running mate of Senator Obama.
*Thanks to Kim Fuller for the correction regarding James Lee Witt & Associates
May 26th, 2008 -- Posted in American Politics |
Well early this morning I sent this email to Fox News after the comments made by Liz Trotta last night (I was also a little bit angry at the time hence the tone of the email):
Dear Mr. Everett
I am writing this email to inform you of my disgust at a recent comment made on your show by Liz Trotta. Mrs. Trotta indirectly or unknowingly called for the assassination of Senator Obama, the presumptive democratic nominee; she then proceeded to laugh about her statement as if saying such things occurred in normal discourse. Some people may defend this action as a mistake or a joke but suggesting the death of anyone is not a joke in my book and I sincerely hope you will cease her employment at Fox News in order to preserve what little integrity you have left. I fully understand Mr. Everett that Fox News caters towards the conservative half of the American population but from the time Senator Obama announced his run for President, the contributors on Fox News have continuously obfuscated the facts in an effort to stem the eventual flow of young republicans to Senator Obama’s camp during the general election. I am sorry to tell you but this is a foregone conclusion, Senator McCain will not win the general election and Fox News might even have nothing to report on come 2009 with the Democrats firmly holding the majority in both the Senate and the House. Thank you for taking the time to read this email and I hope to hear from you soon with regards to your decision on the matter.
Regards
Crian Padayachee
In retrospect, I could have been a lot more polite but honestly I don’t have a big issue with Fox News here in Ireland primarily because they are the only All-American news channel you can get in Europe. That being said, there are times when I switch over to Fox News only to switch to another channel very quickly because I cannot stand some of the right - wing rhetoric echoed by the presenters, commentators, and political pundits.
Some of these people actively try to confuse the population by stating that Senator Obama is Muslim and associated with some shady terrorist organizations. The people behind realnews.com went into Kentucky and interviewed some people to discover that the fear of Islam is what dominates the minds of people when it comes to voting for Senator Obama in such states. Senator Obama and Islam are not even related, beyond him spending some time in Indonesia (The largest Muslim country in the world) where he went to Catholic School.
Politics is supposed to be dirty but what do Fox News and other right-wing organizations gain by actively confusing people about the two presidential candidates in the general election? I don’t have the answer but I am hoping to figure that out pretty soon. The Progressive Politics Examiner has an apology by Mrs. Trotta who excuses her comments as dry humor which I don’t believe considering her Ivy League education and media experience. Here is the video that started it all:
Contact FOX:
Teri Everett, Senior Vice President
Corporate Affairs & Communications
Phone: 212-852-7070
E-Mail: teverett@newscorp.com
May 25th, 2008 -- Posted in American Politics |
According to the press, Senator Obama has started to look for a possible Vice-President, one of the top names that has been thrown around from the beginning of the Obama campaign is the current Governor of Kansas, Kathleen Sebelius. Kathleen Sebelius became the 44th Governor of Kansas in 2003 and was re-elected to a second term in 2006. She is fairly popular in Kansas and according to a SurveyUSA Poll released on April 24th, she has a 61% approval rating. That being said, many people criticize her overall impact for Obama campaign if she is chosen because she would not even be able to guarantee her home state in the general election. So who is the Governor and what can we expect if she is the VP? From the Office Of The Governor:
Kathleen Sebelius was born May 15, 1948 and was raised in a Catholic family in Cincinnati, Ohio. She attended the Summit Country Day School, a Roman Catholic secondary school, followed by Trinity Washington University, a Roman Catholic university in Washington, D.C., and later earned a Masters of Public Administration from the University of Kansas. She moved to Kansas in 1974 at the age of 26, where she served for eight years as a representative in the Kansas Legislature and eight years as Insurance Commissioner before being elected governor.
Governor Sebelius is married to husband, Gary, a federal magistrate judge, for 33 years, they have two sons: Ned and John. Both Sebelius boys are products of the Topeka public school system, pre-kindergarten through high school. Ned is a law student, and John is a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design. At the heart of Governor Sebelius’ administration is a commitment to growing the Kansas economy and creating jobs; ensuring every Kansas child receives a quality education; protecting Kansas families and communities; improving access to quality, affordable health care; and taking advantage of the state’s renewable energy assets.
Governor Sebelius has not been with out her share of problems though as she recently vetoed three bills that would have allowed the construction of a coal-fired power plant in Western Kansas. Some critics cite these vetoes as detrimental to Kansas at the expense of the Governor improving herself on the national stage with the Democratic Party. I disagree with these critics because no matter how clean a Coal Power Plant professes to be, it is still damaging the environment. There are better alternative sources of energy out there which the governor fully intends to explore for the people of Kansas.
Beyond these minor issues, most Democrats see Sebelius as generally positive for Senator Obama even though according to Rasmussen Reports, she is only likely to increase Senator Obama’s chance of winning Kansas by 28% percent. Given that Kansas is a historically red state, I am willing to assume that as a VP; Sebelius would appeal to woman and older folk which is a segment of the population where Senator Obama does not have a strong base of support. This is all conjecture at this point but I think it would be reasonable to assume given that Senator Clinton could also appeal to the same segments and is more well known but given the last few months, she is not exactly on the short list.
Governor Sebelius would be a good choice beyond her being able to pull in some additional support for an Obama presidency because she agree’s with Senator Obama on most issues. The Kansas City Business Journal has a good write up on some the bills that she passed and vetoed for the states budget of 2009. Governor Sebelius and Senator Obama may see eye to eye but one of the biggest issues facing Americans as indicated by most polls is the economy which is not an area Senator Obama is short in, but maybe a potential VP would need to be strong in these areas? Do VP’s actually matter? Some people argue these points but I think it all comes down to the perception of the typical citizen. Other people argue that someone with national security experience is needed like former retired general Wesley Clarke or Senator Chuck Hagel.
These are all important factors to consider and they wll be explored in future posts of potential VP candidates for Senator Obama. Now a picture of the Governor from the State website:
May 24th, 2008 -- Posted in American Politics |
It is exactly one week to ago until the Democratic Party’s Rules and Bylaws meeting where Senator Clinton’s last glimmer of hope exists. I personally don’t think it will make a difference what the commitee decides but Dan Balz at the Washington Post summarizes the situation quite neatly:
The Clinton campaign has staked out a tough position, what’s described as the “100 percent, 100 percent” solution. Clinton wants the full delegations from both states seated, with full voting rights, and the pledged delegates allocated on the basis of last winter’s primary results.
That means in Michigan awarding no delegates to Obama because he took his name off the ballot. The non-Clinton delegates would officially be considered uncommitted. Clinton’s campaign has calculated that, if that solution prevails, she will net 111 delegates, although most of the uncommitted delegates likely would end up supporting Obama.
In tribute to the strong posistion taken by the Clinton campaign, here is an extraction from her own website (with some editing of course):
May 23rd, 2008 -- Posted in American Politics |
They say money makes the world go around but I am not sure who is attributed to that comment however Publilius Syrus said in 100BC: “Money alone sets all the world in motion.” The same could also be said for the Democratic Nomination, supporters on both sides are still fighting it out however I mentioned earlier on this week, the nomination has pretty much gone to Senator Obama. Today I am going to use two predictive indices to prove this point (Data from the 23 May). The first is a prediction market run by InTrade.com where we can see Senator Obama running at a 92.5% probability of him winning the democratic nomination. These prediction trades are not scientific but InTrade boasts a membership of 73,000 active traders which is a lot of people giving the probability some credence as far as numbers go. Senator Clinton on the other hand has a 6.6% chance of winning the Democratic Nomination and if we we examine the InTrade data closely, we can see her decline started on the 30th of April, a week after the Pennsylvania primary.
The second set of graphs is from the better of the two operations and is run by Bet2Give where people contribute real money and give their winnings from trading to a selected charity. They have Senator Obama’s shares trading at 94 cents per share while Senator Clinton is trading at 5 cents a share.
Senator Obama Bet2Give Graph - May 23rd 2008
Senator Clinton Bet2Give Graph - May 23rd 2008
It is inevitable as the rain in Ireland, Senator Obama will be the nominee but I find it quite interesting that the Senator Clinton as a potential VP talk is back in the media. I think in part because the MSM (Mainstream Media) has been focusing on the difficulties Senator Obama would face going up against John McCain in the general election. They MSM ultimately have fallen into the pitfall of focusing on this election as tradtional like every other election for the last century but given Senator Obama’s campaign so far, we can say that is far from traditional.
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