A Political Glimpse from Ireland

Unity At Last?

You know I always thought these 5 hours I have over people on the East Coast of America would give me an advantage in terms of breaking news but apparently I was asleep when the media released the story that Senator Clinton is definitely conceding the Democratic Nomination tomorrow and endorsing Senator Obama. Quite a few bloggers have said that the she should have made her concession before Senator Obama made his victory speech on Tuesday Night.

I whole-heartedly agree with that sentiment because if you listen to the speech she made in New York, she gave hope to her supporters when there should have been none:

Instead of offering congratulations, Clinton - who was introduced to her supporters in New York after Tuesday’s primaries as “the next president of the United States” - said she would explore her options and make no immediate decisions about her future.

Instead after Senator Clinton gives her concession/suspension speech on Friday, we are going to have some Hillary supporters feeling confused and even more angry and some ,maybe even constructing conspiratorial theories that Senator Clinton was “strong-armed’ into conceding this week when she might have been able to take the fight to the convention floor.

There are signs that some of the Hillary base is going to remain with Senator Obama but I will still go by my earlier assertion that Senator Clinton will need to make one hell of a speech in order to douse of the flames of the Hillary base. From NewsDay.com in New York:

“It’s very emotional,” said Dolores Sedacca, the former mayor of East Williston and a campaigner for Clinton. “Of course, the Democratic candidate is going to have my support, but I have to be honest and say that I wish it was a woman, and that woman would be Hillary Clinton. I think that no matter what, she would make one of the best presidents this country would ever see.”

Regardless of this eventual Unity, there will still always be Hillary supporters and sites who might as well call themselves McCainis44.org. Hillaryis44.org is refusing to back-down and is continuing to attack Senator Obama’s character as demonstrated by their latest post:

I think this really gives credence to that McCain Memo where they state that they have been “…testing new lines of attack through independent pro-Clinton communities on the internet.” This rezko story is old news and the Senator has apologized for his lack of judgement, and since neither candidate is perfect, I hope that this story and the Rev. Wright saga will stay buried in the months to come. (Yes I can dream )

MAD

I am not sure if this is the correct definition of the acronym but I remember playing Red Alert 1 by Westwood Studios when it came out way back when and the Soviets having a tank called the “MAD” Tank. This tank would go into the enemy base and basically commit suicide while everything else around it was destroyed. Later on in life I looked up the acronym in the dictionary to discover that it defined “Mutually Assured Destruction.” I think the meaning of the acronym and the acronym itself is quite apt to describe the current state of the democratic nomination:

1. MAD because of the way the two sides have fought in this latest primary which has clearly damaged both candidates in a way that I personally believe has harmed the image of the Democratic Party as a whole. (Despite what they say, does anyone actually believe now, that the party can recover?)
2. Mutually Assured Destruction because that is exactly what Senator Clinton has started within the Democratic Party, a never-ending race that will finish by the second term of President McCain.

Senator Obama has made some miscalculations but his chief strategist Dave Axelrod made an excellent comment the other day stating that Hillary has won the traditional segments of the American population that Republicans usually appeal to. When you think about that statement, who would conservative democrats rather vote for? Assuredly, John McCain.

This will probably happen in Senator Clinton is the nominee because look at all the scandal that haunts Senator McCain that miraculously does not get covered by the media. I was actually contemplating the other day that the real Senator McCain could be sipping Mojitos’ in the Bahamas while a look-alike does all his campaigning because that is the amount of close attention he gets.

Senator Obama, you are the best speaker in American Politics, you need to capitalize on that fact and speak to the heart of the American people and the people who traditionally don’t vote for you. If Senator Obama was to spend some time with all the local people in the next 2 primaries, and I mean really hit the states at the grassroots level. I seriously think he could win the next two primaries.

The last thing I wanted to mention is that Senator Obama has made a lot of money which has helped him spread his message but it has not given him the decisive advantage that you would expect considering his spending. I would slow down the spending and maybe refocus some of that cash on researching an edge over Senator Clinton and throw the kitchen sink back at her. Please No more Madness.

A Tribute to Last Nights Debate

To anyone watching the news last night, you must have seen what everyone else saw which was ABC news effectively creating a debate to boost their ratings rather than focus on the issues. I watched part of the debate late into the night here in Ireland and stopped after the first 20 minutes because nothing of significance was being said. The ABC moderators basically played to their ratings and asked questions that were not at all relevant to the issues at hand but would create the biggest media frenzy to date. If you jump over to Crooks and Liars, they have the complete story but here is my tiny photoshop tribute to ABC.

The Truth of Clinton

I know politics is a dirty business and I accept that, however after yesterday it seems to have found a new low with what Senator Clinton has said to deflect attention away from her “Sniper Fire” story. Soon after the story broke on the news and every network around the world was discussing it, even here in Ireland, she did what she does best which is to pick up the biggest piece of dirt (Rev. Wright) she had on Senator Obama and fling it right back at the media in hopes of it sticking.

Some of that dirt may have stuck but her tactic has failed to a certain degree but more importantly I hope the Clinton supporters will realize the kind of game she is playing with the Democratic Party. Look back at the last 3 months of campaigning, who was the first person to really start attacking? It wasn’t Senator Obama but it was the Clinton call for the media to pay closer attention to him that started the downward spiral of the democratic nomination process and the party as a whole.

I respect Senator Clinton as a person and a politician however I am constantly wondering here across the pond what is she thinking??? Here is a quote from an ABC article by Jake Tapper:

She will have to “break his back,” the official said. She will have to destroy Obama, make Obama completely unacceptable.

That quote refers to what Senator Clinton will have to do in order to win the nomination. Now let us imagine such a hypothetical moment and think about the consequences of such a potential action. The Democratic Party will be broken, simple as that:

1. The majority of the Obama supporters will not vote for Senator Clinton because the nomination process has become so polarized they would rather sit at home and wait for the next election.
2. Despite some of Senator Obama’s faults, he is a great man and a politician, destroying him will be something that will hang over any Clinton presidency or loss.
3. Destroying Senator Obama would prevent him being her VP but we knew that was another lie anyway.
4. No Obama supporters pretty much means we can let McCain start to be the next President today.
5. Destroying Senator Obama would not only affect Americans but people around the world who are looking for a different kind of American President.

Lastly I did some quick photoshopping today to express my displeasure and incredulity at Senator Clinton’s statements yesterday:

The Obama Frenzy

Who would have guessed this turn in the elections? I remember a few months ago when the democratic nomination was just heating up that people thought the competition would make for a better candidate however it is amazing how quickly these pundits have changed their minds. Every time I turn on the television, I see people talking about the downfall of the Democratic Party because of this fighting, with some polls coming out this week showing that McCain could beat Obama or Clinton in the general election because of this incessant in-fighting.

If anyone remembers the January polls, they showed that Senator Obama was the only person who had a chance of beating John McCain in the general election however with all the mudslinging that is going on, the democratic party and liberals everywhere have lost hope because they see no end in sight to the constant bickering. That being said I still think there is a good chance for their to be a democratic president in 2009 for a few simple reasons:

1. President Bush has voiced his support for Senator McCain with people coining the term “McBush” which is not a good thing for the Senator due to President Bush having below a 40% approval rating according to recent polls. The last thing Senator McCain needs is to be associated with an unpopular president.
2. The majority of the American people still want the war to end despite the alleged improvement of the situation in Iraq due to the “Surge”
3. The Iraq War is costing the country a lot of money at a time when the United States is short on cash; check out the national priorities project on the right hand side of my blog because they have some excellent data on how the money could be spent elsewhere. Another good read is the “Three Trillion Dollar War” which is an economist’s view of the War in Iraq with some more impressive numbers.
4. McCain is still somewhat of a Liberal thinker and this is still dividing the Republican party to a certain extent which is good for any potential democratic candidate
5. The biggest issue facing the United States in 2008 and for the next few years is the economy. Having read John McCain’s interview with the Wall Street Journal, I can see no difference between his plans and what the current administration has tried to do. The conservatives have run the country for the last 8 years with no real change in the economy leading up to the current financial crisis. Tax-cuts haven’t worked so why do people still think they will work in 2009? I am no economic expert but I think if something fails in the past, don’t you think its time to try something else?

Eliminating McCain, we are still left with the choice of Senator Clinton or Senator Obama. Senator Clinton expects to do well in Pennsylvania and I think she will do so due to the Rev. Wright saga but what the Obama camp should be aiming for is to limit her gain in delegates to a handful and still retain the overall lead. Despite her predicted success, there has been an increasing call among the media and other pundits for her to give up which at this stage which I believe is the right thing to do. Senator Clinton I hope you realize that the only reason you are doing so well and will win Pennsylvania is because of the Rev. Wright scandal but you must realize that the majority of the Democratic Party wants Senator Obama to be the candidate for the general election. Mark Halperin over at Time has a great list of things the Senator should be aware of at this moment in the nominee process:

1. She can’t win the nomination without overturning the will of the elected delegates, which will alienate many Democrats.

2. She can’t win the nomination without a bloody convention battle — after which, even if she won, history and many Democrats would cast her as a villain.

3. Catching up in the popular vote is not out of the question — but without re-votes in Florida and Michigan it will be almost as impossible as catching up in elected delegates.

4. Nancy Pelosi and other leading members of Congress don’t think she can win and want her to give up. Same with superdelegate-to-the-stars Donna Brazile.

5. Obama’s skilled, close-knit staff can do things like silently kill re-votes in Florida and Michigan and not pay a political price.

6. Many of her supporters — and even some of her staffers — would be relieved (and even delighted) if she quit the race; none of his supporters or staff feel that way. Some think she just might throw in the towel in June if it appears efforts to fight on would hurt Obama’s general election chances.

7. The Rev. Wright story notwithstanding, the media still wants Obama to be the nominee — and that has an impact every day.

8. Obama might not be able to talk that well about the new global economy, but she (and McCain) can’t either.

9. Many of the remaining prominent superdelegates want to be for Obama and she (and Harold Ickes) are just barely keeping them from making public commitments to him.

10. She can’t publicly say more than 2% of all the things she would like to say about race, electability, beating McCain and experience.

11. If she somehow found a way to win the nomination, she would have to offer Obama the VP slot, and she doesn’t want to do that.

12. This is a change election, and Bush-Clinton-Bush-Clinton can never truly be change.

13. Obama is having fun most days, and she isn’t.

14. Even though her campaign staff is having more fun than it has for a long time, there’s hardly anyone there who, given half a chance, wouldn’t slit Mark Penn’s throat — and such internal dissension won’t help her in the home stretch.

Now let me give everyone my take on the Revered Wright saga, I think what the reverend said was totally wrong and really casts a negative light on all the progress the United States has made in uniting people of different races and cultures. That being said this saga has become captive of the media’s attention on Senator Obama which has been mostly good until now and hopefully people will come to realize this simple truth: We all have crazy people in our lives or people who have some crazy opinions, that doesn’t mean we should kick them out of our lives. When Senator Obama gave his speech this past week, I was proud of what he did; he disavowed Rev. Wright but made everybody understand that the man has done a lot for him in his life.

I myself have a few people in my life who have some crazy views. A Muslim friend of mine in high school used to joke with me about sparing my life once jihad takes over the world and I used to equally joke with him that I would spare his life when America took over the world. That is an extreme example but let’s take my parents who have said some racist things in the past against Black people and Asian people. They have changed their opinions over the years but that doesn’t mean I would ever kick them out of my life. I hope people will look beyond this Rev. Wright Saga to the kind of man Senator Obama is and vote for him on the fact that he has sound judgment and is a man of good character. People have also said that he should leave his church; I think this is another crazy idea; Rev. Wright has retired so why should he leave his church? Would you want to leave your Church, Mosque, Synagogue or Temple because some crazy preacher said something you didn’t agree with a long time ago? I think not.

It’s also amazing how quickly the media were satisfied by Senator McCain’s denunciation of Minister Hagee who has also said some hateful things but surprisingly they have not occupied the media as much as Rev. Wright’s comments. I don’t think this is media bias in a big way but rather what I termed in the title of this blog post that there is an Obama Frenzy going on in the American and Global media so that any story about the Senator takes top priority of boring McCain and Hillary. This is just a theory but maybe it is something to think about ? (Have a look over at Swimming Freestyle which actually brought this to my attention)

Lastly I wanted to post another YouTube video about the “3am” advert of Hillary Clinton in which the star of the advert recently posted a rebuttal video which the media has not picked up on which is a shame and gives more credence to my theory of media bias. Congratulations go out to the young actress who has really made a difference in politics at such a young age.

P.S Dear Senator Clinton and Obama, please stop fighting each other so stringently and focus some attention on  Senator McCain.