On MSNBC earlier, Bill Burton, Barack Obama's spokesman said:
I mean on saturday night when the negotiators were all getting together, [McCain] wasn't making phone calls and doing the work. He was actually out at one of the finest restaurants in Washington, D.C., on a double date with his wife. I think Joe Lieberman was there with their wives. I understand they had a great meal. It was a great restaurant. What we need to do is put the rubber to the road here. Get on the phone, get the leaders together, and get the votes that we need. And when his campaign said they brought the House Republicans to the table and had gotten the votes, they actually didn't. Two-thirds of House Republicans voted against this today. That's not the sort of leadership we need. We need somebody in the White House right now who can actually bring the people together to get things done.
Wow! How about Obama? What was Obama doing? Oh let us keep them honest as Coope loved to say.
He was at a political rally then off, in his own words, to worry about his dry cleaning. “It’s just trickling down a little bit here. That’s O.K. I’m going to have to get my dry cleaning going too.”
Maybe had Obama been more engaged, the 95 Democrats in the House who voted against the plan would have passed it.
How is it McCain's fault? Seriously . . . Obama was staying in a luxury hotel, campaigning, and getting his dry cleaning done instead of working to get the Democrat votes necessary to pass the plan. Its so funny!
For the unsuspected electorate each campaign tries to paint the other as the ultimate culprit in getting us bogged down with this mess.
"For eight years we've been told that the way to a stronger economy was to give huge tax breaks to corporations and the wealthiest. Cut oversight on Wall Street. And somehow all Americans would benefit," Obama says in the ad. "Well now we know the truth. Instead of prosperity tricking down, the pain has trickled up. We need to change direction. Now."
This is a total lie. The tax cut has nothing to do with the current crisis. The crisis has everything to do with the democrats want to see everbody owning a home (nothing wrong with that if everbody can afford it) even if they are unable to pay the mortgage. Cheap lonas were made available through Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae and others lending insititutions were pressured to follow suit.
As far back as 2003, Treasury Secretary John Snow asked Congress for a stronger government hand over the mortgage companies Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, saying "we cannot be complacent" about the economically vital housing market.
What was Barney Frank's (Democrat) response to the proposal?
"These two entities—Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac—are not facing any kind of financial crisis," said Representative Barney Frank of Massachusetts, the ranking Democrat on the Financial Services Committee. "The more people exaggerate these problems, the more pressure there is on these companies, the less we will see in terms of affordable housing."
Running for the office of the Presidency is no easy task. Obama and his advisers are getting it including the supporters. Just look at the recent ads Obama has been running about McCain. It can only be accurately described as laughable.
Did you see the ad that tells the public McCain has never used email? How is this a litmus test for the Presidency. Ask Dan Pfeiffer, Obama spokesman, he would tell you this. "It's extraordinary that someone who wants to be our president and our commander in chief doesn't know how to send an e-mail."
With that logic, McCain should be justified to run an ad that tells the public Obama has never fought in a war? But that too would be laughable.
For the record, President Clinton sent exactly two e-mails while in office, according to the archives in his presidential library? May be he should not have been President.
With this and simialr kinds of ads, Obama has lost the edge in this election and in just less than 50 days, he would go in the annals of history as the first black presdential candidate of a major party and that in and of itself is a huge accomplishment.
I am sad that Senator Obama is being advised to play “politics as usual”. I hate to see his candidacy tarnished in any way. My kind suggestion to the campaign is to let Obama keep his word and pursues in good faith an agreement that preserve a publicly financed general election. The mileage you get out of this will surely far outweigh any political gain you think to harvest by rejecting public financing. After all, Senator Obama’s brand is anchored in his art and style of leadership, in his simplicity, truthfulness, humility and honesty. So, please don’t squander it. A movement such as this one is not perpetual. Let us keep it going in the right direction.
I could not agree more. Thomas Friedaman says it best. For some time now, at the risk of being villified by some die hard Obama supporters who only want to hear good news and not bad, I have been arguing Obama's campaign is losing it on many levels. Indeed, if the campaign were to listen from people like me, who are ordinary folks but gifted with good political instincts, they would have been spared of the headache they are now suffering from.
In fact I am vindicated by the facts on the ground and by smart people like Friedman. Here is what Friedman says '...Whoever slipped that Valium into Barack Obama’s coffee needs to be found and arrested by the Democrats because Obama has gone from cool to cold.' Read it here.
Whether it is fair or not Perception matters a lot as much as substance in American elections. This historical election of 2008 is no different.
Obama, with his historic candidacy, has already sent a buzz through out the political map soaring by the day. Of course, along the way he keeps stumbling. McCain, on the other hand, with a campaign that asks the electorate but for a thrid Republican term has been battling a tough election season.
Still perceptions do matter and they matter a whole lot. Aided by the conflict between Russia and Gerorgia that unfortunately casts a doubt on Obama’s ability to handle and by a newly minted media magnate Gov. Sarah as his running mate, McCain seems to change the perception the electorate has of him for the better.
The next two months are very crucial for both campaigns and it is interesting to watch the drama. But, if I were to predict, I would certainly predict that Obama has a less than 40% chance of winning the election. Basically, for him to win, the Republicans must make a fatal mistake or a scandal of some sort must be uncovered. In this year election, the Democrats should easily win and Obama could have done it but the campaign does not want to listen to ordinary folks like me heavily relying on so called consultants and pundits.
That is the truth. So long until next time.
In an interview with the Politico newspaper on Wednesday, the Arizona senator was asked how many houses he owns with his wife Cindy, a wealthy heiress to a beer distributorship.
"I think -- I'll have my staff get to you," McCain replied. "It's condominiums where -- I'll have them get to you." The Politico said McCain's staff counted "at least" four houses, although other media reports found at least seven. Sounds bad? Perhaps.
On Thursday Obama focused on McCain's inability to say how many houses he owns. Obama says that proves McCain is out of touch with the economic struggles of most Americans. Fair enough!
'Who without sin, let him throw the first stone' says Jesus. So true! sure MCCain replied 'I'll have my staff get to you' on that question. At least he did not just say whatever number comes out of his mouth.
I don't think McCain's gaffe is as bad as not remembering how many states there are in the Union. Like wanting to be President of the 57 States. Or the number of cyclone victims in Burma, for that matter.
Obama and his camp think they got McCain in the box with the gaffe. I say, not so fast. There are many gaffes and broken promises on Obama's side.
This is what I have been arguing for months now. I was an early supporter of Obama but down the road he drifted from the core values that attracted myself and many others I believe.
Reuters/Zogby poll released on Wednesday McCain is ahead, 46% to 41% Read it here. I still believe Obama can pull this win if he selects Hillary Clinton as his VP. I understand many would not think so or might see me as a supporter of Hillary Clinton. I am not. Just look at my blogs in the past about Hillary Clinton. But having her in the ticket would help him greatly.
Russia’s assault on the sovereign nation of Georgia has become a 3:00 am moment of sorts in this presidential election. Some frequent readers probably would say, here comes Amare to again paint Obama as weak. No, you are wrong! Not this time because to paint Obama as weak and McCain strong would not be truthful.
The truth of the matter is that both Obama and McCain including the President have a deer-in-the-headlights look in the face of the Georgia-Russia conflict. Russia is not Iraq or some weak country.
McCain’s war hero status or foreign policy experience might give people a kind of assurance that he would not involve America directly in this conflict. But, we should be able to say the same for Obama. After all, isn’t this is exactly what he is accused of by the Republicans? So, whether McCain or Obama this conflict is a major one with no clear way out short of the goodwill of Putin.
The Loyality Inc wants Barack Obama to see his fans meet him with his own salute like the one above. why not? George Bush had his three-fingered W salute.
Not only do they want to see a crowd of 75,000 people at Obama's nomination speech holding their hands above their heads, fingers laced together in support of a new direction for this country, a renewed hope, and acceptance of responsibility for our future but they also want to see it everywhere, but more importantly they want this sign to take the world by storm.
That is what a cult means. May God have mercy upon us!
One of the Democratic Party's leading electoral street fighters, New York Sen. Chuck Schumer, said that Barack Obama should respond to John McCain's personal attacks with an equally personal slap.
"I thought the Britney Spears commercial was powerful," Schumer said, referring to McCain's television ad casting Obama as a vapid "celebrity."
Have the Senator wondered why the ad works? Even the Senator admitted its effectiveness. The question is why is it effective? If Obama runs a simialr ad portraying McCain in a Britney Spears commercial, will it work or will it be effective? No, it won't. Because one buys the claim McCain is a celebrity. It has worked against Obama because there is a growing perception out there Obama is indeed a celebrity and this in part is fueled by the way the camapign touts the candidate as a totally new politician or as the democratic endorser would liek to say 'once in a generation candidate.'
PolitiFact ranked the reversal of poliies by both candidates and shows it in its Flip-O-Meter. Read it here.
I know some of you woudl be upset to see this but still worth seeing it.
A before June 3, 2008 Obama:
Most liberals opposed the Iraq War; Obama called for complete withdrawal by March 2008. Most liberals opposed confrontation with Iran; Obama pledged to meet its leader unconditionally.
Most liberals supported abortion on demand or even partial-birth abortion; Obama went beyond that to oppose any legal protection for a child born alive after a failed abortion.
Most liberals supported amnesty to give illegal immigrants citizenship and "bring them out of the shadows"; Obama championed giving drivers’ licenses to illegal aliens even as they continued to live outside the law.
Most liberals were concerned about surveillance outside of the FISA framework; Obama pledged to filibuster even a bill that brought surveillance into that framework unless it allowed civil lawsuits against phone companies that had complied with prior government requests.
Most liberals voted against Justice Alito; Obama voted against Chief Justice Roberts, too, and for that matter voted to filibuster to prevent a vote on Alito.
What was the trend? On issue after issue after issue - taxes, guns, energy, you name it - Obama stood on the far left edge even of his own party and helped himself secure the nomination.
Republicans, having enjoyed great success in presidential contests against openly liberal candidates between 1968 and 1988, thought to their dismay now that they have a shot to the Presidency easily.
An after June 3, 2008 Obama:
Once he won the Democratic nomination, though, Obama started moving so quickly to re-brand himself as a 'centrist' issue after issue. So, the question is should Obama's abrupt and jarring shifts on so many issues in such a short time frame concern voters about what kind of man this is, and what he really believes in and stands for? I think it should but many here don’t seem to mind because their allegiance is tied to the candidate regardless of his positions
Look at his energy speech these days. Little truth but full of exaggerations. He said "President Bush, he had an energy policy. He turned to Dick Cheney and he said, 'Cheney, go take care of this,'" Obama said. "Cheney met with renewable-energy folks once and oil and gas (executives) 40 times. McCain has taken a page out of the Cheney playbook."
However, Obama himself voted for a 2005 energy bill backed by Bush that included billions in subsidies for oil and natural gas production, a measure Cheney played a major role in developing. McCain opposed the bill on grounds it included billions in unnecessary tax breaks for the oil industry. The Obama campaign has said the Illinois senator supported the legislation because it included huge investments in renewable energy. So, how is it right to claim McCain gave tax breaks to the oil companies while it is Obama who did that albeit in the name of investments in renewable energy?
Obama accuses McCain of taking oil money for his campaign. True claim. How about the oil money Obama received to the tune of $400000? Hypocracy.
No drilling was the answer given by Obama and the democratic party. In fact, when Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell offered unanimous-consent requests to vote on lifting the ban on deep-water exploration, the Democrats objected including Obama. When McConnell asked Democrats if they'd overturn the ban at $4.50 a gallon, they replied "no." When he raised the price to $5, $7, and $10, they cried "no," "no," and "no." Oh, now Obama and the others began to speak in a different language saying we are for a limited off shore drilling. I am glad they come to their senses.
My point is platitudes and talk would sway many voters but perceptive votes still decide the election.
AP reported that 'In a reversal, Barack Obama proposed Monday that the government sell 70 million barrels of oil from its strategic petroleum stockpile to help reduce gasoline prices'. Oh no, he also would support off shore oil drilling even if the Speaker keep saying undr my dead body. That is what I call 'Obama awakening.' It took him a few months but he woke up to the reality to flip flop as McCain reportedely did.
My puzzlement continues with the blind supporters of Obama who see disagreeing with Obama as a capital sin. I have nothing to say to these supporters but to patiently wait the November result which in all likelyhood end up with McCain being the 44th President of the United States.
The school is named after Obama. Obama promised to help the school. The amount they rqeuested was a little over $65K.
Obama has been busy and is till is to really attend to their request on time. The news is out now. He simply step up to the plate and peform as he promised. Read.
On May 16, Barack Obama declared that he would debate John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee "anywhere, anytime."
"If John McCain wants to meet me anywhere, anytime, to have a debate about our respective policies in Iraq, in Iran, in the Middle East or around the world, that is a conversation I am happy to have," said Obama to an adoring audience of "reporters" in Waterstown, South Dakota. "I believe that there is no separation between John McCain and George Bush...and I think their policy has failed."
It is now time to stop and dragging one’s feet in a North Korea-style offensive, refusing to participate giving all lame excuses such as the details are being worked out. If there is a serious commitment to debate, it will not take months’ only weeks at most.
A useless ad by the RNC. What is this supposed to convey? To show he is a friend of these people.
The war which America should have never waged in the first place was and will always be the dumbest war waged by the smartest country in the world. Obama was right to say this is a dumb war. McCain was sadly wrong to support such a war. He should have known better.
War waged in 2003. American military power stormed Iraq and overthrew a dictator easily. But, that victory still remains elusive. In fact, In January 2007, America's adventure in Iraq seemed like a chaotic failure. The country was stifled with sectarian violence, and al-Qaeda in Iraq had gained a foothold in western Anbar province. Attacks on U.S. troops were running over a 1000 per week and not to mention the dying Iraqi civilians which would be the saddest story when history is finally written.
Why can’t McCain bring himself to acknowledge that the war was wrong? Why can't Obama bring himself to acknowledge the surge worked better than he and other skeptics thought it would? I worry what kind of president either of them would be with this kind of stubbornness.
