I feel that Barack will be the nominee of the democratic party for the president if no surprise. The race is over. So is this blog.
I guess one reason is because there have been negative things on asian language websites. Below is one posted yesterday. Don't know how important Asian-American are in election. If he wants their votes, shouldn't he do something?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVeFVtcdSYY
It has made some noise that Barack did not respond well to a McCain's challenge: are you going to take public fund for general election as you promised? His response was that he would keep that as an option (not exact his words?).
Such an answer is not satisfactory. A promise is a promise. His answer may imply that he was calculating whehter he would have advantages by not keeping that promise. If so, this is not much different from the so-called old politics he has been criticizing, which is a big disappointment for many hope-believer.
On the other hand, a direct answer I will does not do him much harm. His strength is not the money he can raise. It is the gross-roots support. The money is just a sign of such a support. If he answer directly, he may get even stronger support, which is a very important, if not decivive, factor of the general election.
Barack often says he is in charge of his campaign. It is his responsibility to make sure voters get the real picture of himself.
Yesterday, it was Romney. Today, it is former president Bush. It appears that republicans can get together quickly when they fight against others.
Now, have a look at democrats. They are still fighting. While republicans are preparing for general election, they are not. They already fall behind.
In early Jan., after he won Iowa, his momentum looked strong. Hillary felt the pressure and said she was in for the long run. Then, even to her surprise, she won NH! That made her campaign alive again.
Now, Barack has built strong momentum again. Hillary felt the pressure again. This time, she said TX and OH are critical in determing the nominee. It implies that if she does not win on Mar. 4, she will be out!
Has Barack thought about what happened in NH? Will he be able to win on Mar. 4?
Will this help her campaign? I don't think so. When people challenge her to release tax return, it implies that she may has some questions to answer about her income. I don't think she has problemetic incomes. But in this context, if she likes to put this to rest, she should release it as early as she can. Doing so may help her campaign.
I really don't understand how she helps her campaign by saying she only do so after she secures the nomination. Is that from a veteran politician? That really amazed me.
WASHINGTON - Resisting calls from Barack Obama to release her income tax returns, Hillary Rodham Clinton said Monday she would only do so if she secures the Democratic presidential nomination
On a Chinese website, it is reported that Barack would suspends his campaign if Hillary agrees to select him as vice president nominee. But Hillary does not want to do that. I don't believe such a rumor is true.
For those who can read Chinese, here is the link:
http://news.wenxuecity.com/messages/200802/news-gb2312-524068.html
STOCKHOLM (AFP) - If Barack Obama becomes the next US president he will surely be assassinated, British Nobel literature laureate Doris Lessing predicted in a newspaper interview published here Saturday.
There have been US presidents who were assasinated. Regan was shot as well. So one cannot rule out the possibility that something bad might happen to Barack if he is elected as the president, as suggested by Doris Lessing.
How is barack going to deal with it? I don't think such a potential risk will scare him. He should do what he believe in.
While there are people, who are as bad as Shuster, make this kind of comments on some websites, it is not right for such comments to appear on so famous network like MSNBC.
=========
In a conference call with reporters, Clinton communications director Howard Wolfson on Friday excoriated MSNBC's David Shuster for suggesting the Clinton campaign had "pimped out" 27-year old Chelsea by having her place phone calls to celebrities and Democratic Party "superdelegates" on her mother's behalf.
Wolfson called Shuster's comment "beneath contempt" and disgusting.
Now, she is the underdog. Not that she has less delegates now. It is that her strength is much weaker than his now. It is that her confidence is shaking now. It is that she adopts a failing strategy now.
The first point has been acknowleged by her campaign. Her shaking confidence is shown by not fighting for a win this month. That exactly is a failing strategy: more win for Barack will bring him stronger momentum. She was almost killed by his win in Iowa.
If she sticks to her plan from now on, I can imagine that on the convention in Aug. she looks at Barack, the nominee of the democratic party, in tears.
It is obvious that Barack won more states yesterday than Hillary. On the other hand, both campaigns acknowledge that the race is about delegates. Judged by delegates so far, it is a draw for them. However, the delegates of CA have not been pledged yet. Taking that into consideration, Hillary likely has won more delegates yesterday.
Again, polls were proven wrong. During those several days right before yesterday, polls showed Barack had strong momentum in CA, NJ, and MA; he even was ahead in CA. But he did not win popular votes in those states. After last Th.'s debate, 5 days were not enough for him to take over in those big states.
It seems true that Barack is tied with Hillary on this super Tu. votes. There are more work ahead. My impression is that Barack has some advantages: he has raised more money and he is good at speech and connecting to voters.
Just wonder: why Hillary did not drive home the point that she has some good judgements as well. For example, she urged action about this housing problem long before others, including many economists. Still don't think she does not have a good team.
After Th's days debate, his numbers have been rising day by day. One reason is that he outperformed Hillary during that debate. Still don't know why so many in the media did not think Barack was the winner of that debate. In just one day, it will be clearer about who will win the democratic nomination.
This news does not spell well for her because many people really don't want to buy a plan. A similar example is life insurance. For 10 dollars a month, one can buy 200,000 dollars life insurance here. Still many many people don't buy it. These people may not vote for her. But that's the way of life. You want a health plan with mandate, you have to bear its consequences.
