Josh Thomas's Blog

No Rick Warren Benediction at Inaugural!

Josh Thomas — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 17:44:58 EST

If Sen. Obama, as reported, invites Rick Warren, the California megachurch hustler, to give a benediction at the Inaugural, I won't be there, I won't watch it, I won't listen to it, I won't read about it, I won't give one frigging thought to anything Obama has to say. He'll have driven a stake right into the heart of his Gay and Lesbian supporters.

Oh, so you support "marriage between a man and a woman," eh, Barack? Easy for you to say, you hetero-privileged, tax-subsidized bigot. Where's the "change" I can believe in?

Obama Staffer Coming to Kentland!

Josh Thomas — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 19:21:47 EDT

The Obama Campaign for Change '08 is sending its Lafayette, IN coordinator Tricia Ben-Davies to Newton County this Wednesday, July 9 for a 1pm CDT meeting with local Obama volunteers. E-mail me or comment below for info. You're invited!

Ben-Davies will be opening Obama's Lafayette headquarters this Saturday, July 12 and she invites all area voters to be there to show our support and enthusiasm. Obama carried Tippecanoe County in the primary and she is there to help him win this area in November. Her territory includes Newton, Jasper, Benton, Warren, Tippecanoe and other counties and we intend to help her all we can.

The July 9 meeting in Kentland will also unveil our first local Obama campaign materials, so don't miss it!

It is a Big Deal for Newton County to be included in a presidential campaign. Obama won 855 votes here in May, and we can increase that number dramatically this fall with the help of Clinton supporters, loyal Democrats and disaffected Republicans. By increasing our hometown visibility, we can make it safe for Obama voters to come out and make our views known; 855 neighbors already have!

We need change in this election in Kentland, Goodland, Brook, Ade, Morocco, Lake Village, Sumava and Roselawn. We need a real economic stimulus package, not just a temporary giveaway. We need jobs and healthcare here in rural Indiana. We need our soldiers out of Iraq and back home where they belong, where they can live in peace and raise their families and get decent jobs. We need a president who moves beyond the cynical politics of Washington and actually gets things done. The other guy can't do that; Barack Obama can and will.

But he needs us to help him; he can't do it alone, he needs our help to toss out the special interests and start governing for the benefit of all Americans.

He needs the help of the people of Newton County. From Thayer to Conrad, Mt. Ayr to Foresman, Obama needs us to take back Washington and give it a Midwestern makeover.

That's why he's sending staff to Kentland--because he needs us.

Can we do it? Can the people of Newton County remake America and get it back on track after 8 years of disaster?

By ourselves, no; but together with friends and neighbors who care about Newton County, who care about Indiana and our way life--who care about our country--the answer is plain: YES WE CAN.

Send me an e-mail or comment below. Let's welcome Tricia to the Real America, right here in Kentland, Indiana.++

Obama Meetups in Newton County? Yes we can!

Josh Thomas — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 17:56:44 EDT

Newton County for Obama is starting to organize for the fall campaign. Our first event will be a meetup/picnic for Obama supporters to be held in Kentland; no date yet but keep your eyes peeled. Theresa B. and I are the convenors. Once we learn how to do this in Kentland, we also plan Obama picnic meetups in Goodland, Brook, Morocco and maybe more.

Working with the NewCo Democratic Party and local candidates, our purpose is to identify Obama's grassroots supporters here, get to know each other, tell our stories, and figure out ways to increase Obama's visibility in this county.

In the primary two months ago, despite no organization, 855 Newton County voters chose Obama to be their next President. We want to reach all 855 Obama voters and invite Sen. Clinton's supporters to join us. We want to capture the momentum for Democrats up and down the ticket. It's time for Change We Can Believe In right here at home.

Contact me at josh@dailyoffice.org to be part of this historic campaign. We will soon have Obama magnets, cards, T-shirts and will take orders for yard signs and other publicity materials. If all the Obama supporters in our county come out, register and vote, we can help put Indiana's 12 Electoral College votes in play in the race for the White House.

We need you! Contact me today, join with hundreds of your neighbors who are already committed to Obama and help us reach others waiting to hear from us. An Obama picnic in Kentland? Yes we can!

Bush's Recession: It's Here

Josh Thomas — Fri, 23 May 2008 14:52:18 EDT

In all the back-and-forth about the primaries, superdelegates, the convention, etc., I wonder if we're not missing something crucial: the world economy is headed off a cliff.

Ford Motor Co. is cutting production and won't turn a profit in the foreseeable future. GM has taken almost a $3 billion loss as a result of one minor strike (which it was probably content to wait out). Gasoline prices are now $3.999 per gallon in my Indiana hometown. American Airlines charges $15 for one suitcase. Air France/KLM, Europe's largest carrier, is cutting as fast as it can. My friend the car salesman is wondering if he'll have to file for bankruptcy.

The candidate who addresses the economy as it actually is today is likely to be the next president.

This goes way beyond Sen. Clinton's call to suspend the gas tax for three months (the perfect paradigm for her manipulative campaign, one empty promise after another, Annie Oakley, bang-a bang.)

Oil is headed ever higher; the latest projections say $140 a barrel soon. Is it time for the United States to buy Nigeria and everything in it?

You've heard of corporate takeovers; why not national ones? A little merger fever with some petro-dictators might be a good idea. What would it cost to buy Brazil?

Oil company execs have taken a beating this week on Capitol Hill, but it's an empty ritual; they don't control the price. Speculators have been blamed, but the Secretary of the Treasury says prices are the result of supply and demand. China's demanding more than ever before, and they've got money. U.S. consumers are now having to outbid them, when their money spends just like ours does.

Meanwhile Clueless George, the politician we've all forgotten about, is driving down the value of the dollar. Does anyone remember when Euros were worth less than dollars? Today a Euro costs a buck fifty. I guess I won't be visiting Amsterdam this summer.

We can't go on this way. Everything we do—the entire world economy—depends on moving goods and burning gasoline.

You've heard about the rice shortage in a few places; what happens when it disappears from the grocery where you shop? Better head to the potato aisle while you still can.

I don't mean to be alarmist; the current bubble in oil prices will pop eventually and prices will decline. But this is no way to run an economy. Why does Bush need cheap dollars?

The war in Iraq. You know, that war we've forgotten about too. That little trillion-dollar expenditure is starting to add up to missing rice.

I hope Sen. Obama will pause long enough in his travels to spend a day huddled up with his economic team, then come out with a comprehensive plan for What Will Change On Day One.

My sense is that people are eager to know.

A great plan, communicated by our great speaker, might well be enough to win working class White votes. Clue: they eat potatoes and rice, chicken and beef; they buy gasoline. At least they hope to someday.

The whole country's starting to hurt bad. We need those 5 million new jobs in green technology and infrastructure now, not six months from now.

Get us out of Iraq, Sen. Obama; open up the Alaskan National Wildlife Refuge if you have to. Polar bears have a constituency, but it's dwarfed by homo sapiens in the USA, people who expect to eat.

The political task this year is not just winning the nomination, it's driving Clueless George out.

Just as Barack has quit talking about Hillary, he should put McCain on hiatus. The issue is getting rid of George W. Bush.

Nothing else matters; the man is driving us over a cliff. This is an emergency. Shove him out of the driver's seat, put on the brakes, steer a different direction, keep us from going over the cliff.

Show us now that you're ready to drive this bus, Barack; there's only one way, by throwing Bush under it. He's your opponent; shove him out, make him resign.

Drive his poll numbers so far down that he can't go anywhere; so even White House reporters don't bother to show up. Create the conditions where the old lions of the GOP have to march to the White House and say, "Time's up. You're done." They did it before with Nixon; they'll do it with Bush if only to save themselves.

Drive out Bush and Cheney both, leaving us with a caretaker government under the first woman President: Nancy Pelosi.

You can do it, Barack, and we'll back you; aim higher. Aim for the Presidency itself.++

Michelle is Right, Barack's No Angel

Josh Thomas — Fri, 16 May 2008 17:42:06 EDT

I am disappointed, more than 24 hours after the California Supreme Court announced its decision on marriage, that there is still nothing on the Obama home page taking note of this.

It is a momentous event for Lesbian and Gay people worldwide. In historical importance it ranks one notch below Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, the landmark civil rights decision in 1954. Both cases came down to one principle: "separate but equal" is unequal.

All three presidential candidates are doing their best to change the subject. They all issued very brief statements to the mainstream media, saying they support separate, unequal civil unions instead of Gay marriage.

Thus McCain, Clinton and Obama will do nothing to disturb the stigma put on Gay people. This isn't exactly "a new kind of politics," Barack.

I understand not wanting to rock the boat; I don't want the marriage issue turned into the latest cable news trivia obsession either. But there is a way to touch LGBT voters, to reach out to us on a day of great celebration for millions of Gays and Straights alike, without tipping over the boat. An e-mail to supporters would suffice, especially to those of us on the LGBTs for Obama lists, but instead we're getting the same old, tired boasting and fundraising appeals.

You too are playing the same old politics of fear on this issue, when there isn't a dime's worth of difference between you and Hillary on this issue. McCain isn't far away either; whose votes would you lose, the Bigot Caucus's? Man, you're not getting votes from them anyway.

Worse, you're letting progressives down all over the country. Do you think your college students didn't notice your silence? What's your message to Millennials the past 24 hours? You don't have one.

What are your plans for Lesbian and Gay Pride Day? It's coming up in less than a month, and there won't be any primaries left by then, all the voting will be done.

I'll be watching. If all you do is phone it in, I'll know your "new kind of politics" is really just "new and slightly improved from the old kind." Certainly my enthusiasm for your campaign will drop, because I won't see any "fierce urgency of now."

Axelrod isn't the messiah, either. Stop following the old politics of duck and weave and divide!

Analyzing the Indiana Vote by County

Josh Thomas — Thu, 08 May 2008 19:18:39 EDT

As a Hoosier I find it fascinating to look at the Indiana results county by county, knowing this state much better than the talking heads on TV. I suppose they were reasonably well-prepared, but the best advice to tourists is still "Eat where the locals eat." Dan Abrams on MSNBC particularly annoyed me…

No one in Indiana was surprised when Lake County waited till midnight to report. They always want to be the kingmakers to prove how important their non-Hoosier county is, so they always wait; the mayors hold back their results till they know what all the other cities have—in case they need to find 300 more votes for their candidate. The longtime mayor of East Chicago finally got ousted for bribing voters in a concrete-pouring scandal; new sidewalks and driveways for supporters, nothing for homeowners who wouldn't trade their votes. Even the Catholic Church went along and got a new parking lot out of it. Lake County is all about bribes and corruption, which is why it isn't Hoosier at all.

Still, Lake is only 26% Black, yet Obama carried 57% of the vote; that's some White people! So what if they're in Chicago's media market? They like the guy.

Clinton won the White rural vote downstate. She was seen as the conservative candidate. The difference in her margin in the rural counties shows a geographic split; 60-40 in the north (2-1 in my home county of Newton, one south of Lake) and up to 75-25 in southern Indiana. I suspect some of that southern support has a racist tinge, as the Clintons repeatedly played the race card. (Maybe that's true in northern rural counties too, but I hope not.)

Obama won the cities by amazing margins: Indianapolis better than 2-1. He got a lot of White votes in Marion County, which is only 26% Black. He also picked up two collar counties, Boone narrowly and rich, White, fast-growing Hamilton County 61-39. That Hamilton result stunned every Democrat in the state.

Obama won Fort Wayne, the second largest city, with 56%; it's a mostly-White city, only 12% Black, with a Republican mayor. Doesn't fit the pundits' profile; Obama in a landslide.

He dominated the big college towns (Purdue and Indiana) in Tippecanoe and Monroe; that's the youth and faculty vote joining the townies. He won South Bend, with a much smaller university (Notre Dame) and a large industrial base. He won neighboring Elkhart County, which is industrial and agricultural; Elkhart County has $121 million in assessed ag value, ranking #2 in the state.

Down south he won Switzerland County, which is 99% White, 3-1, while next-door neighbor Ohio County (98% White) went 4-1 for Clinton. I don't know anyone with an explanation for that—unless some great volunteers in Switzerland County made the difference.

Obama won rural Steuben County (98% White, Angola's the county seat) in the northeast corner 56-44, another anomaly. Yay, Steuben and Switz!

Thus world-famous Hillary Clinton won backward Indiana by 11,000 votes out of 1.26 million cast, a week after Barack Obama hit rock bottom. Not an impressive showing for the kitchen-sink strategy of the Gentlewoman from Arkansas and New York.

You can fool all of the people some of the time, and some of the people all of the time; but you can't fool Hoosiers all of the time. The next President of the United States is Barack Obama.++

Indiana DID decide the nomination! (with a huge boost from NC)

Josh Thomas — Wed, 07 May 2008 04:07:36 EDT

It's 2 a.m. Central Time Wednesday morning here in Northwest Indiana, and Sen. Clinton won the state by a hair. Good for her, she ran a smart campaign; not a good campaign, but a smart one. The Clintons are total pros.

Sen. Obama won North Carolina by a landslide, despite Bill Clinton's showing up in every two-bit town in the state; the networks called that contest the minute the polls closed. So all eyes turned to Indiana.

I've said for months that Indiana would decide the nomination. And even though Barack lost narrowly, Hard Hat Hillary lost too.

She had him where she wanted him, on the defensive, Rev. Wright and yadda yadda. "I will fight for you," despite the fact that she and her husband pulled in $109 million since they left the White House. Annie, get your gun.

Hoosiers didn't buy it, even at the lowest point of Obama's campaign. She obviously can't close the deal, even when her opponent is on the ropes.

And now the math becomes inexorable. She cannot win; he cannot lose. Barack Obama will be the Democratic nominee for President of the United States.

I live in a rural county just south of late-reporting Lake. Hillary won here, as she won every rural county. She lost Indianapolis big, Fort Wayne big, South Bend and Elkhart big, Bloomington and Lafayette/West Lafayette big. She lost in Boone County and Hamilton County, White enclaves north of Indy. She lost Lake County, the most racially segregated county in Indiana.

She eked out just enough redneck votes to carry the state; just enough. The candidates split the delegates. Meanwhile Obama's got a commanding lead nationally.

Indiana was her last best chance, but she couldn't close the deal. Hoosiers saw through her quarter-and-a-nickel gas tax giveaway. Her own voters knew she was pandering. So why did they vote for her?

Well, she's a woman, and that's a positive thing. Plus she's White; that's worth some votes in rural Indiana.

Obama almost beat her anyway. Despite his advantage in Northwest Indiana, he had almost no presence in rural areas. And for all his vaunted campaign organization, it's way too reliant on the internet and TV. It doesn't exist on the ground in many places. What kind of candidate runs out of T-shirts and yard signs? It's free advertising!

Outside my polling place in a town of 1800, Obama had two used yard signs, obviously salvaged from Iowa. Hillary had a table of lady volunteers. Obama had no organization in my county, none. I was surprised the weatherbeaten yard signs showed up.

Obama's internet whiz kids need to stop reading their reviews and start making merchandise available to local organizers. There is a definite elitist aspect to Obama's campaign, and it doesn't come from the candidate, but from his over-confident staffers.

They carried Purdue, IU and Notre Dame, and to everyone else they said, "Not the right demographic." Hey kidz, every vote counts the same—and you lost Indiana!

Obama needs to be very careful about whom he hires among his campaign staff for the White House, because I was not the least impressed by his Indiana organization. They sliced and diced this state just like Clinton did, and I find that offensive. College students are not enough to win an election. Neither are Black folk.

Despite all these problems, we have a transcendent candidate. I'm sure he knows the internal shortcomings of his campaign. So much gets left undone; he could have won this state by broader utilization of his volunteers. It's a tribute to the candidate, and not his staff, that he did as well as he did here, losing by a hair. He let the kidz lose Indiana, just like he's let Annie Oakley hang around after her time.

But they've all done just well enough to limp into Denver and the Democratic nomination. The superdelegates will fall Obama's way and victory will be ours in the fall. The close race in Indiana proved that even when Obama is on the ropes, he's in the fight. He's a champion.

Last thought: ditch the phrase, "a war that should never have been authorized and should never have been waged." Substitute "this disastrous war in Iraq that Bush-Cheney lied for, our children are dying for and Hillary Clinton voted for."

That one line would have carried Indiana in a landslide.++

Chicago Tribune Endorsement: Indiana, Go with Obama

Josh Thomas — Sun, 04 May 2008 17:18:23 EDT

I live in Northwest Indiana, south of Gary and Hammond, on the farthest edge of Chicagoland. I grew up watching Chicago TV; the Cubs are still my baseball team. (I like the White Sox too.) I'm about 100 miles from the Loop and 100 miles from Monument Circle in Indianapolis. This is farm country, "the real Indiana," and my neighbors grow lots and lots of corn.

When I was a kid I used to get up early on Sunday mornings to sell newspapers at the old-time drugstore where my mother was a pharmacist. I had to put the papers together by hand; they arrived by bus in sections. I sold The Indianapolis Star, the Lafayette Journal and Courier, the Chicago Sun-Times and the Chicago Tribune. The Tribune was the biggest paper of all; not my best-seller, but a lot of people wanted their Tribune.

I didn't like it back then; it was this old, conservative Republican mouthpiece, Col. McCormick's house organ, "DEWEY DEFEATS TRUMAN." It was the paper of big business and big money, while the Sun-Times was the scrappy voice of the people. Well, times have changed. Chicago's a completely Democratic town and the Tribune read the writing on the wall. The Trib gradually moved to the center and the Sun-Times moved to the right in response.

So imagine my glee today to read this lead editorial from the Sunday Tribune:

Indiana, Go with Obama
Not since Robert F. Kennedy's short-lived presidential campaign has the first Tuesday in May mattered so much. That's cause for excitement in Indiana, a state that is typically an afterthought in presidential primary politics. With the race between Democrats Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton threatening to last until August's national convention —and the candidates running neck-and-neck in Indiana—Hoosiers have a big role to play in picking the 2008 Democratic nominee.
In February, when Illinois voters faced the same choice, this page urged them to support Obama. "He is the Democrat best suited to lead this nation," the editorial said. We remain convinced of that as our Indiana readers head to the polls on Tuesday.

One benefit of the prolonged primary campaign is that Americans have had a better look at the candidates than in most years. In a race that many Democrats believe should have been conceded long ago, Obama has maintained his composure against an opponent whose desperation strategy is to hang in there and lob spitballs at the front-runner long enough to do an end-run around voters.

At times, the historic contest between the first viable female presidential candidate and the first viable African-American has threatened to devolve into just another ugly race between ordinary pols whose positions on the issues are largely the same. But in recent weeks, Obama's personal and political mettle have been sorely tested— and have been proven.
Inflammatory statements made by Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Obama's pastor for 20 years, raised questions about the candidate's long association with a man who views America as irredeemably racist. Obama sought first to make this a teaching moment: In a remarkable speech in Philadelphia, he spoke with grace and eloquence about our nation's racial divisions, defended the minister's right to speak his mind and suggested that understanding the source of such pain is essential to healing.

But Wright's rants only escalated. Obama was forced to publicly denounce the man who presided at his wedding, baptized his daughters and supplied the title for his book, "The Audacity of Hope."

By putting him in this difficult position, Wright may have unwittingly done Obama a favor. Moved to passionate restatement of his beliefs, Obama reminded a lot of people of what they found so appealing in him in the first place.

By contrast, look what we've seen from Hillary Clinton's campaign in recent weeks. Her embellishments about the purported danger of a 1996 trip to Bosnia. Bill Clinton's statement that the Obama campaign "played the race card on me"—and Clinton's later, laughable denial that he had used those words. We've seen a campaign that has sought to tear down its opponent and pander to voters. The Clinton campaign is playing just the kind of politics that Americans say they detest.

We need a president who can forge consensus and compromise among ideological foes. Barack Obama is that kind of Democrat; Hillary Clinton is not.

In our original endorsement, we noted that "the professional judgment and personal decency with which he has managed himself and his ambition distinguish Barack Obama." His performance in the three months since that editorial have only reinforced that opinion.

Indiana Democrats, your choice should be clear: Barack Obama.

Meanwhile, the Post-Tribune of Merrillville and Gary weighed in this way:

Obama Represents Best Hope for Change
The buzz word in the race for the Democratic nomination for president has been “change” — change from the failed policies of President Bush, who has little positive to hold on to as he approaches the end of his presidency.
Barack Obama has taken the crusade for change a step further, calling for a change in the politics and policies of Washington and the country as a whole.
We recommend a vote for Obama because he potentially represents more of what is new than Hillary Clinton, who is part of the inside crowd in Washington.
While Obama and Clinton have very similar views on many of the key issues — health care, tax revision and ending the war in Iraq — true change and government reform can be brought about only through the unity of Republicans and Democrats across the country, but particularly on Capitol Hill.
Obama, in part because of his newness, represents the best hope for change. Should he be the nominee, Obama’s first task will be to unite the Democratic Party, fractured by many months of acrimonious campaigning. Should he succeed, it bodes well for what he could do for the country, bruised by the economy and the war, and left lacking in confidence of the government.
Obama, too, has pledged to take back Washington from the corporate PACs that he says made $470 million in political contributions to those in Washington during the last election cycle. We also are impressed that Obama largely has kept his campaign focused on the future and what he wants to accomplish, rather than attacking Clinton.
While Obama still needs to spell out more of the particulars for his plan for change, we see him as his party’s choice to do so. Still, should he not unite the party, then the voters likely won’t give him a chance to lead the country.

Clinton, Bayh Lean Hard on County Chairs, Dividing Indiana

Josh Thomas — Sat, 03 May 2008 22:01:56 EDT

The primary election is in 3 days; where does it stand now? The race is too close to call. Obama leads nationally and insurmountably, but Clinton presses on, dividing the party and the state of Indiana. Meanwhile John McCain has opened an edge against both Democrats—Old Man McCain of "100 more years in Iraq" fame!

Ryan Nees of the must-read Howey Politics Indiana reported May 1 on Evan Bayh's squeeze job on Democratic county chairs and district chairs to fall in line with Hillary Clinton, or else. It's fascinating reading, and one conclusion I get is that Evan Bayh is no Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, whose party apparatus delivered the Keystone State to Mrs. Clinton.

Since Bayh the Colorless wisely dropped his own presidential bid before it got off the ground, and then jumped on Clinton's turnip truck, he's been pressuring statewide Democrats to endorse her so he can get the veep slot. Heaven knows he needs a mammoth booster shot if he's ever going to become a national figure. (You know that's what he wants; just like George W. Bush, Evan has a need to prove Daddy wrong.)

But what Hoosier Democrat would want Evan Bayh anywhere near the White House? He's the man for whom the "Republicrat" tag was invented.

Turns out, according to the Howey report, that Bayh's Buddies are now threatening to withhold support from on-again, off-again Rep. Baron Hil's re-election campaign for having the audacity to endorse Sen. Obama. Here's the quote from HPI:

The ninth district has become especially volatile. District Chairman Mike Jones sought permission to endorse Clinton from his district’s county chairs at three organizational meetings in a row, getting rebuffed each time, according to Jefferson County Chair Jim Melton. Finally Jones endorsed yesterday anyway, departing on the same day from Baron Hill, the congressman whose interests Jones is primarily tasked with looking after, but who bucked Bayh to announce his endorsement of Obama.
Bayh fundraiser Dean Boerste immediately began the retribution against Hill, distributing a mass e-mail to party insiders that angrily accused Hill of "defying all political logic" and threatening "damage to Congressman Hill’s re-election efforts." The message encouraged recipients to call Hill’s office and express their "concerns of [Hill] making any endorsements," advising the congressman to "stay focused on his re-election."

Retribution. It's not just Clinton, it's suck-up Evan Bayh too.

But even that wasn't enough to sway Congressman Hill, and it may not be enough for Hoosier Democrats either. This weekend's polls say the presidential primary is tied, and the momentum has swung back to Obama. What could you buy with Hillary's "quarter and a nickel" gas tax pander?

If she loses, so does Bayh. Which reminds me of a post on my personal blog two months ago, warning that he would pull these shenanigans, America be damned.

Face it, Evan, your Daddy (Sen. Birch Bayh) lost in 1976 not because he was too liberal, but because he got beat by a better candidate who understood the post-Watergate times, who said "I will never lie to you." His name was President Jimmy Carter.

This year, it's Barack Obama who understands the times, the people, what's wrong and what can be made right with America again. While Clinton promises four years of bitter partisanship, Obama offers four years of hope, cooperation and problem-solving.

Maybe Hillary will still manage to pull off Indiana; if so it will likely be by the slimmest of margins, no big victory. If she loses here and in North Carolina, she's done.

And Evan Bayh will have his own re-election to worry about.

Three days, folks. Let's end this race in Indiana with some Hoosier common sense.

Repudiating Rev. Wright

Josh Thomas — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 18:05:53 EDT

Since I don't get television (by choice), I don't see the same campaign most Americans do. I see the same images and hear the same soundbites, but I'm in control of my information; I watch, listen, read and think via the internet. Wolf Blitzer doesn't decide the timing or the content, I do.

Last night I read an article in The New York Times about Rev. Wright's latest TV appearances; I thought the article was snide. I watched all of Bill Moyers' long interview with Wright and found him eloquent, smart, worth listening to. But now that I've seen the first 20 minutes of Wright's NAACP speech in Detroit, in which he mocks President Kennedy and President Johnson for their accents, I realize that The Times TV critic was right on the money. Wright thinks this is all about him, and he's making the most of it.

As The Times columnist Bob Herbert points out today, Wright's so devoted to Black people he's willing to destroy the first Black senator with a chance to be president. Wright has turned into a caricature of himself, as Sen. Obama said today.

I am not a Kennedy idolizer. I remember President Kennedy's term differently than many others do; I was 9 years old when he was elected, but I was already tuned in to national news and politics. Kennedy seemed indecisive on civil rights. When he was killed, President Johnson took over, with the smoothest transition in a time of national crisis. For almost a year LBJ had perfect pitch in everything he said and did. And with help from many people, from Martin Luther King Jr. and the thousands of civil rights marchers and activists to Democratic and Republican members of the Senate, LBJ got the Civil Rights Act of 1964 passed. That changed everything.

So when Jeremiah Wright comes around to make fun of two American heroes for how they talked, for their regional accents, I am done with Jeremiah Wright. I don't care what point he was trying to make. I just click the Stop button. I navigate elsewhere.

I knew the Chicago Tribune had video of Sen. Obama denouncing Wright's remarks, so I watched that. I wanted to see how the candidate performs in a time of trial. He was thoughtful and considerate; he could have been a little clearer and more forceful, but he was thinking on his feet. He'll get his words simplified in a half hour. If he needs help, here's my suggestion: "America, just hit the clicker on Rev. Wright."

I was satisfied with Obama's news conference today, so I navigated here to post this, and as soon as I hit Publish, I'll be making another donation. Indiana is going to turn the tide on this nomination. Indiana is going to make Barack Obama president of the United States. Indiana is going for Obama on May 6th, just like we went for Robert Kennedy in 1968, Lyndon Johnson in 1964 and John F. Kennedy in 1960.

It's our gift to America. You can always count on Hoosiers to do the right thing.++

Indiana campaign mailings

Josh Thomas — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 18:26:19 EDT

The postman in my small Indiana town is bringing me mail from the two campaigns—or rather from Senator Clinton and the SEIU, which does independent expenditures for Senator Obama. It's really interesting to see the difference in tone between the two sides.

Both the Service Employees' Union pieces highlight education and the war in Iraq, including that Indiana has paid $8 billion so far for George Bush's war, money we don't have available to put into our classrooms or anything else. These mailers have grainy pictures of Bush and nice pix of Obama. I like the fliers' focus on Iraq. I'm one of the 10% of Americans to whom the war is the #1 issue facing this country. I support our troops so much I want 'em home now.

Then there are Sen. Clinton's fliers. The first advertising I got in this campaign came from her. One side was positive for Hillary and the other was negative for Obama.

Then another one arrived today; both sides of it are negative, anti-Obama, blaming him for high gasoline prices. It's got his picture on it, and his name four times; you have to look closely to see it was "Paid for by Hillary Clinton for President." Otherwise her name isn't on it at all.

Well, she's behind, so I suppose she has to attack. But that doesn't mean I appreciate getting this junk, or respect her for sending it.

I've seen only three campaign signs in town so far; all three are for Barack Obama.

IN Poll 4/2: Tight Race, Clinton up by 3%

Josh Thomas — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 21:40:00 EDT

From the Associated Press:

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama are running about even in their race to win Indiana's May 6 primary, according to a new statewide poll released Thursday.

The poll commissioned by WSBT-TV in South Bend, the South Bend Tribune, WISH-TV in Indianapolis and WANE-TV in Fort Wayne shows that of 400 likely Democratic primary voters, 49 percent would vote for Clinton and 46 percent would favor Obama if the election were held today. That is within the poll's margin of error of plus or minus 5 percentage points.

In other words, the Indiana primary is anybody's ball game right now, said Del Ali of the Rockville, Md.-based Research 2000, which conducted the poll through telephone interviews from March 31 through April 2.

Ali said the winner will depend on a variety of factors, including the candidates' abilities to hold on to certain demographic groups.

Obama has a solid lead (63 percent to 36 percent) among respondents age 18 to 29. Clinton, meanwhile, holds 60 percent of respondents older than 60 years old, to Obama's 34 percent. Clinton holds a seven-point lead over Obama among voters age 30 to 44, and a six-point lead with voters age 45 to 59.

Those are advantages she needs to grow for an Indiana victory, Ali said.

"If she does very well in that age group, I think she probably wins the primary," he said.

An Obama victory could depend on his ability to hold onto black voters. In the survey, 81 percent of black voters said they will support Obama, to Clinton's 16 percent. Black voters made up 12 percent of the survey. Blacks make up about 9 percent of Indiana's population, according to state data.

"If they're going to be 12 percent-plus coming out in this primary, and he's holding over 80 (percent), he could pull this thing out," Ali said.

On issues, the poll showed 39 percent of respondents sayings a candidate's stand on the economy or job creation would most determine their vote. That is followed by 22 percent who said they were most concerned about pulling troops out of Iraq. A fifth of respondents said the cost of health care was their top concern.

Read the rest here.

---

A 3% Clinton lead within the margin of error is a fantastic showing for Obama with more than a month to go! Consider her name recognition vs. his; nobody calls her Hillary Hussein Clinton. Here, in one of the reddest states in America, she should be leading Obama by 20 points—and she's barely ahead.

We don't have to passively sit by while superdelegates decide the nomination. Voters in Pennsylvania, Indiana and North Carolina can drive Clinton out of the race by using our power from the bottom up, voting and delivering our states for Obama. If Clinton can't win Indiana, it will soon be clear, she can't win at all.

So let's do it, Hoosiers! Let's decide this thing for the rest of America. Let's create the change we want. Talk to your friends, buy a T-shirt, grab a yard sign, buy a roll of stickers. Let's show Indiana that Barack Obama is unstoppable.

As Gov. Richardson says, "He's a once-in-a-lifetime candidate."

In my lifetime, I want change I can believe in—a candidate who won't let us down, but will lift America up. Obama's got the momentum and I hereby predict: he will carry Indiana.

WaPo: Indiana "a Real Fight"

Josh Thomas — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 01:20:56 EDT

My sense is that we can win Indiana for Barack Obama. I don't doubt that Sen. Clinton is popular here among Democrats; the Clintons seemed to promise change back in the day. But that was 16 years ago, and the only change we got was a NAFTA T-shirt (made in China).

Here's the Washington Post's take:

Indiana Shapes Up as a State of Parity for Democrats

By Anne E. Kornblut
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, March 25, 2008; A04

EVANSVILLE, Ind. -- Something unusual appears to be developing in the Democratic presidential race in this state: a fair fight.

Wedged between Illinois, which is Sen. Barack Obama's home state, and Ohio, which Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton dominated on March 4, Indiana may be the one state remaining on the primary calendar where both candidates begin with a roughly equal chance of coming out ahead.

That fact alone makes it stand out from states such as Pennsylvania, where the playing field for the April 22 contest offers big advantages to Clinton (N.Y.), or the Oregon race a month later, which clearly tilts toward Obama.

In Indiana, Obama has a home-field advantage, while Clinton has the backing of the popular Sen. Evan Bayh and may have an edge on the kind of economic issues that are likely to dominate the discussion before the state's Democrats vote on May 6.

"If I had to pick -- and I'm not usually shy about saying who's going to win -- I couldn't tell you today," said Rep. Joe Donnelly, a Democrat who represents Indiana's 2nd District and has not committed to either candidate. Others entrenched in Indiana politics put Clinton ahead, if only slightly.

The state's Democrats have reacted to their sudden relevance with enthusiasm -- thousands waited in the cold to see Clinton at several stops last week -- and the campaigns have responded by pouring resources into the state. Obama arrived here first, making an appearance March 15 in Plainfield, and the Clinton campaign is launching an attempt to limit his following on campuses with its own blitz on the numerous colleges and universities around the state. On Monday, Chelsea Clinton is set to help kick off the effort, appearing with her father, former president Bill Clinton, in South Bend before traveling to Bloomington.

Obama's bases of operation are likely to revolve around the Hoosier State's three major universities -- Notre Dame in the north and Indiana University and Purdue University farther south -- and build out into their respective host cities of South Bend, Bloomington and West Lafayette. The African American populations that spill over from Chicago are expected to favor Obama, as is Indianapolis, the state's largest city.

Former congressman and 9/11 Commission member Timothy J. Roemer is among a long list of Democrats slated to begin working the state aggressively for Obama.

While both campaigns grudgingly admit that the race here is competitive, each is seeking to portray the other as starting with a lead in pursuit of Indiana's 72 pledged delegates.

"We think he has some advantages starting out," Bayh said, referring to Obama, in an interview after spending the day traveling around the state with Clinton. "Twenty percent of Indiana households watch Chicago TV. The city of East Chicago is actually in Indiana."

As a result, Bayh said, a big swath of Indiana is already very familiar with Obama's message and the messenger himself.

But demographics and some of the state's similarities to Ohio, where Clinton won big on March 4, suggest that the senator from New York has a leg up. In southern Indiana, factory towns and areas around Evansville look like prime targets for her economic message aimed at blue-collar voters. Her allies also see strong potential for her in the Indianapolis suburbs.

Clinton already has a 5 to 2 lead among Indiana's 12 superdelegates (her supporters include Bayh, former Democratic National Committee chairman Joe Andrew and Indiana Democratic Party Chairman Dan Parker). The five Democrats who represent Indiana in the House -- several of them locked in tough races of their own -- remain uncommitted.

"Clinton would probably have an upper hand," said Jay Howser, who was campaign manager for Rep. Brad Ellsworth in 2006 and who is not aligned with either presidential campaign. "Although there's probably a heavy base of African American support for Obama in Indianapolis, it's a state that responds well to Clinton."

Clinton's alliance with Bayh, son of Indiana legend Birch Bayh, is already paying off. She hitched herself to the senator and former governor Thursday for a "Hoosiers for Hillary" tour that began in his birthplace, Terre Haute, a working-class and culturally conservative pocket of the state.

At every stop, the two talked about their long friendship, their seats next to each other on the Senate Armed Services Committee, their joint trips to Iraq and Afghanistan, and their late-night political discussions. Recalling a recent conversation on the Senate floor, Bayh said: "I told her, I said, 'Many of our families are facing challenges.' . . . You know what she said to me? She said, 'Those are the people I want to fight for. And if you will stand with me, I will stand with you to build a better America.' "

The handicapping in other state contests also makes Indiana uniquely important. Its primary falls on the same day as voting in North Carolina, where Obama is widely considered to have the advantage. If Clinton wins Pennsylvania, as expected, she hopes to ride that momentum into the remaining contests, including those in Indiana, West Virginia, Kentucky and Puerto Rico. Losses in Indiana and North Carolina would quickly blunt any claim to momentum for her.

The Obama campaign has been careful to play down the significance of any single contest now that it holds the lead in pledged delegates. But in a nod to Indiana's symbolic importance, the campaign has put it in the hands of Mitch Stewart, the former caucus director for Obama in Iowa.

David Axelrod, Obama's chief strategist, said Friday: "Pennsylvania is an uphill battle for us. West Virginia is an uphill battle for us. Kentucky is an uphill battle for us." But he added: "Indiana is going to be a real fight."

To Help Obama, Out-Maneuver Bayh

Josh Thomas — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 20:57:51 EDT

Hillary Clinton is coming to Terre Haute next Thursday, apparently so she can cozy up to Sen. Evan Bayh, the "oft-mentioned" (though only by The Indianapolis Star) possible veep choice who wisely dropped out of the 2008 campaign before it even got started. He had zero chance of winning, and for once (to his credit) a politician figured out which way the wind was blowing.

Clinton is apparently hoping Bayh can help deliver Indiana, like she relied on Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland and is depending on Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell.

Expect Bayh to put the squeeze on every elected Democratic official in the state. This means in your home county; the sheriff, the county commissioners, mayors and councilmembers.

Obama has to run against the Democratic machine. He has always run an insurgent campaign, and I'm old enough to know an insurgent has never won this way. So Obama's task in Indiana will be very difficult.

I don't want to attack Evan Bayh, though I note he's popular by default, a Republicrat, a centrist who decided his father lost his own race for president by being "too liberal." Evan doesn't screw things up, but he also doesn't stand for much. Name one bill he's passed in the Senate; name one war he hasn't voted for.

He's got a pedigree as Birch Bayh's son; he's got a résumé as a former governor and a senator. He's a nice guy with a pretty wife and beautiful twin boys.

Can you name anything else he might stand for? I can't. He's dull as dishwater, which is why he had no chance this year.

The senior senator from Indiana, Richard Lugar, is a foreign policy expert, former chairman (now ranking Republican) on the Foreigh Relations committee, who has worked with ex-Sen. Sam Nunn AND Barack Obama to retire nuclear weapons in the U.S. and the old Soviet Union. Lugar also played a heroic role years ago to drive Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos out of office. Lugar's got a résumé 30 times longer than do-nothing Bayh's.

(Lugar also votes for every tax cut for the rich and against every progressive domestic bill that comes down the pike.)

So I suggest, as the Indiana primary campaign gears up, that we buttonhole our local Democratic office-holders, those sheriffs and mayors and township officials, to let them know that this is a contested race and many voters in our counties are supporting Barack Obama, before Bayh and Clinton have a chance to sew them up.

This is about our country, after all. It's about Indiana. It's about our future, not our past.

Treat all elected officials as if they are superdelegates, and urge them to stay neutral or side with Obama. They need to know there are consequences to rushing under the Clinton banner. With a race this close, no politician wants to wind up on the losing side. County assessors, recorders and judges need to maintain good relationships with Sen. Bayh, while keeping a window open to Sen. Obama.

After all, he's our next-door neighbor. And if he ends up with the Democratic nomination, he'll have a long memory about those neighbors who supported the establishment senator from New York instead of an outside-the-box fresh face from the Midwest.

Urge your fellow Democrats to stay neutral and see what develops.

Then out-organize Evan Bayh and the sluggish local establishment.

AP: Obama Thrills Plainfield Crowd

Josh Thomas — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 21:13:17 EDT

Obama thrills Plainfield crowd at town hall meeting

By DEANNA MARTIN
The Associated Press

March 15, 2008
PLAINFIELD, Ind. - More than 2,000 people packed a high school gym Saturday to hear Sen. Barack Obama deliver what supporters said was a refreshing and exciting message of change.

"This is the first time in a long time that I've really had any hope about the political system in America," said Jennifer Heinzelman, who came from Noblesville with her 8-year-old daughter, Haley, to see the presidential hopeful. "It's really inspiring."

Obama spoke for about 20 minutes before taking questions from the crowd for another 45 minutes. People cheered and clapped throughout the event. But perhaps the loudest cheers and longest standing ovation came from a simple statement that has become a keystone of the Illinois senators campaign.

"The American people are ready for change," Obama said.

That message seems to resonate with younger voters jaded by politics, said Scott Russell, a 24-year-old Indianapolis resident who signed up at the event to be an Obama campaign volunteer.

"I think he brings to the table a lot of genuine aspects that a lot of other candidates dont have," Russell said.

Obama and New York Sen. Hillary Clinton are battling for Indiana's 72 delegates. Among the crowd Saturday was Indiana's newest Democratic superdelegate - newly elected Congressman Andre Carson of Indianapolis.

Several state lawmakers also attended, including self-proclaimed "Obama Mama" Sen. Earline Rogers, a Democrat from Gary. Rogers noted the audience was a mix of young and old, black and white.

"It's this kind of crowd that I think reflects the kind of America that Barack Obama sees and the kind of America we ought to be," said Rogers, D-Gary.

Obama touched on race throughout his opening speech and denounced comments by the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, pastor of the Chicago church Obama joined nearly 20 years ago.

The crowd listened quietly as Obama spoke about Robert Kennedy's 1968 speech in Indianapolis, where he had to tell an inner-city crowd the news that Martin Luther King Jr. had been assassinated. Kennedy called for unity during that moment of anguish, Obama said, and America should come together now as one.

"This campaign started on the basis that we are one America," Obama said. "There's no black America, there's no white America, there's no Asian America or Latino America. There's the United States of America."

Obama outlined several pillars of his campaign platform, including starting the process of bringing troops home from Iraq, improving the country's health care system and revising energy policies. Hoosiers had several questions for Obama on topics such as education, social security and ethanol and other bio-fuels.

Obama said he had no more time to answer questions and the crowd let out an "aww" in disappointment. But cheers erupted when Obama said he would be actively campaigning in Indiana - a state not used to playing an important role in primary elections.

"We finally get to see a primary - that's awesome," said Joy Day, 24, of Indianapolis. "We've always just been handed a candidate."

Clinton's campaign announced Friday that she plans to visit several cities across Indiana on Thursday.

The Indianapolis Star: Obama Makes His Case to Hoosier Voters

Josh Thomas — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 17:26:23 EDT

4:13 PM March 15, 2008

By Mary Beth Schneider
The Indianapolis Star

mary.beth.schneider@indystar.com

PLAINFIELD -- For more than an hour today, Democratic Sen. Barack Obama laid out his case to Hoosiers why they should make him the next president. At times, the Plainfield High School gym packed with more than 2,000 cheering people was a din of noise, as Hoosiers roared their approval of his promise to bring the troops home from Iraq and care for injured soldiers, end the nation's reliance on foreign oil, rebuild the economy and improve education.

At other times, though, the room was almost silent. Such was the case when Obama spoke about one of the last times Indiana's primary election mattered, as it will May 6 when voters choose between Obama and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.

It was 1968. Sen. Robert Kennedy was in Indianapolis to campaign for the presidency and had to break the word to an inner-city crowd that the Rev. Martin Luther King had been assassinated.

In a famous speech Kennedy delivered that night, he called for unity and an end to hate.

That, Obama said, is why he's running for president.

"If we can come together there is no challenge we can't face down," Obama said. "I'm here to report the American people are ready for change."

Obama spoke for about 20 minutes, then answered questions from the audience for another 45 minutes on everything from whether he would change No Child Left Behind -- he would -- to saving Social Security. On that, he proposed raising the cap on payroll taxes. Right now, people pay payroll taxes only on their first $97,000 in income. That means, he said, that 94 percent of folks pay on every dime they make, while billionaire Warren Buffett pays only on a tiny fraction of his income.

If elected, he said, he would focus immediately on three things: Bringing the troops home in a responsible manner; universal health care reform that continues private insurance but helps people afford it; and a new energy policy. Do those things, he said, and other programs such as improving education become doable; fail, and the nation would be bankrupt.

People reacted with a disappointed "aah" when Obama finally said his time was up. But he promised to be back to campaign aggressively in Indiana.

Ferraro's Blunder

Josh Thomas — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 19:12:57 EDT

It's sad to see Geraldine Ferraro, the vice presidential candidate in 1984, go down in flames. But she lit the match, just like Eliot Spitzer did.

I remember 1984. It was very exciting that former VP Walter Mondale chose Ferraro, then a Congresswoman from Queens. Americans have been comfortable with female candidates ever since. (Margaret Thatcher was prime minister of Britain at the time, and her country didn't fall apart, so why should ours?)

Ferraro's claim that Sen. Obama got where he is "because he's a Black man" is ludicrous on its face. He got where he is because he's smart, likable, principled, experienced and articulate.

When someone's got all that, being Black doesn't hurt in Mississippi, but doesn't help in Wyoming. He won both of them.

Ferraro should have known better. What a stupid thing to say. USA to Geraldine: We're tired of hearing about race! We want to move on. We don't want the politics of gridlock and polarization. We want to solve problems for a change!

Obama's best experience, IMHO, was his being a community organizer and civil rights attorney. Movements start from the bottom up. It takes a Stonewall riot to create the Human Rights Campaign: first the one, then the other.

If Obama is able to ride this movement all the way to the White House—and I believe he can—that will be historic in a way that transcends race.

I remember his discernment process, when he found out how popular he was and considered whether to run for president. It was obvious to me that he ought to, but he took his time, talked to his family and a lot of other people. You've got to strike while the iron is hot. That's a cardinal rule in politics.

Barack is hot. (That's not a comment on his looks, which don't do much for me.) It's his ideas and character that are hot, not his Blackness.

Clinton is cold. She's very skilled, but she's cold. What's worse, she's proving to be as calculating as her husband Slick Willy. If we elect her we'll go back to all politics, all the time; every day as a campaign.

I look forward to the day we elect a woman president. But not this woman—not with friends like Geraldine Ferraro playing the race card.

Wolfson Loses It for Hillary

Josh Thomas — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 17:50:00 EDT

I'm sitting here in shock at something I just read in the Chicago Tribune:

Clinton Aide: Obama Unqualified for VP

Hillary and Bill Clinton have been bandying about this notion all weekend that a Hillary-Obama ticket is the way to go. And we know why; she's trying to pick off voters who like them both. But it's prompted the question, "If he's not qualified to be Commander in Chief, why would you pick him as VP?"

Having no answer for that, Clinton spokesman Howard Wolfson has just said, "He's not qualified to be VP either."

Oh really.

Then what do you say to Obama's millions of voters? That we're stupid?

STUPID was voting for a needless war in Iraq!

What is with these Clintonites? First they insult every state they lost, now they insult every voter who wants someone besides their candidate.

Insulting voters is not the way to win an election. Either she fires Wolfson immediately or she's going down in flames.

I don't see how I could possibly vote for her if she somehow arm-twists her way to the nomination. Yet just this morning I felt the opposite, that any Democrat would be better than Bush-McCain.

Hillary Clinton will never get my vote.

It is time for voters to knock her out of the race. Maybe she'll finally get the message when she loses Mississippi, loses Pennsylvania, loses Indiana and North Carolina.

The Clintons seem to need some lessons in who owns this country. They seem to think they do, but they're wrong. Voters own this country, and it is voters who will repudiate her.

Indiana's Now in Play

Josh Thomas — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 01:19:22 EST

Back in April 1968, Sen. Robert F. Kennedy was campaigning in Indiana when he received the stunning news that the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. had been assassinated.

Kennedy's next stop: a mostly-Black crowd gathered in a park on the near west side of Indianapolis, where people waited for him for several hours, and hadn't heard the news. It fell to him to tell them about Dr. King.

Bobby Kennedy in '68 was the Barack Obama of '08—the charismatic insurgent promising change.

Kennedy broke the horrifying news with graceful, eloquent restraint, providing the people with a bowed and dignified role model just five years after his own brother John F. Kennedy was assassinated, and two months before Sen. Kennedy was himself cut down.

That April night, Indianapolis mourned King and Kennedy in respectful silence.

The park where RFK appeared is now home to the Kennedy-King Memorial, a metal sculpture made of melted-down guns.

I have every hope that when Sen. Obama comes to Indianapolis this year, as he surely will in advance of the Indiana Primary on May 6, that he will stop at the memorial and pay his respects.

I also hope he then gives the rip-roaring speech Sen. Kennedy could not.

I hope too that Sen. Obama will come to Gary, Michigan City, Fort Wayne, West Lafayette, Terre Haute, Bloomington and Evansville. If he has time to stop off in Vincennes, he can set foot on the George Rogers Clark Memorial Bridge, which Abraham Lincoln walked across at age 21 when he moved from his boyhood home in Indiana to Illinois, where he settled finally in Springfield.

I was very moved when Obama kicked off his presidential campaign by invoking Lincoln at the Old State Capitol in Illinois. Man, he knew exactly what he was about.

I was also moved when Sen. Ted Kennedy endorsed him after the South Carolina primary. It took 40 years, but the circle was finally completed.

Come to Indiana, Barack; let us show you some Hoosier Hospitality.++

Turning Defeat in Ohio and Texas into Victory

Josh Thomas — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 04:33:55 EST

I am disappointed that our candidate did not defeat Sen. Clinton two weeks ago in the Texas debate on CNN. He was riding high after 11 straight wins; she was very low. He has the message to defeat her, but he did not use it.

That bothers me a lot. He's painted himself into a corner running a nonpartisan campaign during a partisan primary. McCain is not the opponent; Clinton is.

So here's my script for defeating her in the next debate as we head to Pennsylvania, the one I wish he'd used in Texas. Until Sen. Obama says this, there's a lot to be said for experience; Sen. Clinton will throw the kitchen sink at him, and he has to decide whether he'll fight back.

If he won't, he doesn't deserve to be President; if he will, it's time to go on offense.

"Senator, you sent 160,000 American troops into Iraq. Five years later, almost 4000 soldiers dead, a trillion dollars spent, and what do we have to show for it? Nothing. You voted for this war, which I opposed—and we know why you voted for it: because you wanted to look tough in wartime to be able to claim the mantle of Commander in Chief in 2008. You knew this war was wrong, many Americans did, but you voted for it anyway, in order to stake your ground as a tough person.

"I grant that you're tough, a real fighter—but you sent American men and women into a quagmire, for no better reason than to prove your toughness, that you wear the pants. We never had any business in Iraq, and you know it. But you didn't care; your eyes were on the White House.

"Four thousand men and women are dead, for no good reason than your ambition.

"Your entire campaign is based on Margaret Thatcher's outdated playbook from the '80s: to get elected, a woman's got to be tough. But Senator, the difference is that she was a Tory, a Conservative, and you are supposedly a Democrat.

"But on the crucial vote of this generation, you voted like a Republican.

"My message is clear: Don't ever send our daughters and sons into a war they can't win.

"We have the greatest fighting force ever assembled, for conventional and nuclear war—but our military dominance is so complete no country will ever challenge us militarily. From now on all wars will be guerilla wars, like Vietnam, which you lived through; like Korea, like Iraq, a place where a $20 improvised device can take out Donald Rumsfeld's $500,000 U.S. tank without sufficient armor to protect our fighting forces—one of the great scandals of U.S. history, which Senators like yourself should have investigated and protested.

"But no, you were too busy positioning yourself for the next election—the one you planned for from your undergraduate days at Wellesley, just before you hooked up with Bill Clinton, whose coattails you've tried to ride till today.

"Ma'am, no one elected you First Lady, and no one is entitled to be President; that has to be earned.

"I am a father of girls and I long for the day we elect a woman as President of the United States. What a glorious day that will be. But Senator, you sent women and men to die in Iraq for no better reason—no more cold, calculating reason—than to justify your pantsuits—so you could claim to be 'ready to be Commander in Chief from Day One.'

"I know you're tough; all Americans know that. I don't care what you wear or how you look or any of those surface things. I know you are smart, dedicated, and would probably be a better president than your husband was—and that's saying something; he was good at times, he's very talented.

"But America does not want more of the same, Bush-Clinton, Bush-Clinton; America wants change, from the bottom up, regardless of political party, beyond political party. You represent the old; I represent the new.

"Hillary, you're a fantastic Senator, a role model for millions, including my daughters! BUT I will never send American soldiers to die for the impossible just so I can look good in pants."