I went to my local Malden ward caucus yesterday to see what it is all about. The purpose of the local caucus is simply to select delegates to go to the State Convention in June. When I arrived, I was the youngest person in the room, though our city councilman who is also around my age did arrive a little later. There were about 12 people and they had already posted a Hillary sign on the wall and several were wearing Hillary stickers. It was suprising to me to see how much support Hillary had and how outspoken it was in the display.
Overall, the people were very welcoming and a few people who were there asked me some questions on Obama's support for Veteran's issues. I didn't have the answers on hand, but it turns out he is on the Veteran's committee in the Senate and has some strong proposals. I am going to bring the information by their center today.
I can see how the strong old school Democratic establishment in Massachusetts has a strong base of support for Hillary, and that base is going to be hard to overcome. In spite of the endorsements of Kennedy, Kerry and Deval Patrick, the older generation of Democrats is still loyal to the Clintons.
I am getting really frustrated that the Clinton attack on Obama that he is all words and no substance is starting to catch on. I think this line of attack was actually started on the liberal blogs by a lot of the Edwards supporters. They would accuse Obama supporters of just supporting the candidate for his speaking ability and identity and not having any policy awareness behind them.
Well, Obama has done, I think, the best job of all the candidates at outlining his policy proposals. He has issued more position papers earlier in the process than any other candidate. In comparison to Hillary in particular he has given much more specific policy proposals.
What's more, the infomation is easily accessible. Just go to www.barackobama.com an click on the Issues tab. When a radio talk show host, blogger, or other talking head accuses Obama of all style and no substance, it just shows that the person hasn't taken the time to educate themselves on where the candidates stand on the issues.
I honestly think that Obama's base of support did not come from his speaking ability, but from his writing about where he stands on issues so eloquently in Dreams of My Father and The Audacity of Hope. The large majority of the volunteers that I have interacted with have read one if not both of these books and left the experience thinking that his point of view on various issues makes a lot of sense.
Be prepared for more of this attack, and educate yourself more on where Obama stands on issues.
"One game at a time."
Bill Belicheck started the philosophy in New England with his Patriots a few years back when the hype started to build around his team. It has lead them to a sensible approach to each game, and prevented them from being suprised by a 'let-down' game.
Over the past year we have seen the Red Sox and Celtics adopt the same philosophy, giving each contest everything they have and leaving thier hearts on the field or floor every night they play.
It is time for the Obama team, including all of us in New England, to take the Belicheck philosophy to heart and fight for a New Hampshire win with everything we can give it. Knock on doors, Get out the vote, Call from home, e-mail anyone you know in New Hampshire.
And after New Hampshire, focus on the next state.
This is what America is about. A man who was the son of a Kenyan, raised by a single mother, lived in Indonesia as a child, experimented with activism and drugs in college, has now become the favorite to be President of the United States of America.
Why? Because he is authentic and wise.
I am so proud to be a part of America today.
Congratulations to everyone who was involved.
Andrew Sullivan of the Atlantic has an unofficial endorsement of Obama and McCain that dwells on the essence of running on hope vs. fear.
Hillary is running her campaign, as George W. Bush has lead his presidency, based on promulgating the fears of Americns and presenting herself as the only possible solution to these fears. Leadership by fear-mongering can be very effective, and several of the most notorious leaders of the twentieth century employed these tactics to bring their countries where they wanted to go. The problem is that the generation of fear can cause people to abandon their own sense of rationality and act irresponsibly.
I recently watched the movie "In the Name of the Father" starring Daniel Day-Lewis. It is about an innocent Irish man who is arrested and convicted by the English government as an IRA terrorist bomber. It turns out that this twenty + year old movie is highly relevant in today's America. The thing that struck me was that the English seemed very aware and concerned about the actions they were taking that were in contradiction with their government. In today's world, with Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo, it seems that fear has allowed people to abandon their better selves.
"The only thing we have to fear, is fear itself." -- Franklin D. Roosevelt
I read this quote today in the Washington Post (in between shoveling snow and shoveling more snow.)
"Yet some Clinton supporters are anxious. One staunch Clinton backer, a former elected official in the state, felt alarm on visiting Obama's headquarters in Manchester to pick up tickets for a friend for Oprah Winfrey's appearance with Obama last weekend and seeing how much "buzz" there was there. "I'm nervous. Obama's campaign feels like Jack Kennedy's. They seem so excited," said the supporter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the campaign had not authorized the comments. "When I call Hillary's headquarters, there's no electricity. It's scary."
I have to say that this struck a chord. For one, I was up in New Hampshire in the Nashua office a few weeks back and the excitement is palpable. Talking to other volunteers when they call, the great videos that have been posted on the Obama blog from Iowa, and reading other blogs all make me feel like the Obama campaign is made up of thousands of very engaged and very excited people.
Clinton's campaign seems to be completely different. It is an establishment campaign run by professionals and powered by the endorsements of career politicians. It has very little grassroots feel to it in comparison to the Obama campaign.
Reading the article in the New York Times yesterday about how Clinton worked so hard to receive the endorsement of the Des Moines Register made me realise how many career politicians are actively involved. Names I have seen regularly pop-up include:
I am sure there are many more, but you get the sense that these are people who are doing this because they work for it, not so much because they believe in it. It's like Google vs. Microsoft. Microsoft has long been dominant and is effective at what it does, but the employees at Microsoft aren't necessarily excited about it. Google, on the other hand, has tapped into something new, and the people involved are thrilled to be a part of it.
The Iowa coverage is starting to really heat up. Politico has a great breakdown of the way the caucus works, and it is already being stocked with pro-Obama comments in the comments section:
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1207/7219.html
The polls that came out yesterday were not all positive, but it is hard not to latch on to the fact that Obama was up by 8 points in Iowa and only down by 6 in NH in two different polls.
In addition, Chris Bowers has an excellent analysis of who is favored to win the nomination, and it comes up Barack! I am excited to see that he really has the potential to win it all. There is no question the momentum is there.
http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=2598
I saw another poll that stated that 31% of New Hampshire voters stated that the Iowa vote has an impact on thier own vote. I think Obama is poised to pick up a lot of Edwards voters if Iowa determines Obama is the anti-Hillary
Finally, InTrade, the exchange market where people can bet on who is going to win has Barack favored to win Iowa and quickly climbing in New Hampshire, South Carolina as well as the general Democratic nominee.
