Is there really anything wrong with admitting you made a mistake in selecting Biden as your running mate? After Palin was chosen by McCain I sense a significant shift occured in the consciousness of America. The idea of splitting the top posts by gender resonates many people, almost every woman, and this is why McCain is doing so well in the opinion polls.
Barack, if you make the change and choose Hillary as your running mate, not only will you dramatically increase your chances of winning the election but you will help establish a very strong precedent. This may well cement a transformation of the US political landscape as well as produce a step change in progess towards gender equality. I am sure Clinton will realise this and will not refuse your invitation.
Make the change that people can believe in. What is stopping you?
I think Sarah Palin will end up hurting the Pro life camp and also her presidential ticket.
Sarah Palin’s choice of continuing with her pregnancy even though she knew the child had Down syndrome has made me think about the abortion issue. I was surprised to realize that Sarah Palin’s choice of continuing the pregnancy symbolizes one of the most questionable and painful positions of the pro life camp. I think every body who thinks about Palin will think about her this particular choice and as a consequence think about pro life positions in a fearful way. I wonder as to why Senator McCain would try to portray pro life position in such a painful way.
The McCain camp thinks that Barack Obama deep down believes that he is not prepared to be president by inadvertently introducing Joe Biden as the next president of the United States even though he immediately corrected himself and introduced Joe Biden as the next vice-president of the United States.
I disagree.
Barack Obama’s inadvertence in introducing Joe Biden as the next president of the United States proves Barack Obama’s honesty in his intention to pick someone who is qualified to be president on day one or at the end of Obama’s eight year term, not merely his campaign "attack dog."
The Freudian slip also shows how much respect and reverence Barack Obama has for Joe Biden, not only for his work in the Senate, but also for whom Joe Biden is as a person.
The slip reinforces Barack Obama’s intent on having a vice-president who is willing, ready and able to work with Barack Obama as president on day one to repair the dilapidated job market, economy, energy policy, Mideast affairs and moral compass.
The slip also points to a successful bonding of political and personal friendship, when the president and the vice-president can think with one mind and speak with one voice, when status, labels and titles can almost be inconsequential and interchangeable.
It is around this one-voice phenomenon that Barack Obama has rallied Americans to strive for the unification of the red and blue states and inspired people across the continent with his proclamation in Berlin, that he is a citizen of the world.
Barack Obama’s Freudian slip today in Springfield, Illinois, proves beyond a reasonable doubt that Barack Obama is not a person who needs to be conscious of or insecure about his status or label or title, but one who values the right of every other to take part in this life, in which all of us are equal and responsible partners.
Well after three and a half days of awaiting the text message from Barack stating who his V.P would be, the news has finally arrived. At 3am on 08/23 the text message came through stating that Barack has chosen Senator Joe Biden to be his running mate. I must say that I am very pleased with this decision because Biden has a very long and strong political background and when teamed up with Barack Obama they do indeed make the often referred to "Dream Team". Together I am very confident that they will take on John McCain and the republicans, give it to them hard, and on November 4th Barack Obama will be elected president! YES WE CAN!
-Stevenhttp://my.barackobama.com/page/outreach/view/main/Steve4Obama
The full article
It IS official, as of a couple minutes ago. It's an Obama/Biden ticket!!
Excerpt:
In Senator Joe Biden, Barack Obama may have found exactly what he’s looking for in a vice presidential candidate. He’s experienced, he’s a seasoned foreign affairs expert, and by some accounts, he’s at the top of Obama’s short list going into the Democratic National Convention this weekend. It’s not just the Delaware Senator’s impressive résumé that has party insiders crossing their fingers for an Obama/Biden ticket. What Democrats should really be excited about is that Joe Biden just might be the most relatable man in Washington. Voters can watch politicians on television without ever really knowing them. John Kerry was branded an elitist for what some perceived as his extreme inability to form a direct connection with his audience. Even Barack Obama, for all of his mass appeal, remains someone of an enigma. To the average American, Obama is as much an idea as he is a man. At the very least, the Obama that most Americans know is the distinguished statesman behind the podium, the inspiring orator at the pulpit. But with Biden (to use a tired, but entirely apropos expression), what you see is what you get. He balances Obama’s lofty, energizing rhetoric with a kind of no-nonsense, everyday American idiomatic style in the same way that allowed George W. Bush to form a bond with Republicans and Independents from coast to coast. The difference is that Biden accomplishes this without ever descending to the level of pandering: in the privacy of his own home, the Yale-educated Bush’s dialogue may or may not include some of the idioms he favors in public (i.e., “hunt ‘em down,” and “smoke ‘em out”). When Biden stands before a group of firefighters and offers to buy them all a round of beers to express his gratitude for the firefighters who saved the lives of his two young boys when they were nearly killed in an auto accident, there’s something decidedly more genuine to his tone. During the interminable period of Democratic debates in the run-up to the Iowa Caucus, Biden was the sole source of direct, common-sense answers to debate moderators and reporters. In the first CNN forum, Biden was asked whether- given his history of verbal gaffes- he could be trusted to represent the US in a dignified manner on the world stage. The notoriously long-winded Biden smiled and answered, “Yes,” leaving Anderson Cooper silent as he waited for an elaboration that wasn’t coming. Later, he spurred laughter when he said, “The irony is, Rudy Giuliani [is] probably the most unqualified man to seek the presidency since George W. Bush…I mean think about it! Rudy Giuliani! There’s only three things he mentions in a sentence- a noun, a verb, and 9/11. There’s nothing else. And I mean this sincerely: he’s genuinely not qualified to be president.”
Hello, sports fans. As we near the end of our quadrennial games, let’s take a look back at how we got to where we are now: The Titan Who Fell - Hillary Clinton: Perhaps the victim of her own hype, the former First Lady crashed in a big way in the primary round in the most anticipated event of these games- the quest for the White House. As of late 2006, just after Team Democrat had taken gold in Senate races, House races, and gubernatorial races alike, pundits across the country were ready to place the gold medal around Clinton’s neck. But Clinton failed to achieve what had been a “sure win,” forcing her to settle for silver in the presidential event. When it came time for the vice presidential race, many of Clinton’s fans remained behind her. However, the down-and-dirty strategy that she displayed in the presidential race cost her some serious ground in the latter event, effectively ruling her out of the following qualifying rounds for the vice presidency. Disqualified for Foul Play - John Edwards: Every four years, hearts are broken around the world when we find out that our heroes don’t pass the requisite tests prior to competition. Sometimes, it’s doping and steroids. Other times, it’s a different kind of cheating. The race for the presidency requires that candidates not only refrain from performance enhancers (i.e., illegal campaign contributions, etc), but also that they maintain a history of ethics and integrity commensurate with the prestige of these games. And if you can’t meet the requirements for the presidential event, it’s not likely that you’ll fare too well in the vice presidential race, either. Like Mom always said, cheaters never prosper…especially if it is on your wife while she’s battling cancer. Playing for the Wrong Team - Michael Bloomberg and Chuck Hagel: For most of his life, Mike Bloomberg was on Team Democrat. But when the qualifying race (primary) for the New York Mayoral race looked a little crowded, Bloomberg switched to Team Republican, despite remaining a Democrat at heart. Now, he’s on a team of his own (Team Independent). Technically, that made him a contender for the vice presidential event. But in the long, storied history of these games, never has an Independent joined the national ticket of a Democratic presidential gold medal winner. And while Republican Chuck Hagel might similarly have seemed like a good idea, you can bet that if it’s tough for an Independent to win gold here, it’s damn near impossible for a member of Team GOP.Click on the link to see the rest of the VP contenders... :OD
The Titan Who Fell - Hillary Clinton: Perhaps the victim of her own hype, the former First Lady crashed in a big way in the primary round in the most anticipated event of these games- the quest for the White House. As of late 2006, just after Team Democrat had taken gold in Senate races, House races, and gubernatorial races alike, pundits across the country were ready to place the gold medal around Clinton’s neck. But Clinton failed to achieve what had been a “sure win,” forcing her to settle for silver in the presidential event. When it came time for the vice presidential race, many of Clinton’s fans remained behind her. However, the down-and-dirty strategy that she displayed in the presidential race cost her some serious ground in the latter event, effectively ruling her out of the following qualifying rounds for the vice presidency.
Disqualified for Foul Play - John Edwards: Every four years, hearts are broken around the world when we find out that our heroes don’t pass the requisite tests prior to competition. Sometimes, it’s doping and steroids. Other times, it’s a different kind of cheating. The race for the presidency requires that candidates not only refrain from performance enhancers (i.e., illegal campaign contributions, etc), but also that they maintain a history of ethics and integrity commensurate with the prestige of these games. And if you can’t meet the requirements for the presidential event, it’s not likely that you’ll fare too well in the vice presidential race, either. Like Mom always said, cheaters never prosper…especially if it is on your wife while she’s battling cancer.
Playing for the Wrong Team - Michael Bloomberg and Chuck Hagel: For most of his life, Mike Bloomberg was on Team Democrat. But when the qualifying race (primary) for the New York Mayoral race looked a little crowded, Bloomberg switched to Team Republican, despite remaining a Democrat at heart. Now, he’s on a team of his own (Team Independent). Technically, that made him a contender for the vice presidential event. But in the long, storied history of these games, never has an Independent joined the national ticket of a Democratic presidential gold medal winner. And while Republican Chuck Hagel might similarly have seemed like a good idea, you can bet that if it’s tough for an Independent to win gold here, it’s damn near impossible for a member of Team GOP.
Click on the link to see the rest of the VP contenders... :OD
The past few weeks have belonged to McCain, largely because he has been on the attack. Obama has been stuck in a reactive stance. The merits of McCain's attacks are irrelevant – if he is allowed to define the terms of the election, he will win. One subtle way that McCain is defining the election is through the chatter about Obama's VP selection. There is a large group of Dems that want Obama to select a VP that will somehow shore up his perceived deficiencies in foreign policy and governing. It doesn't seem to matter that the Democratic voting public rejected this argument in the primaries. The poster child for this line of reasoning is Joe Biden. To be fair, Sen. Biden is smart on foreign policy, speaks well, and would probably relish the role of attack dog. But he is as much Mr. Washington as John McCain is. Selecting Biden would significantly affect the “change” message. Instead, Obama should select someone who helps reinforce his brand. That would imply Governors Tim Kaine and Kathleen Sebelius or Gen. Wesley Clark. We ran a Veepstakes contest here at Eyes On Obama, which was comfortably won by Gov. Sebelius with over 77,000 votes cast. It is clearly the estimation of the Eyes On Obama community that Sebelius is the best choice, and it is curious to us that she gets so little mention from the chattering class. The other data point that can be gleaned from the vote is that change beats out experience. Every single one of our top 5 contenders was a change candidate. There's plenty of historical support for choosing a running mate that reinforces brand as opposed to someone with complementary traits. Dick Cheney was even further to the right than George W. Bush. Al Gore was a young southerner selected for the VP spot in another “change” year. That worked out pretty well for Bill Clinton. Complementary picks like Lieberman, Edwards, and Quayle muddied the message and ended up pleasing no one.
One subtle way that McCain is defining the election is through the chatter about Obama's VP selection. There is a large group of Dems that want Obama to select a VP that will somehow shore up his perceived deficiencies in foreign policy and governing. It doesn't seem to matter that the Democratic voting public rejected this argument in the primaries. The poster child for this line of reasoning is Joe Biden. To be fair, Sen. Biden is smart on foreign policy, speaks well, and would probably relish the role of attack dog. But he is as much Mr. Washington as John McCain is. Selecting Biden would significantly affect the “change” message.
Instead, Obama should select someone who helps reinforce his brand. That would imply Governors Tim Kaine and Kathleen Sebelius or Gen. Wesley Clark. We ran a Veepstakes contest here at Eyes On Obama, which was comfortably won by Gov. Sebelius with over 77,000 votes cast. It is clearly the estimation of the Eyes On Obama community that Sebelius is the best choice, and it is curious to us that she gets so little mention from the chattering class. The other data point that can be gleaned from the vote is that change beats out experience. Every single one of our top 5 contenders was a change candidate.
There's plenty of historical support for choosing a running mate that reinforces brand as opposed to someone with complementary traits. Dick Cheney was even further to the right than George W. Bush. Al Gore was a young southerner selected for the VP spot in another “change” year. That worked out pretty well for Bill Clinton. Complementary picks like Lieberman, Edwards, and Quayle muddied the message and ended up pleasing no one.
BOISE, Idaho--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 5, 2004
Stephen Romano, President and Chief Executive Officer of American Ecology Corporation (Nasdaq:ECOL), today announced that retired Four Star General Jimmy D. Ross is standing for election to the Company's Board of Directors at its Annual Shareholders Meeting in Chicago, Illinois on May 20, 2004.
"General Ross offers an important independent perspective to our Board," Romano stated, adding "We also look forward to his advice and assistance in expanding American Ecology's business serving the U.S. Department of Defense and other federal agencies."
Most Popular Evolution From The Silo Organization To The Matrix Organization Structure How To Plan And Execute Strategy The Agile CFO: Enabling the innovation path to growth Managers Can - and Should - Learn How to Manage Job Analysis Information Sheet Form
General Ross was nominated to fill a Board seat being vacated by Roger Hickey, who is not standing for re-election. Six current directors -- David Anderson, Rotchford Barker, Roy Eliff, Edward Heil, Stephen Schutt, and Romano -- join General Ross on the 2004 Board slate.
General Ross retired from the United States Army as Commander of the U.S. Army Materiel Command in Virginia. As the Four-Star General in charge of the Army's research, development, testing, acquisition and sustainment program, General Ross managed 95,000 military and civilian personnel in 40 states and six foreign countries. Among his military assignments, General Ross also served as Army Deputy Chief of Staff for Logistics and Commanding General of the Army's Depot Systems Command. General Ross has served in command assignments worldwide including two combat tours in Vietnam.
Following retirement, General Ross served as Chief Operating Officer for the American Red Cross where he managed overall business operations and a $2.5 billion budget.
Roger Hickey joined the American Ecology Board in 2002. He leaves to devote his energies to other business enterprises, including his work as President of Chicago Partners, LLC.
"American Ecology's successful turnaround plan substantially benefited from Roger's strategic guidance," Romano noted, concluding "We look forward to his continued interest in the Company as a shareholder."
American Ecology Corporation, through its subsidiaries, provides radioactive, PCB, hazardous and non-hazardous waste services to commercial and government customers throughout the United States, such as nuclear power plants, steel mills, medical and academic institutions and petro-chemical facilities. Headquartered in Boise, Idaho, American Ecology is the oldest radioactive and hazardous waste services Company in the United States.
This press release contains forward-looking statements that are based on our current expectations, beliefs, and assumptions about the industry and markets in which American Ecology Corporation and its subsidiaries operate. Actual results may differ materially from what is expressed herein and no assurance can be given that the company can successfully implement its growth strategy, generate future earnings, or expand its services to the U.S. Department of Defense. For information on factors that could cause actual results to differ from expectations, please refer to American Ecology Corporation's Report on Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
A few months back I wrote a post analyzing the attributes of contenders for the VP spot. The conclusion of that post was that Gen. Wesley Clark was the best pick to be Obama's VP. I mentioned at the time that I had not weighted the different metrics that were used to rank the VP contenders. Given that we know a lot more now about how the general election is going to shape up, it's time to put some weights to the different categories and see if we come up with a different result. Here is my ranking of the metrics: Economic Issues (10 pts) Executive Experience (9 pts) Swing Staters (7 pts) Brand (6 pts) Foreign Policy (5 pts) Women (4 pts) Military Service (3 pts) Hillary Supporters (2 pts) Moderate / Conservative Values (1 pt) The weights are listed in parentheses. Using the categorization that we did in the Veepstakes section for each candidate, here is the ranking of all the VP contenders (it may surprise you)
A few months back I wrote a post analyzing the attributes of contenders for the VP spot. The conclusion of that post was that Gen. Wesley Clark was the best pick to be Obama's VP. I mentioned at the time that I had not weighted the different metrics that were used to rank the VP contenders. Given that we know a lot more now about how the general election is going to shape up, it's time to put some weights to the different categories and see if we come up with a different result. Here is my ranking of the metrics:
Economic Issues (10 pts)
Executive Experience (9 pts)
Swing Staters (7 pts)
Brand (6 pts)
Foreign Policy (5 pts)
Women (4 pts)
Military Service (3 pts)
Hillary Supporters (2 pts)
Moderate / Conservative Values (1 pt)
After six rounds and more than 77,000 votes cast, Kathleen Sebelius is the winner of the Eyes On Obama Veepstakes. She received 47% (1001 votes) of the votes in the final round. Sebelius was consistently amongst the top 3 vote getters in each round, despite little media coverage. Other contenders shot up but then fizzled away just as quick. Brian Schweitzer came in second place with 41% of the final round. He has also consistently been in the top tier of candidates despite almost no discussion of him in the media. In terms of total votes from all the rounds though, he is actually in 3rd place behind Wesley Clark. So what does it all mean? It's hard to say who Obama will pick from the sea of contenders, but one thing is clear - his supporters on Eyes On Obama are looking for someone outside of Washington. The final round saw two governors and a mayor (Michael Bloomberg), and the round before included Gen. Clark and Sen. McCaskill, who has only been in the senate for 18 months. In case you don't know much about Kathleen Sebelius, she is a two term governor of Kansas. She has forged productive relationships with Republicans in her state, to the point of convincing the former chair of the Republican party to run as a Democrat. She is Catholic, and her father, John Gilligan, was Governor of Ohio. Sebelius delivered this year's Democratic rebuttal to the State of the Union.
After six rounds and more than 77,000 votes cast, Kathleen Sebelius is the winner of the Eyes On Obama Veepstakes. She received 47% (1001 votes) of the votes in the final round. Sebelius was consistently amongst the top 3 vote getters in each round, despite little media coverage. Other contenders shot up but then fizzled away just as quick.
Brian Schweitzer came in second place with 41% of the final round. He has also consistently been in the top tier of candidates despite almost no discussion of him in the media. In terms of total votes from all the rounds though, he is actually in 3rd place behind Wesley Clark.
So what does it all mean? It's hard to say who Obama will pick from the sea of contenders, but one thing is clear - his supporters on Eyes On Obama are looking for someone outside of Washington. The final round saw two governors and a mayor (Michael Bloomberg), and the round before included Gen. Clark and Sen. McCaskill, who has only been in the senate for 18 months.
In case you don't know much about Kathleen Sebelius, she is a two term governor of Kansas. She has forged productive relationships with Republicans in her state, to the point of convincing the former chair of the Republican party to run as a Democrat. She is Catholic, and her father, John Gilligan, was Governor of Ohio. Sebelius delivered this year's Democratic rebuttal to the State of the Union.
The Huffington Post's Bil Browning says he's comfortable "sticking his neck out" and predicting that Senator Obama will name Indiana Senator Evan Bayh as his Vice Presidential running mate on Wednesday. Browning details the reasons informing his prediction, which include both the Olympic schedule and an "off the calendar" campaign event on Wednesday to which he was invited, but given no details about, while the Senator is in Indiana.
Read the full post here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bil-browning/obama-will-name-bayh-his_b_116752.html
Politico.com posted an article today explaining why it is likely that McCain will let Obama make the first vp selection. The reasoning is fairly clear - if you can wait for the other guy (and thereby have more information to make your decision), why not? The Republican convention is a week after the Democratic convention, so McCain will probably make his selection either at or immediately before his acceptance. Why does this matter? It really comes down to two issues. First, the marriage of convenience between staunch Hillary supporters and the Obama campaign is fragile at best. If Obama were to pick Bayh or Kaine as his running mate, it would create an opening for McCain to select someone like Gov. Sarah Palin in order to peel away some of the women's vote. It's important to remember that while women are often referred to as a minority, they are actually the majority in terms of population in this country. Obama may be leading by 10-15% among women, but a 5% dip from those numbers could (and probably would) be the difference in the election between an Obama or McCain win. Pundits make a lot of Obama's poll numbers and ask why he is only 3-5 points ahead right now. It's very early in the election cycle, and so that's not really a fair critique (but the MSM is rarely deterred by fairness). Where was Obama against Hillary at this point last year? What has been constant in the polls, and tends to be a better indicator, is that McCain has not been able to break 44%. All the variance seems to be in Obama's poll numbers. McCain basically has a ceiling to his numbers, so the only way that he can win is by pulling Obama's numbers down. This brings us to the second but equally important reason to select Hillary. We all got a preview of the fall campaign last week, and it became glaringly apparent that if Obama is to win, he's going to need a strong attack dog to push back on McCain's frivolous ads. Who better to play the part? The phrase "now the fun begins" still haunts Obama supporters to this day. Clinton truly seems to relish a political dogfight, and actually performs better in those conditions. Having her at his side would leave Obama free to be the political rock star that he is, while Clinton and her allies can do their hatchet job on McCain. She can be his Dick Cheney.
Politico.com posted an article today explaining why it is likely that McCain will let Obama make the first vp selection. The reasoning is fairly clear - if you can wait for the other guy (and thereby have more information to make your decision), why not? The Republican convention is a week after the Democratic convention, so McCain will probably make his selection either at or immediately before his acceptance.
Why does this matter? It really comes down to two issues.
First, the marriage of convenience between staunch Hillary supporters and the Obama campaign is fragile at best. If Obama were to pick Bayh or Kaine as his running mate, it would create an opening for McCain to select someone like Gov. Sarah Palin in order to peel away some of the women's vote. It's important to remember that while women are often referred to as a minority, they are actually the majority in terms of population in this country. Obama may be leading by 10-15% among women, but a 5% dip from those numbers could (and probably would) be the difference in the election between an Obama or McCain win.
Pundits make a lot of Obama's poll numbers and ask why he is only 3-5 points ahead right now. It's very early in the election cycle, and so that's not really a fair critique (but the MSM is rarely deterred by fairness). Where was Obama against Hillary at this point last year? What has been constant in the polls, and tends to be a better indicator, is that McCain has not been able to break 44%. All the variance seems to be in Obama's poll numbers. McCain basically has a ceiling to his numbers, so the only way that he can win is by pulling Obama's numbers down. This brings us to the second but equally important reason to select Hillary. We all got a preview of the fall campaign last week, and it became glaringly apparent that if Obama is to win, he's going to need a strong attack dog to push back on McCain's frivolous ads.
Who better to play the part? The phrase "now the fun begins" still haunts Obama supporters to this day. Clinton truly seems to relish a political dogfight, and actually performs better in those conditions. Having her at his side would leave Obama free to be the political rock star that he is, while Clinton and her allies can do their hatchet job on McCain. She can be his Dick Cheney.
While I think it is Great that Hillary has requested that her supporters now back Mr. Obama for President, I don't think Mr. Obama should be concerned with money spent by Hillary in her efforts to attain the seat of power.
Nor should her support in any way effect President Obama's consideration for her as a running mate. Hillary has already spent 8 years in the White House!
During this Presidential Campaign, I once wrote to Hillary's web site concerned with the rising cost of Healthcare, specifically the fact that many pharmacies are charging high prices, yet a search reveals those who can supply the same generic drugs for much less and that I thought drug prices should be regulated. The response I received was that I should contact my own senator because Hillary was busy fulfilling the needs of her own state.
We hope President Obama will choose a running mate more in tune with his own views. Someone who will help him bring about drastically needed changes.
Sincerely,
Mr. and Mrs. Blaeske
