The Daily Five: On Pakistan

Barack Obama's closing argument, in Des Moines:

"The truth is, you can have the right kind of experience and the wrong kind of experience. Mine is rooted in the real lives of real people, and it will bring real results if we have the courage to change. I believe deeply in those words. But they are not mine. They were Bill Clinton's in 1992, when Washington insiders questioned his readiness to lead,"

... MSNBC counts nine separate "distinctions" with Edwards and Clinton in the speech.... Obama's team dismisses questions about whether he percieves Edwards as a real threat to be "absurd" but leading Edwards adviser in Iowa acknowledges as much to reporters.....privately, candidate is update and confident....Obama team teases about "major" South Carolina endorsement it'll soon recieve, but it won't be Rep. James Clyburn......

2. Ex-defense lawyer John Edwards previews his closing argument, scheduled for tomorrow in an old labor town of Dubuque:

"“Why on earth would we expect the corporate powers and their lobbyists – who make billions by selling out the middle-class – to just give up just because we ask nicely? Nobody who takes their money and defends the broken system is going to bring change. And, unfortunately, nobody who thinks we can just sit down and talk them into compromise is going to bring change either. Compromise and conciliation is the academic theory of change. It just doesn’t work in the real world. Fighting for conviction is the historic reality of change.”

3. Hillary Clinton's campaign spends hundreds of thousands (in excess of $1 million?) to purchase two minutes of television airtime on every 6pm newscast throughout the state.

4. Well-regarded GOP operative Jay Ragley rejoins South Carolina Republican Party as its executive director. The immediate past ED Hogan Gidley will serve as a senior adviser.

5. Attention Paul Tewes: Iowa PIRG's "New Voters Project" estimates it has registered more than 54,000 18-to-30 year olds to vote in the caucuses...(most of them Democratic - that's my assumption), and has made nearly 100,000 voter contacts. A PIRG official says that young voter turnout in Iowa was the 4th highest, percentage-wise, in the nation in 2004, which is significant because Iowa's an old state.

A bonus:

6. Romney allies point to campaign's robust early voting program in Florida as a sign of strength. Normally loquacious advisers decline to discuss but hint that Romney is banking thousands of votes.

Comments

I simply cannot believe how the Press is going back. They (the Press) want the Clintons back in power. This would mean a good fortune for them. More columns, more tv shows, etc.

Obama is a threat to the Press and to the Clinton Machine.

Exhibit A: The three female Register editors were constantly on call with Bill C. They met with HRC twice. (They only met with Obama once.)

The Clinton Attack Machine's lowest point was Bill C. on Rose criticising Obama and lionizing his wife (who has done nothing in Senate and did nothing as a first lady of policy). There is no verification of her work.

Now, imagine, Obama had been in an office for 8-years. They (the Press) would ask for all papers to document experience. The Press is not chasing after HRC on her White House years. They are not critizing Bill C. for his Rose and chasing of Register editors.

Obama is history. My support has no value. I am a loser. The Press is the power.

Posted by eorse | December 27, 2007 10:10 PM

Top 10 Contradictions in Obama

1. [Obama on Not just change political party but change the game and players in Washington] Then why play the same game at all with the same players whose support he now seeks? Does he realize that while his rhetoric may be ideal, it's not the pragmatic necessary and urgent issue/call for America at this time?

2. [Obama on the right kind and wrong kind of experience] Obama does not realize that what he has is the POTENTIAL to have the right kind of experience. Unfortunately, now is not the time and the Oval Office is not the place to be earning and learning that experience.

3. [Obama on judgment] One judgment call on the Iraq issue does NOT mean Obama would have good judgments on a gamut of complex issues. From what's been reported he has avoided making a vote on crucial issues. And he only has very limited experience to showcase an array of judgment calls, which did not even do that except showcase tasks that he did just as he ought to. It's not a fair claim by Obama.

4. [Obama on the Iraq issue] America does not live by "Iraq" alone. It is not even a simple right or wrong issue. Lucky Obama - the present sentiment is just rendering him to seem right. If he has no concrete and significant experience in the world stage and security matters, it would indeed be a gamble to have him as president.

5. [Obama on the establishment] How can Obama posture to bring a new face and a new way in the establishment when he brings with him a circle of close advisers and staff from the Clinton administration? Employing “Clinton minds” around him means he embraces the Clinton policies.

6. [Obama on his policies] His policies are hybrids from policies that have been strongly initiated by and identified with his rivals. He talks of what’s wrong with past policies and other candidates’ policies but does not have an original policy of his own. He wants people to look only to the future because he has INsufficient past to substantiate the rhetoric he gives in the present.

7. [Obama on hope] It will be unfair to speak of hope that does NOT rest on substance and can NOT stand on a concrete relevant experience to make it happen. That would be tantamount to a manipulation of a people's desperation.

8. [Obama on triangulation] He is equally guilty of triangulating. Most of the time he draws the first snipe and criticism. Then complain of negativity when his rivals counter his (and his campaign’s) attacks. And at worst, he speaks in abstracts and generalities which give him room to parse. But his motives remain equally questionable.

9. [Obama on character] Other candidates have been in public eye longer than he has. Naturally there is more to be played up about their faults and failings. But it does not mean Obama has a better character than the rest. He simply is an unknown character. Perhaps his eagerness to be elected now has much to do with that - for time might soon catch up with his closet and be found more lacking in character. If that happens, the presidency would be more difficult for him to win.

10. [Obama on family values] It is good that he has not yet gone through serious marital and family problems. It’s expected given that he’s young and his marriage is new. But there is much more that can be said about family values with Hillary – forgiving an unfaithful husband that mirrors her capacity to heal a nation’s wounds – raising a decent daughter that mirrors her capacity to restore respectability to America – showing personal strength and discipline that mirrors her capacity to be commander-in-chief – keeping generational bonds in the family that mirrors her capacity to inspire bipartisanship.

Obama may be good and experienced enough for Illinois but not yet for America.

Posted by MG | December 28, 2007 9:33 PM