« Dean Meeting With Florida Delegation... Expect A Joint Statement | Main | The Vice Presidential Searches Are Stalled » The New In News: Lee Hamilton Backs Obama02 Apr 2008 12:08 pm Former Indiana Rep/911 Commission chair Lee Hamilton's endorsement of Barack Obama is being treated as big news today, but this news isn't really new. Hamilton has been advising Obama on intelligence policy for months now, and his name has been linked to Obama's in the press. (See here.) It it safe to assume that Mr. Hamilton's age -- he is 76 -- disqualifies him from becoming Obama's vice presidential nominee. Comments (17)
Who's treating it as a big news? 
Marc: I know you're a hotshot washington insider, but not everyone in the world knows that Lee Hamilton has been advising Obama for months. Also: does the average Indianan know the Hamilton is even involved in the campaign? Highly doubt it, so it is very much "big news" to them, whether the elite Washington press corps thinks so or not.
And MSNBC is now reporting that Obama picked up one more endorsement today, that of Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal, a Dem superdelegate.
I hope the NYT does more work on the WJC Foundation. Because the reason for Bill's emotional panic starting last December is because he has pre-sold favors to be granted by a Clinton White Houses II. The anger and panic is real. Bill has taken in a TON of capital on the promise that Hillary gets the White House. If she does not, Bill's world gets cut down several notches. Not a happy prospect. Why won't pool reporters ask him about this? Heck, even the NYT now has done two big stories on the Foundation.
Gregor is correct. Bill Clinton is trying to preserve his status as Democratic party leader, as well as get back into the White House (so he can use it like a cheap hotel.) He loses all that to Obama if Hillary loses. The Hamilton and Freudenthal endorsements are huge, if only for the fact that Hillary didn't get them. Both Bill Clinton and Dick Cheney have had heart surgery, and people who know them well say they are not the same since. I think there is something to this. Bill is getting a bit erratic, but it is probably panic. The Clintons are self-serving and corrupt and should be defeated. It's your chance to give these two a reality check, Pennsylvania, so that this great country can move forward.
Sounds like someone's got a case of sour grapes, Marc. BTW, Richard Clarke is advising Obama, too. You knew that too, of course. But isn't it interesting to notice where the foreign policy / national security names with credibility on Iraq tend to gravitate?
In the micro, Hamilton is not big news. In the macro, the continual movement of Superdelegates to Obama is news. How many has HRC picked up in the last 60 days? Bottom line: Hillary has no realistic way to win the nomination. Ambinder's mentor, Mark Halperin, puts it best today, in http://thepage.time.com/halperins-take-what-hillary-clinton-has-to-do-to-really-win-pennsylvania/. If Clinton stays in past April 25, she'll really be doing long-term harm to the Democrats.
News or not, this is a very significant development. As horizonr points out, all of the heavyweight security/foreign affairs/intelligence people are lining up with Obama. (Jay Rockefeller endorsed Obama last month, too, although that didn't get much press.) How can Hillary credibly ask voters to question who should be answering the red phone at 3am if the people who really matter are saying it should be Obama?
FWIW, I though Cheney's age and health (among other things) would have precluded him from being a VP candidate in 2000 and 2004. Still, we only need to worry if Hamilton is put in charge of the VP search process.
A stunner in Pennsylvania today, as Obama is ahead in his first poll of the state ever. Another survey from the state shows Clinton keeping her lead but losing ground. Full roundup here.
76 is too old? So John McCain just barely qualifies running for reelection if he wins in November?
MarkS, there's no such thing as an Indianan. We're Hoosiers.
In the macro, the continual movement of Superdelegates to Obama is news. How many has HRC picked up in the last 60 days? Not sure about 60 days, but she's picked up none since March 19. In that time, Obama has picked up 9 or 10 (depending upon whether you consider Feingold new or old).
Obama’s Economic Plan In fact, what is far more worrisome than the Trinity Church "commitment to Africa" is Obama’s call for "economic parity." Economic equality is the justification for an exploding welfare and entitlement state. Economic parity implies government-coerced wealth redistribution, perpetual minimum wage increases; government subsidized health care for all and so on. Essentially this translates to socialize wages. CNBC economic analyst Larry Kudlow estimates that Obama's vision for government-run everything will cost Americans $800 BILLION. Obama was described in a 2004 Men’s News Daily Report during Obama's 2004 US Senate campaign: Obama’s closest religious advisers and bible/political teacher -- Fr. (Michael) Pfleger, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright of Chicago's Trinity United Church of Christ, and Illinois State Sen. James Meeks, who moonlights as the pastor of Chicago's Salem Baptist Church – may have quotes from Scripture always handy, but are theologically closer to Karl Marx and black nationalism, than to Christianity.
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What about the Wyoming Gov. endorsing Obama? Big or no? Another Super and another Clinton appointee for Obama.
Posted by Grover M | April 2, 2008 12:23 PM