Wednesday, 27 August 2008
Doing What She Must
Topic: Dems 2008
Hillary Clinton also addressed the convention last night. Her endorsement of Barack Obama was strong—but it wasn’t full-throated. I received the definite impression that every word of her speech has been painstakingly calibrated to (1) ensure that no one could plausibly blame the Clintons if Obama goes down to defeat in November, while (2) reminding the party that it need not have made the terrible mistake of nominating an inexperienced glamour boy.
“You could have nominated me,” was the subtext of her speech. “And if you had nominated me, I would surely have beaten John McCain. But instead you rolled the dice. Well, I’ll do what I can to get Barack elected—but if he flops, I’ll be available in 2012.”
This may seem fanciful, but it’s based on impeccable political logic. Hillary Clinton’s last remaining chance of becoming the first woman president evaporates if Barack Obama beats John McCain. Ah, but if he loses…
Posted by tmg110
at 7:43 AM CDT
Convention to Warner: Ho-Hum
Topic: Dems 2008
Mark Warner is a highly popular former governor of Virginia. This year he’s his party’s candidate for the open Senate seat in Virginia, which he’s certain to win by a wide margin. As a successful Democratic politician in a traditionally red state, he seemed a natural choice to deliver last night’s keynote address to the Democratic National Convention.
But alas, Warner is just too darn mainstream for the Party of Pelosi.
His speech was workmanlike but hardly stirring, and it was received by the delegates with scant enthusiasm. Warner didn’t tell today’s left-leaning Democratic Party what it really wanted to hear: that George W. Bush is the neofascist spawn of Satan. Instead they had to suffer through boilerplate like this:
People always ask me, "What's my biggest criticism of President Bush?" I'm sure you all have your own. Here's mine—it's not just the policy differences, it's the fact that this president never tapped into our greatest resource: the character and resolve of the American people. He never asked us to step up.
Think about it: after September 11th, if there was a call from the president to get us off foreign oil to stop funding the very terrorists who had just attacked us, every American would have said, "how can I do my part?" This administration failed to believe in what we can achieve as a nation, when all of us work together.
In other words, if George W. Bush had just acted more like Jimmy Carter, all would be well. No need for anything as untidy as a war—a hard-hitting energy policy, crafted and directed by the far-seeing solons of our super-competent federal government, would surely have put Osama bin Laden to flight.
I doubt that even Nancy Pelosi could really swallow that one.
Barack Obama’s 2004 keynoter electrified the convention and put him in contention for the nomination he’s about to accept. Warner’s address was more like a brownout.
Posted by tmg110
at 7:26 AM CDT
Updated: Wednesday, 27 August 2008 7:29 AM CDT
Tuesday, 26 August 2008
Opening Night
Topic: Dems 2008
There was high emotion (Senator Ted Kennedy's appearance), damage control (Michelle Obama's speech) and plenty of standard-issue political pablum (all the other speeches). Not a lot of substance, though. How about healthcare, energy policy, the economy, Iraq, etc.? Could it be that turning a "borderline recession" (James Carville's artful phrase for the recession that isn't) or a victorious war into winning political issues presents a bit of a challenge?
Carville, incidentally, believes that the first night of the convention was largely a waste of time. "Maybe we are going to look better Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday," he said yesterday on CNN. "But right now, we're playing hide the message." An interesting comment indeed from a well-known Clinton loyalist.
Posted by tmg110
at 8:19 AM CDT
Michelle's Mixed Message
Topic: Commentary
In and of itself, there was nothing particularly objectionable about last night's speech by Michelle Obama to the Democratic National Convention. Problems only arise when that speech, with all it's warm and fuzzy sentiments about America, is placed in the context of her earlier, bitter remarks about our "downright mean" nation. Well, which is it, Michelle?
Quite obviously, her convention speech was an exercise in damage control. Michelle Obama has developed a serious image problem. Too many people whose votes are critical to Barack regard her as a humorless, whining over-privileged, yuppie. The solution? Get her to say the opposite of what she has said in the past. Problem solved!
The fact that Michelle Obama gritted her teeth and implicitly repudiated all her earlier statements constitutes a telling commentary on her character. When she bashed America, Michelle was telling us what she really thought—and that was fair enough. But the intellectual dishonesty of her convention speech shows that her contempt for America is matched by a brazen contempt for the truth.
Posted by tmg110
at 7:17 AM CDT
Monday, 25 August 2008
A Swing for the Fences?
Topic: GOP 2008
Now that Barack Obama has made his low-risk, boring vice-presidential pick, John McCain has an interesting decision to ponder. Play it safe or go for the grand slam? If I were advising McCain, I'd recommend the latter. He could pick Joe Lieberman, for instance. That would generate sufficient Sturm und Drang on the right to overshadow Obamamania for a news cycle or two. It would also reinforce McCain's maverick reputation and give the lie to the Democratic charge that McCain is a Bush clone.
Does John McCain has something like this in mind? Well, one thing's for sure: in this political climate, he can't win the election by playing it safe. So despite all the well-grounded conservative objections to Lieberman, I wouldn't count him out.
Posted by tmg110
at 6:15 PM CDT
Biden for Veep
Topic: Dems 2008
A safe pick? A confession of weakness on the foreign policy front? An attempt to shore up white working class support? All of this and more is being read into Barack Obama's selection of Delaware Senator Joe Biden as his running mate. From the Obama campaign's perspective, it may well be that Biden was simply the least-worst option: though not a particularly brilliant pick, at least he does no harm.
Anyhow, it'll be interesting to see how successfully the famously loquacious and gaffe-prone Biden governs his tongue. The man does love to talk—always a dangerous thing for a politician to do.
Posted by tmg110
at 8:09 AM CDT
Updated: Monday, 25 August 2008 6:15 PM CDT
Bigger, But Certainly Not Better
Topic: Commentary
I suppose I’ll have to pay some attention to this week’s Democratic National Convention, but watching it is likely to be somewhat less absorbing than watching paint dry. Gone are the days when interesting things happened at political conventions. In place of true drama, we’re now offered ever-more-grotesque and bloated displays of the personality cult on which all modern political campaigns, Democratic and Republican alike, are ultimately based.
Barack Obama’s plan to deliver his acceptance speech in a huge stadium, to a crowd of 75,000 adoring supporters, is merely an extreme example of the trend toward gigantism in American politics. Contemplating the implications of this extravaganza, I find myself regretting that Leni Riefenstahl passed away in 2003.
Posted by tmg110
at 8:02 AM CDT
Updated: Monday, 25 August 2008 8:09 AM CDT
Tuesday, 19 August 2008
Observations
Topic: Commentary
As life resumes its normal tempo on the personal front, I find my attention being drawn back to political affairs. Some thoughts on the state of the election as we await the party conventions:
(1) If pressed to characterize Barack Obama in one phrase, I'd have to call him the Incredible Shrinking Candidate. The more we see of him, the less there is to see. I was particularly stuck by his lackluster performance during last weekend's Saddleback presidential forum, and I confess I was taken aback by the brazen lies he uttered about his record on abortion. His readiness to distort his own record shows, I suspect, the contempt he harbors for his greatest fans, the mainstream media. He appears to believe that no matter what false or foolish thing he might say, reporters will never call him on it.
(2) Obama's media claque is becoming nervous about their favored candidate's prospects. Case in point: Jonathan Alter wringing his hands in Newsweek over the the McCain campaign's negative ads. Alter is worried, of course, because McCain's attacks are hitting home. Perhaps that's why he parrots Obama's false claim that a planned visit to wounded troops in Germany during Obama's European trips was canceled at the instigation of the Pentagon.
(3) The issues on the table today—international affairs, taxes, energy policy, even abortion—favor John McCain. Obama has done himself no good in recent days on the abortion issue. His record is that of a pro-abortion extremist, opposed even to a ban on the horrific practice of partial-birth abortion. When he was a state senator representing an ultra-liberal constituency, this position cost him nothing politically. When he ran for the US Senate against the hapless Alan Keyes, he was not called to account on abortion. But now the issue is beginning to cut against him—and his response, as noted above, has been a series of lies and distortions.
(4) For the first time since the campaign got underway, I regard it as a real possibility that John McCain could win. In sharp contrast to Obama, he performed with verve and energy at the Saddleback presidential forum. It's clear now why Obama hasn't been eager to engage McCain in a town hall-style debate. He's short on passion— and none too rhetorically nimble when away from the teleprompter.
Democrats have good reason to be nervous. Handing Barack Obama their party's nomination may turn out to have been a miscalculation of historic proportions.
Posted by tmg110
at 7:14 AM CDT
Wednesday, 13 August 2008
Godspeed, Alex
Topic: Notebook
Sorry for the infrequency of recent posts, but I've had other things on my mind.
Today my daughter Alexis enters the United States Army. She goes first to Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, for basic training and the Military Police School. After that, who can say?
This is an emotional day for me, compounded of anxiety and a tremendous sense of pride. I hope that those of you who read this post will keep my daughter and all our soldiers in your prayers.
"Surely they are the bravest who seeing most clearly what lies before them, glory and danger both, nevertheless go forward to meet it."
Posted by tmg110
at 8:31 AM CDT
Friday, 8 August 2008
An Oil-Coated Banana Peel
Topic: Assessing the Issues
Quite unexpectedly, the high price of gas has tripped up Barack Obama and his party on their way to a crushing electoral victory. When Americans began to feel real pain at the pump, Democrats suddenly found that it wasn’t easy being green. It’s been difficult to explain the ban on offshore drilling at a time when American motorists are shelling out $4 and more per gallon for gas. It’s been even more difficult to explain how the Democratic presidential candidate’s energy and environmental policies might help families who budgets are being squeezed right here and now by high energy prices. For while it might be true that new domestic oil might take several years to come on line, the alternative fuel sources touted by Barack Obama lie even farther in the future. And of course, the whole thrust of Obama’s environmental policy, with its global warming alarmism and demonization of carbon, points in the direction of even higher gas prices.
Republicans appear to recognize that finally, they’re on the right side of a winning issue. Whether they can capitalize on this momentary advantage remains to be seen, however.
Posted by tmg110
at 8:35 AM CDT
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