Campaign Financing, part 5- Message Discipline

Just today, Charlie Black, McCain adviser, was quoted in Fortune Magazine as basically saying that another terrorist attack on American soil is good for McCain. He also said that the assassination of Benazir Bhutto was tragic, but it was good because McCain was able to discuss foreign policy- his strength. Later, McCain said 1) he couldn't imagine Black saying these things, and 2)whatever he said was probably taken out of context. A McCain aide said Black never said those things, and Black said he didn't remember saying those things, but apologized if he did.

The above is an example of a campaign mot really getting it- not understanding that words do matter. Charlie Black- yes the same Charlie Black that lobbied for the Enron Loophole, is trying to press fear. The typical Republican tactic of fear is being combined with the Southern Strategy- they want to scare us with the specter of a closeted BLACK Muslim, whose wife is an angry BLACK woman, sitting in the seat of US power, welcoming terrorist in to attack us.

Campaign Financing, part 4- Family Matters

Like Hilary Clinton, the GOP was hoping that Tony Rezko's trial would produce evidence of Obama hanging with a corrupt fundraiser. There has been no evidence that Obama has even remotely been connected to crooked people that way McCain has. The Obama-is-a-Muslim smear campaign flies in the face of the Rev Wright guilt-by-association one. What's left?

Attack the wife. Michelle is an unpatriotic angry black woman.

Campaign Financing, part 3- Love and Pride

Michelle Obama is painted as unpatriotic. Her offense is saying that for the first time in her adult life, she is really proud of her country. By leaving out the word really, the Right is seeking to smear Michelle and Barack simultaneously. Barack Obama should not be president because Michelle Obama hates America!

I have wanted to blog on this topic for some time. The fact that the Right continues to bring this smear up- free of any historic context. One Sunday morning I was listening to a public affairs program out of a Chicago radio station. On the program, a guest referred to the situation with Mrs Obama and said that African Americans have loved America long before they were proud of it. This refers to African American service to America (love) while still being mistreated. The guest referred to the treatment of German POWs during WWII as an example.

African Americans have served in every major conflict in this country's history. In some cases, African Americans had fight for the right to fight for America (let that marinade in your brain for a minute). Whether it was the Revolutionary War, Civil War, WWI or WWII, the result was the same- segregated units fighting to keep this country free. These soldiers loved this country, they fought and died for this country, and after the war was over, they had to come home to a country that refused to see them as equals.

During WWII, thousands of German and Italian POWs were brought to the United States, because Europe was devastated. These POWs were housed in over 500 camps around the US. Because of the labor shortage, many of them worked on local farms, businesses and industries. These POWs were eventually treated as members of the communities they worked in. In fact, it was not uncommon that these German POWs were afforded better treatment than African American Soldiers. Now think about it- a German Prisoner of War could walk into the front door of a Southern store- that same store an African American soldier would have to enter from a back door!

The radio guest talked about the love African Americans have had for America- even when America didn't show them love.

I too have been very proud of America this campaign season. To its credit, 36M Americans looked past gender and race to vote for Clinton and Obama. There is a reason to be proud of a country that just 50 years ago allowed people to be denied the right to vote because of their race.

Whoopi Goldberg mentioned the whole flap over Michelle Obama's lack of pride by mentioning that people understand what Obama meant. She went further to call out pundits for taking that quote of out of context. Hell, even Laura Bush defended Michelle Obama.

African Americans have to love this country- our parents, grandparents and numerous generations before us, endured slavery, Jim Crow, lynching and government-sanctioned discrimination. We voted for an African American as a presidential nominee, and will have the chance to vote for him to be the next president! That is a huge source of pride in a country we love.

Did I mention that Dan Abrams found video of John McCain saying he didn't love America until he was denied her company. At another campaign stop, he said to an attendee that he understood how the gentleman could find it hard to be proud of America. These statements by McCain will not stop the Right from attacking Michelle, while ignoring McCain's comments.

Campaign Financing, part 2- Becoming Party Leader

In what I think got little media attention, Sen. Obama became not only the the presumptive Democratic nominee for president, he also told the rest of the party to close down the 527s. MoveOn decided to respond. Obama is working closely with the DNC to make sure that this campaign is not going to be bullied like Kerry or Gore. The piece that I believe is being missed is Obama taking control of the Democratic Party, and the party responding.

Do we see McCain doing the same? The short answer is no. The longer, more qualified answer is McCain has decided to lead by not leading. McCain is taking a very safe position- by no trying to lead his party, Sen. John McCain does not risk looking weak if he tells the Tennessee GOP not to run ads against Michelle Obama, and they do it anyway. He doesn't look weak if he tells the North Carolina GOP not to run smear ads against Barack Obama and they do it anyway. Mostly, by not taking control, McCain frees up the seediest parts of the the Party and their surrogates (Limbaugh and etc) to tee off on Obama and not have to worry about having to be held accountable for their lies and smears.

Campaign Financing, part 1- Getting the story right

Last week, Obama's campaign announced it would opt out of public financing. Keith Olbermann covered the story on Countdown. Olbermann has noted on more than one occasion that 1) Obama was one of TWO candidates in 2007 to respond a survey that included a question on campaign financing, 2) Obama responded "yes" to accepting public financing, and 3) Obama's responses was very detailed AND qualified- Obama would opt in to public financing under some very specific conditions.

Dan Abrams' show is on right after Countdown, and often has one or two segments on the same stories. Abrams, unlike Olbermann, fails to mention Obama's qualified answer to opting in to public financing. To Abrams, the fact that Obama checked the "yes" box on that question is enough to call his decision to opt out a flipflop. Abrams' position is surprising, but not shocking. Dan truly nailed the Supreme Court's latest decisionon Gitmo detainees (restoring habeas corpus). If you aren't sure about habeas- follow the link. The Verdict is advertised as a political show with stories viewed through the eyes of a lawyer, so I am a little disappointed that Abrams is acting so obtuse.

Back to public financing- I've been thinking about why if feel as I do about this decision, and I want to use the next few posts to lay out a case for the Obama Campaign's decision.

How NOT to pick a VP

Dan Abrams seems to be obsessed with the idea of an Obama/Clinton ticket. It seems that Dan devotes at least part of one segment per show talking up the idea of the dream ticket. Now Republicans would love that ticket as it would allow them to attack on several fronts. The GOP would be able to criticize Obama as not being for change by having one of the most well-connected politicians as a running mate. Bill Clinton would as be a target- not just for past sins, but the financing of his library. Plus, there's all those years of Hillary and Bill hate that's been stored up.

Dan and many of his guests tend to make the case for Hillary as VP. The argument that seems to be the most bizarre is that Hillary is the runner-up in the process. Since when does the Nominee have to accept the second place finisher as VP? Does McCain have to accept the runner-up from the Republican Primary as his VP?

Tanya Acker is my damn hero, pt 3- HE'S EXOTIC!!!

Pat Buchanan was on The Verdict with Dan Abrams. In addressing the GOP strategy that seems to be attacking Barack Obama by demonizing his wife, Pat talked about the legitimacy of attacking Michelle AND painting Obama as EXOTIC.

Tanya Acker was on the case and tried to pin Pat down on what exotic means. She called out Pat for using Exotic as code for Black. The GOP is going to continue to use code words and dog whistles to energize that portion of their base. What used to be a Southern Strategy is going to be the GOP 50 State Strategy.

The real problem is the GOP has no desire to run a campaign on the issues that affect you and I every day, issues that are crucial to our country. Issues that transcend race and geography.

Graceful Exit

I watched Hillary Clinton's announcement that she was suspending her campaign and endorsing Barack Obama. Some people have criticized her speech as self-centered- to much about her (using their words). I think the Senator struck a good balance- trying to move from the position of a candidate from a candidate for president to former candidate endorsing a rival. She did move from her positions and issues to saying that the differences between her and Obama were trivial in comparison to those of Obama and McCain.

The only thing that Hillary could have done differently, would be to frame the importance of voting for Obama instead of McCain. Some Clinton supporters have vowed to vote for McCain in opposition to an Obama run. I think as some others do that once we see where McCain stands on key issues, voting for him will be a serious vote against self interest.

Joe ain't cool

That's a Peanuts reference. Joe Lieberman was not supported by Barack Obama in his reelection bid for the Senate. Like so many others, Obama got baheind Ned Lamont. Lieberman manged to win as an Independent and is taking his shots at Obama. Lieberman got on a conference call with reporters and blasted Obama's Israel Policy. Most importantly, Lieberman admitted he didn't read, see or hear Obama's speech. He was smart enough not to criticize the speech exactly, but the whole idea of talking to Iran while the government there still supports the idea of wiping Israel off the map. Again, more fear and smear- Republican style. Lieberman has crossed the line. He caucused with the Democrats, but has made the decision early to actively campaign for McCain.

Lieberman has that right to support McCain, but not in this fashion. To make the point, Lieberman supposedly authored an email fund-raising for McCain, calling his old party the "Democrat Party". That has been an intentional Republican smear for some time- referring to the Democrtic Party as the Democrat Party. I expect such grammatical slips and smears from George Nucular Bush, but not a former member of the party. For Lieberman to go so far, says that in January, Lieberman might just loose his Committee positions with the Democratic Caucus- please say its so Harry!

One of the knocks on Obama early on was he was soft. He couldn't deliver a shot. Well, Thursday, Obama pulled Lieberman off to the side of the Senate, and had words with him. We don't know what got said, but I guess we'll see how Lieberman behaves here on out.

AIPAC Attack

Both Obama and Clinton spoke at AIPAC and laid it down! Obama left no doubt that he supports Israel, and Hillary backed his statements. Both Hillary and Barack had at McCain. Hillary also stopped short of endorsing Obama as the nominee, but clearly supported him.

Full Court Press

Hillary supporters are putting on pressure. I'm not talking about those 18M voters, I talking about members of Congress. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Congresswoman from Florida and Clinton National Co-Chair, and the rest of the Florida Congressional delegation stepped up Wednesday morning and endorsed Obama.

By the evening, Charles Rangel hosted a conference call with the New York delegation and others (a total of 23 Senators and Congressional members) to discuss Hillary releasing them so they could endorse Obama. Rangel also advised Clinton to let go and suspend her campaign.

Wednesday, but not Hump Day

The day after, many were questioning Hillary Clinton's non-concession speech. Was she trying to hold her 18M voters as a bargaining chip? Hilary Rosen at Huffingtonpost wrote a piece saying that she was not a bargaining chip, not to be controlled to get Hillary what she wanted.

McCain is happy as hell because there is a rift in the Democratic Party that he thinks he can exploit.

Tuesday Speechifying, Part 3

Grabbed this image from Time Magazine!

Just as McCain made a strategic move, Obama made his own. Obama booked the Excelon Center in St Paul, MN. This is the site of the 2008 Republican Convention. Obama sent a message- there is no place where Republicans can think is safe in this campaign. The crowd was wound-up and roaring long before the scheduled speech. Sen Amy Klobuchar was there speaking to MSNBC and the crowd went wild! This venue is very public, big, and open. The Video Screens were on and obviously tuned to the political coverage. The estimates were 17,000 people in the the building and 15,000 outside- 32,000 people attended this speech!!

Obama praised Clinton, acknowledged the hard-fought contest and declared himself the nominee! Obama attacked McCain, but mostly, he praised his voters and let them know that this is their victory, this their time, and this is the time to march to victory and the White House.

Tuesday Speechifying, Part 2

Hillary Clinton gave her speech Tuesday Night at Baruch College in NYC. The speech was in the Bear Den- two levels beyond the basement at that college- no Cell Service, no Television Screens, and no contact with the outside world. I felt like this venue was a bunker, and symbolized the mentality of the Clinton Campaign. She fought a epic battle with Obama, but made grave mistakes in strategy that eventually caused her to loose, but she refused to accept that inevitability of the loss.

In contrast to the McCain venue, the Clinton venue was big, and FILLED to the rafters with supporters. The enthusiasm of Clinton supporters was highly charged- these folks were energized and fully behind Clinton. The bunker mentality continued when Terry McCauliff introduced Clinton has the next President of the United States.

Hillary acknowledged her supporters, the 18M votes, the issues that she feels strongly about. Clinton did not acknowledge Obama's securing the nomination. She went so far as to acknowledge that people want to know what she wants, and then didn't answer. She decided to do nothing Tuesday Night. That in and of itself was fine, but I believe she crossed a line when she asked supporters to leave their ideas at her website.

Tuesday Speechifying

I know speechifying isn't a word, but it accurately describes the THREE speeches delivered after Tuesdays Democratic Primaries. John McCain wanted to strike first- speaking before the South Dakota Polls closed. Hillary Clinton was scheduled to speak after South Dakota. Barack Obama spoke after the Montana Polls closed.

The first thing that struck me about McCain's speech was his decision to speak Tuesday Night. The pundits were billing this speech as a prebuttal to Obama's declaration of Democratic nominee. For weeks, Obama and Clinton have been hammering a potential McCain Presidency as a third term of Bush. McCain wanted the opportunity to frame the coming contest between him and Obama- a very smooth move. While listening to McCain, it became very clear, very fast that the McCain event was in a small room. To me, this is an example of the Republicans still not fully accepting and getting energized by a McCain candidacy. McCain seemed stiff. His speech was classic Rove- trying to hang his own weaknesses on Obama. McCain is trying not to repeat Hillary's mistake of trying to fight a message of change. The message of change resonates with voters more than experience- we're all wore out from the last eight years, and instead of seeing things improve, we're seeing increasing bad results of bad policies. McCain accepted change as a message, but his message of change is not all change is good- fear too much change. His message seems to be a perverse message that melds change with the typical Republican message of fear. "That's not change we can believe in," was McCain's mantra as he tried to draw clear distinctions between himself and Obama. What resulted was a speech that was weak, stiff, and must have included notes on when to smile. Overall, the speech was panned by everyone including Fox News.

YES WE DID!!!!!

On Tuesday, Hillary Clinton won the South Dakota Primary.

Barack Obama won not only the Montana Primary by close to 30,000 votes, but also won the Democratic Nomination.

Let's be clear, this primary season has been historic- the first Female with a chance to win the nomination took the first African American Male to the end- each getting something around 18M votes each.

Superdelegates did what the party leaders demanded and got behind a candidate, and throughout the day Tuesday, superdelegates endorsed Obama. By the time the polls closed, the race was over. Obama only needed nine pledged delegates, and he had that from South Dakota.

This wasn't just a victory for African Americans, this is a victory for every American. It's the type of victory that is the fulfillment of the American Dream. You remember that dream that says anyone can achieve anything in America with hard work.

More on pride, speeches and etc in the next few posts..... but for now YES WE CAN is can be celebrated a YES WE DID. Yes, this is an early celebration, but it is tempered with the reality that Obama is only the Democratic Nominee.

Catch up time

I've been slow (again) in blogging this past week. I'll attempt to catch up before Sen. Clinton speaks ...

DNC Rules Meeting

Hilary Clinton was expecting to get it all on Saturday. She was expecting to get her way on Michigan and Florida. Both delegations were seated with a half vote per delegate. Hilary wanted to get her delegates, and Obama none, from Michigan. That didn't happen.

The problem with Florida and Michigan was not the fault of Clinton or Obama. It was the fault of the DNC Rules Committee. The Legislatures in those two states made the decision to defy the DNC rules and hold primaries too early. That any delegates from either state would be seated is progress.