Because there’s a certain “lack of character” we expect and accept from politicians because we expect them to be shitty people.
Obama may be different - he may be a legitimately decent guy - and he’s campaigning on the idea of being different and trying to isolate himself from corrupting influences. It makes sense that this is an issue where people might expect differently of him.
Never heard of “street money” myself until this moment. And I thought “ward heelers” went out with Thomas Nast.
I never heard of street money either, and I’ve been following these things with great interest since 1964.
DSeid
April 13, 2008, 1:14pm
804
Offered with no idea of the quality of their sources.
Former president Carter and former vice-president Gore have already held high-level discussions about delivering the message that she must stand down for the good of the Democrats.
“They’re in discussions,” a source close to Carter told Scotland on Sunday. “Carter has been talking to Gore. They will act, possibly together, or in sequence.”
I can see it only if her PA victory is the single digits. She wins by 10% or more (something I fear is likely with Obama’s recent gaffe) and the nomination process drags itself forward without their comments.
I have been saying this very thing “ought” to happen sooner than latter. Both men are solidly in BHO’s camp, and no amount of sniping and sound byte media culture blitz will change that. Doing it in public will wipe away old allegiances and slap the Clintons, doing it behind closed doors will allow for a Clinton style step down - what will they choose?
Against me better judgement, they will choose the former IMHO.
If this is true, I doubt they’ll do it before Pennsylvania. Depending on how big Clinton wins that state, they may wait till after North Carolina and Indiana.
Wasn’t the whole FL/MI business supposed to hurt Obama in MI?
Democrat Barack Obama holds a small lead over John McCain in the race for Michigan’s 17 electoral votes, but McCain holds a significant lead over Hillary Clinton in a new poll released Monday.
Obama, the frontrunner for the Democratic nomination, leads McCain 43 percent to 41 percent, according to the survey by Lansing polling firm EPIC-MRA. Obama’s lead is well within the poll’s error margin of 4 percentage points, however. McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, holds a 46-37 edge over Clinton.
Maybe not.
Khadaji
April 16, 2008, 12:13pm
808
Small Turn Out For Hillary’s 100 Mayor rally
4 out of 5 supporting Mayors couldn’t be bothered to make the trip. Ouch.
Man, he couldn’t have done this before NJ voted?
First Rooney of the Steelers, now the Boss?
Lookin’ good.
jayjay
April 16, 2008, 1:54pm
813
Of course, in general terms, Springsteen’s endorsement would have probably been much more useful if it had come out before the NJ primary, but you can’t have everything…
Springsteen is such an elitist!
Obama gained another superdelegate this morning.Andre Carson
Looking ahead to the general election, Obama has a good shot at picking up a large swath of an unexpected demographic: Evangelicals.
Senator Obama has a unique shot at doing something unheard of, at least in the last 30 years: corner a sizable chunk of the evangelical vote. Now that he is being attacked (re his perfectly true, if poorly phrased remark on “bitter” voters) I want to mention the fact that if the Democratic Party throws away his candidacy on such nonsense (or lets the Clintons and Republicans trash it) the Democrats will have wasted a historic opportunity. Why? Because Obama – as with no Democrat in recent years – is liked by not just many Republicans, but especially by a growing number of evangelicals.
Obama speaks the authentic language of ethical and spiritual leadership. (Here’s a link to a historic and well received talk Obama gave to a group of evangelicals and here’s the link to the transcript and/or audio.) Many evangelicals are tired and ashamed of Bush. So put Obama’s spiritual eloquence, sincere personal Christian faith and ethical approach to politics together with the evangelical’s disappointment with Bush and their anger about the war in Iraq, and Obama has a once-in-a-lifetime chance with a huge group of voters who haven’t ever considered voting for a Democrat. I know because they are telling me. I know because I was one.
[snip]
For those who were not raised in the Evangelical ghetto many of my readers will have no idea how are earthshaking all this is to me. It’s as if American Jews – en masse – declared that they were going to vote for candidates opposed to the existence of the State of Israel, or for Roman Catholics to say they’ll be voting for some candidate calling for the immediate arrest of the Pope.
[snip]
I received a email from a senior editor at the leading Evangelical Christian magazine telling me of his intention to vote for Obama. He mentioned that plenty of other Evangelicals he knows feel the same. Obama inspires them. I’ve had similar emails from hundreds of other Evangelicals responding to my articles on why I am voting for Obama and supporting him.
The impact of the disillusionment and/or abandoning of the theological and cultural certainties that once formed the backbone of the Religious Right of the 1970s is going to change everything in American politics. The big surprise is not only how many people have read my Crazy For God and written to say that they share my background (and also share my leaving that background) but the response of so many current and powerful evangelicals who have told me that they like my book because it’s “time to shake things up.” The biggest surprise of all is the growing depth of support for Obama.
[snip]
The beneficiary of this move to sanity is going to be Senator Obama. For reasons I have discussed elsewhere here and here, Obama transcends easy categories and definition. His prophetic and inspirational edge also makes evangelical types comfortable with him in a way they aren’t with Senator Clinton or McCain.
I was at a concert in Boston recently and the head of the English department at one of the big evangelical colleges in the Boston area came up to me and asked me who I was voting for. When I told him it was Obama he leaned over and gave me a kiss on the cheek. The fact that Obama is a Democrat, a progressive and a black man would have made this response the truly impossible 20 years ago. These days I wasn’t surprised.
It would also not surprise me if the group that puts Obama over-the-top when he goes up against McCain (yes, it is going to be Obama) will be disaffected former Republican Evangelicals desperate to affirm something positive after spending so much of their lives wallowing in hate and negativity. They won’t vote for Clinton because she is too much like the negative world they are trying to escape. They want hope and real change.
There’s a lot more to that piece, an analysis of how the Evangelic movement rose to dominate our politics, and how many within it are now falling away in disgust from the world created by its cynical exploitation.
I knew the Wright thing wouldn’t fly with religious folks, and that they’d appreciate Obama standing by his pastor. Obama has been courting the religious right (basically by pointing out that they didn’t have to be the religious right ) for quite some time now.
Hillary’s honesty gap widens :
Clinton is viewed as “honest and trustworthy” by just 39 percent of Americans, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll, compared with 52 percent in May 2006. Nearly six in 10 said in the new poll that she is not honest and trustworthy. And now, compared with Obama, Clinton has a deep trust deficit among Democrats, trailing him by 23 points as the more honest, an area on which she once led both Obama and John Edwards…
The new poll suggests that much of her problem is with men. Nearly two-thirds of men said Clinton is not honest and trustworthy (an increase of 19 points), compared with 53 percent of women (up 12 points). Democratic men, in particular, have shifted: About four in 10 now do not believe Clinton to be honest and trustworthy, nearly triple the percentage saying so in 2006…
Among whites, the percentage saying Clinton is honest and trustworthy has declined 10 points, compared with 26 points among nonwhites. That number has declined more sharply among liberals (down 30 points) than among moderates (down 13) or conservatives (down 4 points). Head to head with Obama on honesty among Democrats, Clinton faces a 23-point deficit overall, 17 points among whites and nearly 50 points among African Americans.
Shayna
April 16, 2008, 5:16pm
819
In addition to Congressman Carson, U.S. Reps. David Price and Mel Watt will endorse Barack Obama .
The two Democratic superdelegates are slated to announce that they are backing Obama in a conference call at 1:15 this afternoon, Dome has learned.
In recent weeks, both had said they would make an endorsement before the state’s May 6 primary, but they had kept their preference private.
The two are influential in state politics. Price, often called the dean of the state delegation, is a political science professor who helped design the superdelegate system while working for a national commission led by former Gov. Jim Hunt.
Watt, who served as campaign manager for Harvey Gantt’s race against U.S. Sen. Jesse Helms, had previously expressed doubt that America is ready for a black president. He is the former head of the Congressional Black Caucus.
. . .
Just to add to the fun, the guy in Hillary’s latest attack ad is not registered to vote in PA .
snerk
