Obama and Biden won the White House! The election was close in many states, but Obama won the electoral votes necessary to become the next President of the United States.
The Obama campaign didn’t make any major mistakes. The biggest problem for the Obama campaign was Reverend Wright. Obama spoke out in a public statement that he didn’t agree with Rev. Wright and was able to eliminate a potential disaster.
The McCain campaign made two big mistakes. The first was trying to convince the American public that Obama was a terrorist. Many Americans felt that the constant and prolonged remarks about Obama being friends with terrorist were uncalled for and went to far. The remarks crossed the line in ‘negative advertising’.
The second mistake was selecting Sarah Palin as the vice-presidential candidate. Sarah Palin is a probably a fine governor, but most people had a difficult time accepting her as a Vice-President and a potential President.
Colin Powell made a strong endorsement for Barack Obama for President. Powell made the endorsement during an appearance on Meet The Press. Colin Powell the son of Jamaican imigrants has served a distinquished career with the military and the U.S. government. The endorsement is huge win for the Obama campaign, because Colin Powell is widely respected within the military, by our government officials and the general public.
General Powell meticulously explained his reasons for making an endorsement for Obama at this time. First, he said that he doesn’t think is Palin is ready or capable to be the President of the United State. CannonSpeak arrived at this same conclusion on August 29th and wrote that McCain showed poor judgement when he selected Palin as his vice predidential candidate.
The number one reason that Powell decided to vote for Obama and what drove him to make a public endorsement for Obama is the McCain campaign’s twisted terrorist propaganda. The Republican National Committee and the McCain has engaged in behavior that is essentially wrong. There is a thin line between negative campaigning and where the RNC and the McCain campaign are with the terrorist twist. It’s downright un-American. Cannonspeak to this position about the McCain campaign twisting the facts about the William Ayres situtation.
The issue is that McCain and Palin have gone too far with the negative ads. You have crossed the line when you call a United States Senator a “pal of terrorists”, because he knows a respected scholar who was a Vietnam protester. Powell had indicated back in April 2008 that he was not going to endorse either candidate. It’s clear that McCain and Palin’s constant and long term “terrorist” campaign tactics drove Powell to make an endorsement for Obama.
Obama’s campaign aides wasted no time in blasting the New Yorker magazine regarding the cover picture depicting Obama dressed in muslim clothing. A campaign spokesman said the image is “tasteless and offensive”. It’s worse than that. You be the judge. Even McCain stopped campaigning long enough to criticize the cover.
The magazine claims that the cover is merely a satirical cartoon that depicts the image “that others” have used to portray Obama. This is a pitiful excuse. The magazine has gone way across the line in decency, ethics and responsible writing. This is an indignation to the American people. Everyone can see right through the New Yorker’s excuse for publishing the offensive cover. No one is falling for the lame explanation that the image depicts the way “that others” portray the Democratic Presidential candidate.
After all, the answer to the original question is: everyone has at least once said something rude and then tried to get out of it by laughing and saying “just kidding”. Americans aren’t as dumb as the pretentious editors at the New Yorker may think.
Obama recently announced that he is not going to use the Publice Funding funding available for Presidential candidates.
Public Funding was created after Richard Nixon’s campaign when he far outspent his opponent in the election. At the time, the public opinion was that he had a big advantage, because of donations from wealthy individuals and corporations. There was genuine concern that it may become impossible for a minority candidate to win a campaign against a candidate supported by a well funded political machine. The Public Funding money comes from U.S. taxpayers that check the box on the their IRS tax return (Form 1040) that they donate $3 to the Presidential campaigns. Most Americans check the box and the Public Fund can make avaiable approximately $85 million for each candidate.
The Public Funding program is good, but it has flaws. One glaring flaw is that all of the candidates do not have to use it. For example, if Obama and McCain had both agreed to use it. Independent candidates can still use their own money, and some have quite a bit, to smear the national party candidates and create a nuisance effect for the national candidates in the campaign. Obama’s decision has highlighted this weakness in the public funding program.
Still, it is dismaying that a candidate that is running a campaign based on reform would decide to use private funding instead of public funding. Obama’s team has pointed to several reasons why they chose to forego Public Funding, but they have not conceded to the real and underlying reason.
The underlying reason that Obama chose to use private funding is that during the primaries it became clear that he can raise much more money than McCain. However, this is the reason that the Public Funding program was created and it’s the reason that every candidate since Nixon has used it. This will be seen as many as a step back. It will be seen by just as many as doing what is necessary to win the election.
The issue is clear. What comes first reform or winning the Presidential election. Should the Public Funding program be strengthened to eliminate the current weaknesses and require all Presidential candidates to use Public Funding?
Obama is feeling stronger everyday as he gets closer to securing the Democratic Presidential nomination. As a result, he is concentrating more on campaigning against McCain and less against Clinton. He has criticized McCain’s international diplomacy as “naive” and is firing back at McCain. McCain made a negative implication about Obama’s statement that he would be willing to meet with the leaders of Iran. Obama fired back saying that John F. Kennedy met with Kruschev during the Cold War period.
Overall Obama is beginning to act like the winner of the Democratic Presidential nomination. Actually he doesn’t have the nomination sewn up yet. The super delegates are very close . . . and, while some of the super delegates have declared who they will vote for, some have remained silent about how they intend to vote and so its difficult to predict how every single super delegate will vote. Stay tuned for more.
Everyday someone says that Hillary should drop out of the race. Obama’s camp has even stated theories that the Clinton’s are trying to ruin Obama’s chances to win so Hillary can run again in four years. That’s absurd. The only candidates that run every election are the ones that are not serious contenders. Serious candidates never run again. Life (and politics) is about timing. Hillary’s time is now and if she doesn’t win, then she missed her chance to be President and that’s it.
So, back to the original question: Should Hillary drop out? Of course not! The race is too close. One misstep by either candidate can reverse the outcome. If Obama had a bigger lead, then dropping out would be a appropriate. But, this race is too close to drop out. If Hillary dropped out now, she would be forever labeled in history as a quitter and the candidate that was close to winning to the nomination, but will never know, because she dropped out early. The folks that repeatedly ask her to drop out have their own agenda and I think it’s very transparent.
Have you noticed the increase in auto decals, yard signs and other advertisements for Democrats? It’s been unpopular to be a Democrat in this country since ex-President Reagan’s administration. At the office, at parties, at church, even at the grocery store folks have boasted of their conservative nature and the Republican party. But, it’s been very unusual for the last couple of decades for anyone to publicly state that they are a Democrat. The radio and TV commentators have made “liberal” seem like a four letter word. Some commentators speak with such hatred that it almost sounds as if a “liberal” is close to being a traitor.
There’s been a lot of speculation that the extended political fracas between Obama and Clinton has been to the detriment of the Democratic Party. I disagree. I see more Obama and Clinton decals and yard signs than I remember seeing in many years. The Dems are coming out of hiding!
Obama and Biden won the White House! The election was close in many states, but Obama won the electoral votes necessary to become the next President of the United States. 
Colin Powell made a strong endorsement for Barack Obama for President. Powell made the endorsement during an appearance on Meet The Press. 
Obama’s campaign aides wasted no time in blasting the New Yorker magazine regarding the cover picture depicting Obama dressed in muslim clothing. A campaign spokesman said the image is “tasteless and offensive”. It’s worse than that. You be the judge. Even McCain stopped campaigning long enough to criticize the cover.
Obama is feeling stronger everyday as he gets closer to securing the Democratic Presidential nomination. As a result, he is concentrating more on campaigning against McCain and less against Clinton. He has criticized McCain’s international diplomacy as “naive” and is firing back at McCain. McCain made a negative implication about Obama’s statement that he would be willing to meet with the leaders of Iran. Obama fired back saying that John F. Kennedy met with Kruschev during the Cold War period.
Have you noticed the increase in auto decals, yard signs and other advertisements for Democrats? It’s been unpopular to be a Democrat in this country since ex-President Reagan’s administration. At the office, at parties, at church, even at the grocery store folks have boasted of their conservative nature and the Republican party. But, it’s been very unusual for the last couple of decades for anyone to publicly state that they are a Democrat. The radio and TV commentators have made “liberal” seem like a four letter word. Some commentators speak with such hatred that it almost sounds as if a “liberal” is close to being a traitor.
