BIG Night! Last Night?

Obama entered the stage in Des Moines, Iowa tonight with both his daughters on hand and his wife by his side. They walked on and waved as a First Family would. They are the new symbol of the American family – they are the family that will represent the U.S.

Clinton won by a huge margin in Kentucky but that can’t save her. The polls have yet to close in Oregon but there is no doubt that Oregon is “O” for Obama. Tonight Obama claims the majority of pledged delegates and Clinton has officially been put on notice – time is running out and unless there is some major back room dealing with the DNC rules committee, Obama is the Democratic nominee.

Since May 6 when Obama clobbered Clinton in North Carolina and Clinton squeezed out a small disappointing win in Indiana, the media coverage has turned away from the Clinton machine’s “Count Michigan! Count Florida” message and focused almost entirely on Obama vs. McCain – the presumptive names on the November ballot.

Obama knows he’s the nominee but right now it’s best if he sits tight and lets the Clinton camp figure out a way to exit gracefully. The last thing Obama wants is to do anythingto further draw the party apart and anger Clinton supporters.

“CHANGE IS COMING TO AMERICA!”

Tonight Obama made his victory speech from my old December stomping grounds and his old stumping grounds, Des Moines, Iowa where it all began. Iowa was the first place to give Obama a chance – it was his first win, his first delegates and the first community that got to know him. Obama is also going to be a competitive state in the November election and his mass popularity may be great political capital.

By being in Iowa, Obama is subtly poking holes into that Clinton argument that only she can attract white middle class voters. Iowa is pretty much all white middle class voters and that was a state where she came in third (perhaps because it wasn’t until New Hampshire where she cried).

Obama is not just gearing up for a general election, he’s in it. Clinton is going “toe to toe” with… the DNC?  Can you go “toe-to-toe” against someone who is busy going toe-to-toe with someone else?

At this point, it’s time to unite the party and hopefully Clinton will do whatever it takes to make sure that a Democrat will elected and that must mean a nice graceful exit. We’ve waited so long for a graceful exit that another two weeks is nothing. On June 3rd I think we all hope Clinton embraces Obama and we finally once again have a united Democratic Party.

Not This Again

Hillary Clinton isn’t going anywhere it seems. She’s taking her fight all the way to the convention floor – a convention floor that, if she has her way, will have the Florida and Michigan delegation seated.

Tonights decisive primaries in North Carolina and Indiana did not live up to their potential. They weren’t decisive. Barack Obama, as predicted, won the North Carolina primary by sizable margin while Indiana was a toss-up in the polls and even as I’m writing this it hasn’t been called. That being said, Obama just conceded Indiana in his victory speech in North Carolina (maybe he has numbers the networks don’t have.)

So it looks like the play goes on without any actors exiting the scene. After tonight there is no real big delegate prize left besides those all important superdelegates that are now guaranteed to have to choose the Democratic nominee. Interestingly enough, after Hillary Clinton large victory in Pennsylvania it has actually been Barack Obama that has had more superdelegates come out in support including Joe Andrew, the former DNC chair who entered that post during the last years of the Clinton administration.

Unless during the next month a huge number of superdelegates announce their support for Barack Obama, this contest will continue and be hashed out on the convention floor. At this point, why not? We’ve waited this long for a Democratic nominee, what would be so wrong with waiting a few more month? An interesting convention may be the solution for disenchanted Democratic Party.

Wright Is Wrong But Let’s Not Go Overboard

Hey, I’m one of the millions of American’s that was offended by the notion that America is responsible for 9/11 and I don’t believe that the government is responsible for the AIDS epidemic. So in my view Reverend Wright was wrong but I don’t think that he is necessarily hurting America.

Wednesday I attended a live broadcast of NPR’s Talk of The Nation (you can hear me ask a question about superdelegate endorsement trends in the first 15 minutes). Professor Ron Walters was a guest who talked about the effect of Reverend Wright on the Obama campaign and about Wright’s popularity and reach in the black community. However, it was two callers that really illustrated how drastically Jeremiah Wright has transformed the national conversation away from the issues of the campaign.

First, there was Greg from Raleigh, North Carolina who asked why doesn’t Reverend Wright, who seems so unhappy with the problems in America, just leave. Neal Conan, the host, said “Well perhaps because he’s from here and spent his entire life here.” Greg didn’t accept that. Neal then suggested that maybe Reverend Wright is trying to make the country a better place. This was a great point, and the audience responded with applause (maybe just by the fact that Neal shut up Greg, the ridiculous caller). I don’t agree with everything Reverend Wright said but I do think that his heart in the right place. He is getting his constituency to, whether you believe this or not, recognize and care about the issues surrounding them. Rightfully or wrongfully, he’s spreading a message.

Later in the show another caller, Barbara from Miami, got into a bit of a conversation with Neal and Prof. Walters about how she feels its too late for Senator Obama, that he should have distanced himself from Reverend Wright earlier and that if you’re sitting in a church for 20 years you better know what’s being said. Prof. Walters said “Well if Obama is anything like me, he didn’t go to church every Sunday” but once again this was not a happy listener. Barbara reminded Prof. Walters that minutes earlier he had highlighted the importance of Reverend Wright in the black community and she said “I’m sure this kind of talk is well known, not just to parishioners but among the leaders themselves of these churches. I heard that Oprah Winfrey wanted to be a member of the church and she said ‘No way! I’m outta here'” (of course no one can confirm that).

What has really made me angry about this whole situation (besides the fact that it’s a sensational story that distracts from actual issues) is that the solution many of these white Americans see (getting rid of Reverend Wright, not joining the church) doesn’t solve anything. All this media coverage has actually educated white Americans about the dialogue that exists in thousands of churches that they would probably have never and would never consider attending. The solution is not getting rid of Reverend Wright or distancing yourself from the church – the solution is bringing everything, everyone to the table and talking, creating one American dialogue.

Hill and Bill

Hillary Clinton made her FoxNews debut last night on The O’Reilly Factor. In the first 15 minutes of the one hour interview that will be spread over four nights (those Fox executives know how to keep the ratings high) Bill O’Reilly wanted to talk about the one thing every Fox personality is obsessed with – Jeremiah Wright. Rather than start off the interview with a actual question, Bill O’Reilly started off by asking “Can you believe this guy.” Oh Please!

Vodpod videos no longer available. from www.youtube.com posted with vodpod