If an Obama Administration is anything like the campaign, Americans may have an efficient government again.
Behind the candidate's charisma, a leave-little-to-chance operation has been working hard to put him into the White House--recruiting supporters not only to give money (a record $150 million from 632,000 new donors in September) but travel to swing states and knock on doors, make phone calls, hold debate parties and write personalized post cards to undecided voters.
E-mails, often with videos, arrive by the dozens every week--from both Obamas and Bidens, and campaign managers at every level--to encourage backers to leave no rocks unturned, including those from which the William Ayers robocalls are coming.
"Barack will be the underdog," says a message from Michelle Obama, "until he's in the White House, so keep working, keep talking to your friends and neighbors, and together we can change the world."
"My wife Jill is an extraordinary woman," Joe Biden writes. "Jill's passion has always been education, and even during the campaign she's been teaching class during the week and joining me on the trail on the weekends. But this week, she also found some time to go to campaign headquarters and call voters in crucial battleground states...Can you do the same?"
If Obama doesn't win, it will certainly not be for lack of trying.
Showing posts with label Obama campaign. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Obama campaign. Show all posts
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Friday, September 05, 2008
Gender Wars Gone Wild
Sarah Palin's arrival has sent the sexism debate into a cuckooland where Pat Buchanan is defending her womanhood and Gloria Steinem is attacking her credentials.
According to Steinem, "Palin shares nothing but a chromosome with [Hillary] Clinton. Her down-home, divisive and deceptive speech did nothing to cosmeticize a Republican convention that has more than twice as many male delegates as female, a presidential candidate who is owned and operated by the right wing and a platform that opposes pretty much everything Clinton's candidacy stood for--and that Barack Obama's still does. To vote in protest for McCain/Palin would be like saying, 'Somebody stole my shoes, so I'll amputate my legs.'"
The courtly Buchanan, on the other hand, defended Palin in an on-camera attack on Chris Matthews. "What's your problem with strong women, buddy?" Buchanan asked. "The MS in MSNBC should not stand for misogyny."
In the real world, the Obama people are mobilizing to deal with it all by ignoring Palin's gender, raising questions about her inexperience and possibly stepping up Hillary Clinton's role in the campaign.
“Anyone who was inclined to support Hillary Clinton," says one of her former staff, "typically did so because of her focus on middle-class, bread-and-butter issues. Her message for Barack Obama on those issues could certainly help the Democratic ticket at the ballot box.”
Meanwhile, the new topsy-turvy gender politics will be making some strange bedfellows indeed.
According to Steinem, "Palin shares nothing but a chromosome with [Hillary] Clinton. Her down-home, divisive and deceptive speech did nothing to cosmeticize a Republican convention that has more than twice as many male delegates as female, a presidential candidate who is owned and operated by the right wing and a platform that opposes pretty much everything Clinton's candidacy stood for--and that Barack Obama's still does. To vote in protest for McCain/Palin would be like saying, 'Somebody stole my shoes, so I'll amputate my legs.'"
The courtly Buchanan, on the other hand, defended Palin in an on-camera attack on Chris Matthews. "What's your problem with strong women, buddy?" Buchanan asked. "The MS in MSNBC should not stand for misogyny."
In the real world, the Obama people are mobilizing to deal with it all by ignoring Palin's gender, raising questions about her inexperience and possibly stepping up Hillary Clinton's role in the campaign.
“Anyone who was inclined to support Hillary Clinton," says one of her former staff, "typically did so because of her focus on middle-class, bread-and-butter issues. Her message for Barack Obama on those issues could certainly help the Democratic ticket at the ballot box.”
Meanwhile, the new topsy-turvy gender politics will be making some strange bedfellows indeed.
Thursday, July 10, 2008
The Selective Reticence of Karl Rove
He is refusing to testify before Congress about Bush crimes but he just won't shut up in the Wall Street Journal about how Barack Obama is using his political genius for the '08 election.
Citing a letter from the Bush Justice Department, Karl Rove's lawyer claims he is "constitutionally immune from compelled congressional testimony" but is willing to grant an "informal interview" or answer written questions about the prosecution of former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman, whose ouster Bush's Brain is accused of arranging.
But Rove is showing no such reticence in today's Journal claiming that "the Obama for President effort has cribbed an awful lot from the Bush-Cheney playbooks of 2000 and 2004."
On closer inspection, the "awful lot" turns out to be the nuts and bolts of modern electioneering, although Rove insists that "by setting a world indoor record for jettisoning past positions, Mr. Obama may be risking his reputation for truthfulness. A candidate's credibility, once lost, is very hard to restore, regardless of how fine an organization he has built."
Lost credibility is a subject Rove knows inside out and, if the Judiciary Committee can make its subpoenas hold up in court, he will get ample opportunity to expatiate on it under oath, not for pay by Fox News and the Journal, but under penalty for perjury.
Meanwhile, Obama and the rest of us may be excused for not wanting to hear the brilliant insights of the man who made the White House a cesspool of lies and deception.
Citing a letter from the Bush Justice Department, Karl Rove's lawyer claims he is "constitutionally immune from compelled congressional testimony" but is willing to grant an "informal interview" or answer written questions about the prosecution of former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman, whose ouster Bush's Brain is accused of arranging.
But Rove is showing no such reticence in today's Journal claiming that "the Obama for President effort has cribbed an awful lot from the Bush-Cheney playbooks of 2000 and 2004."
On closer inspection, the "awful lot" turns out to be the nuts and bolts of modern electioneering, although Rove insists that "by setting a world indoor record for jettisoning past positions, Mr. Obama may be risking his reputation for truthfulness. A candidate's credibility, once lost, is very hard to restore, regardless of how fine an organization he has built."
Lost credibility is a subject Rove knows inside out and, if the Judiciary Committee can make its subpoenas hold up in court, he will get ample opportunity to expatiate on it under oath, not for pay by Fox News and the Journal, but under penalty for perjury.
Meanwhile, Obama and the rest of us may be excused for not wanting to hear the brilliant insights of the man who made the White House a cesspool of lies and deception.
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