Obama Shows Confidence in Iowa Sprint New York Times an assertion by former President Bill Clinton that electing Mr. Obama would be “rolling the dice” for America Bill Clinton Says Obama Isn’t ReadyNew York Times Former President Bill Clinton made an unusually direct attack Friday night on Senator Barack Obama, one of his wife’s leading rivals for the Democratic presidential nomination, suggesting that voters who would support someone with Mr. Obama’s experience were willing to “roll the dice” on the presidency. ........ Appearing on “The Charlie Rose Show” on PBS, Mr. Clinton repeatedly questioned Mr. Obama’s preparedness for the White House ...... “When is the last time we elected a president based on one year of service in the Senate before he started running?” Mr. Clinton said. At another point, he appeared to compare Mr. Obama to a “gifted television commentator” running for president. “They’d have only one year less experience in national politics” than Mr. Obama, he said. ...... When asked about Mr. Clinton’s comments Saturday in Waterloo, Iowa, Mr. Obama smiled and read words Mr. Clinton used in 1992 — “the same old experience is irrelevant” — to answer questions about his own presidential candidacy. It is the second time recently Mr. Obama has used that remark to push back against the former president. ....... “I’ve been involved in government for over a decade,” Mr. Obama said. “The notion that there is a particular kind of experience that he has had or his wife has had that is more relevant, I would dispute. I believe that I have the experience that the country needs right now.” ...... During the Charlie Rose interview, Mr. Clinton looked agitated at times as he talked about recent campaign problems faced by his wife ....... At one point, Mr. Rose said that, in his control room, aides to Mr. Clinton were trying to persuade the show’s producers to end the interview. ........ In Iowa on Monday, Mr. Clinton praised the Democratic candidates as a great field. But on Charlie Rose, he criticized Mr. Obama for making “derisive” comments about Mrs. Clinton, including saying that she had long planned to run for president.
I marvel Bill Clinton's political skills with the knowledge of someone who knows what he is talking about. I have a feel for politics. I have watched this guy in action. He is good. He is skillful.
But not even Bill Clinton can undo the term limit of two imposed on US presidents. This guy thinks he is running for a third term. The beginning of the end of Hillary 2008 was when Bill Clinton asserted to an Iowa audience that he opposed the Iraq War from the very beginning, despite all evidence to the contrary. That is a point Hillary herself has never dared to make. Until 2006 Hillary was trying to kick out Rumsfeld. As in, the decision to go to war was right, but the guy who did the execution part got it wrong.
Bill Clinton gave eight fine years. He is not exactly your stereotypical racist white guy from the South, someone unapologetic like Trent Lott, for example. His economic management was marvelous.
But there was always something fundamental lacking in Bill Clinton that deprived him of true greatness. He did a good job, but he did not become a great president.
And the sexism the Clinton '92 boys have shown in Hillary often being the last to know of the mosquito bites attempted by some of those boys on Obama 2008. Those boys keep wanting to go back to the slash and burn ways of the 1990s. What Ken Starr and the Republicans did to the Clintons, they want to do to Obama. Fat chance. If Hillary can't even run her own campaign, how could she run the White House? Why do these boys keep surprising her with their mosquito bite attempts on Obama 2008?
Barack Obama has not won the nomination yet, and I am not going to count a single caucus or primary victory before it actually happens. He is not president yet. He is not reelected yet. He has not finished with his eight years yet. He has not yet delivered on Iraq, on health care, on global warming. Not yet.
But I am betting my farm on this guy. (On November 7: In Harlem: For Obama) I am saying he is destined for a greatness Bill Clinton never was. America has had more than 40 presidents. I will put Bill Clinton among the top 10. Barack is gunning for Mount Rushmore. He is destined to be among the top 5.
If you ask me, I think Barack stands a chance of becoming the greatest president America ever had. It is because Einstein always happens after Newton. Time is on his side. Great guys like Lincoln and Roosevelt, they already happened. They are dead and gone.
Bill Clinton gave eight years of good economic growth.
Barack will have the opportunity to liberate America from racism like Lincoln liberated America from slavery. If he can do that, he will have scored. Many people think of racism as something mushy mushy, something about matters of the heart, feelings. Like W says, if there were a law that will make people love each other, I would sign it. He was talking about race. Well, guess what, it is not mushy mushy. It is something as concrete as slavery and segregation. There is concrete data on disparity.
Barack could give a new birth to Social Security like FDR gave birth to that program. Barack could deliver on health care.
Barack could do the JFK thing on charisma, youthfulness, vigor, beautiful (brainy) wife, cute kids, and a reach into the far corners of the world. His reach into the far corners of the world could be much more concrete than that of JFK. JFK gave the Peace Corps, Barack could give total debt relief to Africa to bring that continent back in the game. Barack could turn Africa into Latin America, politically and economically. And if he were to do that one thing, I'd feel all my time into Obama 2008 has been worth it. African has been shortchanged like no other continent. (America Is A Senator Country)
A Lincoln, FDR, JFK combo: now that is the greatest president America ever had. I am also going to say he will also be America's first president. America's original promise was it should not be a big deal that someone like Barack becomes president. All human beings are created equal.
As for Bill Clinton, Barack Obama comparisons, I will start at the beginning. Compare Bill Clinton's 1988 convention speech to Barack's same speech in 2004. Now roll the dice.
In The News
Obama is hitting his stride in Iowa Los Angeles Times, USA The candidate once criticized for lacking specifics now peppers his speeches with policy proposals -- and more confidence. ...... Obama burst onto the national political scene with a supernova brilliance ..... pedantic side ..... his delivery is crisper, his footing more assured. ...... The candidate of hope and high ground strikes at Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton with unspoken allusions -- no negative campaigner he -- and an occasional sarcastic aside. And the candidate who once seemed alternately bemused and put off by some of the silliness of running for president now takes the occasional left-field question in his long stride. ........... a pledge to reform the healthcare system by holding a nationally televised round table with doctors, patient advocates, hospital administrators and representatives of the insurance and pharmaceutical industries. ............ He calls for public financing of elections and raising the minimum wage to keep pace with inflation. He favors closing the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and a phased withdrawal of U.S. combat troops from Iraq over 16 months. He proposes giving college students a $4,000-a-year tax credit in exchange for community service, and boosting federal education funding by $18 billion a year to pay for higher teacher salaries, better early childhood programs and more aid for disabled students. ....... became a convert last weekend when he saw Obama appear in Cedar Rapids alongside Oprah Winfrey. ...... "There's real clarity in what he intends to do," Dirks said. "It's not like some candidates who just ramble it off." ........... Obama is spending several days bumping along on a bus through rural Iowa, from the Mississippi River to the Missouri River. His campaign exudes the confidence that comes when the winds blow favorably. His traveling party of strategists and spokesmen are accessible and exuberant. The campaign-in-disarray stories that battered Obama and his team when the candidate seemed to plateau through the summer and early fall -- "our 60 days in the press penalty box," said campaign manager David Plouffe -- are now being directed at Clinton. .......... "Let me tell you, when I was in kindergarten I didn't write essays," Obama said, drawing laughs from the crowd of about 350 people. "I was smart. I could write my name, 'Barack.' I could write 'mom.' I wasn't writing essays." ....... Clinton's intention to skitter across Iowa today by helicopter. He paused. Smiled broadly. "Magic carpet," he replied.
Boston Globe Endorses McCain, Obama The Associated Press The endorsements followed in-depth interviews with the presidential contenders. ..... The board says Obama's diverse and international life experience helped the Illinois Democrat develop a unique perspective of the world. ...... The newspaper's editorial board praised McCain as a straight talker whose honesty, despite the political cost, might help a polarized nation. The board described the Arizona Republican as a possible antidote to the "toxic political approach" of the last two presidential elections.
Obama Shows Confidence in Iowa Sprint New York Times 22-city tour of the state. ...... he finds himself at the center of a fusillade of criticism from his rivals ...... an assertion by former President Bill Clinton that electing Mr. Obama would be “rolling the dice” for America ..... “A month ago, I was an idiot,” he said. “This month, I’m a genius.” ...... The campaign of Mr. Obama, which slogged uncertainly through a period in the late summer and fall, alarming contributors who feared that he might have missed his moment, is now brimming with confidence as he delivers a closing argument to Iowa voters. His speeches are noticeably crisper, his poise is more consistent and many supporters say they no longer must rely upon a leap of faith to envision him winning the nomination. ............ one week remainingbefore the campaign pauses for Christmas, Mr. Obama is dashing through a 22-city tour from the Mississippi River in the east to the Missouri River in the west ....... His organization faces its greatest test yet: turning enthusiasm among many grass-roots Democrats into widespread support at the caucuses on Jan. 3 in precincts that will decide the outcome, particularly rural areas where his support still remains uneven after 10 months of campaigning. ...... the race in Iowa remains remarkably unsettled ....... strongly gaining on her in New Hampshire ....... a point underscored by their travel itineraries practically mirroring each other. ........ his judgment, temperament and unifying approach ....... a moment of vulnerability for Mrs. Clinton ...... he has narrowed his focus to a micro-level in Iowa, calling sheriffs, local officials and prospective precinct captains when he passes through town. ....... Her campaign repudiated the remarks, Mrs. Clinton apologized and the adviser resigned. But she and her aides have kept the issue alive by referring to it publicly in what appeared to be an effort to drive up negative views of his character and to raise doubts about his ability to weather a general election. ........ Obama responded that voters would ultimately be turned off by such attacks on him, particularly about his admission more than a decade ago that he used marijuana and cocaine in his youth. ........ “My past and my character seemed to be fine when I was 20 points down” ....... In the final 18 days of the race here, Mr. Obama intends to devote nearly all of his time to Iowa, with the exception of a two-day trip to New Hampshire. He completed his final fund-raiser of the year on Tuesday in Seattle, which freed his schedule for 15-hour days of back-to-back rallies and town meetings, a pace far more hectic than much of the year. ........ “The political climate on the night of the caucuses is as important to turnout as anything,” said Mr. Obama’s campaign manager, David Plouffe. “Right now, we have a good climate, but the next 20 days will seem like 20 years.” ......... 10,000 phone calls every night ..... If you are going away for the holidays, will you be back by Jan. 3? ...... In such a tight race, Mr. Plouffe said, a margin of 2,000 or 3,000 could tip the balance. ....... the older voters who are being gently asked to stick around Iowa until the caucuses before moving to a warmer climate for the winter. ....... “Whoever wins this caucus is likely to win the nomination and is likely to win the presidency.” Personal Health: Mental Reserves Keep Brains Agile Late Reversal by U.S. Yields Climate Plan Gail Collins: Barack’s Blast From the Past Lead in doubt, Clinton knocks on N.Hampshire doorsReuters The New York senator knocked on doors along a snow-covered block of Manchester ..... "I'd be honored to have your support," Clinton said on the front porch ...... evaporate both in New Hampshire and Iowa ..... Lou D'Allesandro, a New Hampshire state senator who accompanied Clinton as she knocked on about 10 doors ...... "Politics is connecting with people, and this is how you do it here. I'd like to see her here more," he said. ....... "The firewall has largely disappeared now," he said. "If she loses both ... it would be very difficult to recover." ... I wish she would talk more about women, because I think that would be helpful," said Herb Meyer, a 50-year-old physician from Danville ....... "She's got a lot of presence, Barack Obama has a lot of presence," Meyer said, adding that he wasn't yet sure for whom he would vote. Who Won and Lost at Bali TIME the pounding it took in the tortured all-night negotiations that capped the UN climate change conference in Bali was unprecedented. ...... not one of the allies that had generally stood with the U.S. the past two weeks — Australia, Russia, Canada — rose in its defense. ...... The roadmap is essentially the beginning of a beginning. .... "the Berlin Wall of climate change," the idea that only the rich nations need to take responsibility for fighting global warming. ........ eventually tropical nations could be rewarded for not cutting down their forests ........ For environmentalists who had hoped that the recent avalanche of data underscoring the rising crisis of climate change might prompt tougher action, Bali was a disappointment. .......... the EU showed surprising spine ...... the clear big winners are China and India, which have fully arrived as major players on international climate action. China in particular came to Bali ready to negotiate hard, but also prepared to give something — a vital change after years of insisting that it would take no responsibility for climate change. While India began the negotiations seemingly disengaged, the country elevated its game in the final day, and showed that it was willing to go beyond its own narrow national interests. ........ It should be difficult for a country to make the final concession that allows a landmark deal to fall into place, and still appear selfish and churlish — but the U.S. somehow managed to do that. .......... blocked attempts to make climate diplomacy match the urgency of climate science. ...... "Instead, they just burnished their Darth Vader image." ...... But at least we all seem to be headed in the same direction, if not at the same speed. A Real End to Pakistan's Emergency? The Diana Inquest Gets Personal Vatican Defends Right to Convert The Huckabee Trap Nepal's election by mid-April next year: minister AFP Huckabee tied with Giuliani in Illinois - poll Reuters India Mitt Romney Roughs Up Mike Huckabee Over Anti-Bush Comments FOX News Musharraf Restores Constitution in Pakistan ABC News Two Indian Doctoral Students Shot to Death at US University Voice of America shooting deaths of two doctoral students at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. ..... The two students, both natives of India, were killed late Thursday at an off-campus apartment. One of the men was bound with a computer cable. ...... the deadly shootings were the result of a home invasion, and not part of "an escalating pattern." Has the tide turned against Clinton? Independent a deepening crisis in her presidential bid amid evidence that her closest rival, Barack Obama, is riding a late surge of support in the two critical states ......... new signs that the tide may be turning against the former First Lady ....... her message has been overwhelmed by headline-making stumbles by her campaign team. ........ a startling reversal for Mrs Clinton ...... Mrs Clinton took off yesterday on a desperate helicopter dash across Iowa ....... That she may be in trouble has not escaped her ....... his remarks sparked a storm of opprobrium and Mrs Clinton found herself having to apologise to her rival on the tarmac of Washington DC's main airport. ......... the national surveys have been more or less static for several months. ...... In New Hampshire, where the primaries come just five days later, her loss of ground seems to be even greater. Once comfortably ahead, she is shown in one poll to be two points behind Mr Obama. ...... Losses in both Iowa and New Hampshire, while they would not necessarily be fatal for the Clinton candidacy, would certainly shatter the myth of her invincibility. .... Bill Clinton ... is now playing the game of lowering expectations. ... "it's a miracle that she's got a chance to win" in Iowa. ...... she has grown sharply more critical of her rivals – a risky tactic, particularly in Iowa, where voters traditionally are turned off by negative campaigning ........ a press release highlighting a kindergarten essay by Mr Obama entitled "I want to Become President". It was meant to show him as consumed by ambition, but voters didn't like the tactic. Poll: Obama Leads Clinton 2-To-1 in Ill. The Associated Press Barack Obama, 50 percent Hillary Rodham Clinton, 25 percent Illinois Democrats favor Obama 2-1Chicago Tribune Poll: Obama leads Clinton 2 to 1 in IllinoisWQAD For the Democrats: Barack Obama Boston Globe The most sobering challenges that face this country — terrorism, climate change, disease pandemics — are global. America needs a president with an intuitive sense of the wider world, with all its perils and opportunities. Barack Obama has this understanding at his core. The Globe endorses his candidacy in New Hampshire’s Democratic presidential primary Jan. 8. Many have remarked on Obama’s extraordinary biography: that he is the biracial son of a father from Kenya and a mother who had him at 18; that he was raised in the dynamic, multi-ethnic cultures of Hawaii and Indonesia; that he went from being president of the Harvard Law Review to the gritty and often thankless work of community organizing in Chicago; that, at 46, he would be the first post-baby-boom president. It is true that all the other Democratic contenders have more conventional resumes, and have spent more time in Washington. But that exposure has tended to give them a sense of government’s constraints. Obama is more open to its possibilities. Barack Obama Straddles Different WorldsThe Associated Press He had already navigated the exotic corners of Hawaii and Indonesia, the halls of privilege of Cambridge, Mass., and the poverty-wracked streets of Chicago as a boy, a student and a young man. ........ bridging gaps, making connections, forging alliances. ...... "He walks between worlds," she says. "That's what he's done his entire life." ....... From the very beginning, Barack Obama has blended cultures. ...... the basketball his father gave him, the African records they danced to, the Dave Brubeck concert they attended. ....... plunging the 6-year-old Obama into a land of delicacies such as snake meat and grasshopper, a pet monkey, Tata, and the harsh realities of Third World poverty and disease. ........ From their mother, she says, "he gets his ability to build bridges, to keep an open mind ... his taste for adventure, his curiosity and his compassion." ..... From their grandmother, Madelyn: "his pragmatism, his levelheadedness, his ability to stay centered in the eye of the storm." ..... From their grandfather, Stanley: "his love of the game. My grandfather ... pursued life with great zest and enthusiasm and a great sense of possibility." .......... the prestigious Punahou School, a private academy in Honolulu where he was "intelligent, but not overly intellectual" ........ outgoing, laughed easily and wasn't above showing off. ..... Obama — then known as Barry — had a rebellious streak. One friend remembers they were both suspended in 7th grade for pitching quarters on school grounds. ...... The chubby kid who collected Spider-Man and Conan the Barbarian comics grew into a teen who listened to jazz saxophonist Grover Washington Jr. and Earth, Wind & Fire, tooled around in Gramps' old Ford Granada, golfed, played poker, sang in the choir and joined Ka Wai Ola, the school's literary journal. .......... Obama also loved basketball and as a forward dubbed "Barry O'Bomber," he favored a left-handed double pump shot. During his senior year, the varsity team captured the state championship. ....... a fierce competitor and a sensitive friend ...... an introspective side to Obama, the outsider grappling with his biracial roots. ...... "ethnic corner." ..... discussed interracial dating, education — and, he says, probably "whether we would see a black president in our lifetime." ......... Obama never spoke of the turmoil he revealed in his memoir ........ to "push questions of who I was out of my mind." ..... "I probably questioned my identity a bit harder than most. As a kid from a broken home and family of relatively modest means, I nursed more resentments than my circumstances justified, and I didn't always channel those resentments in particularly constructive ways." .......... Obama arrived in Chicago in 1985 ....... knew little about Chicago's bare-knuckle politics. But living abroad gave him experience as an outsider and a natural empathy for people without money and power, says Gerald Kellman, the man who hired him. .......... Obama's task was to mobilize residents to agitate for themselves, whether it was lobbying for a job training center, pushing for more park services or removing asbestos from a housing project. ......... "He seemed to listen well and he learned fast" ..... he didn't adopt hard-nose tactics. ...... "He did not like personal confrontation," Kellman says. "He had no trouble challenging power and challenging people on issues. When it came to face-to-face situations, he valued civility a great deal. ... When it came to negotiating conflict, he was very good at that." ....... "This kid was so bright — I shouldn't say kid, this man was so bright, but he didn't hit you over the head with it" ..... "He was matter-of-fact and smooth. ... He explained things so nobody would be offended." ........ The women doted on him. They chided him when he would eat just a spinach salad for lunch, laughed when he showed off his dance moves ("He didn't lack confidence, I can tell you that," Augustine-Herron says) and joked about his punctuality and seriousness. ......... "If we don't hurry up, baby-faced Obama is going to be mad," they'd prod one another as they rushed to a meeting with him. ...... Obama prepared them for dealing with bureaucrats, telling them whom to approach, guiding them on what to say — then offering critiques. ...... "He energized us. When you've been a housewife all your life and all you've done is raise kids, you don't know too much about the outside world. He taught us." ...... "'Let me look into it' were his favorite words," says Lloyd, who still calls Obama "my skinny little boy." ......... Obama remained close with his half-sister, Maya, who visited Chicago during the summers. When her father died when she was just a teen, Obama, nearly a decade older, took on a paternal role, taking her on tours of college campuses. ....... Obama also was honing his writing skills, crafting vivid short stories about pastors and crumbling communities, inspired by his Chicago experiences. He showed them to fellow organizer Mike Kruglik, who was impressed by how he had captured the feel of the streets. "I couldn't figure out how he had the time and energy to do it," he says. .......... In three years as an organizer, Obama became increasingly aware of the limits to what he could achieve and grew more pragmatic, Kellman says. His father's experience as a civil servant in Africa was a cautionary tale. ....... "He had this sense of his dad being too idealistic and not practical enough ... and not accomplishing what he wanted" ....... had died "a bitter man." ........ sharing life stories with people "gave me the sense of place and purpose I'd been looking for." ...... He was ready to move on — to Harvard Law School. ...... Obama entered Harvard older than many classmates, stepping into an incubator for America's elite — future Supreme Court justices, Fortune 500 leaders, U.S. senators and presidents. ........ an intellect with mature judgment, a conciliator who could see both sides of an issue. ....... "You wanted to hear him thinking. There was something special about him." ....... The law school had plenty of achievers trying to edge out their competition but that wasn't Obama's style ...... "He was not at all about credit but results," Tribe says. "He would often give credit to others that he did the work for." ....... Obama also could deal with very smart people "in ways that didn't bend them out of shape. He learned how to move through those circles ... made few waves and got things done." ...... "It didn't have the same meaning for him. ... He did not take that pound-on-my-chest attitude, 'Look at me, I'm the first one.' He was conscious of the historical significance but understood ... there was a responsibility." ........ Back in Chicago, Obama joined a small civil rights firm, ran a voter registration drive and lectured on constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School. ........ that he understood politics was "a full-contact sport and minded neither the sharp elbows nor the occasional blind-side hit." ....... a pragmatist who'd cross party lines ...... Obama helped change laws governing the death penalty, ethics and racial profiling, and he won tax credits for the working poor. But he failed in his campaign for universal health care. ........ As a newcomer in the clubby atmosphere of Springfield, Obama also encountered cold shoulders. Some lawmakers initially thought he was a bit arrogant. ........ "It took him a while to prove that he was a real guy," says state Sen. Kirk Dillard, a Republican who appears in an Obama campaign commercial. "For the first couple of years, there was some healthy skepticism. ... It was especially true among his fellow African-American legislators." ........ "If you look African-American in society, you're treated as an African-American" "And when you're a child in particular that is how you begin to identify yourself. At least that's what I felt comfortable identifying myself as." ....... that his racial identity is "not the core of who I am." ..... he also wrote, he has faced the "litany of petty slights," including security guards trailing him in department stores and white couples tossing him keys outside restaurants, mistaking him for a valet. ....... "I know what it's like to have people tell me I can't do something because of my color, and I know the bitter swill of swallowed-back anger" ......... a racially mixed group of friends and political alliances. ...... His academic credentials mattered little to some voters who felt Rush better understood them. ..... "Barack was perceived as an outsider," says Link, the state senator. "He wasn't one of the boys." He wasn't deterred. ........ The Speech — a 17-minute star-making turn ...... he had impressed John Kerry, then the Democratic presidential nominee, after the Massachusetts senator heard him speak at a fundraiser, and the two men campaigned together in Chicago that spring. ....... an old Broadway plot line: Barack Obama walked on stage an unknown. He walked off a star. ..... the third black U.S. senator since Reconstruction. ..... Since then, he has had the Midas touch ...... one of the hottest attractions on the 2006 campaign trail, stumping for Democratic candidates around the nation. ...... his hero Abraham Lincoln The Front-Runners: Barack ObamaWashington Post His father had become a ghost to him, an opaque figure hailed as brilliant, charismatc, dignified, with a deep baritone voice that reminded everyone of James Earl Jones. .......... Thoughts of his father continue to 'bubble up,' as Obama puts it in an interview, 'at different moments at any course of the day or week.' ...... At other moments he will be playing with his daughters -- Malia, 9, and Sasha, 6 -- and begin to wrestle with what kind of father he has become." ........ His mother was an anthropologist, and a pioneer in micro enterprise development ....... She recognized early on the importance of supporting poor women, in developing countries, at the village level. ....... David Axelrod, the preeminent political consultant in Chicago, has been with Obama throughout his rise. Abner Mikva, a former federal judge who served in Congress and as a White House senior staffer, has been a longtime mentor. Others have been helpful in his rise, including Illinois State Sen. President Emil Jones. And, Harvard Law School Prof. Charles Ogletree. ........ refreshingly candid. ..... challenged Kenya to "create a govt. that is transparent and accountable. One that serves its people and is free from corruption." ....... As a 51-year-old African American female who admires Clinton for her courage and convictions and had supported her -- I believe this country is ready for new and fresh ideas. ........ the votes will come quickly in a short period of time--Iowa and N.H. within 5 days of each other, and 20 states voting on Feb. 5th. The dynamics of a campaign can shift quickly. .......... he has developed relationships with his siblings from Africa, especially his half sister Auma. ...... Should the Obama campaign make Mark Penn an issue? After all, Penn was "Karl Rove" long before Karl Rove was "Karl Rove." Should the pro-war members of the chattering class be forced to defend their silence on Penn's dominant role in Clinton's campaign? ........ Mark Penn said on Hardball: "The issue related to cocaine use is not something the campaign is in any way raising." Clinton: I Know When to Stand Firm The Associated Press spent the morning inching along an icy sidewalk ...... that she knows when to dig in her heels and when to compromise. ...... where she spent more time than usual focusing on her resume ...... citing as examples her work for the Children's Defense Fund after college, her unsuccessful universal health care plan while her husband was president, and her work as a U.S. senator to expand health benefits for National Guard members. ...... Clinton also defended her 2002 vote authorizing military action in Iraq and her recent vote to label the Iranian National Guard a terrorist organization. ...... the votes amount to a pattern of pushing the country into war. ....... since the Iran vote, Iran has stopped sending so many dangerous weapons to other countries to use against Americans. ..... and saying that he found her initial answer "evasive and condescending." .... "I like your programs but sometimes I think you come off as cold and politically calculating," said Roger Tilton, who said his two daughters support Clinton. "There's this disconnect ... what do I tell my daughters?" ..... "Your daughters sound very smart to me," Clinton said. ...... Clinton went door-to-door in the state's largest city, carefully approaching about a dozen snowcapped homes, many decorated with wreaths and holiday lights. ....... While Clinton chatted with homeowners Dianne and Dan Lehoux, their dog sneaked into the kitchen and scarfed down two of the chocolate Christmas cookies the couple had just baked with their nephews. "Now I have to call the vet!" said Dianne Lehoux, who nonetheless described Clinton's visit as "amazing." "I was shaking," she said. The GOP Race: None of the Above Time Polls point to the political equivalent of a total solar eclipse, with three different Republicans leading in three of the initial primary and caucus states: Mike Huckabee in Iowa, Mitt Romney in New Hampshire and Rudy Giuliani in Michigan. None of these men, at present, would beat Hillary Clinton in a general-election matchup, and each would fare little better against Barack Obama. "If somebody could run as None of the Above," says former McCain campaign chief John Weaver, "he would be the front-runner." ...... Huckabee, a former Baptist preacher from, of all places, Hope, Ark. ...... Republicans have no experience with chaos like this, except in history books. "It is without a doubt," says G.O.P. strategist Ralph Reed, "the most unpredictable roller-coaster ride we've seen in a Republican primary since the rise of the primary in the 1960s." ...... Newt Gingrich went further: he called the G.O.P. contest the most wide-open race the party has held since 1940 — the year Wendell Willkie needed six ballots to capture the nomination before losing to F.D.R. in a third-term landslide. ....... he did not want a Vice President whose loyalties were divided between the Oval Office and the Des Moines Register ........ the revolution that brought the party to power in Congress in 1994 was pretty much a spent force by 2000. Under this theory, Republicans should have lost that election but survived thanks to Bush's qualities, the butterfly ballot and five Supreme Court Justices. Then 9/11 happened, which enabled Bush to win reelection, despite the fact that the G.O.P.'s sell-by date had long since passed. The past seven years, in this view, were an anomaly that postponed the reckoning and made the G.O.P. crash even more severe. ........... the moral and intellectual power outage that now darkens the G.O.P. ....... the party has squandered its bragging rights on running a more efficient government. ..... almost 6 out of every 10 Hispanic voters now call themselves Democrats or lean that way, according to a new Pew Center study — a shift of 13 points in party ID in the past year alone. ...... "Some have lifted a script from the past," he says, "without realizing the setting on the stage has changed." ........ repeatedly naming Hillary Clinton in debates as the real threat facing the nation ......... Republican self-doubt is so marked that if Jesus came back as a candidate, "people would say, 'You know, I don't like his beard.'" ....... A Republican governor put it this way: "If you took any one of these guys and held them up against the light and said, 'Could this guy be President?' you'd say, 'I don't think so.'" ........ his alienated children ..... Romney has been elected to office exactly once, has a record of changing his positions on an unusually wide range of issues, and just announced that he's a Mormon to a nation that might not otherwise have known or even cared. ......... Huckabee is low on cash, light on organization ....... Staffers have fled his campaign in horror throughout the fall, complaining that the candidate listens only to his wife. .......... responded to a picture of the TV actor by saying, "Is he still running?" ........ Romney could be speaking for the entire field when he says, as he has done, "I'm not perfect." ....... why the party's normally ferocious enthusiasm is so far absent in every poll. ....... The falcons heard the falconers — and then flew off in a different direction. ..... another sign of a party whose power structure has uncoupled from the people who put it in power in the first place. ....... Normally the G.O.P. comes to a decision quickly, and the Democrats stretch the process into the baseball season, bickering over delegates, platform planks, rules and speaking rights before everyone swears loyalty to the long-settled nominee. All that, and possibly more, could happen on the other side this time. ....... So uncomfortable is the party with anything that resembles an unsettled race after New Hampshire that its armies typically loose upon one another every nasty charge and attack ad they can afford, desperate to slice the field down to one or at the most two remaining contenders. This stage of the race is under way. It will be up to the lucky survivor to put the pieces of the party back together. ........ McCain's team thinks the party will come to its senses and rally around the veteran. Romney hopes to emerge as the least objectionable choice everywhere. Giuliani's entire campaign is predicated on chaos lasting until late January, when he thinks he can clobber his rivals in Florida. And Huckabee is hoping for a miracle. ...... watching the demolition derby, calls the race "a record setter." But he notes that someone will win it. "All politics is about," says Sears, "is being a little better than the other guy."
FOREWORD.DOC 11/13/2007 3:09:30 PM Volume 2 Fall 2007 Issue 1 FOREWORD By Senator Barack Obama
Law is the language of power. It is a language that helps resolve conflicts, governs the order of transactions, and distributes the rights to property and power. It is a language that describes the legitimate exercise of force by the state and defines the limits of protest against that force. Law is the language not just of courts and of contracts but of everyday life. It speaks to the constraints and commitments we accept as citizens in a nation under the rule of law.
Because lawyers are trained in the language of law, we have a special responsibility. We are not like other professionals with a skill to sell to the highest bidder. We are not merely technicians implementing faithfully the designs of others. We are often relied on to be participants in the debate over rights and power; we are called on to be stewards of public order, justice, and democracy; we are called on to be architects and catalysts both for making real the American Dream, and for protecting people from abuse around the globe. We are called on for our judgment and counsel, not just our ability to use the language to any advantage.
It is not merely the lawyer’s “professional responsibility” to be an agent of the court and to fulfill the ethical duties of fair dealing and honesty. Those duties are important, but lawyers also have an added burden to ensure that those without access to the language of power can still participate and be heard in the ongoing national conversation about what America means today and can mean in the future. It is a conversation about rights, wrongs, resources, and responsibilities. Lawyers help to ensure that this conversation is not one-sided—that the rules of the legal and political game are fair and do not inalterably favor certain groups over others.
There are many arguments for the lawyer’s special duty in the service of the public interest. The first is based on pragmatism. Someone has to perform this role and lawyers are often best positioned to help those who need a voice. If such voices are systematically denied legitimate expression, the system of order loses legitimacy and will eventually collapse or be overthrown. Lawyers have the tools to give expression to those voices. We know how to go to court, seek injunctions and restraining orders, demand disclosure of information, and give meaning to the Constitution’s protections of individual rights. We know how to draft binding agreements, structure sustainable institutions, and codify fair procedures that facilitate cooperation and collaboration.
The second argument for the lawyer’s special responsibility has to do with the character of law itself. Law is rarely selfexecuting, and rights must be exercised and defended in order to have meaning. Rights that exist on paper but are never exercised, challenged, or defended are hardly secure as rights at all. A right has meaning because it can be lost or taken away. The system of law requires that there be people willing to help others exercise and defend their rights. For the public conversation to have meaning, people must have not only the right to speak, but also the opportunity to be heard. The lawyer’s skills and privileged access make this possible.
Finally, lawyers, who are the beneficiaries of numerous advantages and privileges, have a moral duty to help those who are less fortunate. It is wrong for us to hoard our capacity to be useful or to deny it to those who need it most. That does not mean that we cannot do work for private interests willing to pay for our services. Nor does it mean that we cannot be discerning about those who benefit from our contributions and generosity.
But it does mean that all of us with the ability to make a difference by committing ourselves to a public purpose should do so.
Throughout history, lawyers have been called upon in times of change and challenge to help guide America toward its true potential. It was Charles Hamilton Houston who marshaled the law to create the strategy in Brown v. Board of Education that ended legalized apartheid and made real the promise of equal justice for all. It was Archibald Cox who knew during the Watergate scandal that if our democracy was to remain one of laws and not of men, telling the President of United States “no” was essential. And more recently, it was Sandra Day O’Connor who reminded us in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld that “a state of war is not a blank check” when it comes to the civil liberties of American citizens.
Today, at the beginning of the 21st century, we face new challenges that call upon lawyers and all leaders to help guide the course of history. We face new security threats and new economic challenges. We must confront growing inequality in income, wealth, and skills, and we face global environmental risks that may be unprecedented in their scope and potential damage. Our constitutional system has been assaulted by an overreaching Executive Branch cloaked in secrecy and hostile to precedent and evidence-based decision-making. Our image and influence abroad has been weakened, and our ability to pass on to future generations a world that is more free, more fair, and more secure is threatened—even as the world most needs America’s vision and leadership.
This is a moment when America needs its lawyers to look outward and ask what they can do to be the catalysts and architects of a better world. This is a moment when America needs its lawyers—and all its citizens—to commit in some meaningful way to public service. Doing any less suggests a poverty of ambition.
Lawyers should help make real the American dream and protect people from abuse and injustice around the globe. We must join with religious leaders and grassroots organizers and business leaders and volunteers across the nation. Whether it means working to overcome health and wealth disparities, or seeking to strengthen communities faced with economic or other challenges; whether it means advocating on behalf of disadvantaged communities, or restoring integrity and trust to public leadership—whatever vision you have to make yourself useful, each of us has a special responsibility to answer the call to public service. The time is now.
"Homeland Insecurity"
By Barack Obama
The Wall Street Journal
America is in a defining moment. This is the wealthiest nation in history. Yet many Americans feel that the dream so many generations fought for is slowly slipping away.
I've spoken with folks across this country who have worked all their lives to put their children through college, but now can't afford the rising tuition. I've spoken with many others who've done everything right, but fell into bankruptcy once they became sick, because they couldn't afford their skyrocketing medical bills. And since working Americans have to pay these rising costs with incomes that remain stagnant, many are falling deep into debt, unable to set anything aside for savings.
So at a time when many Americans have no margin for error, it's no surprise that the downturn in the housing market has done enormous harm. In the coming years, over two million Americans could face foreclosure.
The larger risk, however, is that what is happening in housing could spill over elsewhere. A number of firms borrowed huge sums to make investments tied to the housing market. They are now suffering big losses that could trigger a slowdown of the entire economy. We're already seeing some troubling signs. Consumer confidence is the lowest it's been in years. Pension funds are losing money, threatening retirement security. And banks are also losing money, resulting in a credit crunch. That means businesses have less money to invest and people can't get loans, which could lead to significant job losses in the months ahead.
This is a moment of challenge. But it's also a moment of opportunity which we must seize, to make sure our economic future is secure. That starts with addressing the source of our economic woes -- the crisis in the housing market. For most Americans, a home is not just a place to live; it's their most valuable possession -- so preventing a larger crisis in the housing market means providing greater economic security for middle-class families.
This week, President Bush outlined a limited agreement with lenders to ensure that some families don't face higher mortgage payments they can't afford. It is a start. But we need to do more. That's why, several months ago, I proposed tax breaks to help millions of homeowners make their payments, direct relief for the victims of mortgage fraud, and counseling so homeowners know what options are available to avoid foreclosure and refinance. And I have outlined a program to help make it easier for middle-class families, not speculators, to renegotiate or refinance their mortgages.
To prevent the current problems in the housing market from spreading, shaking confidence in other sectors of the economy, we need to put money in the pockets of middle-class Americans. In September, I proposed a middle-class tax cut that would offset the payroll tax that working Americans are already paying. It would give every working family a tax cut worth up to $1,000. It would also make retirement more secure by eliminating income taxes for any senior making less than $50,000 per year. And over the long term, I've called for an automatic workplace pension enrollment policy, which would include a federal government match for part of the savings of middle-class families so they can count on more savings when they retire.
But the test of judgment and leadership isn't just how you respond to problems; it's what you do to prevent them. That's why, last spring, I called for a summit on housing with representatives from the government and private sector similar to the one that Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson attended earlier this week. I also introduced a bill that would treat those who commit mortgage fraud like the criminals they are -- a measure that might have prevented the current crisis from escalating. Three months ago, I asked lenders to show flexibility to Americans trying to sell or refinance their houses.
In the last several months, I've also proposed a number of steps to prevent another economic crisis. These include restoring market transparency by making sure there's adequate government oversight over the rating agencies, so we can avoid practices that can mislead investors. We also need to stop credit-card companies from engaging in deceptive practices that push middle-class Americans further into debt. In addition, we need to update our regulatory system to reflect a 21st-century marketplace where so much credit comes from nonbank lenders, rather than traditionally regulated banks. And as we reform our regulatory rules, let's do so with an eye toward the global economy in which we're operating.
It's going to take a new kind of leadership to strengthen our middle class and make sure America's economic future is secure -- leadership that can challenge the special interests, bring Republicans and Democrats together, and rally this nation around a common purpose. And that is exactly the kind of leadership I intend to offer as president of the United States.
There was this guy in my class at high school in Kathmandu, Shailesh. He was Nepali, but he had spent a few years in America. Maybe his father had been a diplomat. He came to school during the seventh grade. He spoke fluent English. The truth was he had been too young to have remembered his time in America. But all we cared was that he had spent time in America. He loved the attention. So he made things up. He told people he had met Ronald Reagan's daughter. Not true. He would make trips to the library to learn about America. And then he would boast those facts to us. America was this magic land, and we were all so impressed.
My specialty in US politics is the presidential level politics. When I first moved to NYC, some local activists I got to know thought I was kind of snotty for not taking more interest in the local races. As if I was too good to take interest. There was no presidential election anywhere in sight and that was the only level I was engrossed in. It did not go well. Normal people start at the city council level, then move on to city and state. National level comes last. Even at the national level, you first take interest in the Congress. To the onlookers I seemed intent on skipping all the early states of delirium.
The truth is when you grow up in a foreign country, that presidential level politics is the entry point.
So there is this third grade kid in Indonesia. I am guessing everyone in his class thought of him as an American first and foremost, and that included his teachers. He sure had a white mother that everyone knew about. So how do you respond to that intense attention? How do you play to the gallery?
You write an essay saying you want to be president. You succumb to the peer pressure.
If you are a smart kid, and the only American your kindergarten teacher knows, she just might like the idea of having a future president amidst her.
Or maybe I am off the mark and Hillary is right. Barack has been gunning for the job all along, though not always obvious even to him. If Hillary is right, how is Barack in the wrong? All that means is he has been preparing for long. In that case he does not lack experience.
Plus, it is not about Barack. It is about where America and the world happen to be at this juncture in history. He is needed now, not 10 years after.
Bill Clinton's kindergarten friends would tell each other, "Let's go watch Billie Clinton think!"
In The News
Time to Talk to Iran Washington Post Bringing Europeans together in support of serious sanctions was difficult before the NIE. Now it is impossible. ...... do the next administration a favor, by opening direct talks with Tehran. ...... Eventually, the United States will have to take the plunge, as it has with so many adversaries throughout its history. ....... Bush could even name a hard-nosed Democrat to lead the talks. ..... The talks should go beyond the nuclear issue and include Iran's support for terrorism, its harboring of al-Qaeda leaders, its support for Hezbollah and Hamas, and its supplying of weapons to violent extremists in Iraq. Democrats incredulous over Bush's account of Iran reportCNN Biden says Bush "incompetent" if he didn't know about new assessment earlier ...... he said the new report, which found that Iran had halted its nuclear weapons work in 2003, will not change U.S. policy toward Iran. ..... "Are you telling me a president that's briefed every single morning, who's fixated on Iran, is not told back in August that the tentative conclusion of 16 intelligence agencies in the U.S. government said they had abandoned their effort for a nuclear weapon in '03?" Biden asked in a conference call with reporters. "I refuse to believe that," he added. "If that's true, he has the most incompetent staff in modern American history, and he's one of the most incompetent presidents in modern American history." ........ Biden said Monday's report was an unpleasant echo of the run-up to the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003 -- a war that was launched based on mistaken conclusions about Iraq's weapons programs. ........ "It's hard to think of a more serious and more self-inflicted wound to our national security than this president continues to inflict," Biden said. ........ Obama, D-Illinois, told the same forum that Bush "continues to not let facts get in the way of his ideology." ....... "They should have stopped the saber rattling; should have never started it. And they need, now, to aggressively move on the diplomatic front," he said. Poll: Huckabee gaining fast on Giuliani Newsday Edwards Takes Step Back as Two Others Slug It Out New York Times “I have to confess,” Mr. Edwards said, “when I was in third grade, I wanted to be two things. I wanted to be a cowboy, and I wanted to be Superman.” ........ “I’m going to respectfully decline to get involved in that fracas between the two of them,” Mr. Edwards said. ...... he is even farther back in the polls in other early primary states like New Hampshire and South Carolina. ..... acknowledged that his failure to move up in the polls was on his mind. Hub biotech biggies launch new stem cell startup Bizjournals.com Iran Hails US Report That It Ended Bid for Nuclear Arms New York Times “But I don’t see how it can be positive for people’s economic situation when it stresses that pressure and sanctions have worked.” .... Iranian authorities were surprised last week when Chinese state banks refused to lend money to Iranian businessmen. Bush plans Middle East trip in January USA Today Google gets set for spectrum race ZDNet UK Verizon Wireless says its on board with Google's Android San Francisco Chronicle Authenticity is Romney's biggest hurdle, poll suggests Los Angeles Times Google Trends API coming soon CNET News.com iPhone tops list of 2007 Google searchesReuters UK News Corp. Unit Buys Beliefnet Web Site Wall Street Journal paid in the tens of millions of dollars ..... Beliefnet, the most popular religion Web site in the U.S. ...... Beliefnet offers a wide range of content about religion and spirituality, including tips for lighting Hanukkah candles and interviews with Hindu spiritual leaders. Dell authorized to buy back $10 billion in stock Reuters The Humbling Of Eliot Spitzer The New Yorker once-in-a-lifetime effort to break the culture ........ the Albany press, the union leadership, the executive directors of the state agencies. “You teach people lessons and force people to do it a different way.” ...... politics is like a sporting contest: you go out, play hard, and shake hands when it’s over ...... ‘The Legislature is like your in-laws. You’re stuck with them.’ ....... Spitzer, furious, began paying recriminatory visits to the districts of some Democratic legislators who had voted with Silver (and who had supported Spitzer’s own campaign), questioning their integrity as well as their standing come primary time ......... almost irreparable harm to the relationship between the Governor and the Democrats in the Legislature ....... calling him a rich spoiled brat and a bully ...... calling attention to his own respect for decorum, “I could have called Bruno a senile piece of shit, but I never did.” ....... 1199 S.E.I.U., the giant health-care-workers union, which is a longtime kingmaker and one of the Senate Republicans’ major backers. (Big unions in bed with the Republicans? Only in New York, kids, only in New York.) ......... The union spent almost five million dollars—an extraordinary amount—on television advertisements attacking Spitzer ....... his poll numbers started to fall. ...... What is uncontested is that it has been devastating to Eliot Spitzer. ....... Dopp was put on unpaid leave (he has since gone to work at a lobbying firm), and Spitzer published a self-flagellating Op-Ed piece in the Times, “An Apology from Albany,” in which he said, “What members of my administration did was wrong—no ifs, ands or buts.” ....... entertaining report in the Post that Spitzer aides were holding secret meetings in black Town Cars, riding around the outskirts of Albany, to avoid using e-mail or the phone ........ “You will be arrested and brought to Albany. And there is not a goddam thing your phony, psycho, piece-of-shit son can do about it.” ....... showing off a Nixon tattoo between his shoulder blades ....... “It was shocking for two reasons,” Spitzer told me. “One, that they would do it. And, two, how bizarrely obvious they were in what they did.” ........ “Eliot’s gotten down in the mud with these guys, and they know how to fight in the mud. They’re not there because they’re nice guys. They’re there because they’re great tactical politicians.” ......... it rankled him that Spitzer declined to endorse him in the attorney general’s race until after the primary ...... “Of course. He’s my lawyer,” he said, with a mischievous grin. ...... “Yes, even the expletives are privileged” ....... Bruno .. He was wearing as fine a suit as I’d seen in Albany. ....... Every summer, Bruno, along with Senate colleagues and staffers, decamps to Saratoga, where he presides like a kind of feudal lord. ....... Bruno went on, “He is the biggest disappointment that I’ve had in thirty-one years of serving in political life, because I liked him on a personal level. He fooled me. And I’m pretty good with people, I have a good intuition with people. He fooled me, he hoodwinked me. And I’m embarrassed. He told me I was going to be his partner. . . . ‘We’re going to get all kinds of productive and constructive things done. Shelly Silver’s a problem; he’s not my kind of guy. I’ll deal with Shelly.’ ” Bruno, who called Silver “the biggest wimp on this earth” (Silver has adopted a sticks-and-stones approach to Bruno’s provocations), mentioned the series of bills that he had favored and that Spitzer had got passed. “Then what does he do? Now that he’s on a roll, suddenly he’s a hero, he worked miracles—what did he do? In my mind, his ego took over, his temperament took over, he started believing all his own press clips that he walked on water, that he was the savior of all mankind.” ........... He went crazy—screaming and shouting. ....... the town “a pinnacle of porkhead bossism” ...... one of the last American towns, outside the District of Columbia, where most of the men wear suits. It can feel like a city full of detectives and bodyguards ......... from January to June, when the Legislature is in session and the budget is in play, the political professionals take to the catacombs, a race of disingenuous horse-trading troglodytes haunting the fast-food pavilions. ......... Spitzer had gone on a kind of taunting tour of the members’ districts, where he delivered a PowerPoint presentation whose theme was “Where’s Waldo?” .......... “It’s been years since I’ve seen the kind of glee on the part of Republicans that we saw here yesterday.” ....... the actual substance of state governance (the policy) and the application of it (the politics) are numbing ....... all manner of fainthearted, small-minded, cynical, greedy transactions occur out of sight ......... what goes on north of the Bear Mountain Bridge stays north of the Bear Mountain Bridge ...... two legislators who got caught up in staffer sex scandals a few years ago ....... Wall Street, which furnishes up to twenty per cent of the state’s tax revenues ........ the importance of having a coherent message about what you stand for ....... “Albany’s acting how you would expect it to act: the organism is marshalling its antibodies,” he said. Of the Spitzer agenda, he added, “Is it a virus? It may be the cure.” ......... the operative word in bully pulpit is ‘pulpit.’ ..... Executive-branch history is strewn with lousy first years. ........ Michael Bloomberg, whose billionaire’s scorn for political ritual and collaborative capital in his first two years earned him abysmal public-approval ratings; Bill Clinton, whose ill-advised or poorly handled initiatives (gays in the military, health care) derailed his first-term agenda and handed Congress to the Republicans; and Teddy Roosevelt, another hard charger, whose confrontational ways as governor so infuriated the powers that be in New York that they had him drafted as President William McKinley’s running mate, just to get rid of him. ......... William Sulzer, a first-year governor from Manhattan, who, in 1913, was impeached and removed from office, after too zealously attacking the corrupt Tammany Hall Democratic machine. Like Spitzer, Sulzer said, “I am a fighter,” and tried to appeal directly to the voters, rather than to their representatives. ........... President Bush, who is very different from Spitzer in most ways—temperament, ideology, fluency, firepower— ........ power is absolutely necessary to fight the battles that must be fought. The trick is to fight these battles with humility and constant introspection, knowing that there is no monopoly on virtue ........ Lou Dobbs, on CNN, had been assailing Spitzer on a nightly basis. (“How about a spoiled rich-kid brat who is treating New York residents as if he thinks they’re his rich father’s tenants, instead of citizens? . . . He may be what he calls a steamroller, but I think he’s a weak-kneed, spineless steamroller.”) ........ county clerks around the state, the ones responsible for issuing driver’s licenses, were threatening civil disobedience ......... He hadn’t watched Lou Dobbs, but he’d seen some transcripts. “I ignore it. Honestly, I ignore it. If there was a serious intellectual response to him, I would think about it very deeply. .......... Spitzer is not an after-work-drink kind of guy. ....... an appearance on “Hardball,” where he had parried Chris Matthews’s barrage of moderately hostile license-debate recapitulations with generously uninterrupted on-message clarifications ........ He received a message on his BlackBerry ........ reform is a messy process ........ Editorial boards desperately want reform but yet desperately don’t want the discomfort of seeing people fighting. And so there is a sort of a schizophrenia. They see us fighting and they say, ‘Can’t you guys get along?’ Well, the answer is, you know, maybe not. .......... “None of this is personal to me. In other words, no matter what has been said, I like Joe Bruno. I mean, it’s a crazy thing for me to say. I was on the phone with him last week. We had a great chat. We had the most wonderful chat we’ve had in the years I’ve known him.” ......... Spitzer had taken to likening the job of governor to “three-dimensional chess.” ...... “I feel sometimes like I’m sinking into quicksand and subjected to the very significant—and sometimes appropriate—critiques of editorial pages about missteps, which I read, and, like any normal person, mutter under my breath and resent, but then take seriously. ......... George W. Bush, who infamously, at a 2004 press conference on the Iraq war, couldn’t think of any mistakes he’d made. .......... the “specialty media”—editors of Hispanic, Irish, Indian, and Chinese newspapers ........ “I had a tsunami coming from one side and a hurricane coming from the other, and it was not a healthy situation to be in.” ........ “The fact that I made those comments reflected that I was going through internal evaluations”—a rare acknowledgment of the existence of the unconscious. ....... Hillary Clinton’s equivocations on the subject of Spitzer’s plan, in the previous debate, had wounded her campaign. ......... That afternoon, Spitzer called Clinton to let her know his decision and flew down to Washington, in the state plane, to announce his retreat, on terms that might flatter him. He continued to defend the policy, on the merits, and then assailed the federal government for failing to act on immigration and also criticized his opponents for their hysterical rhetoric: “The consequence of this fearmongering is paralysis.” He had exhibited a new grasp of that old political talent: extracting oneself from an intractable position. That is, he had caved. ........ “The problem that people have attributed to me is one of hubris, arrogance, unwillingness to shift, listen, and respond. But I did it because we are responding. We are listening ........ A witness told the Post Spitzer had declared that if the Democrats took the State Senate legalizing gay marriage would be one of his highest priorities. Spitzer denied it ...... a gathering of Democratic assemblymen, whom he’d asked for another chance ........ “It’s like I am merely an object being moved, subject to poking, pushing, like an unknown in a science lab. Everyone’s trying to push at you, figure out ‘What is it?’ ” ......... “When I was a prosecutor, we had a much greater opportunity to reflect on every decision,” he had said earlier. “The pace of decision-making and the range of decision-making was slower. And much more under control. You are, by and large, the actor who determines pace, timing, substance, et cetera. You control the pace of the game. In this job, a great deal comes at you, and so you’re thrust into positions where you’re reacting. And just the scale, obviously, makes it more likely that you’re going to have decisions that go awry. “I don’t believe that at age forty-eight that you become, overnight, a transformed person,” he said. “But is there a different sense of how we have to work with folks? Yes.”
Hillary in attack mode as Obama takes lead Telegraph.co.uk the former First Lady said "Now the fun part starts," before launching into a character assassination of Mr Obama ...... "This is not a job you can learn about from a book." ....... mocked him for a lack of experience and over-reaching ambition. ...... who started running for president the day he arrived in the US Senate ....... "Senator Obama's relatives and friends say he has been talking about running for president for at least the last 15 years. ........ Much of her appeal to voters has been the aura of "inevitability" around her well-disciplined campaign, which has been engendered by her experience, command of the issues and eloquence. ..... her lack of personal rapport with voters means her support is much wider than it is deep. ....... an Obama win in Iowa could give him the momentum for victory in New Hampshire and other states that vote soon afterwards. ....... Bush has said that he misses being on the campaign trail for the presidency apart from the respiratory infection he said he caught from a reporter covering his 2000 campaign.
At Obama Event, Mum’s the Word for Student Who Asked Clinton Question New York Times There she was, standing a stone’s throw from Senator Barack Obama at a rally here tonight at Grinnell College. ....... As several students pointed her direction and she broke out laughing, Mr. Obama finally realized who was standing in his midst. “I didn’t know she was going to be here” ........ As he shook hands along the rope line, he paused to talk briefly with her. In a quiet voice, she asked about the trajectory of his political career. Leaning close, he said, “I lucked out”
