In an interview with Jeffery Goldberg in the Atlantic Monthly, Obama has made some comments that simply offend and demonstrate his inexperience on foreign policy (the one area that he believes that he comprehends better than either Hillary Clinton or John McCain):
JG: Do you think that Israel is a drag on America’s reputation overseas?
BO: No, no, no. But what I think is that this constant wound, that this constant sore, does infect all of our foreign policy. The lack of a resolution to this problem provides an excuse for anti-American militant jihadists to engage in inexcusable actions, and so we have a national-security interest in solving this, and I also believe that Israel has a security interest in solving this because I believe that the status quo is unsustainable. I am absolutely convinced of that, and some of the tensions that might arise between me and some of the more hawkish elements in the Jewish community in the United States might stem from the fact that I’m not going to blindly adhere to whatever the most hawkish position is just because that’s the safest ground politically.
So Israel is not a drag on American foreign policy but Israel is a constant sore on American foreign policy? I think I’d rather be a drag than a constant sore. I am not the biggest fan of the Israeli government but I am a strong believer in the State of Israel. With comments like these, Obama will continue his support among the Jewish-American vote dwindle. He lost the Jewish vote in Pennsylvania and increasingly it appears that in crucial states like Florida, Pennsylvania and New Jersey, comments like these are only going to erode his chances of carrying those states in the general election.
I was very moved by the closing comments in Hillary Clinton’s speech tonight when she referenced Florence Steen of Rapid City, South Dakota who requested an absentee ballot so she could vote for Hillary in the South Dakota Primary in June. Mrs. Steen died on May 11, 2008.
RAPID CITY - Florence Steen, 88, Rapid City, formerly of Faith, died of congestive heart failure on Sunday, May 11, 2008, at the Rapid City Regional Hospital Auxiliary Hospice House. Survivors include her husband, Lawrence Steen, New Underwood; one daughter, Kathleen and Wayne Krause, Rapid City; and one granddaughter, Lisa and Jeff Torkelson, Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Visitation will be from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Wednesday, May 14, with a 7 p.m. wake service, at Osheim & Schmidt Funeral Home, 2700 Jackson Blvd. Mass of Christian burial will be at 10 a.m. Thursday, May 15, at the Church of St. Therese, the Little Flower, with the Rev. William Zandri officiating. Burial will be in the Pine Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery. A memorial has been established to Rapid City Regional Hospital Auxiliary Hospice House. Friends may sign an online guest register and offer condolences at www.osheimschmidt.com.
Please take a moment to sign the condolence book for Florence Ann Steen. I urge all Clinton supporters to do so. Let the Steen Family know that we are thinking of them. Thank you.
Here are the closing remarks in Hillary’s speech tonight in Charleston, West Virginia:
As we move on now to the next contests, in Kentucky and Oregon, in Puerto Rico, in Montana and South Dakota, tonight I’m thinking about Florence Steen from South Dakota, eighty-eight years old and in failing health when she asked that her daughter bring an absentee ballot to her hospice bedside. Florence was born before women had the right to vote, and she was determined to exercise that right, to cast a ballot for her candidate who just happened to be a woman running for president. Florence passed on a few days ago, but I am eternally grateful to her and her family for making this such an important and incredible milestone in her life that means so much to me. I’m also thinking of Dalton Hatfield, an 11-year-old boy from Kentucky, who sold his bike and sold his video games to raise money to support my campaign.
This is a great and good nation because of people like Florence Steen, Dalton Hatfield, and their families. Her memory and his future are worth fighting for. As long as we remember that there is no challenge we cannot meet, no barrier we cannot break, no dream we cannot realize. So, let’s finish the job we started. America is worth fighting for.
Rather than worry about race or gender or even education, I really think it important to look at trends by socio-economic class as the decisive polling metric. I’ve decided to break out this data from the exit polling in a separate post because it is I think one of the most significant aspects of this election. Going back to the turning point in this election, the Texas and Ohio primaries, Obama has been winning but one socio-economic group generally: those that earn more the $150,000 a year. In North Carolina, there was a departure from this and Obama also won those that earn more than $75,000 and more than $100,000 a year. In West Virginia, Obama is back to winning just those that earn more than $150,000 a year. Am I the only one who is worried about this?
The data from tonight:
Under $15,000 pa (9% of the electorate) Clinton 79% Obama 19%
$15,000-$30,000 (20% of the electorate) Clinton 73% Obama 21%
$30,000-$50,000 (24% of the electorate) Clinton 62% Obama 31%
$50,000-$75,000 (22% of the electorate) Clinton 61% Obama 29%
$75,000-$100,000 (12% of the electorate) Clinton 56% Obama 38%
$100,000-$150,000 (7% of the electorate) Clinton 54% Obama 44%
$150,000 or more (5% of the electorate) Clinton 40% Obama 58%
Who is Obama kidding? How does one win a general election winning just those who earn over $150,000 while losing everyone else?
The Associated Press has released early polling data. Demographics in this election has been political destiny:
As expected, roughly 95 percent of West Virginia Democratic primary voters were white. Half of voters were from rural areas.
It was one of the oldest electorates among 31 Democratic primaries with exit polls to date, with four in 10 over age 60. The only other states with somewhat similar numbers were Arkansas, Arizona, New Mexico and Oklahoma — and Hillary Clinton won all four states.
It also was the electorate with the highest proportion — just about seven in 10 — of people who lack a college degree thus far this primary season. The same held true for whites without a college degree — again, historically a strong Clinton group.
Senator Mike Gravel turns 78 today and he is still seeking the Presidency on the Libertarian ticket. The Libertarian Convention is scheduled for Denver in late May. Happy Birthday, Mike!
And Mike, good on you for taking on Barack Obama and challenging him on his lobbyist connections. He does take money from lobbyists and special interests, he just does so through the back door. It’s more duplicity from the very junior Senator from Illinois.
We’re Not the Jet Set by John Prine with Iris DeMent. Seems appropriate for Clinton today in West Virginia. They can have their hip hop. I’ll take good old American folk any day. And I wonder if Obama can carry Rome, Georgia; Athens, Texas; and Paris, Tennessee?
So you think this line is from a speech from Barack Obama?
“It’s time to put our cynicism down. Put it down. Stand with me and take that leap of faith. Because I’m not asking you to take a chance on me. I’m asking you to take a chance on your own aspirations. Take a chance on hope.”
Well it is but the same line was used first by Governor of Massachusetts Deval Patrick in his run for the statehouse. Now Governor for a little more than a year, Deval Patrick at the helm of Massachusetts has been nothing short of a “train wreck.” And, much like Senator Obama is doing, Patrick campaigned under little if any scrutiny, the electorate jumping on his soaring train of roaring rhetoric and inspiring message of hope for a better tomorrow, exactly the same style grassroots campaign that Senator Obama is mounting today. So what will the “train wreck” that is Obama likely to be if he were elected President? For that Charles Pierce in the Boston Globe offers some clues. And it isn’t odd that both Deval Patrick and Barack Obama share more in common than a speech writer, they also share the services of David Alexrod. And while a plagiarism controversy helped derail Senator Joe Biden’s candidacy for the U.S. presidency in the 1988 Presidential campaign for borrowing a speech from British Labour Party leader Neil Kinnock, apparently it is okay if you share the same strategist. After all what’s good for Massachusetts has to be good for the rest of the country.
The Los Angeles Times has a story today on the strong support that Hillary Clinton enjoys among women in the Mountaineer State and how many of them will not support Obama in the general election.
Some of the money quotes:
“She could turn it around — I hope,” Mary Beth Jester, 41, of Morgantown, equivocated, walking across the parking lot of an IHOP with her two big sisters — three coal miner’s daughters, all for Clinton.
Jester unwrapped the cellophane from a pink pack of Misty cigarettes and lighted up. “Frankly, I think she’s got more” — let’s just say chutzpah — “than Obama,” Jester said, uttering the line she likes to give when people respond to her button: “I’m For Hillary/Ask Me Why!”
Plenty of voters said they would vote for Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) — or not at all — if Clinton’s name wasn’t on the November ballot.
“I probably won’t vote,” declared Darlene Payne, 51, a coal miner’s wife and mother of three from Buckhannon. She thinks McCain is a Bush copy, and she doesn’t like Obama. “He thinks he’s better than everybody else. He don’t impress me.”
Women make up more than half of the electorate and in some of the primaries they have accounted for 56% of the vote. When will the Democratic leadership wake up and see the problem?
Here is the Tuesday May 13th 2008 edition of interesting reads from around the world.
Love, Saudi-Style, part II
Yesterday’s New York Times’ piece focused on Saudi men in their pursuit of love. Today’s piece focuses on Saudi women. I was struck by this comment: “Islam forbids a stranger to hear your voice.” Saudi women seem hostages in their own families.
Dutch Back the EU
A large majority of the population supports Dutch membership of the European Union although there is a hardcore 8% who are extremely anti-EU, according to a study by the government’s leading social policy advisor, the SCP. More from Dutch News.
Peak Oil and Globalisation European Tribune has an interesting discussion on the growing Transition Culture taking is taking place in Europe and Australia. Peak Oil is already having a massive impact on our way of life and the recent global food riots are but one of its effects.
Is the Rise of Income Inequality Unique to the U.S.?
A key aspect of the rise in income inequality in the United States since the 1970s is the soaring incomes of the top 1%. In 1964 the ratio of CEO to average worker pay stood at 24:1, today it is over 430:1. Lane Kenworthy explores the question and finds that other English-speaking countries have experienced a similar trend.
The US-Korea FTA, the Koreans have a Beef
The debate over U.S. beef imports is expected to take center stage at a National Assembly in Korea as the legislature looks to ratify the US-Korea FTA. More from the Korea Herald.
