Letters to the Editor
blacktop
Published Letters: 138 Editor's Choice: 4
-
Key endorsement
[Read the article: Report: Richardson to endorse Obama]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Richardson's endorsement of Obama is important because he is a sitting governor with wide-ranging experience and interests both in and out of government. Richardson has worked in the Clinton administration and has seen it from the inside. Sen. Clinton worked hard to win this endorsement, although her camp is now trying to downplay its importance. If Richardson, as a knowledgeable observer, has decided that Obama is the better candidate, then that is a big statement of support.
The timing is also important. Richardson did not endorse Obama when it was easy to do so, when Obama was riding high on the first wave of enthusiasm. Rather, Richardson came forward when the media and lots of others were relishing the opportunity to kick Obama with the overblown Wright smear campaign. It would have been easy for Richardson to avoid associating himself with the "tarnished" Obama, but he didn't do that. The sure sign of a class act, I think.
If this is indeed the start of a cascade of key endorsements by super delegates, it indicates that the Democratic chiefs are finally pulling themselves together, uniting behind the leading candidate, and readying themselves for the fall campaign.
The vaunted Pennsylvania primary is beginning to diminish in importance, no matter how it goes there.
-
maisieslim asked...
[Read the article: "Clinton will not be able to win the nomination"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]...what is "tarring?" This refers to a traditional and humiliating community method of dealing with a miscreant: covering him with tar and feathers (and then riding him out of town on a rail). The tar, a sticky black substance, is extremely hard to remove from the skin and clothing, and marks the wearer as an outcast and an undesirable.
On the subject of Senator Clinton winning the nomination: it become clearer with each passing day that she is sticking (like tar) to the fantastical notion that she can win because it satisfies her sense of destiny and her right to redress of the many grievances inflicted upon her during her husband's presidency.
Unfortunately, it now appears that Senator Clinton is willing to bring down the Democratic party this year in pursuit of what she feels is owed her by fate and by her own husband.
The super delegates need to intervene now, following the lead of Gov. Richardson, and put an end to this miserable chapter in the Clintons' history.
-
Misstatements, damn misstatements, and videotapes
[Read the article: "It is possible ... that she misspoke"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The mainstream political pundits will bizarrely continue to pump up Sen. Clinton's faltering campaign (as will her most forlorn supporters) by ignoring this sort of blatant "misspeaking." This is a case of the despicable bound by lies to the desperate.
Were Sen. Obama to have committed such a bald-faced "misspeak," he would have been roasted by the hyperbolic right-wing media masters for weeks on end. Similarly, if Obama had idiotically (or purposefully) confused Shiite Iran with Sunni al-Qaeda as McCain did, Obama would have been eviscerated by the press.
Clinton and McCain are getting free rides from political reporters who are interested in prolonging this dreary horse race by any means necessary. Ferraro was right: if Obama were white he wouldn't be in this position; he would have become the presumptive Democratic nominee several weeks ago.
-
Who exactly is registering?
[Read the article: A boom in Democratic registrations]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Dan Balz' analysis in today's Washington Post suggests that the precincts seeing the largest percentage increase in Democratic registration are those in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and the surrounding suburbs. This should translate as extremely good news for Senator Obama.
As she did in Texas, Ohio, and elsewhere, Clinton began the PA contest with 20 point margins over Obama, but the campaigning is steadily bringing him up as the voting draws near. One more "sniper fire" fiasco, and who knows where she might end up on election day. Obama will most certainly not win Pennsylvania, but the interesting question will be how close he can run it.
-
Obama-Bloomberg not likely
[Read the article: Obama-Bloomberg '08?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]But an endorsement soon from Mayor Bloomberg would do a great deal to help wrap up the nomination for Senator Obama. This seems a reasonable scenario to expect in the next few weeks.
As others have written here, Obama will most likely pick as a VP candidate an older white man with strong foreign policy and/or military credentials. Picking a Southerner or Westerner would also make electoral college sense to me. In terms of temperment, I think that the Obama cool, intellectual approach needs to be balanced by a little bit of wild man/attack dog in the VP candidate.
So I put forward Senator Jim Webb of Virginia as a plausible candidate for second place on the Obama ticket.
-
Good news
[Read the article: Polls: Obama weathers Wright controversy ]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Obama's resiliancy in the face of the right-wing (Wright-wing) smear campaign is a remarkable testament to his character, his ability to maintain his emotional and mental balance, his skill at analyzing difficult issues and presenting them to the American public with gravity and nuance, and his sheer abundance of guts.
These are the qualities and skills we need in a president. Obama has been asked to address issues (race and faith) that are intensely personal for himself and for many others. He did so with restraint, candor, careful judgment, and rare eloquence. In the process he gave us a good preview of the way that he would handle himself and the nation in future crises.
Grace under pressure is what Obama displayed to the nation during these past two weeks. I am so relieved to find that the American people seem to have rejected the media smear and focussed on the essentials of picking the best candidate for the toughest job in the world.
-
Dean is right
[Read the article: Dean wants superdelegates to come to a quick decision]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]But I don't believe he has the personal clout to persuade the remaining super delegates to declare their choices by the deadline.
I do think that a combination of circumstances (primary votes, polling results, high profile endorsements, bone-headed gaffes and misstatements) in the next few weeks will push the neutral delegates to take their stands. We may also see more defections from super delegates who made their initial commitments many months ago and who now are reconsidering their positions.
Certainly things will all be sorted out by July 1 and the pivot to face the GOP will begin in earnest.