Letters to the Editor
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distortion?
Joan,
I was at the Oakland rally with Ted Kennedy. I am Asian. There were quite a few of us there. There were also quite a few Latinos there (did you happen to miss the "Latinos for Obama" signs waved around or the deafening "Si Se Puede" chants started on the stage behind Kennedy by some Latinas and Latinos?). The event was very Oakland - diverse, multi-generational, and - yes - a little bit granola. And like a true Oakland rally - we couldn't do without our beloved Rep. Barbara Lee. She is after all the only one who cast a "No" vote for the Iraq war way back when. And she did that in the face of total opposition. That took the kind of courage that could only come out of a community that fiercely prides itself on encouraging the hippie values of the past: multiculturalism and world peace.
Please don't belittle the East Bay/Oakland area or the Obama campaign by misrepresenting the rally as "ebony and ivory."
I know you're an editor with an opinion. But an "Op-ed" piece doesn't entitle you to miscast factual reality does it?
Do better. You're not representing the character of your Hillary campaign well with such editorial practices.
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Was this an op ed or a article? I just couldn't tell.
It was written as if it was neutral but clearly had a slant.
Something like Clinton will win but just barely.
It kinda just rambled on with no end. Was it strategy analysis? Or what?
I mean I am fine with it as op ed but it seemed like a story that was all over the place. Trying to be even handed but well whatever.
It will be an interesting day.
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This article makes no sense.
Mrs. Walsh,
I found this article to be all over the place. It appears to be presented as a news article or essay, though is clearly biased against Mr. Obama.
With Obama closing a 30-plus point gap in California, one would think the gist of any article on his California campaign would be positive, but you instead make obscure negative assertions that his campaign never understood California's Latino demographic until this week, or that he had foolishly wasted his fortunes in other, less important states.
Your editorializing reached the absurd when you interjected into a quotation from one of his supporters (who mentioned his stint at Occidental College) that he, in fact, actually graduated from 'Ivy League Columbia,' as if to diminish his life at the small minority Occidental in Los Angeles. Salon readers are well aware Columbia is an Ivy League school.
In the future please keep the editorializing out of the news and keep it more focused. This article had no focus except a vague distaste for Obama's presidential aspirations!
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Obama Whiners
As Bill Clinton said weeks ago: "Give me a break!" Anyone who questions any aspect...ANY aspect...of the Barack Obama campaign is labeled as "racist", "out-of-touch", "distortionist" or worse. I, frankly, am sick of it.
Barack Obama is a likeable enough candidate (as he opined about Hillary), but, he lacks the experience, gravitas and life-experience to be an effective President from day one. I believe he will achieve that status...in about eight years. That would roughly correspond with the end of his two terms as Hillary's VP. He needs that eight year seasoning to be the kind of President that his supporters want. He isn't there yet.
Plus, all I hear from Senator Obama are platitudes, generalities, over-blown fluffy rhetoric and switcheroo cadences ranging from Black-preacher pulpitizing to yuppifying yammering. Specificity isn't his strong-suit.
"Give me a break."
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Give me a break Hillaryites
I'm starting to notice that the tighter this election gets, the more shrill and desperate Hillaryites get. The explosion of racially-tinged posts sniping at Black democrats, Barack and Michelle, and white democrats supportive of Barack Obama tells the story. White democrats are experienced in racial campaigning. They are used to telling Blacks and Latinos one thing and white suburban soccer moms another. They are surprised when a candidate like Barack Obama can essentially tell all voters the same thing. Hillary and other white dems must rely on RACIAL MATH. The rest of us have moved on.
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@ notimpressed
Thank you for proving my point so quickly and so completely: challenging Barack's supporters on the points and the issues brings out the tired canard of "racism."
You do your candidate no favors by relying on that trite and hackneyed "defense".
Grow up and join the real world.
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The future or the past - and the power of the press
Whether MS. Walsh described the mix of the crowd in Oakland correctly or not, there is one missing element in her analysis: the potential importance of the last minute endorsement of Obama by the principal Spanish language newspaper in California. Then there is , Obama's sudden "surge" in endorsements from Latino and Latina public. Add to the mix, Obama's emerging superiority in financial resources.
The real downside for Obama is the pre-primary date mail in votes which may reflect the status of the campaign in the first week of January rather than the first week of February. Although touted to be as much as half the vote, my guess is that with all the enthusiasm generated by the campaign, it may be substantially less.
Except for Hillary's votes on Iraq AND Iran, there really is a George Wallace's "not a dimes bit of difference" between them on the issues. Health care will be determined by the Congress and the White house.
So what’s the difference: the future and the past. IN 2004, MoveOn and similar web based resources played a key role in some states such as PA but couldn't carry the day in either Florida and Ohio. In 2006, the Web defeated Lieberman in the Democratic primary in Connecticut but failed in the General Election.
Obama's edge in financing is web-based. MoveOn has endorsed him and is banging the drums with its members.
I don't think these factors received a sufficient analysis in your analysis for a simple reason: We really won't know until tomorrow AM whether Hillary's regular Democratic roots can finally dent the Obama momentum.
In the end, that may be the only issue that counts: the power of the past politics versus the power of the new politics.
If Obama wins CA, the rules will be changed for good, and the parties old guard will not be able to stop it.
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PS: I can't believe that any one "cool" enough to read Salon could actually refer to thye editor as "Mrs. Walsh" Not that its an insult or anything, but hey, its 2008. Whether there is a Mr. Walsh or no, Ms. is correct. IN fact, I have even gotten to the point of dropping Mr. & Mrs. & Ms. from my correspondence whenever possible. For writing androgynous corporations, I have adopted a French affectation: “Dear Sirs and Mesdames.” May not be PC, but it’s kind of fun.
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