...that we won't be getting the 'gas tax holiday'?

Alice Palmer?

can someone fill me in on this? I've never heard of her before.

-- debaser

Alice Palmer formally held the seat that B. Obama held, she was progressive activist as well, and she was a political mentor to Obama. She left her office to run in a special election for the congressional seat now held by Jesse Jackson Jr.

She lost that race and decided to run for her old Senate seat, she had introduced Obama as someone who would be a great senator, and basically endorsed his run for her seat without actually formally endorsing him.

She needed to get a certain number of signatures to qualify for the ballot. In 1996 the voter rolls were purged, Obama used the purged rolls to argue that none of his opponents actually had enough valid signatures (his own signatures were not subject to the same test) In all he knocked off 3 people this way and run unopposed.

Obama is perfectly within his rights to challenge signatures, but it's not exactly the high road. That said, Palmer shouldn't have come back to her abandoned office IMO.

If you think what Obama has done so far, is due to his own devices, and proof that he can fight the neocons with that if he wins the GE, you have not been around politics very long, or have lived a sheltered life. Or you are just plain naive. This is not the IL statehouse, and as Senate rookie of the year, he does not have enough seasoning to manage or call the shots for the entire team without a a full complement of the best coaches.

You also have not been paying attention to his mantra of bringing those to the table that have no reason to sit there without sabotaging it. They have their own table. They will not willingly give up all they have gained without a fight.

I'm am not saying it can't ever be done, but it might be the math...

Sorry I didn't make it clearer. I think either Obama or McCain will be a disaster for the country, but in different ways and to different degrees. So, I will be sad regardless.

Hillary should have been more judicious about her kitchen sink strategy. That perhaps will forever tarnish her, just like the mushroom strategy did to Lyndon Johnson. The smart, articulate woman fell prey to her own demons of foul play.

if Obama can't fight, how come he's kick Hillary's presumptive nominee ass? just because he doesn't use belligerent language has nothing to do with his tactical skills, which are obviously echelons above hers. She took the unloseable and lost it. that's leadership? taking a tactical advantage to die for, and then dying. Slowly. Ugly. The stench from her kitchen sink reeks from coast to coast, and still she lost. Past tense. Lost. Done. Over. Embalmed. Finitio. Caput.

So, as a shrivelled up old boomer woman, I will take a small amount of satisfaction in watching these commenters wail and moan in November. Nonetheless, the satisfaction will be small compared to the sadness for the country.

-- RealityCounts

Of course if Obama wins, then you'll be gnashing and wailing in frustration as Obamatons rejoice, but then the country will be better off, right? So ... you'll be happy overall? I don't get the disconnect.

When Obama is off his leash, he comes across as clueless as Bush, albeit with a little more brains. I'll give him that.

No thanks. Been there, done that.

George Bush is a bumbling idiot with nary a straight sentence in his addled brain. Obama is smart, articulate, has written 2 best selling books without a ghostwriter and you call him clueless? And he was president of the Harvard Law school. Do you think he got elected because of Affirmative Action or because he was qualified?

David Axelrod knows how to fight, just as Karl Rove knows how to fight.

Great, just what we need, another political consultant running White House policy.

When Obama is off his leash, he comes across as clueless as Bush, albeit with a little more brains. I'll give him that.

No thanks. Been there, done that.

you got a nothing thing comin'

If there's anything that is apparent, he knows how to fight and make it look good. This endorsement at this time was PLANNED and brilliant. Its the type of tough I like to see. Its a fight - oops no press time for Hillary to magnify her win - but its a fight that is deliberate and damaging.

Its the difference between Rocky and James Bond. In our dreams we all want to be more like the old 007 - smooth, deadly.

I admit I had to question JRE's judgment in doing this before the convention, but I understand it. He has been the most straightforward, real, and honest of the three all along.

Indeed, it seems JRE has now taken Obama completely into to HIS house. Pay attention. JRE said repeatedly, that his One America Plans, and indeed the concept of One America, would not be achieved BY Obama, but UNDER Obama. Pay attention to that difference, because that is the gist of it. Obama is going to need all the experienced, intelligent, and seasoned, and wise help he can get, along with acquiring the wisdom of his own to accept it, not only to win, but to implement a lasting change for the better, and not become another Jimmy Carter. If you watched the Larry King CNN interview last night, JRE is clearly not endorsing Obama because he thinks he has the seasoning to accomplish much, and NOT because he has any "obligation" to support either candidate, but because he fears a toxic acromony that will linger after the convention, and is going with the popular vote so far for the good of the party, as he sees it. I don't necessarily see that, for many reasons, but it seems he is unwilling now to chance it until the convention. I can respect that.

To me, one of the difficulties with dealing with those two, needing more material from Obama than Hillary, was this from the People interview last week.

On Clinton: "I like something different about Hillary. I think her tenacity shows a real strength that's inside her."

What doesn't he like about Clinton? "Um, still a lot of the old politics," John Edwards said.

As for Obama, he says: "Sometimes I want to see more substance under the rhetoric."

He also let it slip on Fox news he voted for Obama in the NC primary. I bet Elizabeth did not.

Obama has now clearly acknowledged JRE's plans and issues--the substance, and gave him full credit for them, instead of trying to use them it as a hope-filled rhetorical talking point. It was truly heartening to hear Obama talk about poverty, corporations, and tax breaks more forcefully today than he has previously. It had better stick, because he will be biting the hand that fed him, and gave him a leg up early on.

Next up at the convention, Obama wakes up to the fact his heath care ideas don't cut it, and embraces true universal care, with Elizabeth Edwards as his mentor. He also starts to replace some of his advisors, and puts a muzzle on Axlerod when it looks like he will he shoot from the hip and say something really stupid again. Obama will also start becoming less testy outside of the podium. He will also start preparing for the Rezko neocon blitz. Hillary will certainly have a say and an influence somewhere. Both will teach him how to FIGHT for, rather than hope for change. This would certainly be the best scenario for success, IMO. JRE is still the Adult here.

Far from it, Hillary should STILL stay in until the convention. Having both Hillary and JRE pushing Obama to be more honestly and intelligently Progressive, and teaching him how to fight, not just talk, to the neocons effectively, is exactly what needs to be done. Obama now seems to more fully get the idea, but he had no real means to accomplish it, and his advisors need to step back a bit. He could have more than a Hope for change now, IF he can stay on track. BTW, don't think for a moment that JRE would not have endorsed Hillary had their positions been reversed. What happened privately had to have been astounding, as Hillary had shown far more willingness and openess than Obama to fully adopt most of JRE's plans up to now.

We need JRE involved as a serious change agent and lead implementer in the next administration. A supermajority in Congress will be needed to back it up.