Brilliant Politics

This is Barack Obama’s victory speech in South Carolina from last night. It is an inspiring, exciting, very strong speech. He shows some of the toughness many have been wanting to see in him, along with an unmatched ability to generate enthusiasm for his candidacy, even among some Republicans. Joe Scarborough gushed on MSNBC about Obama after the speech. Andrew Sullivan, author of The Soul of a Conservative, had this to say today:

Sometimes, things come together. Watching a black man win the South Carolina primary in a landslide by transcending race: I can’t help be moved and inspired. Like so many of my generation and many, many more younger than me, Obama makes me believe in America again, after seven years of brutal, painful, searing disillusionment. I won’t let that go. Neither, I have a feeling, will the American people.

-Doc Pierson

Robert Reich was Secretary of Labor in Bill Clinton’s Administration. Here’s what Reich has to say about the recent attacks on Obama by the Big Dog:

I write this more out of sadness than anger. Bill Clinton’s ill-tempered and ill-founded attacks on Barack Obama are doing no credit to the former President, his legacy, or his wife’s campaign. Nor are they helping the Democratic party. While it may be that all is fair in love, war, and politics, it’s not fair – indeed, it’s demeaning – for a former President to say things that are patently untrue (such as Obama’s anti-war position is a “fairy tale”) or to insinuate that Obama is injecting race into the race when the former President is himself doing it.

-Doc

Has it really not occurred to the three Democratic contenders, whose policy differences are relatively small, that one way to distinguish themselves from their opponents is to fill in the broad strokes of a positive future for America? Say, for example, that in 10 years half the cars being sold in this country will be plug-in hybrids; that solar panels will be affordable for many middle-class homes due to tax credits; that no one in America will ever again worry about having health care; that we will have created millions of new high-paying jobs in the clean green economy; that America will lead the world in clean alternative energy technology; and that anyone in America who wants to go to college will be able to afford college. It can’t be that damn hard to paint that picture! -Doc

Tuesday 9:45 p.m. My early reactions to the first half-hour of the debate: Tim Russert did a good job of confronting both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama about how their staff members or surrogates escalated the conflict about race over the past week. Russert pressed Clinton on whether Black Entertainment Television founder Robert Johnson was “out of bounds” when he clearly referred to Obama’s drug use as a teenager. Clinton admitted that Johnson was out of bounds, but she did not say that he would no longer speak for her campaign.

Secondly, Obama has apparently never been informed about the job interview strategy of making your weakness look like a strength.  Instead, when asked to identify his greatest strength and greatest weakness, he basically said that he is so disorganized that he needs someone else to keep track of important paperwork.  That will win the votes of all those who want a disorganized president.  As I have said before, Obama often speaks in a halting, hesitant manner in the debates, making him look less decisive than Clinton and Edwards.  He is doing it again tonight. -Doc

The candidates are all talking about “change.” Most of the country can hardly wait for the Bush years to end. The Flintstones Republicans –George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, and John McCain– are still living in the Old World Order while the rest of the world yearns for visionary 21st century leadership.

Exactly 232 years ago this month Thomas Paine wrote these words in Common Sense:

The cause of America is in great measure the cause of all mankind. We have it in our power to begin the world over again. The birthday of a new world is at hand.

Indeed. Who will lead us into that new world?

Thanks to Joseph Ellis for reminding us of this passage in his excellent book, American Creation: Triumphs and Tragedies at the Founding of the Republic. -Doc

Her argument against Obama now boils down to an argument against idealism…. The people from Hope are arguing against hope.

-Maureen Dowd, in today’s New York Times

It is an impressive come-from-behind victory for Hillary Clinton in New Hampshire. I will defer to the hundreds of pundits who will offer their theories on what happened in the last two days to make the pollsters look like they should be in a different profession. But I do have a few thoughts.

First, perhaps we should believe Hillary Clinton, to some degree, when she says hard work is what makes the biggest difference in politics. She, along with Bill and Chelsea, campaigned relentlessly in those last three days, and it clearly paid off for her. Second, Hillary hopefully learned that the public wants the candidates to show how they feel, not just what they think, about the most important issues in their lives. She is a much more appealing candidate when she softens her personality. The question remains though about whether or not she can relax her natural caution more consistently for the public to see the real person behind that wall.

Third, there was a crucial psychological moment in the debate on Saturday night when Barack Obama showed incredible pettiness and smallness of personality. Hillary was asked about the general opinion that Obama is more likeable, and she responded playfully, with a hint of vulnerability, saying, “That hurts my feelings….but I think I can go on.” She went on to pay Obama a compliment about his appeal. Obama then essentially kicked a woman when she was down, repaying her generous remark with a nasty, snide remark, “You’re likable enough Hillary.” You have to remember that on Saturday night it looked to all the world that Obama would win New Hampshire and that Hillary was reeling. So, in a moment when he felt like a king and she looked quite vulnerable, Obama needlessly gave her a psychological slap. It was a huge mistake, especially in the eyes of women. There is apparently a history of Hillary ignoring Obama in the Senate, and he likely has wounded feelings about being snubbed. But someone in Obama’s campaign better be letting him know that he should never, ever, display such pettiness, such smallness, if he hopes to be president.

With that said, Barack Obama is the most inspirational, most exciting politician in a generation. I look forward to the ongoing debate between these two heavyweights, “Ali vs. Frazier” as one pundit put it last night. The country will be well served by the discussion. -Doc

A win tonight in New Hampshire will mean the political wave for Barack Obama is growing bigger. The enthusiasm and excitement swirling around Obama could, if sustained, easily turn into a tidal wave of Democratic congressional victories in November 2008, with the result being larger majorities for Democrats in the House and in the Senate. John Edwards has said on numerous occasions that he thought Hillary Clinton would be a drag on the ticket for congressional and state candidates. Obama is likely to provide a robust boost to the other Democrats running in 2008. -Doc

It was 62 degrees today in Buffalo, New York. Another record high of 58 is predicted for tomorrow. The Ghost of Future Global Warming haunted presidential candidates in New Hampshire over the weekend, appearing at a Barack Obama rally in Concord and at a Mike Huckabee rally at New England College in Henniker. John McCain claims that Islamic terrorism is “the transcendent issue of the 21st century.” While terrorism is certainly one of the most important issues in the first quarter of the 21st century, if it continues to be a major concern after 2025 then our government will have failed miserably. Climate change is the transcendent issue of the 21st century. The whole century. -Doc

9:15 p.m. Sunday. Got back home a couple of hours ago after a 7-hour drive from Wells, Vermont. The last campaign event I attended was Saturday afternoon, a John Edwards town hall meeting in the cafeteria of Lebanon High School in Lebanon, New Hampshire. Lebanon is on the western border of the state, literally down the road from Hanover, New Hampshire, home of Dartmouth College. There was a line to get into the Edwards meeting and, as in the Obama event at Concord High School on Friday, some people did not get in due to overcrowding. Edwards was about 45 minutes late, and as the national press came in late from the campaign bus, some of the crowd was asked to leave the room and go to the gym to accomodate the 20-25 journalists and technicians. Edwards apparently talked briefly with the group in the gym, and showed off his basketball skills, before starting his speech in the cafeteria.

John Edwards is a dynamic, polished speaker. He spoke for 30 minutes without skipping a beat, emphasizing his position on providing health care to all Americans, and speaking movingly about people with serious health problems who did not have health insurance. Edwards drives home the theme over and over that he is “a fighter,” the candidate who is tough enough to take on corporations directly over health care and other issues. Edwards does talk more truthfully, and more often, than any other candidate in either party about the corporate control of American politics with money channeled through lobbyists and campaign contributions. When he talks about the economic squeeze on the middle class and everyone’s wish to give their children a better life than their own, it is clear that Edwards is a man with a big heart. As I stood on the riser listening to him, I thought, “I’m going to vote for this guy.”

On the drive home today I reconsidered, and I am still torn about who to vote for among Obama, Edwards, and Clinton. I’ll return to this dilemma in a future post, in part because I think a lot of Democrats are feeling the same way. But right now, the replay of the Democratic debate from New Hampshire is on CNN and I missed it last night. The photo below is of John Edwards’ parents, who were at the town hall meeting (they are the two in front). -Doc