Video of Barack Obama’s news conference
Tuesday, April 29th, 2008Obama is clearly angry, frustrated and disappointed by Wright’s performance before the National Press Club.
Obama is clearly angry, frustrated and disappointed by Wright’s performance before the National Press Club.
Barack Obama didn’t mince any words today, going after Wright’s recent “ridiculous” remarks, and also taking questions.
The person I saw yesterday was not the person that I met 20 years ago. His comments were not only divisive and destructive, but I believe that they end up giving comfort to those who prey on hate, and I believe that they do not portray accurately the perspective of the black church.
They certainly don’t portray accurately my values and beliefs. And if Reverend Wright thinks that that’s political posturing, as he put it, then he doesn’t know me very well. And based on his remarks yesterday, well, I might not know him as well as I thought, either.
As Richard Wolffe just said on MSNBC, this is now personal. Obama was visibly angry that Wright would try to take over the campaign narrative.
He was even more offended that Wright would repeat statements that contradicted everything Obama stands for.
This fight is not over. But the fight might be exactly what Obama needs.
In a recent foreign policy speach, John McCain advocated kicking Russia out of the G8. He also stated that India and Brazil should be included, but not China.
Now, I understand that Russia is moving away from democracy and that is a problem, but expelling them from the G8 is ridiculous.
Fareed Zakaria rips apart McCain’s position in a very thoughtful column.
McCain will quickly destroy his own candidacy as time goes on.
The 2008 general election will be about issues, and abortion will resurface as an issue this fall.
Right now, McCain’s “maverick” reputation is causing many to think he’s a moderate on many issues. That is not the case, and the misperceptions are significant when it comes to abortion.
What John McCain really stands for came up most recently in light of his position on abortion. Planned Parenthood commissioned a survey showing that more than half of those women polled don’t know much about McCain’s stance, and a quarter of those who are in favor of keeping abortion legal mistakenly think the senator agrees.
These misperceptions will be corrected by November. Writers like Anna Quindlen are talking about it, and it will certainly come up in the campaign. McCain has been a favorite of many independents, but that was when he was running against Bush. Now that he faces a general election in a tough year for Republicans, his abortion stances are likely to hurt him with independents and some moderate Republicans.
If a nutty tax-protestor tries to tell you that the tax codes are not enforceable by the federal courts, just point them to the sorry tale of Wesley Snipes. What a moron.
In 2004, Peggy Noonan was savoring George W. Bush’s victory over John Kerry. Reality has been setting in for Peggy and other conservatives since then. and she explains in her latest column that the country is sick of Bush. Thanks for the news flash.
She does have some helpful advice for Barack Obama, however. He can help himself by talking more about why he loves his country. Of course he has been doing this, but he always does it from an intellectual point of view. Law school geeks like me love this stuff, but he could use some more imagery. He has talked about his grandfather being in Patton’s army in WWII, and he needs to do more of that. The right is trying to paint him as a left-wing radical, and he needs some stories from his life that contradict that silly caricature.
The media loves this fight, but Elizabeth Drew explains that the uncommitted super delegates are poised to vote for Obama once the primaries are over.
Clinton’s only hope is a huge upset. It doesn’t look like that will happen.
Dick Morris gets to the heart of the matter. Clinton didn’t change anything with last night’s 9-point win.
Hillary Clinton refuses to die. Having been given up for dead after losing Iowa, she rebounded in New Hampshire. Then a string of 11 straight consecutive losses - followed by a win in Ohio and a tie (in delegates) in Texas. Now, she’s won Pennsylvania.
Problem is, it doesn’t mean anything.
Because of the Democratic Party’s arcane proportional-representation rules, her win stands to give her a net gain of 10 to 15 delegates when all is counted. That means that Barack Obama will fall from a lead of 161 in elected delegates to about 145 or so. Big deal.
The primaries coming up in the next two weeks - Indiana and North Carolina - are likely to give Obama back a goodly portion of those delegates. By the time all the primaries have been held, after June 3, there is no doubt that Obama will lead by more than 100 elected delegates, and likely 150. From there, it will be an easy route to the nomination.
The Democratic superdelegates aren’t about to risk a massive and sanguinary civil war by taking the nomination away from the candidate who won more elected delegates. If they ever tried it, we’d see a repeat of the demonstrations that smashed the 1968 Chicago convention and ruined Hubert Humphrey’s chances of victory.
Clinton won Pennsylvania for two key reasons: Only Democrats could vote in the primary, and the Keystone State electorate is dominated by the elderly, who are staunchly for Clinton.
Despite her claims of electability, Hillary has never done well among independent voters. And Obama usually loses the Democrats. Pennsylvania’s closed-primary rules gave her a key advantage.
Barring a game changer, this will be over in June with Obama as the nominee.
With a ten-point win, the race goes on and nothing is resolved. She won by the same margin in Ohio and New Jersey, so even after the Wright issue and other “controversies,” her margin on her turf is basically the same. Also, independents could not vote in Pennsylvania, so that was another disadvantage for him.
He should win North Carolina, and he needs a solid margin. Also, Indiana will be a big battle. Independents can vote, so that is one positive for Obama in that state.
I have been giving McCain the benefit of the doubt. He’s shown he’s willing to say almost anything to get elected, but I thought there might be lines he would not cross. Well, he brought up the Weather Underground issue on his own today, so he’s making it clear that Karl Rove tactics will be front and center in his campaign.
Given that John McCain actively sought the endorsement of a right wing nut who has called the Catholic Church the “great whore,” he might want to be careful about going down this path.
Awesome parody. Let’s face it - Hillary is a natural villain!
This poll seems a little extreme, but the trend is clearly in Obama’s favor.
Here’s the devastating numbers that is consistent with other polls:
One of the more devastating results for Clinton was that a majority of all registered voters now see her as dishonest and untrustworthy. According to the poll, just four in 10 (41 percent) registered voters view the New York senator as honest and trustworthy, while 51 percent think the opposite. This compares with solid majorities of voters who see Obama and McCain as honest and trustworthy (both polled 61 percent).
This shouldn’t be a surprise because she’s basically a liar.
They keep rolling in, and these two are big ones.
Mort Kondracke explains why this question will haunt John McCain in the fall.
There’s not much more to say. The blogosphere has rightfully ripped ABC to shreds for the pathetic “gotcha” questions.
As usual, Obama has a great response.