Obama’s middle-class tax cuts

These tax cuts look like a political winner.

Hillary’s speech

Hillary Clinton was at her best on Saturday in her endorsement of Obama. She had a job to do, and she did it well. In time, many of her supporters will back Obama as they begin to realize that McCain doesn’t share their beliefs.

That said, the Obama team should not, and probably will not, be fooled into putting her on the ticket. She will always have her own agenda, and the minute he offers her the second spot he will no longer have any leverage to control her or her husband.

The only scenario for putting her on the ticket would be some kind of political disaster over the summer that threatens his ability to win this on his own. Barring that, he has many good options for VP, so Clinton supporters should not hold their breath.

Obama’s impact – the DNC will no longer accept money from federal lobbyists

This is reform in action. Here’s the statement from the Democratic National Committee.

“The DNC and the Obama Campaign are unified and working together to elect Barack Obama as the next president of the United States. Our presumptive nominee has pledged not to take donations from Washington lobbyists and from today going forward the DNC makes that pledge as well,” said Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean. “Senator Obama has promised to change the way things are done in Washington and this step is a sure sign of his commitment. The American people’s priorities will set the agenda in an Obama Administration, not the special interests.”

Bob Barr will help Obama

Bob Barr’s Libertarian campaign for president is already having an impact.

Bob Barr’s Libertarian presidential campaign is poised to play a serious role in this year’s elections, with early polls showing him taking away enough votes from Sen. John McCain to give Democrats a chance to win states that should be safely Republican.

Polls in Georgia and North Carolina over the last two weeks show Mr. Barr winning 8 percent and 6 percent respectively of the presidential vote, and in both cases helping keep likely Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama within striking distance of Mr. McCain in those states — which, taken together, account for more electoral votes than Florida, Pennsylvania or Ohio.

Kicking and screaming

What a graceless exit. The networks are reporting the Hillary will suspend her campaign and endorse Obama on Friday.

This happened only after some of her strongest supporters implored her to concede. Charlie Rangel was upset and told her so. Her own advisors had to get eight Senators on the phone with her to tell her it was over.

It also appears that she will not be seriously considered for the VP slot, as the Obama team will require that Bill Clinton reveal all the donors to his library and his foundation as part of the vetting process. That is not going to happen, so the drama will soon come to an end.

After her shameful performance last night, she needs to muster a great speech on Friday when she endorses Obama in order to salvage her reputation.

You don’t demand respect, you earn it

The Clinton drama continues. Now everyone is speculating on what Hillary Clinton wants.

Those around her say that beyond the mundane negotiating points – a half hour in Denver, help raising money – there is a more personal, less tangible demand that she be accorded the respect she feels she earned in an historic bid that brought her closer to the nomination than any other second-place Democratic finisher.

This is so ridiculous. You don’t demand respect, you earn it. With her inability to be gracious in defeat last night, she has lost the respect of many Democrats, including some of her strongest supporters.

Clinton supporters start to defect

Hillary Clinton’s selfish speech last night is not going over well with some of her strongest supporters. Hilary Rosen hoped that Hillary Clinton would make a graceful exit last night, but she was disappointed, and she refuses to be a bargaining chip.

So, I am also so very disappointed at how she has handled this last week. I know she is exhausted and she had pledged to finish the primaries and let every state vote before any final action. But by the time she got on that podium last night, she knew it was over and that she had lost. I am sure I was not alone in privately urging the campaign over the last two weeks to use the moment to take her due, pass the torch and cement her grace. She had an opportunity to soar and unite. She had a chance to surprise her party and the nation after the day-long denials about expecting any concession and send Obama off on the campaign trail of the general election with the best possible platform. I wrote before how she had a chance for her “Al Gore moment.” And if she had done so, the whole country ALL would be talking today about how great she is and give her her due.

Instead she left her supporters empty, Obama’s angry and party leaders trashing her. She said she was stepping back to think about her options. She is waiting to figure out how she would “use” her 18 million voters.

But not my vote. I will enthusiastically support Barack Obama’s campaign. Because I am not a bargaining chip. I am a Democrat.

The Great Divider

I have to admit I was completely wrong about Hillary Clinton. I actually believed that when the time was right, she would do the right thing and try to unite the party to defeat John McCain in November. How could I be so foolish.

Her speech tonight was a disgrace. On this historic night, when the Democratic Party nominated the first African-American candidate in history, Hillary Clinton insisted that this was her night, not Obama’s night. She wouldn’t concede. She refused to rally her supporters around Barack Obama now that he has won the nomination.

Hillary Clinton doesn’t have a classy bone in her body. History will judge her harshly for this. Sure, at some point she will properly back Obama, but nobody should forget that she tried to make this historic night all about her.

I hope Obama doesn’t pick her as his running mate. It’s time to put the drama of the Clintons to an end.

State of the race

It’s very early, and polls don’t matter much until both conventions are completed, but Kos offers an interesting analysis of the state of the electoral college based on polling averages from Pollster.com. So far, Obama looks pretty good. As I stated previously, I expect Obama to start taking a lead once Hillary endorses him and the party starts to come together.

State polls are starting to move in Obama’s direction

With the latest poll in Ohio showing an Obama lead over McCain, Kos takes a look at how the electoral map is shaping up for November. So far, things look good for Obama.

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