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Tag: President 2008 (Page 30 of 31)

Zbigniew Brzezinski supports Obama over Clinton

This is quite a coup for Obama:

Zbigniew Brzezinski, one of the most influential foreign-policy experts in the Democratic Party, threw his support behind Barack Obama’s presidential candidacy, saying the Illinois senator has a better global grasp than his chief rival, Hillary Clinton.

Obama “recognizes that the challenge is a new face, a new sense of direction, a new definition of America’s role in the world,” Brzezinski said in an interview on Bloomberg Television’s “Political Capital with Al Hunt.”

“Obama is clearly more effective and has the upper hand,” Brzezinski, who was President Jimmy Carter’s national security adviser, said. “He has a sense of what is historically relevant, and what is needed from the United States in relationship to the world.”

Brzezinski, 79, dismissed the notion that Clinton, 59, a New York senator and the wife of former President Bill Clinton, is more seasoned than Obama, 46. “Being a former first lady doesn’t prepare you to be president. President Truman didn’t have much experience before he came to office. Neither did John Kennedy,” Brzezinski said.

Clinton’s foreign-policy approach is “very conventional,” Brzezinski said. “I don’t think the country needs to go back to what we had eight years ago.”

“There is a need for a fundamental rethinking of how we conduct world affairs,” he added. “And Obama seems to me to have both the guts and the intelligence to address that issue and to change the nature of America’s relationship with the world.”

The press has had a field day with Hillary’s petty criticisms of Obama’s foreign policy statements. Perhaps this endorsement will begin to change the narrative that Obama lacks experience. As the Bloomberg article notes, Brzezinski is one of the foreign policy heavyweights in the Democratic Party, and he is an excellent strategic thinker. He called out Hillary on her policies and her claims of experience. Tucker Carlson addressed this on his show today. Hopefully Brzezinski will be invited on some of these programs to discuss this further.

Elizabeth Edwards takes shots at Obama

I’m a big fan of Elizabeth Edwards, but her latest shots at Obama are a little silly.

Mrs. Edwards added that any divide in the Democratic party this year among the candidates is the difference between “actual Democrats and rhetorical Democrats.”

“Sometimes it seems we have these beliefs but it turns out it’s like a Hollywood set: It’s a facade and there’s no guts behind it,” Mrs. Edwards asserts in the interview, “You listen to the language of what people say, particularly Obama, who seems to be using a lot of John’s 2004 language, which is maybe not surprisingly since one of his speechwriters was one of our speechwriters, his media guy was our media guy. These people know John’s mantra as well as anybody could know it.”

“They’ve moved from ‘hope is on the way’,” the potential first lady concluded, “to the ‘audacity of hope’. I’m constantly hearing things in a familiar tone.”

So Edwards was the first politician to use the word “hope” in his stump speech? Give me a break.

Here’s another lame shot:

And while Senator Barack Obama, D-Ill., was in the Illinois state legislature and not the Senate in 2003, Mrs. Edwards equally questioned his motives.

“Obama gives a speech that’s likely to be extraordinarily popular in his home district,” Edwards said, “and then comes to the Senate and votes for funding… so you are going to get people behaving in a holier-than-thou way.”

Obama was right on the war, and he was planning a run for the Senate. His opposition to the war was not popular, and to suggest he did it for political motives is absurd.

I applaud John Edwards for apologizing for his vote, but frankly we all deserved that apology. Edwards was a complete robot during that process. He didn’t question anything. He didn’t read the full National Intelligence Estimate. He was also planning a run for the Presidency. And yet Elizabeth Edwards has the gall to challenge Obama on this? It’s ridiculous.

Warner drops out – who’s left?

I’m disappointed that Mark Warner has decided not to run for President in 2008. Warner looked like one of the guys who could actually win a general election – he was a moderate Southern governor with a decent amount of charisma and a message that would appeal to swing voters along with the Democratic base. On paper, he was a great candidate.

Who’s left? Some are speculating that this helps Evan Bayh. I guess that makes sense since Bayh is one of the most moderate Democratic Senators, but Bayh won’t make a dent unless he discovers a more dynamic personality.

Hillary has to be happy, since Warner seemed like the most formidable rival. I continue to believe, however, that a Hillary candidacy would be a disaster.

I’m hoping this helps Joe Biden and Bill Richardson gain some traction. I don’t know if either guy has a prayer to win the nomination, but this gives them a chance to raise more money and possibly build support in Iowa and New Hampshire. Both guys are smart and they have very clear ideas about how to improve the country. Having them in the race will be a positive for the party.

Joe Biden good on the stump

I caught part of Joe Biden’s speech in South Carolina on C-Span. He’s been working on his stump speech, and it has a heavy emphasis on Democratic values. He also takes some tough shots at the President’s failure to provide real leadership after 9/11.

I have to say I was impressed. I didn’t think Biden has much of a chance. He has some great ideas and he’s very credible on the war, but he’s sometimes dangerous when he gets a microphone because he can’t stop talking. He’s particularly bad when asking questions in Senate hearings. But this speech was pretty good. He was very passionate, and the crowd ate it up.

If he can continue to refine this stump speech and work on his tendancy to talk too much, this guy might have a shot. He can get people excited, and he’s letting it all hang out. He’s saying what he really thinks, and he comes across as very credible and authentic. It’s a great start.

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