2008

Left Wing Intellectuals in Hyde Park

ArchPundit January 4, 2008 5 Comments

Watch out for those folks at Harold’s Chicken Shack—Clinton thinks it makes Barack unelectable:

Hillary’s aides point to Obama’s extremely progressive record as a community organizer, state senator and candidate for Congress, his alliances with “left-wing” intellectuals in Chicago’s Hyde Park community, and his liberal voting record on criminal defendants’ rights as subjects for examination.

So he is progressive (I forget because the argument changes every day), he is an intellectual, and he believes in the Constitution.

The horror, the horror.

Peters on Obama

ArchPundit January 4, 2008 4 Comments

I’ve probably discussed this several times, but Charles Peters takes a look at Obama’s passage of the bill to videotape confessions to murders.

This seemed likely to stop the beatings, but the bill itself aroused immediate opposition. There were Republicans who were automatically tough on crime and Democrats who feared being thought soft on crime. There were death penalty abolitionists, some of whom worried that Obama’s bill, by preventing the execution of innocents, would deprive them of their best argument. Vigorous opposition came from the police, too many of whom had become accustomed to using muscle to “solve” crimes. And the incoming governor, Rod Blagojevich, announced that he was against it.

Obama had his work cut out for him.

He responded with an all-out campaign of cajolery. It had not been easy for a Harvard man to become a regular guy to his colleagues. Obama had managed to do so by playing basketball and poker with them and, most of all, by listening to their concerns. Even Republicans came to respect him. One Republican state senator, Kirk Dillard, has said that “Barack had a way both intellectually and in demeanor that defused skeptics.”

The police proved to be Obama’s toughest opponent. Legislators tend to quail when cops say things like, “This means we won’t be able to protect your children.” The police tried to limit the videotaping to confessions, but Obama, knowing that the beatings were most likely to occur during questioning, fought — successfully — to keep interrogations included in the required videotaping.

By showing officers that he shared many of their concerns, even going so far as to help pass other legislation they wanted, he was able to quiet the fears of many.

Obama proved persuasive enough that the bill passed both houses of the legislature, the Senate by an incredible 35 to 0. Then he talked Blagojevich into signing the bill, making Illinois the first state to require such videotaping.

And he proved me wrong.  The longest, most indepth post I wrote on this is lost in the archives of Political State Report, but I pretty much announced that after Ryan commuted all of the death sentences any chance for reform were dead because of the outrage that would follow.
I was wrong–very, very wrong and while other people like Tom Cross were positive forces for death penalty reform, Obama really put the reforms together and moved them forward.  It was an amazing feat and one that really caught my attention as I observed it.  I didn’t think it was possible and everytime a snag was hit, I thought it proved I was right and that while I am against the death penalty, the commutations were counter productive.

Obama pulled it off pulling along important constituencies and working hard.  I had always been impressed with him before then, but it is what really sold me on him by the time the 2004 Senate race picked up.

There are a couple interesting takes on this with Kevin Drum quoting me and Atrios thinking maybe Obama does have more of a plan than most bloggers thought.

My point isn’t that he’s perfect, but that he’s a lot more talented than appears on the surface. That probably can be said about other candidates as well, but there’s this weirdly effective Zen that surrounds Obama that most reminds me of Phil Jackson of all the odd comparisons I can make.

The race for the nomination has a long ways to go and I don’t think it should be assumed he has a free ride in anyway, shape, or form.  However, watching opponents either be co-opted or fall apart as the challenge him (other than Bobby Rush) there’s something about the way he leads and campaigns that involves a level of understated effectiveness that is very rare.

I can’t explain it, I can only offer the stages that I’ve observed over and over again as commmenter Tucker McElroy defined some time ago:

We’ve seen the stages before because we’re from here, but it’s fun to watch the national press go through it all over again.

1. Holy shit, you’ve got to hear this guy speak.
2. Holy shit, this guy was the first African American editor of the Harvard Law Review. Everyone we talk to says he’s really smart.
3. Holy shit, in his book he talks about doing blow, this could hurt him big time.
4. Holy shit, the right is going bonkers (He’s not really black because he wasn’t decendant from slaves – Keyes, His middle name is Hussein – tv right, Holy shit he’s in our church – religious political right, He’s a false messiah and the anti-Christ – nutjob right)
5. Holy shit, everywhere you look people are wild about Barack Obama. Don’t they know he did blow and HIS MIDDLE NAME IS HUSSEIN?
6. Holy shit, he won huge.
7. Holy shit, I can’t believe I lost like that. But at the end of the day I can’t really be too upset about it because I like the guy. (Dan Hynes 2004, Hillary Clinton 2008)

Dan’s Experience at the Caucus

ArchPundit January 4, 2008 No Comments

Over at his place.

Heh.

ArchPundit January 4, 2008 1 Comment

Obama 

Inside an old airplane hangar at what used to be Pease Airforce Base in Portsmouth, Barack Obama made his first New Hampshire appearance since his Iowa victory.

He recited his standard stump speech, but there was a confident, almost giddy, spirit in his voice and among the crowd of a few hundred supporters.

Obama did work a new joke into his speech. Referring to his new status as the Democratic front-runner, he said: “This feels good. It’s just like I imagined it when I was talking to my Kindergarten teacher.”

Wow.

ArchPundit January 4, 2008 7 Comments

[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/yqoFwZUp5vc" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

I know you didn't do this for me.  You did this--you did this because
you believed so deeply in the most American of ideas - that in the
face of impossible odds, people who love this country can change it.

I know this--I know this because while I may be standing here tonight,
I'll never forget that my journey began on the streets of Chicago
doing what so many of you have done for this campaign and all the
campaigns here in Iowa - organizing, and working, and fighting to make
people's lives just a little bit better.

I know how hard it is.  It comes with little sleep, little pay, and a
lot of sacrifice.  There are days of disappointment, but sometimes,
just sometimes, there are nights like this - a night--a night that,
years from now, when we've made the changes we believe in; when more
families can afford to see a doctor; when our children--when Malia and
Sasha and your children--inherit a planet that's a little cleaner and
safer; when the world sees America differently, and America sees
itself as a nation less divided and more united; you'll be able look
back with pride and say that this was the moment when it all began.

This was the moment when the improbable beat what Washington always
said was inevitable.

This was the moment when we tore down barriers that have divided us
for too long - when we rallied people of all parties and ages to a
common cause; when we finally gave Americans who'd never participated
in politics a reason to stand up and to do so.

This was the moment when we finally beat back the politics of fear,
and doubt, and cynicism; the politics where we tear each other down
instead of lifting this country up. This was the moment.

Years from now, you'll look back and you'll say that this was the
moment - this was the place - where America remembered what it means
to hope.

For many months, we've been teased, even derided for talking about
hope.

But we always knew that hope is not blind optimism.  It's not ignoring
the enormity of the task ahead or the roadblocks that stand in our
path.  It's not sitting on the sidelines or shirking from a fight.
Hope is that thing inside us that insists, despite all evidence to the
contrary, that something better awaits us if we have the courage to
reach for it, and to work for it, and to fight for it.

Best News for Iowa

ArchPundit January 3, 2008 2 Comments

Jennifer Hunter will be leaving and taking the bad prose with her.

Thalacker graciously allowed me to stay at her home and attend the caucus here in Waverly so I could get a sense of real Iowa politics.

Real Iowa politics are thorny, to say the least — not only the caucuses themselves — but the events leading up to them.

Iowa has been on edge for weeks and candidates, both Republican and Democrat, have been hopscotching across the state like Duracell bunnies trying to importune as many voters as they can.

One reading this in Chicago might think of hardball politics in Illinois as being similar to Iowa’s politics.  Now that’s funny. Iowans are nice and while their are deeply committed activists, the reality is that most people participating in the caucuses generally like their neighbors and are polite during the caucuses.

It is quite clear that one particular reporter is just out of crap to write.

Mock Caucus and Watching Party–Saint Louis

ArchPundit January 3, 2008 7 Comments

Young Democrats of Greater Saint Louis to host Democratic Presidential Caucus

Watch the Iowa results, stay for the Caucus. Thursday January 3^rd 8pm at the Royale Food and Spirits at 3132 South Kingshighway.

Governor Bob Holden, Congressman Lacy Clay and Alderman Steve Gregali among others to talk to advocate for their candidates at first ever caucus, Thursday January 3rd.

St. Louis, Mo.-Gearing up for the primary election season The Young Democrats of Greater St. Louis will welcome Democratic activists to The Royale Food and Spirits for an old fashioned caucus to pick a presidential candidate for the Democratic Party.

Among the honored guests on hand to persuade undecided voters to support their candidates’ are former Governor Bob Holden for Hillary Clinton, Congressman Lacy Clay for Barack Obama, and Alderman Steve Gregali for John Edwardsamong others. The Caucus will be hosted by 9th Ward Democratic Committeeman Ron Auer and will be monitored by Kyle Dubbert, Republican Supervisor of the Saint Louis City Election Board.

The January 3rd event will begin at 8pm at the Royale Food and Spirits at 3132 South Kingshighway. The results of the caucus should be available around 9:30pm January 3rd while the rest of the night will be dedicated to watching the Iowa returns.

The participants will determine a single winner for Democratic ticket through the mock-caucus. All who intend on voting for the Democratic ticket are welcome to participate. Not only will the event will serve to provide a lesson in how the Caucus system works, it will also gauge St. Louis City voters on their choice for the upcoming February 5th Primary.

For more information please contact Steven Fitzpatrick Smith, The Royale Food & Spirits 314-772-3600 theroyale@gmail.com, or Martin Casas with the Young Democrats of Greater St. Louis at 314-809-5083 martcasas@gmail.com.