It’s fair to say that most neutral observers, looking at the state of the Democratic race objectively, would agree that Barack Obama has become the front runner for the nomination. It’s hardly a done deal, but given the circumstances, the smart money is on the senator from Illinois. That said, I think the talk about […]
One gets the sense, listening to the far-right lately, that they’re gearing up to attack Barack Obama with gusto, but they haven’t quite figured out what the message is. I don’t doubt they’ll settle on something ugly, but at this point, while the race on both sides is still in flux, we seem to have […]
After generating a limited amount of interest — probably a small fraction of what organizers had hoped for — New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg led a group discussion in Oklahoma yesterday with elders from the Democratic and Republican parties. The purpose of the forum, apparently, was to “denounce the extreme partisanship of Washington and […]
The Brookings Institution’s Michael O’Hanlon, a supporter of Bush’s Iraq policy who was advising Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, has been wrong about the war pretty consistently since, well, the beginning. But that doesn’t seem to stop him from weighing in on the issue at every available opportunity. In his latest salvo, O’Hanlon takes on Barack […]
Once the interest in Hillary Clinton’s tears had run its course, the political world quickly shifted its attention late yesterday to some odd remarks about Clinton, Obama, LBJ, and Martin Luther King. First, a little context. At Saturday night’s debate, Clinton warned of the dangers associated with “false hope.” Yesterday, Obama told a New Hampshire […]
Today’s edition of quick hits. * I wonder what the whole story is here: “Iran’s Foreign Ministry said Monday that a confrontation between Iranian boats and U.S. Navy ships in the Persian Gulf over the weekend was ‘something normal’ and was resolved. It suggested the Iranian boats had not recognized the U.S. vessels. The Pentagon […]
Following up on an item from a few weeks ago, crying has come a long way in politics. In 1972, Ed Muskie wept outside the offices of the New Hampshire Union Leader, and it was, at the time, a political disaster. Americans just weren’t ready to tolerate grown men in leadership positions emoting like this […]
There’s a line between talking about national security on the campaign stump and exploiting the politics of fear. I just don’t always know where that line is. Clearly, ads like this one from Rudy Giuliani fall into the “shameless demagoguery” category. If the former mayor wants to emphasize the terrorist threat, that makes sense. If […]
Last week, there was quite a bit of talk, in the 48 hours before the caucuses, that Mike Huckabee was slowly imploding in Iowa. His margin in some polls was slipping; Mitt Romney was gaining on him; after a ridiculous press conference, reporters were mocking him; and most of the insider scuttlebutt was that Huckabee’s […]
This morning, almost in passing, MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough mentioned the national press corps covering the presidential campaign and said, “I think every last one of them would move to Massachusetts and marry John McCain if they could.” A little crude, sure, but Scarborough’s point is not without merit. Last week, for example, McCain finished fourth […]