Obama’s Acceptance Speech: The More Things CHANGE, The More They Remain the Same
I wrote a quick post before bed last night giving my off-the-cuff reaction to Barack Obama's nomination acceptance speech, arguing that, despite all the talk of "change," it was basically a speech that Jimmy Carter, Walter Mondale, Michael Dukakis, Bill Clinton, Al Gore, or John Kerry could have given. The NYT has a six-page transcript of the speech as delivered. Let's ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on August 29, 2008 08:14
Obama as Jackie Robinson
Adam Serwer laments the fact that Barack and, particularly, Michelle Obama have to humanize themselves to the electorate and fight back against an elitist caricature. [T]he Obamas are still fighting Jackie Robinson Syndrome, the reflexive double standards and often small, sometimes large, but always public humiliations that come from being the first black person to do something. Ezra Klein thinks this "beautifully ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on August 27, 2008 14:07
Obama’s VP: Biden or Bayh?
Barack Obama's vice president may have a last name that starts with "Bye," CNN's Alexander Mooney reports. The two senators widely believed to be at the top of Barack Obama's shortlist for VP have been given prime-time speaking slots at the Democratic convention Wednesday night — the very same night the vice presidential candidate is slated to speak. According to the Democratic ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on August 15, 2008 08:06
Al Gore Places Son in Rocket
Dateline Earth: "Al Gore Places Infant Son In Rocket To Escape Dying Planet." Former vice president Al Gore—who for the past three decades has unsuccessfully attempted to warn humanity of the coming destruction of our planet, only to be mocked and derided by the very people he has tried to save—launched his infant son into space Monday in the faint hope ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on July 31, 2008 07:42
Why Rush Limbaugh is So Popular
Ezra Klein believes a recent NYT Magazine profile of Rush Limbaugh is a "puff piece." He lists, for example, Rush's "presidential platform" as published: 1. Open the continental shelf to drilling. Ditto the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. 2. Establish a 17 percent flat tax. 3. Privatize Social Security. 4. Give parents school vouchers to break the monopoly of public education. 5. Revoke Jimmy Carter’s ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on July 8, 2008 09:03
Appalachian Election?
Steve Tuttle takes to the pages of Newsweek to proclaim the ascendency of Appalachia as the decider of the next president. "Hick." "Hillbilly." "Redneck." "Inbred." "Cracker." "Ridge Runner." I heard and self-effacingly used them all when I left the mountains of Appalachia to attend college in the great metropolis of Williamsburg, Va., in the '80s. I was mercilessly ribbed as a ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on June 30, 2008 09:20
Hillary Clinton Returns to the Senate
Apparently, during Hillary Clinton's months-long absence from the Senate, her office has been taken over by young, ping-pong playing staffers in hats and sunglasses. She returned yesterday to a warm reception, Dana Milbank informs us. And got rid of the recreational equipment. Among the well-wishers was Sen. John F. Kerry, the failed Democratic presidential nominee in 2004, who ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on June 25, 2008 12:07
Age More Important than Race: WaPo-ABC Poll
WaPo fronts a new poll they've commissioned in partnership with ABC News under the headline "3 in 10 Americans Admit to Race Bias Survey Shows Age, Too, May Affect Election Views." While it's somewhat surprising that nearly a third of Americans admit to "at least some feelings of racial prejudice" (30 percent of whites, 34 percent of blacks, ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on June 22, 2008 07:44
Public Financing R.I.P.
In the aftermath of the Watergate scandal, Congress tried to reform our system of financing political campaigns. They attempted to "get the money out of politics." They failed, miserably. So, too, did a long line of successive attempts. John McCain, the presumptive nominee of the Republican Party, earned the enmity of a large swath of his ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on June 20, 2008 12:03
McCain Making Kerry Mistake on Vietnam?
Pat Lang, a retired Green Beret colonel, is somewhat bemused at how much is being made of John McCain's military experience. John McCain is an admirable man. There are many such who wore the uniform of the United States in adverse circumstance. Jim Webb, Chuck Hagel, Daniel Inouye, Bob Dole... Shall I go on? How many ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on June 13, 2008 13:40
