Barack Obama: Unilateralist?
Oliver Kamm makes a rather surprising criticism of Barack Obama: The problem with Obama is that he evinces little interest in the role of America's European allies. There is a paradox here. Obama makes much (as he did in a long essay in Foreign Affairs last year) of the need to "rebuild our ties to our allies in Europe and ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on June 6, 2008 07:57
It’s a Storybook, Man
Barack Obama has ostensibly* passed the magic number of delegates needed to clinch the Democratic nomination. The media have declared him the winner. He's declared himself the nominee. Hillary Clinton hasn't acknowledged either reality, yet, but seems resigned to it. Obama Claims Victory Sen. Barack Obama achieved the 2,118 needed to clinch the Democratic nomination for president last night ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on June 4, 2008 07:07
Hillary Clinton Quitting Tonight (Or IS She?)
AP BREAKING: Clinton set to concede delegate race to Obama Hillary Rodham Clinton will concede Tuesday night that Barack Obama has the delegates to secure the Democratic nomination, campaign officials said, effectively ending her bid to be the nation's first female president. Obama is 40 delegates shy of clinching the nomination, but he is widely expected to make up the difference ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on June 3, 2008 11:25
Why Obama Beat Clinton
AP's Stephen Ohlemacher explains why Barack Obama, the young upstart, is going to be the Democratic Party nominee for president while Hillary Rodham Clinton, the hands-down favorite, is getting a set of steak knives. Unlike Hillary Rodham Clinton, rival Barack Obama planned for the long haul. Clinton hinged her whole campaign on an early knockout blow on Super Tuesday, while Obama's ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on June 1, 2008 07:07
Ron Paul Lost, Let Me Count the Ways
Jim Henley assesses the complete and utter failure that was the Ron Paul campaign for the Republican presidential nomination: Paul failed to win any states, to move the GOP debate in his direction, to accrue significant delegates or to leverage his fund-raising into a third-party run. And word is he’s staying quiet about endorsing an independent because he doesn’t want the ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on May 31, 2008 07:54
David Gregory: Blame Congress, Not Media
Responding to Scott McClellan's charge that "the national press corps was probably too deferential to the White House and to the administration in regard to the most important decision facing the nation during my years in Washington, the choice over whether to go to war in Iraq," NBC White House correspondent David Gregory defended his profession. I think the ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on May 30, 2008 07:27
Rachael Ray, Donut Terrorist
Dunkin' Donuts has pulled an ad spot featuring Rachael Ray wearing a scarf around her neck because some thought it was a subtle nod of support to Palestinians. Does Dunkin’ Donuts really think its customers could mistake Rachael Ray for a terrorist sympathizer? The Canton-based company has abruptly canceled an ad in which the domestic diva wears a scarf that ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on May 28, 2008 07:51
Going to War with the Ideology You Have
Kevin Drum, responding to Jonah Goldberg's argument that George Packer's "The Fall of Conservatism" erroneously conflates conservatism with the Republican Party, retorts: No political ideology lives in isolation. We judge communism by how Mao and Stalin implemented it, we judge 60s-era liberalism by how LBJ and the Democratic Party implemented it, and we judge social democracy by how Western Europe has ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on May 23, 2008 07:50
McCain’s Vice Presidential Candidates
John McCain is vetting potential vice presidential candidates over the holiday weekend, Adam Nagourney reports for the NYT. Gov. Charlie Crist of Florida, Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana and Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts and a one-time rival for the Republican nomination, have all accepted invitations to visit with Mr. McCain at his ranch in Sedona, these Republicans said. This ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on May 22, 2008 08:48
Rebuilding the Republican Brand
It's not exactly news that the Republican Party is in the doldrums at the moment. It lost control of both Houses of Congress in the 2006 elections, its president is at historic lows in the polls, it has lost a string of special elections and its incumbent Congressmen are retiring in droves, and the odds are better than even ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on May 20, 2008 11:43
West Virginia Primary Predictions
The pundits declared the Democratic nomination process over after Barack Obama's landslide win in North Carolina last week but, technically at least, neither candidate has sewn it up. West Virginia is today's stop in this seemingly endless ride and Hillary Clinton is expected to win big. The Polls: The folks at RealClearPolitics haven't bothered to tally up an average but all ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on May 13, 2008 07:24
Indiana and North Carolina Postmortem
Barack Obama moved to within 200 delegates of securing the Democratic presidential nomination yesterday, scoring a 56-42 blowout in North Carolina while narrowly losing, 49-51, in Indiana. Barring revelations that would make the Wright affair look insignificant in comparison, the race is all over but the shouting. Obama Wins the Night AP's Calvin Woodward: On the rebound, Barack Obama left Hillary Rodham ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on May 7, 2008 06:11
Gas Tax Demagoguery
Kevin Drum, upon learning that Hillary Clinton has joined John McCain in calling for a suspension of the federal gas tax as a campaign stunt: I'd say there's approximately a zero percent chance that Hillary Clinton or John McCain actually believe this is good policy. It would increase oil company profits, it would make hardly a dent in the price of ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on April 30, 2008 06:05
U.S. Foreign Policy in the Post-Bush Era
Fareed Zakaria argues that John McCain's foreign policy would be bellicose whereas Barack Obama's would be conciliatiatory but, as Dave Schuler notes, both are "confrontational" and "interventionist," just with slightly different priorities. Zakaria points to a recent McCain speech: Not only does it declare war on Russia and China, it places the United States in active opposition to all nondemocracies. It proposes ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on April 28, 2008 07:52
Iran War Drums Beating?
As previously noted, Admiral Mike Mullen told a gathering at the Atlantic Council that he fears the United States and its allies “will have to deal with Iran in the very near future.” That statement left a lot of room for strategic ambiguity. He removed a bit in a press briefing yesterday, Ann Scott Tyson reports. The nation's ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on April 26, 2008 06:27
