Once a Young Republican, Always … (Hillary Clinton Endorses McCain)
Thursday, March 6th, 2008 Posted in Clinton, Obama | No Comments »The latest from the Clinton campaign: McCain and she are read to be commander in chief, Obama isn't "I won't accept a caucus" in Florida (Hillary)--meaning, she would be comfortable seating delegates in a state where there was no campaigning (not to ...
Why Math will not be undone by Momentum Ex Machina
Thursday, March 6th, 2008 Posted in Hillary, Obama | No Comments »From Jonathan Alter, one of the few journalists who hasn't tucked tail as a response to Hillary's victim gambit: even do-overs in Michigan and Florida will not catch her up in the popular vote or pledged delegate count, and superdelegates ...
The Intellectually Vacuity of New York Times Political Analyses
Thursday, March 6th, 2008 Posted in Obama, Punditry | No Comments »Here's the New York Times, an "analysis": After Tuesday’s primary victories for Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, her focus is momentum; for her Democratic rival, Senator Barack Obama, it is math. Math vs. Momentum: it's a simple opposition, and it alliterates. That's why ...
Rescuing Maiden Hillary
Wednesday, March 5th, 2008 Posted in Clinton, Obama | 2 Comments »This will sound like sour grapes, but here goes. It's a measure of the delusion of the press that they treat Clinton's comeback as a resurgence. That's largely a function of a taste for drama, no matter what the realities--the desire ...
Obama “Screamed” at Him
Monday, March 3rd, 2008 Posted in Obama | No Comments »Here's some unedited blather premised more on the vanity of knowing Obama (and his flaws) than on newsworthiness; just to summarize: a local reporter does a fluff piece on Obama, feels some remorse, writes something less flattering based on other ...
Stanley Fish Tries to arouse us from our Obagmatic slumber
Monday, March 3rd, 2008 Posted in Obama | No Comments »"Hey, I'm Stanley Fish! The enemy of the conventional wisdom is my friend, regardless of the facts." [Incidentally, this is the way that the sequence of counterintuitive fads that is humanities academia functions.] "So Obama's political machine has proven itself ...
Political Wankery (the latest debate and the “Oh SNAP!” nihilism of our public discourse)
Wednesday, February 27th, 2008 Posted in Clinton, Obama, Of Interest | 2 Comments »While Anderson Cooper does his vacuous deer-in-headlights-who-cares-about-people routine, Keith Olbermann (who's show Countdown is actually very good), approaches yesterday's debate with the same dreary cynicism as his mischievous mentor, the meat-headed Tom Sawyer of politics, Chris Mathews. The debate was ...
Hillary Clinton’s Rhetorical Offenses (and why words matter)
Monday, February 25th, 2008 Posted in Hillary, Obama | 6 Comments »To believe that such talk really ever came out of people's mouths would be to believe that there was a time when time was of no value to a person who thought he had something to say; when it was ...
Black Candidates are Being Elected by White Southerners
Thursday, February 21st, 2008 Posted in Obama | No Comments »I often argue to friends who say that a black man can't be president in America that American race relations are more complicated than the usual stereotypes make them out to be. In Alabama no less: Yet there are parallels. The ...
Obama’s Legislative Accomplishments–and how this experience helped him win
Wednesday, February 20th, 2008 Posted in Obama | 5 Comments »Chris Mathews embarrassed an Obama supporter last night by asking him to name Obama's legislative accomplishments--something the supporter couldn't do. Besides the mean-spiritedness of the ambush (Mathews after all new that the average supporter, even--or perhaps especially--a Texas state senator--would ...
The Viability of Obama (It’s the Sanity, Stupid)
Monday, April 16th, 2007 Posted in Essays, Obama, Politics | 3 Comments »I've been trying to convince friends that yes, Obama can get votes from white Americans. That's because American race relations, even when they are antagonistic, are more complicated than their typical portrayal in the media. Andrew Sullivan offers one telling ...
