Hillary the Tactician

Has anyone else noticed the dramatic shift in press coverage of Hillary and Obama? By some counts Hillary gained 3 delegates on March 4, barely denting Obama's lead of nearly 100 delegates. Yet the press practically threw a ticker tape parade for her Hillaresurgence. There was virtually no fallout when in a fit of paranoia, Clinton likened Obama's intention to increase his emphasis on their differences to Ken Starr. Meanwhile, the press has been skewering Obama left and right.

This is of course a direct result of Hillary's complaints about the media treating her unfairly, as evidenced by the now infamous SNL skit, and the media's neurotic self conscious nature. Realizing this was happening, the Clinton campaign took advantage and threw everything but the kitchen sink at Obama in the runup to the March 4 primaries.

If nothing else, the Clintons are tactically brilliant. Welling up before the New Hampshire primary and Super Tuesday are two more examples. (Once could have been considered a fortunate coincidence)

The problem with tactical leaders is they garner intense opposition. Karl Rove comes to mind. Bill Clinton too is not remembered for his ideas, but for his political skills. How many of you remember what the Clinton Doctrine says? The Republican revolution of 1994 was largely a reaction to his tactical victories.

Contrast this with Reagan. Not tactically brilliant, but he is remembered for his ideas of small government and defeating communism by outspending it.

(For the record, the Clinton Doctrine was about military intervention against genocide)

Clinton's Race Card

Why do the South Carolina primaries bring out the worst in some people?

Obama has admirably avoided discussing race in his campaign. I suppose it is just self interest. If he is labeled as 'the black candidate', he cannot possibly win.

For that very reason, the Clintons would like nothing better than to interject race into the campaign. But they have to be pretty subtle. And so they have. Speaking at Benedict College, a historically black college in South Carolina, Hillary praised African American Congressman Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., for his political achievements: "He didn't get there you know by leapfrogging - he got there by lots of hard work day in and day out". The term 'leapfrogging' is intended to provoke jealousy of someone who gets ahead without waiting their turn.

This is not the first time they have insinuated this. The 'fairy tale' comment is relevant here. I don't see how people could interpret it as a racial slur, and I also don't believe Bill's claim that it only referred to Obama's inconsistent opposition to the war (which isn't true anyway). Rather it indicates to me that Bill has been obsessing over Obama's 'out of nowhere' rise to political success. Apparently Obama just doesn't know his place.

Superdelegates

From Wikipedia: Superdelegates are delegates to a presidential nominating convention in the United States who are not bound by the decisions of party primaries or caucuses. Superdelegates are elected officeholders and party officials.

In other words in a close contest, after the party rank and file have voted in the primaries, the party establishment gets to decide who really gets nominated. Thus the image of the smoke filled back room. Presumably the superdelegates demand political favors from the winning candidate.

Normally this would not be all that bad, but there is a potential issue this time. One of the Democratic candidates has much better connections with the Washington establishment, and the other is an African American. If Obama gets a majority of the popular delegates, and a back room deal is made to nominate Hillary, it will be very hard to avoid the notion of a racially motivated conspiracy. I don't know how strong the backlash would be, but I would bet many of those superdelegates would lose enough support that they would be vulnerable in their next election. It would certainly be very damaging to the Democratic party.

Between now and the convention, look for both sides to claim to be ahead in the delegate count. Obama will not count the superdelegates. The Clintons will count the ones who have specified a preference. But take it with a grain of salt. A preference is not a commitment.

Unpresidential Candidates.

I've been itching to write about the presidential race for a while, but I didn't have enough to say about any one candidate. So I'll put it all in one post. Each group is in alphabetical order.

Republicans:
Rudy Giuliani - This guy is a Republican? And since when can someone competent get elected?
John McCain - He learned his lesson in 2000: suck up to the right to get the nomination. That was proof that intra-party politics is still done in back rooms. One problem, the right is in a coma this time. So all he did was destroy his base of independents.
Ron Paul - Gets ALL the attention on the internet (among republicans), and still polls lower than Attila the Hun. I suspect that polling results are also decided in back rooms. Or less than 5% of voters use the internet.
Mitt Romney - 4 more years of stupid.
Fred Thompson - 4 more years of stupid.

Democrats:
Joe Biden - Started his campaign with a racist gaffe. If Obama is the first clean black candidate, which one was dirty? I've got news for you, the brown color is melanin, not dirt.
Hillary Clinton - Why do so many men have such a violent reaction to her? For the very same reason women in management are called ball busting bit**es. The women these men grew up with were submissive. A woman with a dominant personality emasculates them, and reminds them of other women who emasculated them. She will go all the way largely because she has mastered the most important skill for a president: teflon skin.
John Edwards - Typical old fashioned democrat. Panders to anyone with a hand out. Claims to have made a career of fighting insurance companies. So why does he want to force 40 million people to become customers of the insurance companies?
Barack Obama - The guy with the vision. Gets ALL the attention on the internet (among democrats). Proves that being right does not win debates. Hillary, if you do not choose him for your running mate, a lot of voters will be VERY angry with you.