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MSNBC
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18970417/

Boys and girls, hang tight, this is gonna be the ride of your life.

**Update**

I liked John McCain's speech. He said what he had to say: contrast himself against Sen. Obama but also Pres. Bush, stressing that his campaign is about "the right change" and highlighting his own strengths (public service, patriotism, belief in small government). For the most of the speech however, all of his remarks are fair and an expression of genuine and just conservative concern for a nation in challenging times. Unfortunate observations were his "young man with bad ideas" remark, the slogan "A Leader We Can Believe In" (plagiarism!) including his hook "This isn't change we can believe in!" and his sometimes unadapted facial expressions (especially his smile).

Note that MSNBC interrupted Sen. McCain's speech for the announcement of Obama clearing the 2118 vote target at 9pm ET. After the announcement, they didn't switch back to the speech and had Olbermann and Matthews praising Sen. Obama and his campaign's achievement.

**Update 2**

On 9:30 PM ET, Sen. Clinton made her prime time address. She shot off by congratulating Sen. Obama, his campaign, and his achievement. She went on to make a review of her campaign and of the historic proportions of this Democratic primary season. At the end of the speech, she explicitly said "not making a decision tonight", much to the satisfaction of a strikingly vigorous crowd. She would "meet up with party officials to determine how to move forward, in the best interest of the party".

**Update 3**

Sen. Obama gave his speech at 10 PM ET in St. Paul, Minnesota. I'm going to bed (4 am in Belgium) but suffice to say - I'm in a victory rush now. And from Obama's lips to these bloglines: "This primary season is over" - "I will be the Democratic nominee for President of the United States of America".

Declare your independence

So today finally is April 22nd. I repeat what I said before the Ohio and Texas primaries. Time to end it, America. Even though Sen. Clinton had a favorable standing after the April 16 ABC debate (which was edgy, and stirred many a pundit's opinion), this primary season is really in its closing stages. It's like the a regular season of the NBA just keeps on going: it's great to see the teams playing, but sooner or later you want the play-offs and the finals to start.

Warm greetings from Hong Kong,

Erwin

"The Right Choice?" - A fair Conservative view

In "The Right Choice?", Andrew J. Bacewich, professor of history and international relations at Boston University, writes a profoundly insightful commentary on the current state of affairs. In this essay, published on "The American Conservative", he analyzes George W. Bush's neoconservative war policies, but also mentions other arguments as to why the GOP aren't conservative at all, like Bush letting the budget slide further into debt and his administration increasing the federal apparatus and the executuve offices and further diminishing the roles of the legislative and judiciary branches of government.
The writer opposes John McCain mostly due to his overt, staunch and continuing support for the war in Iraq, which the writer dubs as of huge cultural but minor military significance.
Mr. Bacewich also critizes Sen. Obama, because of his clear liberal profile. However, given the other candidates, he argues that Sen. Obama is the only one with a proven opposition of the Iraq war. Also, he is convinced an Obama presidency might prove to be a transformative one, one in which conservative legislation can at least be proposed and even might come to pass.

I find Mr. Bacewich's arguments to be very convincing indeed. Not based on politics, they are based on a clear standpoint (ie, conservatism) but without spin and simply by sticking to the facts. His elaborate analysis shatters what "liberal" and "conservative" have come to be distorted into, and reverts them to healthy political views that should be respected and not mutually exclusive. And not surprisingly, Sen. Obama's views coincide with this kind of analysis: that it is time to face the problems, deal with them, but not through blind partisanship and political sidewinding.

The Word of Barack

As you may have noticed, I've been away for a long time. I got fed up after March 4th, the bitterness across campaigns, the endless punditry, the sickening spin. I abandoned the campaign trail simply because I couldn't stand being disappointed and gutted until August.

Then Sen. Obama spoke.



Once again he is the unique politician with one of the most compelling views and ideas in the history of the United States. With his back up the wall after low blow after low blow, Sen. Obama responds. Admitted, some of Rev. Wright's statements are downright bigotrous and destructive. But instead of downplaying and ignoring the problems, he faces them head-on. Not in an ignorant way, but by bluntly showing us the complexity and nuance of real life and moreover, by using deeply personal relationships and experiences as examples, not betraying friendships for politics. No politician of similar significance has ever used such insight, vision and disarming honesty.
All great politicians have a few traits in common. They were great speakers, had a keen insight in the matters at hand, and asked the right question at the right time. Like when Lincoln questioned American unity and freedom at Gettysburg, when FDR announced that December 7th, 1941 was a date that will live in infamy and when Ronald Reagan dared Gorgatchev to "tear down this wall".
Now Sen. Obama looks us square in the eye and asks us if we want to keep playing the games, the immobility, the hate. Not through slogans or cheap tricks. But by facing facts and proposing to work them out.

*That's* the Audacity of Hope, stupid.

Playing God in the Ant Farm

Remember those hot summer days when you were a kid, with none of your friends around because they were on holiday and your parents busy with whatever grownups do? You had to entertain yourself out of boredom, or indulge in the sweet bliss of idleness. Remember the ant farm in your backyard? There was the uncontrollable urge to help them build their fort, get them some sugar, or to guide them to wherever they needed to go. But at your whim, you could decide to make them walk an obstacle course of straws, erasers and all kinds of small rocks, or to plainly be evil and destroy their nest, or burn them with a magnifying glass.

Peter Molyneux confessed this childish urge to and glee in total control, was his main inspiration in creating Populous and Black & White.

The media however, has much less constructive expressions of this prime instinct.

With Junior Super Tuesday less than 24 hours away and the polls tighter than ever, the media has not stopped analysing and digging. I've already touched on my deepening fatigue, but this video has gotten my blood boiling altogether.

Link to MSNBC Video

In this segment, pundit Craig Crawford discusses the Ohio and Texas primaries. What enrages me however is the glee with which he describes the political process. He literally says "Why should the media want to end this?", in a statement about the exceptional length and intensity of the 2008 Democratic primaries. Although I share the observation of the extraordinary nature of it all, and the wonderful fact of (new) voter participation; an "enjoyment" of the ongoing trench war is sickening to me. It's like Nero playing the harp when Rome burnt, like the Navy SEAL instructor enjoying to see his men suffer, or like the boy playing with his ants.

But these are not ants. This is serious business - the future of America is literally in the balance. While pundits are quick to say Sen. Obama arouses empty, rock star emotions, and that Sen. Clinton is on the short and dishonest end of everything, they are ignoring that both are campaigning at an inhuman tempo, with, in the end, only their political beliefs to drive them. The media doesn't care about the issues, the candidates, and even less about the voters. They care about the story, the spin, and the impact of it all. But I don't blame them. It's their job.

So please turn off all the TV sets, talk radio shows and internet politics joints. Take a pause, think about why you like or want to vote for any candidate. Take pride and responsibility in democracy, and cast your vote. And let March 4th be the end of it.

Because we are not ants. We deserve better.

Fatigue

Spin, press, 20 debates, ads, rallies, spin, campaign donation tallies, red phones, and then some more spin.

I don't know about you guys, but this blogger is becoming dead tired of all of that.

In a week where Sen. Obama did well to maintain his posture during the 2 last debates, and saw his national lead (Gallup tracking, amongst others) and Texas-Ohio forecasts consolidating, the pundits just can't help but keep analysing every little bit. From nonsense about lapel pins, possibilities of the Hussein name being the "ultimate fear bomb" and red phone responses. I mean, who cares if Walter Mondale used that ad. He didn't get elected, and I haven't heard Sen. Clinton saying "Where's the beef?" yet. By the way, Sen. Obama would spit that out with a "I'm more of a KFC man myself" comment or something.
These really are small, insignificant events and observations. Of course, the analysts are making the story based on their hypersensitive political Spidey-sense. If Lou Dobbs was Peter Parker, Uncle Ben would probably still be alive.

By the way, let me use this space to briefly state my dislike of the man. He pushed out great anchors like Willow Bay and Alan Chernoff because he took back Moneyline (which, because of his short resignation, became a nice, fastpaced financial rundown, but was reversed to the same pre-Boomer snoozefest and is the sad grumpy-white-men show "Lou Dobbs Tonight" is today).

In this blogger's opinion, I think it's time to stop the frantic primary campaigning. Raising 35-50 million dollars monthly is a great testament to political involvement, but is really excessive considering we're not playing for the main prize yet. Although it is great that Democrats across the nation now have a say to who gets to be the nominee, this whole show is in danger to become the elaborate red carpet to the White House's front lawn, while John McCain gets a Marine One ride to the Oval Office.

Well, at least there's SNL, A Daily Show and Obama dancing to keep my spirits up.

"Shame On You"

Obama's NAFTA mailer:

Link

Obama's Health Care plan mailer:

Link

It is widely known that mailers are one-sided, lacking context, and sometimes even outright distortive or untrue. Sen. Obama's mailers indeed lack context, but there are no falsehoods proclaimed in them, as for instance analysed here and here.

Here's from a mailer from Sen. Clinton (link):
___________

Obama "voted for Dick Cheney's energy bill that gives huge tax breaks to oil companies".

He "wants to raise Social Security taxes by a trillion dollars"

Obama has "no plan" for a moratorium on foreclosures.
___________

All of these statements are distortions or lacking context too. The first statement is untrue for instance since the bill resulted in a net tax increase for oil companies, and subsidies for environmentally-friendly buildings and vehicles, and funding for research. The second is a distortion, since it deals about a "good option" Sen. Obama mentioned, about employing pay roll taxation on incomes above 97,500$, only 6,5% of all incomes. And he never went on record to actually wanting to carry out this idea. And third, Sen. Clinton's mailer leaves out the fact that Sen. Obama has a different plan to alleviate troubled home owners.

So this confirms again that all mailers are not entirely, or sometimes far from, true.

These mailers date from the beginning of February, and Sen. Clinton's staff was already being on file to having responded to these mailers, comparing them to the "Harry and Louise" ad in 1994 meant to oppose HillaryCare, or even worse, "outrageous as having Nazis march through Skokie, Illinois."

This last statement was given by an unpaid health care adviser, and was retracted, but along with Sen. Clinton's remarks today, it shows the emotion Sen. Clinton and her campaign have about this topic. While it is justified and perhaps a virtue to be so involved with some of your own positions on the issues, such display of moral and political superiority ("Every Democrat should be outraged", "That's what I expect from you"), comparisons to Karl Rove and dare I say, blatant hypocrisy, really are uncalled for, especially if you know that her campaign has sent out similar, if not worse, mailers.

It hurts her own campaign, it unfairly accuses Sen. Obama, and, well, makes everyone really uncomfortable.