Entries from June 2008 ↓

Barack Obama made the wrong call when he decided to opt out of the public financing system. Broder has it right. Aside from the immediate and short-lived hit he is taking in terms of “flip-flopping” or “breaking his promise” etc., he opted out of 85 million dollars, fundamentally, because he believes he can raise far more than that amount from his vast army of supporters, and from Hillary’s vast army of supporters. Continue reading →

The message to the Clintons that is, from the Obama Campaign, as it announced the hiring of former Clinton campaign manager Patti Solis-Doyle. Jonathan Allen reports on the news today for CQ Politics. Obama spokesman Bill Burton said nothing could be inferred about Obama’s thoughts on a vice presidential candidate from the hiring of Solis Doyle… Continue reading →

Tim, we miss you already.

Prayers, from all of us at RedPhoneDiaires.

Even standing amid the tearful aging hippies in Central Park, in what would become known as Strawberry Fields, a day or two after John Lennon was killed, listening to the stunned and swaying crowd sing along to the lyrics of his famous anthem, Imagine, even then the editor of RedPhoneDiaries believed it to be one of the most idiotic songs ever written. Nothing to live or die for? No religion too? Imagine all the people, living for today? Frankly, we would rather not. Finally, Bret Stephens, writing in his column Global View for the Wall Street Journal, explains why.

William McGurn writes an incisive article in his Main Street column in today’s Wall Street Journal opinion page, Obama, Religion and the Public Square. It seems apparent already, early in the general election campaign, that Barack Obama will do more to inject religion into the national debate than will the Republican nominee, John McCain. McGurn explains why this is a very good thing for the Democratic Party, and the nation.

Time Magazine piece by Amy Sullivan (Thursday, June 5th), Why Didn’t More Women Vote for Hillary Clinton? disputes the conventional wisdom, which has been that Hillary as Veep will bring Obama the women voters who rejected him in the primary season. They did not reject him. Indeed, women under 40 embraced him, women over 60 went for Hillary, and and he and Hillary broke even with women voters in between, and women voters overall. So, scratch one more reason for Obama to consider taking Billary as his VP.

On a quiet Saturday afternoon in the early summertime, with a heat wave scorching the District, Hillary Clinton today at last, begrudgingly, accepted reality. She ended her campaign… well actually she suspended her campaign, and formally endorsed Barack Obama and urged her legion of followers to campaign for him. She could have done this on Tuesday evening in primetime, Continue reading →

Chris Cillizza writes on his Washington Post blog, The Fix, that Hillary’s “concession speech tomorrow afternoon in Washington will be one of the most closely watched — and eternally analyzed — political addresses in modern history.” Continue reading →

According to Associated Press reporters Beth Fouhy and Devlin Barrett, Hillary Rodham Clinton told colleagues Tuesday she would consider joining Barack Obama as his running mate, and advisers said she was withholding a formal departure from the race partly to use her remaining leverage to press for a spot on the ticket. On a conference call with other lawmakers, Clinton said she was willing to become Obama’s vice presidential nominee if it would help Democrats win the White House, according to several participants in the call. Continue reading →

This morning the Associated Press released a story quoting anonymous sources within the Clinton campaign, indicating that Hillary would “concede Tuesday night that Barack Obama has the delegates to secure the Democratic nomination.” Cable news networks jumped on the story and recast tonight’s Clinton rally as the venue for a concession speech, but campaign manager Terry McAuliffe and adviser Harold Ickes immediately took to the airwaves to emphatically deny the AP report.

RedPhoneDiaries is also hearing that the South Dakota primary is too close to call, Continue reading →