The political organizations in Manhattan live in their own little worlds. Each is peculiar. Its own strengths and weaknesses. Cast of characters. 30 people at an event is considered a lot of people.
Enough of meeting famous politicians at DL21C events. Now I feel like I want to meet movie stars.
Cutting on non-Obama events will also help me focus on Obama more.
I met an asshole called Dan Jacoby at DFNYC. At DL21C there is Danny Hamburger. I think the stink is in the name. Two in a row, that is a pattern. The guy can find a few different rude ways of saying he is militantly for Hillary because he works for Charlie Rangel. When you are practically politically illiterate, you don't know better ways of expressing your political enthusiasm. F_____g rookie.
UPDATE 7-Argentine first lady claims presidential vote win Reuters Nepal Parliament Votes on Republic After Last-Minute Talks Fail Bloomberg McCain says it's 'hard to imagine' Giuliani as GOP nominee USA Today Lalu challenges Nitish to call fresh Bihar polls (Lead) Monsters and Critics.com Obama Promises a Forceful Stand Against Clinton New York Times Turkey kills 20 Kurdish rebels as hopes fade for peaceful solution Guardian Unlimited Bhutto's Party Needs New Candidate for Premier, Minister Says Bloomberg Iran Amendment Sparks Battle Between Democratic Frontrunners FOX News Obama's campaign has made New York Sen. Hillary Clinton’s vote for the resolution the focal point of its attacks — and so far, it’s working. Clinton has been forced to defend that vote in Iowa, where some voters believe she’s helped moved the U.S. closer to a war in the Middle East. .... the amendment makes the case for structuring the military in Iraq to counter Iranian influence, and states that it is "a critical national interest of the United States" to prevent Iran from exerting its influence inside Iraq. ...... supporting the amendment without President Bush’s assurance that he will not use it as the basis for attacking Iranian interests is "naïve" ...... Obama is equating the amendment with Clinton’s 2002 vote authorizing the use of force in Iraq. Clinton has repeatedly said that she believed she was voting merely for additional time for U.N. inspectors in Iraq, not a U.S. invasion. ....... Clinton is either too naïve or too hawkish to be the Democratic nominee. ...... The third point she left for her campaign staff to make. ..... "George Bush and Dick Cheney could use this language to justify keeping our troops in Iraq as long as they can point to a threat from Iran, and because they could use this language to justify an attack on Iran," reads the Obama handout. ...... With his constant attacks on the issue, Obama in effect has placed at least part of the responsibility for any U.S. action against Iran before the caucuses on the shoulders of Clinton. ...... John Edwards got into the act on Friday, saying Clinton "aided and abetted George Bush and Dick Cheney’s march to war." And Joe Biden criticized both frontrunners for their actions, saying "Unlike Senator Clinton, I don’t trust this administration to follow the plain meaning of the law.
In 1993, Big Sister Hillary wrote a 1,300 page plan, or was it 13,000 pages? She dumped it on Congress. Big Sister did homework for you. All you have to do is accept it, vote for it. That is how it worked in the communist countries. The guy at the top had all the right answers.
She still has not learned. She has tweaked around the ideas a bit. But her approach is the same. Big Sister has got a plan. This time it is better.
It is the basic approach that is flawed. It does not recognize that it is not what ideas you have, it is how you will engage people on both sides of the aisle.
She says she has learned. What she has learned is to cave into the special interests. The insurance companies gave her a hard time the last time around. So this time she is going to give it all to the insurance companies.
The myth that she takes money from lobbyists but is not influenced by them and only does the people's bidding just is not true. Just look at her health care plan. The status quo will remain for those who have insurance. That makes the insurance companies happy. And then she makes it illegal for the uninsured to stay uninsured. Some who can afford will have to get it. Those who can't she says will get help from the government. So, basically, her plan is to make the insurance companies even richer.
What makes it socialized medicine is she notices that the health care sector is strikingly lagging behind in terms of use of information technology, but she does not realize that that is a symptom market forces are not in full play in the sector. If the insurance companies were competing with each other to bring the costs down, of course they would want to use the latest in information technology.
Her health care plan has no plans to inject those market forces into the sector. She does not have concrete plans to bring the costs down across the board.
I am for universal health care. America can not become a full fledged information economy without that. But Hillary's plan is inadequate and misplaced, but that is not the worst part of the news. The big, bad news is her approach. There is a fundamental flaw in her approach as to how she will try to bring it about.
If bringing the costs down were bad for innovation, my laptop should be costing 100,000 dollars by now.
December 1 Is When You Camp Out In Iowa
Do the John Kerry thing. That guy, starting from the beginning of December, just camped out in Iowa. Howard Dean made the mistake of taking a trip to Georgia late in December to meet his hero Jimmy Carter who flat out refused to endorse him.
To camp out in Iowa starting now would be too early. November goes to the other three early states. And some to Iowa too.
As for the February 5 states, you get to them by winning big in January. That is the only way. You win big and you get all that free time in the media, and that is how you do it.
Winning Iowa is key. That has to be our first goal.
The best way to reach the February 5 states is by winning South Carolina. The best way to win South Carolina is by winning Iowa. And Nevada comes before New Hampshire. A friend of mine working the ground in New Hampshire has a simple message, don't believe the polls. He did a random survey of 20 people: 19 were undecided.
Don't Forget Fundraising
Doing well in this quarter is key. I think we should shoot to end up with half a million donors before the year is out.
This is the scenario in my mind. We win Iowa and South Carolina, and perhaps one or both of the other two. And our donor base swells even more, and the first half million donors give more. And we have big chunks of cash to play the media war for February 5.
Differences Are Stark, But Obama Has Held Back
Barack and Hillary are just so different. Iraq, Iran, Social Security, Health Care, Ethics Reform. But so far Barack has not been able to throw concrete light on the stark differences. Good to know he will start now.
Hillary is working towards a coronation. Barack has to turn it into an election. Your last name should not matter.
This is not about no more Mr. Nice Guy. This is not about abandoning the politics of hope, this is not about saying goodbye to the new kind of politics. This is not about going negative. This is Barack's job. It is his job to inform the voters how he and Hillary are different.
Some Hits
The third quarter was Hillary's "strength and experience" quarter. Barack got swift-boated. It is not like Barack lacks "strength and experience" but the facts seldom matter in political attacks. He should hit back with the "judgment and leadership" phrase. It should be used daily.
Another hit was when Hillary 2008 released its third quarter figures right before an important Iraq speech by Barack. That was an attempt to steal a news cycle from Barack. When you get hit like that, you got to hit back. The campaign manager has to measure up.
Philly Steak, Philly Debate
The debate on Tuesday is going to be key. Barack has to turn it into the turning point. Just draw the stark differences on the biggies. Iraq, Iran, Social Security, Health Care, Ethics Reform. The differences between the two are obvious. But they have to come out in debates, interviews and stump speeches.
Now is the time.
Work on the one liners before you get in front of the podium.
I expect the Philly debate to be the most dramatic so far this year. Hillary just did an Oops, I did it again on Iran.
Spread The Word, Obama Was Not Born In 2004 In Boston
We really have to work to get the bio out. People - average voters - have to get to know him as a person before they will vote for him. Tell his story when you canvass.
In The News
Obama (Sort of) Takes the Gloves Off TIME he would be targeting Clinton specifically on Social Security, Iran and Iraq in the days and weeks to come. ...... the Democrats announced they'll caucus January 3rd ...... plenty of people believe that the only way for Obama to dent Clinton's lead is to take her on directly ....... campaign comity among the Democrats may be disappearing for good. ....... Later in the event Obama was asked about his perceived foreign policy "weakness" for his willingness to meet with adversaries such as Hugo Chavez and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. He wasted no time in steering things back to his electoral adversary. "This is an area where Senator Clinton and I have a disagreement," Obama said. "Strong countries talk to their adversaries and tell them where they stand that's always been something that I stood for, I've been consistent on that." Not exactly gladiator politics, but at the very least, Obama has started reaching for his sword. Why They‘re Both Running Against Billa tight, tooth-and-claw political marathon where even the tiniest of decisions, the smallest of slips, can have profound consequences ...... The junior Senator from New York has spent much of her career trying to stay sane in the midst of a political tornado. And now, having finally achieved a measure of happiness and respect in the Senate, she faces the prospect of jumping into the tornado again, knowing that she won't merely be opposed but also ridiculed and reviled. ....... each will spend the next year running against the most formidable living Democratic politician, Bill Clinton. ....... on Wall Street, especially, there are fond memories of Clintonism's fiscal discipline and global sophistication. ....... most people I talk to are hoping she'll decide not to run. But when Bill Clinton calls and asks for a commitment, it's impossible to say no. People are interested in Obama. They'll write him a check. But most of the old Clinton crowd won't have parties or make phone calls for him. For now, at least. ....... the best political strategist in the Democratic Party. Bill Clinton will be able to help his wife in three crucial areas: the framing of issues, timing the dramatic arc of the campaign and damage control. ....... Clinton is the world's best focus group: he has an innate sense of what average folks think is important and how to explain complicated things in the most accessible way. He also understands the weird chronology of presidential politics, the patience needed to last through interminable house parties and candidate forums, the fierce compression of time that will take place a year from now when Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire and South Carolina spin through their elections in a matter of weeks. "But his greatest strength is playing hurt," says James Carville. ...... His ability to think clearly--to actually think better--under pressure ...... She will never have his performance skills, an especially daunting deficit ....... But if being smart about policy were the most important quality in a President, Al Gore would now be completing a successful second term. ....... She is not a very good speaker, especially in big rooms where the need to emote exposes a harshness in her voice. ...... she is prohibitively rational, unclouded by undue emotionality. She doesn't get misty and bite her lip in public. She doesn't feel your pain; she understands it. Rationality breeds caution, and caution breeds a lack of spontaneity, which can make her seem cold and calculating. ......... Barack Obama, who has a public ease and eloquence unmatched by any candidate since ... well, Bill Clinton. ...... just like the Clinton who won in 1992, Obama will represent a new generation of leadership, a freshness that Senator Clinton will not be able to claim. ..... She will have to hope that experience trumps charisma, which isn't often a winning hand in American politics. CA Wildfires Force Mass Evacuation a hellish, spidery pattern of luminous orange .... more than a dozen blazes covering at least 240,000 acres, the equivalent of 374 square miles. ..... "The sky was just red. Everywhere I looked was red, glowing. ...... Firefighters — who lost valuable time trying to persuade stubborn homeowners to leave — had their work cut out for them as winds gusting to 70 mph scattered embers onto dry brush, spawning spot fires. ..... more than 200,000 reverse 911 calls — calls from county officials to residents — alerted residents to evacuations Alabama Picks a Bible Textbook
Obama Promises a Forceful Stand Against Clinton New York Timeshe will start confronting Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton more forcefully, declaring that she had not been candid in describing her views on critical issues, as he tries to address mounting alarm among supporters that his lack of assertiveness has allowed her to dominate the presidential race. ....... a long period in which his aides, donors and other supporters have battled — and in some cases shared — the perception that he has not exhibited the aggressiveness demanded by presidential politics. ....... “now is the time” ....... he said she was deliberately obscuring her positions for political gain ...... Social Security, Iraq and Iran as issues on which she had not been entirely forthcoming. ....... a growing consensus that Mr. Obama had to ratchet up his intensity and draw sharper distinctions ........ acknowledged that he had held back until now ........ the plan had always been for him to begin taking on Mrs. Clinton more directly in the fall. ...... glared and said no when asked if he lacked the stomach for confrontational politics. ...... Philadelphia ..... Clinton had “repeatedly dodged opportunities to reveal her thinking about the best way to strengthen Social Security.” ..... growing signs that Mr. Obama was looking for a fresh start for his campaign after nine months in which his aides said they were startled by the effectiveness of Mrs. Clinton’s campaign, and worried that her support was not as brittle as they had once believed. ........ campaign war room ..... concern of his aides that his public speeches tend to be long-winded ....... His senior aides said they were now spending much of their days fielding calls from concerned donors and other supporters asking why Mr. Obama was not challenging Mrs. Clinton more forcefully ....... disagreement in the campaign about whether he should now begin investing all his time in Iowa ...... Morale at his Chicago headquarters .. has been dragged down by the perception that Mrs. Clinton is lapping Mr. Obama. ..... a breakfast of boiled eggs (he ate only the egg whites) ...... Clinton had been untruthful or misleading in describing her positions on problems facing the nation. ...... she was trying to “sound or vote” like a Republican on national security issues ....... Obama suggested that she was too divisive to win a general election and that if she won, she would be unable to bring together competing factions in Washington to accomplish anything. ........ “The national press for the last three months has written glowingly about her and not so much about me .......... an “underdog” running against a campaign that has “a 20-year head start when it comes to managing the spin of the national politics.” ......... Obama’s criticisms of Mrs. Clinton were sharper than he has voiced during this campaign, they were, nonetheless, still somewhat restrained ........ Obama, who aides suggested might be spending too much time reading blogs and newspaper clippings about the campaign ........ every time we point out a difference between me and her, they say, ‘What happened to the politics of hope?’ which is just silly ........ they had declined an invitation from some networks to appear on Sunday morning talk shows after Mrs. Clinton the day she appeared on five in one day ........ Obama projected a relaxed air of confidence ...... “So,” he said, “give me some gossip about the Republicans.” India has lot to learn from China on economic reforms: Sonia Hindu Describing the pace of change in China as “truly astounding and outstanding,” Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Saturday said India had much to learn from China’s economic reforms and liberalisation. ....... the “world is big enough” to accommodate the growth and aspirations of both the nations. ...... pragmatism, clarity of vision and determination of effort ...... coming decades, China and India will be the largest and third largest respectively among the global economies ...... there is no problem that cannot be sorted out through free and frank dialogue and discussion ....... there was peace and tranquillity on the border and outstanding issues relating to the boundary question were being discussed in a comprehensive manner by the Special Representatives of the two countries. ....... more than trade, it would be investment that would bring the two countries together. ....... bridge the information gap “so that we no longer retain stereotyped images of each other.” ........ AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi, senior Congress leader Karan Singh, Union Ministers Prithviraj Chavan and Anand Sharma and India’s Ambassador to China, Nirupama Rao, were present at the lecture. Iraq Plan to Add US Troops at Kurdish Border Is Rejected by Turkey New York Times Bhutto Visits Ancestral Homeland Under Tight Security Washington PostUnder extraordinarily tight security ...... quick and tightly scripted visit .... a crowd of thousands ...... Bhutto did not speak to the assembled mass of flag-waving supporters, and concerns about another attack seemed to dictate every aspect of the trip. ...... Her convoy, which included vehicles mounted with machine guns, sped along the route from the airport ..... local supporters who worship the Bhutto name with an almost religious fervor. ..... Bhutto, whose Pakistan People's Party has long relied on mass rallies to drum up support, has said her party is talking with political consultants about other, less dangerous campaign tactics, including tape-recorded messages. ....... Waterlilies compete for space with water buffalo in the endless network of canals that radiate from the Indus River and irrigate the surrounding countryside. Most of the residents are poor farmers, although some landowning families, like the Bhuttos, are exceptionally wealthy. ......... Residents of the nearby town of Larkana said this week that the attack against Bhutto had only deepened their affection for her. ....... credited Bhutto with supplying jobs and keeping inflation down during her two terms in the 1980s and 1990s Obama goes after Clinton head-on Inquirer.net Obama took Clinton to task over the politically sensitive issue of how to keep the Social Security system alive in a town hall meeting in Des Moines, Iowa ....... "Because you're not ready to lead if you can't tell us where you're going" ...... turning the table on the former first lady, who has accused him of being too green to become president. ....... "I don't think people know what her agenda exactly is," Obama told the Times, adding that she had not been fully forthcoming on Social Security, Iraq and Iran. ....... "Because conventional thinking in Washington says Social Security is the third rail of American politics. It says you should hedge, dodge, and spin, but at all costs, don't answer," he said. ....... a Zogby poll released Monday also showed that 50 percent of Americans surveyed said they would never vote for Clinton Obama directly confronts Clinton on Social SecurityBaltimore Sun By going on the offense, Obama (D-Ill.) is seeking to shake up polls that show Clinton (D-N.Y.) with a large lead nationally and also in some early voting states. ....... how she would alter long-term funding for the massive federal program. ....... "She will oppose any effort to privatize the program," her campaign said. "As president her first priority will be restoring fiscal responsibility and fair tax policies, and then will work in a bipartisan process to address Social Security's long term challenges." Excerpts From an Interview With Barack ObamaNew York Times aboard his campaign plane to Columbus, Ohio, from Chicago ...... We never planned on winning this thing in September. ..... why I would be the best president for this particular time in history ...... We’re running against the most established brand in the Democratic Party for the last two decades, as well as strong candidates like Edwards who have been running for the last four years. ....... our supporters, our donor base, always understood that this was going to be a tough fight. ........ if you’re running against an established brand, don’t you have to draw contrasts? ....... There has been a lot of biographical work that we’ve had to do over the last several months ...... She, I think, represents a lot of old arguments. ........ people perceive her as a tough, competent, intelligent person. But there’s no sense among independents or Republicans that she’s going to bring a new language to our politics. ....... if you believe that business as usual is not sufficient to solve health care or institute a major energy policy or help to heal racial divisions or religious divides in this country, then my candidacy looks more appealing .......... On Iraq and Iran, I think there has been a tendency to go back and forth in her positions. ...... not to try to obfuscate and avoid being a target in the general election and then find yourself governing without any support for any bold propositions ..... in the first couple of debates, the format didn’t work for me. Or I didn’t adapt to the format. ...... I will more effectively bring the country together, I will more effectively overcome the special interests and I will more provide a clearer vision for the country about where we need to go. ........ What I said right now is what I genuinely believe. ..... the standard approach on Social Security that she’s taken, which is to pretend that if you just ensure that all the money coming into the trust fund is there and there is fiscal stability and there’s no problem, means you don’t solve the problem. You’re kicking the can down the road. ........ defend ourselves against attack or amplify real differences. ....... Hope is not ignoring differences or ignoring problems. ...... hope is what you have in the face of difficulties, uncertainties and conflict. ..... Being honest about those differences and conflicts, but believing that we can resolve them, not trying to pretend that they’re not there. ......... I am happy to have very strong and forceful debates about where I perceive there to be real differences. ......... on the biggest foreign policy disaster of a generation, she got it wrong and I got it right and that judgment carries over to the discussions we are now having on Iran. ........ I think it is fair to say that if Hillary Clinton is the nominee, then we have a repetition of 2000 and 2004. There’s no change in the political map. ...... There’s not going to be an expansion of the electorate. I don’t think anybody would claim that Senator Clinton is going to inspire a horde of new voters. ....... I am absolutely convinced, as somebody who represents a new generation of leadership and takes a new tone and a different language into the general election, that I’ve got the capacity to attract independents and Republicans in a way that she can’t do. Argentina's 'Hillary Clinton' poised to win presidency Inquirer.net First Lady of Argentina ready to be the new EvitaGuardian Unlimited Hillary Clinton finds time for her base in Harlem Newsday the nation's best-known black neighborhood, and was hosted there by the nation's most powerful black politician. ........ Clinton -- who was also introduced by former president Bill Clinton, who retains near rock-star status in the black community ...... offering herself as a champion of women, another group that has struggled to advance in a world dominated by white men. ....... "I think there is a sisterhood that transcends race," Dorise Roberts Black, a black Harlem resident and retired principal, said as she entered the church. ....... Abyssinian Baptist was once led by legendary preacher Adam Clayton Powell Jr., a proponent of black political power who launched his own congressional career from the pulpit. Powell later was among the first Protestant preachers to endorse the presidential bid of John F. Kennedy, who had to overcome religious bias against his Catholic faith. ............ citizens who indicate a willingness to vote across racial lines often are swayed by racial pride on Election Day. ....... Black women provide the former first lady with her biggest support from among black voters, choosing her as their top choice almost three times as often as they cite Obama. Harlem Homecoming For ClintonGuardian Unlimited Rivals From Both Parties Spar Over Response to Iran New York Times a military blockade or “bombardment of some kind” ...... Iran’s 125,000-member Revolutionary Guard Corps ...... the guard corps and its elite Quds division. ...... Clinton accused Mr. Obama of desperately flagging the Iran issue to revive a “struggling” campaign. Mr. Obama fired back, saying her “political explanations and contortions” would not change the fact that she had given Mr. Bush the benefit of the doubt on foreign policy and was doing so again. ....... American intelligence officials have told Congress that Iran is probably three to eight years away from its first weapon. ....... the only thing more dangerous than a war with Iran would be an Iran with nuclear weapons. ....... “The view of many experts is that Iran within two years of a tipping point,” Mr. McCain said. “They are inexorably on the road to attaining nuclear weapons.” ....... would not think about military action against Iran as a “war,” but more in terms of precise strikes. ....... making the same mistakes she made in 2002 before the war in Iraq by offering the administration support, however qualified. ...... Mr. Edwards equated Mrs. Clinton’s vote on the Iran resolution with her previous support of the 2002 measure, which, in his view, authorized the use of military force in Iraq. ..... Mr. Edwards said: “I learned a clear lesson from the lead-up to the Iraq war in 2002: If you give this president an inch, he will take a mile — and launch a war. Senator Clinton apparently learned a different lesson. Instead of blocking George Bush’s new march to war, Senator Clinton and others are enabling him once again.” Obama continues to invoke "cousin" Dick Cheney Baltimore Sun "It doesn't help when you put my cousin, Dick Cheney, in charge of energy policy," Obama said. "We've been trying to hide this for a long time, by the way. Everybody's got a black sheep in the family." ...... And in an interview with CNBC this week, Cheney called the senator "Cousin Barack.'' Play of the Day: Cheney on Cousin ObamaThe Associated Press The vice president said he was unsure about bringing it up with the Illinois senator. "Well, I didn't know whether that would help him or hurt him, so I thought I'd probably stay away from him," he said. ...... Obama is a descendent of Mareen Duvall, said Ginny Justice, a spokeswoman for Lynne Cheney. The French Huguenot's son married the granddaughter of a Richard Cheney, who arrived in Maryland in the late 1650's from England. Clinton shows up in New YorkCapital News 9
