Susan Estrich is worried that Obama’s lead in the polls isn’t what it should be at this point. Her opening gambit is pretty funny:
July polls don’t tell you who’s going to win in November. Just ask President Dukakis or President Gore, both of whom were well ahead in July and went on to lose in the fall (although Mr. Gore still doesn’t quite see it that way).
Estrich speaks with the (in her case gravelly) voice of experience. Continue reading →
Yesterday commenter Roy Lofquist wrote:
Obama’s 57 state comment was an obvious attempt at humor. That it was taken as a gaffe illustrates something, but damned if I know what.
I hadn’t heard that defense before, but I wanted to keep an open mind since I’d never seen the actual clip. Continue reading →
Just incorporate a short part of this clip, from 1:10 to 1:18, into some sort of ad. This speech was given in January 2008, back when this sort of statement was still believable:
In case you missed it, here it is:
This is part of what we have to change, you know—folks just willing to say anything to get elected. That’s how Washington works.
But never quite so flagrantly as Obama’s performance in this campaign.
This:
Obama’s angry reaction to the New Yorker cover has highlighted a fact that has been obvious for some time: the man has no sense of humor.
Oh, I know, every now and then he tries a little quip. But his heart’s not in it. Continue reading →
I’ve pointed out before that the WaPo editors seem to have gotten a clue lately about the self-serving awfulness of some of Obama’s recent moves, especially on Iraq.
Well, they’re at it again, with an editorial that hits Obama quite hard despite its calm tone—and they even sneak in a slight defense of Bush’s relative flexibility (gasp!) when compared to Obama’s rigidity on the subject. Continue reading →
Michael Totten certainly gets around. This time he reports from Kosovo. Edifying, as always.
I was listening to the radio the other day and heard an ad for a Pete Seeger concert.
Pete Seeger? He’s still alive? And singing? I thought he must be a thousand years old now, because he already seemed old when I was young. Continue reading →
In a TNR article with the extraordinary title “Contra Expectations: Obama isn’t Jimmy Carter—he’s Ronald Reagan,” Eli Lake demonstrates exactly what Obama meant when he wrote in his book The Audacity of Hope:
I serve as a blank screen on which people of vastly different political stripes project their own views.
I’d change Obama’s statement in one way Continue reading →
You’ve probably heard the radio ads. T. Boone Pickens, the man with the thickest Oklahoma/Texas accent any side of the Pecos, has a plan to reduce our dependence on foreign oil.
Pickens’ plan relies heavily on wind turbine power and natural gas. Pickens himself has sunk a lot of money into wind power lately, so he stands to gain an awful lot if his plan is implemented.
This doesn’t mean he’s wrong, or that the plan is a poor one. Continue reading →
…and the blogosphere squawks, but it’s the article inside that really skewers him.
What cover, what article? Why, the New Yorker, that totally liberal rag, appears to have broken ranks and turned on Obama. Continue reading →
Susan Estrich has written a lovely tribute to Tony Snow.
Yes, Susan Estrich, she of the grating voice (with an abrasive timbre almost identical to that of Carol Channing) and the liberal viewpoint. But that didn’t stop her from liking and admiring Snow, with whom she was friends. Apparently, if you knew him, it was hard not to be his friend.
I especially like the following observation of hers. Continue reading →