Secretary of Mate

More silliness about Hillary:

Imagine someone so inexperienced as Secretary of State?

DOA

Can this be for real, or is it just the usual gameplaying - make women feel good about Barack by pretending to be respecting Hillary?

George Stephanopoulos reported Clinton's name being in the mix last week on Good Morning America, but the buzz grew louder today after Clinton was spotted boarding a flight to Chicago.

It might have been about a job in the Obama administration, or maybe she had a craving for deep dish.

Her spokesman Philippe Reines would not discuss Clinton's schedule, and of course the Obama Transition Team would not comment.

The thinking about a Secretary of State Clinton is simple, I'm told: she's smart, she's strong, she's experienced, she's a team player, she is usually pretty diplomatic, and she also brings some gender diversity to an Obama Team concerned about such matters.

Let's be serious - why would Obama want Hillary around, and why would Hillary want to put her career in the hands of Barack. Secretaries of State last about 2 years, don't they?

She brings instant stature to the job, one Democrat told me. Many world leaders have known her for almost two decades.

"Clinton is the gold standard around the world, " said Chris Lehane, a former spokesman for Vice President Al Gore.

Ya, sure. Consider this idea DOA.

Hillary says...

Joe Biden was great. Sarah Palin was composed and effective - very good.

Broken Home

Why is Barack struggling still to get the support of Democrats?

Barack Obama's support from backers of Hillary Rodham Clinton is stuck smack where it was in June, a poll showed Tuesday, a stunning lack of progress that is weakening him with members of the Democratic Party in the close presidential race.

This should have been job one for Barack - settling the score with Hillary, and closing the deal with her supporters.

An Associated Press-Yahoo News poll shows that among adults who backed his rival during their bitter primary campaign, 58 percent now support Obama. That is the same percentage who said so in June, when Clinton ended her bid and urged her backers to line up behind the Democratic senator from Illinois.

Are Democrats too racist to adapt to Barack? Or are Hillary supporters too committed to electing a woman to let go?

The poll shows that while Obama has gained ground among Clinton's supporters — 69 percent view him favorably now, up 9 percentage points from June — this has yet to translate into more of their support.

While Barack hasn't been able to swing them, McCain has been more successful.

Those supporting McCain have also edged up from 21 percent to 28 percent, with the number of undecided staying constant, the survey showed.

The Hillary problem explains why McCain gets better support from GOP voters than Barack does with Dems - 87% to 74%.

Yet they find Obama less likable, honest, experienced and inspiring than Democrats overall do, and have a better view of McCain. And while majorities of Clinton supporters say Obama shares their values and understands ordinary Americans, they're less likely to say so than Democrats overall.

"It's just a gut feeling, my gut tells me he's not it," Leslye Burgess, 53, a federal Treasury Department manager and Democrat from Fairfax, Va., said of Obama. The Clinton supporter added, "I'll have to fight with myself between now and November" about how she'll vote.

Will they suck it up and go for Barack on election day?

Ayers Exploration

Bill O'Reilly did a segment with Stanley Kurtz last night, tracing the relationship between Barack and domestic terrorist Bill Ayers. With the evidence that Kurtz provides, we now have to assume the obvious - that Barack's relationship with the Ayers family was a critical part of his strategy to develop a political base by tapping into the radical community in Chicago - just like with Pastor Wright and Reverend Pfleger.

Kurtz talks about Obama being hired as Board Chairman of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, a well-funded, now defunct educational non-profit. Later that same year, Ayers and his terrorist wife, Bernadine Dohrn, held a fundraiser to help Barack launch his political career. Remember how Barack tried to downplay his relationship with Ayers by saying he's "a guy who lives in my neighborhood."

Was the linkage between Barack and Ayers "flimsy?" Here are further details of their relationship from Pajamas Media.

This is what we know. Bill Ayers was a leader of the Weather Underground, a violent radical student group of the 1960s. His father, Thomas Ayers, was a prominent Chicago business and philanthropic leader who served as an adviser to Mayor Richard J. Daley, father of the current Chicago mayor. Although he is not apologetic about his terrorist past (and had the bad luck to be quoted as saying, in an interview that ran on Sept 11 2001, that “I don’t regret setting bombs. … I feel we didn’t do enough.”), Bill Ayers has been accepted back into the Chicago political community and has been an informal adviser to the current Mayor Daley on education reform.

But regardless of his cachet in the liberal circles of Chicago politics, presidential candidate Barack Obama has not been eager to explain his own relationship with Bill Ayers. Published reports from February 2008 gave a glimmer of their ties. In 1995 Ayers hosted a fund-raiser for Obama prior to Obama’s run for Alice Palmer’s seat in the state Senate; they both served on the board of the charitable Woods Fund of Chicago from 1999 to 2002; and Ayers donated $200 to Obama’s state Senate campaign....

It was left to Hillary Clinton to remind Obama of his service with Ayers on the board of the Woods Fund of Chicago. The next day the Obama campaign posted at their website a “Fact Check” purporting to explain the relationship. Other reporters had been told that “Bill Ayers lives in his neighborhood. Their kids attend the same school.” They were left with the impression that Ayers and Obama had first met at the 1995 fundraiser.

It turns out that, just as Barack's relationship with Jeremiah Wright was much deeper than years spent hearing him rant in church, the Ayers relationship was a vital one in Barack's career, one that includes Ayers' father. Wouldn't being the head of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge be a vital credential in Barack's run for state senate the next year? Is it not likely that Barack was being pushed in his political career by the Ayers clan, and that's why Ayers ran a fundraiser for him, not because they happened to live in the same neighborhood?

Blogger Steve Diamond pointed out a very close tie between Obama and Ayers through the Chicago Annenberg Challenge. At a White House event with Bill Clinton, philanthropist Walter Annenberg announced that he was making a $500 million grant to cities across the nation to put towards public school reform. Bill Ayers led the group that brought $49.2 million to Chicago and formed the Chicago Annenberg Challenge. The kick-off in January 1995 was attended by the governor of Illinois and the mayor of Chicago, as well as many other luminaries. The first chairman of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge was Barack Obama, a post he held until 1999 when he stepped down and remained on the board. Bill Ayers worked closely with the Challenge as a leader of the newly-formed Chicago School Reform Collaborative.

That is a relationship that goes well beyond “a guy who lives in my neighborhood.” And there is a possibility the relationship began long before 1995. In 1987 there was a push for school reform in Chicago. Thomas Ayers was a leader of the ABCs Coalition which was coordinated by his son, Bill Ayers. One member of the coalition was the Developing Communities Project, headed up by Barack Obama before he left for Harvard.

While the Obama campaign tries to fluff off the inherent linkage between Ayers and Obama over Annenberg, Kurtz clarifies today in National Review that they're being deceiptful.

Let’s first review CAC’s initial setup. In the first year, 1995, Obama headed the board, which made fiscal decisions, and Ayers co-chaired the Collaborative, which set education policy. During that first year, Obama’s formal responsibilities mandated close cooperation and coordination with the Collaborative. As board chair and president of the CAC corporation, Obama was authorized to “delegate to the Collaborative the development of collaborative projects and programs...to obtain assistance of the Collaborative in the development of requests for proposals...and to seek advice from the Collaborative regarding the programmatic aspects of grant proposals.” All this clearly involves significant consultation between the board, headed by Obama, and the Collaborative, co-chaired by Ayers.

During this initial year of 1995, Ayers also sat as an ex officio member of the board. The Obama campaign is trying to minimize his cooperation with Ayers by counting the number of board meetings where both sat together. That will not do. For one thing, as long as we’re counting occasions on which Obama and Ayers were together, the Obama campaign omits Obama’s appearances before the Collaborative, when it was co-chaired by Ayers.

In 1995, Obama and Ayers also sat together on the board’s Governance Committee, with at least one independently scheduled meeting, and who knows how many others. Ayers and Obama were also part of a group of four instructed to draft the bylaws that would govern CAC. Surely that endeavor would have involved significant interaction between them. Then there’s the question of unrecorded meetings of both the board and the Collaborative. For example, the archives contain an intriguing note indicating that, although a CAC board meeting took place on July 25, 1995, “No minutes were recorded.” Were Ayers and Obama both present at that meeting? More important, what took place there?

As an historical note, it's curious that Hillary seemed not to know the facts about Ayers and didn't hit him harder. A big opportunity was missed, wasn't it?

Our curiosity over Barack's relationship with Bill Ayers continues to be fueled by Barack's need to downplay it. The more the campaign pretends that Ayers was nothing more than a neighbor, the more deeply we can assume they're tied. Thus far, the evidence is bearing that out.

Public knowledge of close personal relationship between Obama and Ayers could be perceived by Obama as his potential downfall when combined with his close relationships with the rest of the Obamafia.

Rothschild Rejects Barack as Elitist

How funny.

Lynn Forester de Rothschild, a prominent Hillary Clinton supporter and member of the Democratic National Committee’s Platform Committee, will endorse John McCain for president on Wednesday, her spokesman tells CNN.

Getty Images

The Rothschilds didn't get rich, apparently, by being dumb.

She also said she still has serious reservations about Mr. Obama’s principles and experience and thinks the questions raised during the primaries about his unsavory associations with the Rev. Jeremiah Wright and Tony Rezko remain appropriate issues.

“That’s not Swift-boating,” she said.

A woman of integrity, Rothschild won't ignore the Obamafia just to see her side win!

“This is a hard decision for me personally because frankly I don't like him,” she said of Obama in an interview with CNN’s Joe Johns. “I feel like he is an elitist. I feel like he has not given me reason to trust him.”

She also said she still has serious reservations about Mr. Obama’s principles and experience and thinks the questions raised during the primaries about his unsavory associations with the Rev. Jeremiah Wright and Tony Rezko remain appropriate issues.

“That’s not Swift-boating,” she said.

Democrats try to pretend that elitism requires wealth in order to prove that Barack can't be an elitist because he grew up with a wacky single mother who left him to be raised by his grandparents - but Forester proves that theory for the silliness that it is.

Forester is the CEO of EL Rothschild, a holding company with businesses around the world. She is married to international banker Sir Evelyn de Rothschild. Forester is a member of the DNC’s Democrats Abroad chapter and splits her time living in London and New York.

The City Gal & The Hillbilly

It seems that Saturday Night Live bit, with Hillary and Sarah appearing together, was prescient.

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton will join the Republican vice presidential candidate at a rally outside the United Nations Monday morning to protest the appearance of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

It could be that the city girl and the hillbilly working together can punch a few more holes in the glass ceiling.

The event -- which includes prominent political and religious leaders, including Nobel Peace Prize Winner Elie Wiesel -- is being organized by a coalition of American Jewish organizations, under the umbrella group the National Coalition to Stop Iran Now.

Perhaps they'll start a women's party.

Malcolm Hoenlein, the executive vice president of the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations, said that Clinton accepted the invitation to the rally back in August, before Palin was part of the Republican presidential ticket. "We had approached Republican leaders because we wanted to have this event on a nonpartisan basis." The Republicans offered up Palin today, he said.

The potential of the McCain campaign having video of Sarah and Hillary together to use in a TV commercial strikes me as good reason to assume that they'll find some way to keep Hillary away from the newest rock star.

Hoenlein said Clinton has been informed of Palin's plans to attend the event and that she has no intention of pulling out. Will they appear together on the stage? "We haven't yet worked out the details," Hoenlein said. "A lot of this will depend on the Secret Service."

"Yes, that's it. It was the Secret Service. That's the ticket!"

Fey Performance

It appears that Tina Fey will be a major beneficiary of Palin Fever.

Sorry - NBC had Youtube pull down the actual performance.

Knice Knife Twist

After Barack loses this election, and Democrats will be forced to look back on having two shoe-ins fail in the same year, the blame will be placed on judgment. What was wrong with Obama that he wasn't willing to take the sure fire path to victory by choosing Hillary? Then, after deciding against her, what made him think the rift in the party was so trivial that it could be left to fester?

Sarah Palin smartly twisted the knife in this wound with Charlie on last night's World News.

Flashback!

It's never too early for nostalgia, and since this campaign's been going on for a couple of years, there's much that we've forgotten about already.

Many thanks to our friends at the real barack obama for offering up this flashback of Hillary and Barack doing battle in January. As you watch, smile over the thought of Hillary being rolled out to save Barack from The Palin Effect.

The Obama campaign, alarmed by Palin’s instant popularity, has given Clinton’s staff a proposed fall campaign schedule in economically distressed battleground states — including Ohio and Pennsylvania — where she did well during the primaries, according to people familiar with the situation.

Red Meat

He starts off thanking Hillary. Wow. Bill next. Then Teddy. Joe Biden. Then the love of his life, Michelle. And his daughters. But Hillary came first.


The Theme of his introductory video was that we make a promise to our kids that they can do anything if they put their mind to it. It is that promise that has always set this country apart, he says. And somehow, that America is in jeopardy because we're going through a bad economic cycle, and because of broken Washington and evil G.W. Bush.

It is that promise that has always set this country apart - that through hard work and sacrifice, each of us can pursue our individual dreams but still come together as one American family, to ensure that the next generation can pursue their dreams as well.

America, we are better than these last 8 years.

Then he introduces the new kinda politics and goes straight on the attack.

Now let there be no doubt. The Republican nominee, John McCain, has worn the uniform of our country with bravery and distinction, and for that we owe him our gratitude and respect. And next week, we'll also hear about those occasions when he's broken with his party as evidence that he can deliver the change that we need.

But the record's clear: John McCain has voted with George Bush ninety percent of the time.

Red Meat. He came with the red meat that was missing from the convention up to this point. And he provided some details of his vision for what change means to him, the best chance people have had yet to see just how fundamentally liberal he is.

America, now is not the time for small plans.

Now is the time to finally meet our moral obligation to provide every child a world-class education, because it will take nothing less to compete in the global economy. Michelle and I are only here tonight because we were given a chance at an education. And I will not settle for an America where some kids don't have that chance. I'll invest in early childhood education. I'll recruit an army of new teachers, and pay them higher salaries and give them more support. And in exchange, I'll ask for higher standards and more accountability. And we will keep our promise to every young American - if you commit to serving your community or your country, we will make sure you can afford a college education.

(You can't fix education with Democrats in power because of their partnership with the teacher's unions.)

Now is the time to finally keep the promise of affordable, accessible health care for every single American. If you have health care, my plan will lower your premiums. If you don't, you'll be able to get the same kind of coverage that members of Congress give themselves. And as someone who watched my mother argue with insurance companies while she lay in bed dying of cancer, I will make certain those companies stop discriminating against those who are sick and need care the most.

(Universal health care is coming with Barack - medical care provided with the same inspiration that education has.)

Now is the time to help families with paid sick days and better family leave, because nobody in America should have to choose between keeping their jobs and caring for a sick child or ailing parent.

(Who's going to pay for that? Who should?)

Now is the time to change our bankruptcy laws, so that your pensions are protected ahead of CEO bonuses; and the time to protect Social Security for future generations.

(ah, social security. One of the three federal programs driving us toward bankruptcy. As all social programs do)

And now is the time to keep the promise of equal pay for an equal day's work, because I want my daughters to have exactly the same opportunities as your sons.

He's a big government, anti-capitalism kind of guy.

And just as we keep our keep our promise to the next generation here at home, so must we keep America's promise abroad. If John McCain wants to have a debate about who has the temperament, and judgment, to serve as the next Commander-in-Chief, that's a debate I'm ready to have.

No, he wants to have a debate about who has the qualifications, experience, and a track record to justify even being considered for the White House.

Barack sought to take the debate away from experience and pull it back into the realm of judgment, where he does better, he thinks. We'll see if America buys it.

It's 3AM

Yup - 3AM and I'm watching DVR'd coverage from the 10pm hour Wednesday night on ABC. Stephanopoulos is going on and on how Bill Clinton gave so much to Barack in his speech. Maybe I'm over-analyzing, but it seemed to me that there was a great deal of parsing.

Watching it live last night, my wife and I were startled at this section.

Everything I learned in my eight years as President and in the work I’ve done
since, in America and across the globe, has convinced me that Barack Obama is
the man for this job.

He has a remarkable ability to inspire people, to raise our hopes and rally us
to high purpose. He has the intelligence and curiosity every successful
President needs. His policies on the economy, taxes, health care and energy are
far superior to the Republican alternatives. He has shown a clear grasp of our
foreign policy and national security challenges, and a firm commitment to repair
our badly strained military. His family heritage and life experiences have given
him a unique capacity to lead our increasingly diverse nation and to restore our
leadership in an ever more interdependent world. The long, hard primary tested
and strengthened him. And in his first presidential decision, the selection of a
running mate, he hit it out of the park.

Now, on the surface, that's very nice and positive. But Bill is dancing around the question in America's mind, leaving it unanswered. Does Barack have the experience for the job? It seems to me that he went out of his way not to provide the answer from his unique perspective - that of a former President. Then, he says the words that everyone's been waiting to hear - but about Joe Biden.

With Joe Biden’s experience and wisdom, supporting Barack Obama’s proven
understanding, insight, and good instincts, America will have the national
security leadership we need.

Barack has the ability to inspire folks to higher purpose, Joe Biden has the experience and wisdom. Together, they make a single entity with the qualifications to be president.

The next paragraph seemed to dance more tantalizingly around the words that Clinton wouldn't speak.

Barack Obama is ready to lead America and restore American leadership in the
world. Ready to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United
States. Barack Obama is ready to be President of the United States.

Ready? In what sense? He's impatient with the process, and wants to get started? Ready is different than qualified, and that's what Bill wouldn't say.

Together, we prevailed in a campaign in which the Republicans said I was too
young and too inexperienced to be Commander-in-Chief. Sound familiar? It didn’t
work in 1992, because we were on the right side of history. And it won’t work
in 2008, because Barack Obama is on the right side of history.

Ooooo, he's getting close, but he's not saying that he and Obama are equal in their qualifications, he's just saying they're getting the same reaction.

Maybe I'm nitpicking, but what I hear is that Bill Clinton agrees that Barack's not qualified, but that he's still better than those evil Republicans.

I'm watching Joe Biden speak now - 3:19am. He seems more than ready to be president - he seems experienced enough to be president.

The Spirit of Unity

It's over. Time to let go of the fantasies of Democrats suddenly reversing themselves and nominating Hillary.

Hillary has just moved to suspend the rules of the convention, and to nominate by acclamation, Barack Obama. With Nancy Pelosi at the podium, and the crowd chanting, "Hill-a-ry, Hill-a-ry," she took a voice vote and the convention nominated Barack.

The historic moment has happened.

Who Do You Love?

Did you happen to notice that, during Hillary's speech last night, whenever the shot would cut to Bill Clinton, he was mouthing the words, "I Love You." If, by any chance, you are privy to who he was addressing those comments to, please send me a note at todd@toddtalk.com.

Thanks.

Proud

Hillary is proud of many things at the start of her speech. She's a proud Democrat, a proud mother, etc. But guess who she leaves out?

The Next Election

Hillary played it beautifully last night - she did everything she could for Barack. As a result, Barack suffers. This was the delightful situation in which she found herself.

...last night she hit all the right notes, delivering a speech remarkably free of any sense of defeat, self-pity or what-might-have-beens. She thanked the 18 million Americans who supported her in the primaries, but then all but commanded them to put aside their displeasure with the outcome and get behind the Illinois senator as he leads the party into battle.

She couldn't do anything overt to sabotage Barack, or she would have likewise sabotaged her own presidential future.

...unlike many past losing candidates in both parties – notably Gov. Ronald Reagan in 1976, Sen. Edward Kennedy in 1980, Sen. Gary Hart in 1984 – she performed last night in a way that will make it difficult for anyone to blame her if the nominee loses in the fall.

By being poised, professional and graceful, she highlighted Barack's beginner status, and ignited nostalgia in supporters who hadn't even been missing her. Professionalism and experience are awfully nice qualities for a leader to have when you're going into battle.

Clinton's target was that 53 percent of her supporters thus far resistant to Obama's appeal. In the speech, she challenged them to rise above personal pique and focus on the greater good that could be done by an Obama presidency.

No one knows how those voters will react. But Obama should know that the burden now shifts to him. If he wants these voters, he has to win them over. Clinton can't do it for him.

There lies the irony. Everyone was looking for Hillary to give a great, rousing endorsement of Barack, as if that would then deliver her supporters. But she can't control her supporters. The best she good do was not try to tear them away, to not overtly attempt to instigate a movement against him.

By doing her part to help Barack, she may, in fact, have hurt him still... reminding Democrats of just how silly it was to fall for Hope, and leaving viewers with the clear image of an experienced performer against which to compare Barack.

Last night, Hillary did what any smart politician would do. When given a forum, they're using it to benefit their next campaign. Think of last night as Hillary's announcement speech for 2012, when she will seek to unseat John McCain.

Hillary Video

Here's the video shown last night to introduce Hillary. A proper video, unlike the Obama piece the night before, filled with inspiration, history and purpose.

It places Hillary at the head of the movement for equality for women, taking her ambition and wrapping it in the attractive paper of serving others. On a smaller level, it makes Hillary a cog in a family wheel, each generation working to empower the next - in this case, launching the intriguing sub-plot of Chelsea as Hillary's successor.


Hats off to the producers of this piece. While not of Oscar quality, in contrast to the Ken Burns piece from Monday night, this was genius. Of course, the Hillary production team had the advantage of working for a candidate who has experience to sift mine.

Unity?

My old WRKO producer Cooksey is at the convention, and is blogging. It's worth reading his assessment of party unity as he took the pulse of those leaving the Pepsi Center after Hillary's speech.

Today in Denver there was a march of well over a thousand Hillary supporters, who call themselves "18 million voices". They marched in protest of Hillary's loss and the Biden selection. (Read More)

How'd She Do?

Hillary's Needle

Last night went fine at the convention, but there were opportunities for big emotion that went unused. Tonight, I suspect Hillary will present a video that's got power - not like the plodding Ken Burns piece for Teddy last night.

They need each other, and they know it. If Clinton supporters don't come to Obama's side in greater (near-unanimous) numbers, he loses the presidency. If Clinton is seen as doing anything less than everything for the Obama-Biden ticket, she loses stature in the Democratic Party.

Hillary's power is what tonight is about. Does she have the power to capture the imagination of the audience in such a way as to minimize Barack, even while the content of her presentation will be an argument for unity? Will she be able to walk away unscathed, free of accusations that she didn't do everything she could to help him get elected, even while managing to keep the split alive?

Look for Clinton's speech to take on Sen. John McCain in a way no one did Monday. "What you didn't get last night you're going to get tonight from Hillary Clinton," ABC's George Stephanopoulos said on "Good Morning America" Tuesday.

That is Hillary's challenge tonight. I'll bet she threads the needle. Which means more trouble for Barack. It is trouble brought on by his own failure of leadership.

But Obama, too, is part of the Denver psychodrama. Some Democrats with high-level ties to both the Clinton and Obama camps said they were surprised that Obama has not done more to make the Clintons more enthusiastic about his candidacy."

George Stephanopoulos reminds us what sore losers can do to a nominee.

Sore losers cripple presidential nominees. Think of what Ronald Reagan did to Gerald Ford in 1976. After Ford crushed Reagan's late challenge and refused to offer him the VP slot, he had to beg Reagan to speak at the convention. The 798 words he got were no help. Barely a mention of Ford, not a word of praise. While Reagan's ringing defense of the GOP platform laid the groundwork for his 1980 campaign, it did nothing for Ford, who barely lost to Jimmy Carter come November.

Or recall Ted Kennedy in 1980. His famous "dream shall never die" speech, reprised so movingly last night, was unapologetically NOT about Jimmy Carter. Telling the crowd he was there to "affirm a cause," Kennedy attacked the Republicans and praised past Democratic presidents but refused to make and affirmative argument for Carter.

We know how that turned out too.

Big egos fighting over big power. Who comes out on top?