Obama & The Practicality of Pragmatism

In a timely article, "In Cabinet, Obama goes for experience, pragmatism", BlackPoliticsontheWeb.com discusses how President-Elect Barack Obama has been staffing experienced leaders and seasoned Washington insiders in his bid to Change the federal government and by extension the United States of America. That's a veteran move. A number of progressives have been criticizing Obama because they don't understand that it's nice to desire hope and change. However, if you don't have operatives who actually know how the system that you hope to change works AND who have the respect of their peers in order to get things done, then your change ain't gonna come. That's what President Bill Clinton, elected as a Washington outsider found out when it became difficult to get things done that he wanted. He wanted to change government, but he picked a bunch of Washington outsiders as his top policy implementers. As well, Hillary had no relationships and no respect so Hillary Clinton's health care reform was soundly defeated because she didn't know how to navigate the networks which are again based on relationship and respect. Obama, a student of politics and history, certainly knows this having hired some of the Clinton's most competent former staffers to lead his change efforts. Change that produces the desired objective due to experience--now that's the power of pragmatism.

Obama Fundraising Totals $745 Million

President-elect Barack Obama continues to set records and make history even after Obama's historic landslide election. Final tallies to Federal Election Commision show that Obama raised a record $745 million during the 2008 electoral cycle including over $104 million in the four-week period from October 16-November 24. By contrast, John McCain raised "only" $367 million for his candidacy. Still, both candidates raised over $1 billion dollars for an election cycle in which over $5 billion was spent by all candidates, political parties, and outside interests! The Obama campaign is still raising money as it offers specialty items such as commemorative mugs, t-shirts, etc. through BarackObama.com. Obama thanked his national and Illinois fundraising teams at an the private Standard Club in Chicago.

Lest anyone, e.g., Republicans say that the election went to the highest bidder, I need only remind them that the first successful big-money Presidential candidate was George W. Bush who raised $100 million during a quarter in the 2000 election cycle. At that time, it was considered an astronomical amount of amount to have been raised in only 3 months. Bush raised $270 million for the 2004 election which he "won" over Democratic challenger John Kerry. Together they both raised over $500 million. It is both ironic and fortuitous that Bush ushered in the era of big money Presidential fundraising by which all future candidate fundraising would be judged. Certainly Hillary Clinton also raised the bar by signaling in January 2007 that the Clinton campaign expected to raise over $150 million dollars for her Presidential candidacy. She eventually raised over $229 million by the end of May 2008 before conceding the Democratic Presidential nomination to eventual winner Barack Obama in June 2008.

All in all, the prodigious fundraising by candidates during this 2-year campaign has rendered the public financing system for presidential elections in which over 33 million taxpayers mark of a $3 donation on their tax form obsolete. Some would say that now only the really powerful and well connected can afford the unspoken $100 million entry fee required to be a viable candidate. Certainly this presents a signifant political barrier to entry. Others would say that this is the ultimate practice of free speech in that candidates and can participate in the giving and receiving of nearly unlimited amounts of money. In either case, this election was "the longest and most expensive presidential election in American history," according to Michael Toner, chairman of the Federal Election Commission.

Obama Introduces National Security Team

This morning, in a highly-anticipated press conference, President-Elect Barack Obama formally announced his national security team consisting of the following persons: Secretary Of Defense: Robert Gates, Secretary Of State: Hillary Clinton, National Security Adviser: Marine Gen. James L. Jones, Secretary Of Homeland Security: Janet Napolitano, Attorney General: Eric Holder, Ambassador To The United Nations: Susan Rice. Of course each of these nominees has to undergo Senate confirmation in the next Congress before assuming their new offices.

As NBC political commentator Chris Matthews pointed out, it was obvious by his choices for these critical positions that Obama not only prides himself on picking highly competent, thoughtful professionals who have a history of effective and pragmatic leadership, but he also took care to highlight the diversity of his upcoming administration by nominating three women and two African Americans to fill two-thirds of Obama's national security team. Also, certainly by including long-time friends as well as Hillary Clinton, a signifcant foe during the Democratic Presidential primaries and a Republican hold-over from the Bush administration, Obama signaled that he can effectively "reach across the aisle" to unite competing political ideologies as well as diverse viewpoints in US government. Barack Obama also demonstrated that he is a strong enough leader to provide strong leadership by picking other strong leaders who may not all share his views, but are capable of carrying out his domestic and foreign policy initiatives without being yes-men and spineless sycophants--problems which plagued the inept Bush-Cheney administration on issues from Hurricane Katrina responsivenes to who is actually responsible for decisions on the War in Iraq.

Hillary & the Speech That Was More Than Just a Speech

Well, now we know that Hillary Clinton doesn't wear PUMA's as of her roof-blowing, DNC Wednesday night speech in Denver. Political pundits as well as the blogosphere were buzzing over the positively charged atmosphere and the impact of Sen. Clinton's DNC unity talk.

Hillary Clinton's speech last night was amazing, passionate & most of all REAL! She talked to Democrats and the American people, not as a politician, but as someone who had finally found a purpose, not just a career opportunity. Had she talked more like this during the primaries, she may have fared better.

Notable highlights of Hillary Clinton's DNC 2008 speech (of which there were many):

"We are on the same team, and none of us can sit on the sidelines."

"No way. No how. No McCain. Barack Obama is my candidate. And he must be our President."

"I want you to ask yourselves: Were you in this campaign just for me? Or were you in it for ...all the people in this country who feel invisible?" This really is the most important question that Hillary could ever ask her supporters. The ball is now in their court. Their actions will tell the world whether they are more committed only to electing a specific woman than they are to throwing out one of the most incompetent criminal administrations in US history who they don't even share the same political platform with in the first place.

"...[Barack Obama] he'll revitalize our economy, defend the working people of America, and meet the global challenges of our time. Democrats know how to do this. As I recall, President Clinton and the Democrats did it before. And President Obama and the Democrats will do it again." This is the part that so clearly ties the successes of the recent past when the US was at relative peace with the rest of the world, we had a record budget surplus, and the economy was very healthy with the hope for a successful future with Obama at the helm of the country.

"Barack Obama will end the war in Iraq responsibly and bring our troops home - a first step to repairing our alliances around the world."

"But we don't need four more years . . . of the last eight years."

"With an [ineffective] agenda like that, it makes sense that George Bush and John McCain will be together next week in the Twin Cities. Because these days they're awfully hard to tell apart." Tongue in cheek, tongue in cheek.

"My mother was born before women could vote. But in this election my daughter got to vote for her mother for President."

Then she closed with the words of Harriet Tubman which she told slaves that she was conducting on the Underground Railroad..."Don't ever stop. Keep going."

"If you hear the dogs, keep going.
If you see the torches in the woods, keep going.
If they're shouting after you, keep going.
Don't ever stop. Keep going.
If you want a taste of freedom, keep going."

"But remember, before we can keep going, we have to get going by electing Barack Obama president."

"Nothing less than the fate of our nation and the future of our children hang in the balance."

Sen. Clinton's Concession E-Mail

Dear Keto,

I wanted you to be one of the first to know: on Saturday, I will hold an event in Washington D.C. to thank everyone who has supported my campaign. Over the course of the last 16 months, I have been privileged and touched to witness the incredible dedication and sacrifice of so many people working for our campaign. Every minute you put into helping us win, every dollar you gave to keep up the fight meant more to me than I can ever possibly tell you.

On Saturday, I will extend my congratulations to Senator Obama and my support for his candidacy. This has been a long and hard-fought campaign, but as I have always said, my differences with Senator Obama are small compared to the differences we have with Senator McCain and the Republicans.

I have said throughout the campaign that I would strongly support Senator Obama if he were the Democratic Party's nominee, and I intend to deliver on that promise.

When I decided to run for president, I knew exactly why I was getting into this race: to work hard every day for the millions of Americans who need a voice in the White House.

I made you -- and everyone who supported me -- a promise: to stand up for our shared values and to never back down. I'm going to keep that promise today, tomorrow, and for the rest of my life.

I will be speaking on Saturday about how together we can rally the party behind Senator Obama. The stakes are too high and the task before us too important to do otherwise.

I know as I continue my lifelong work for a stronger America and a better world, I will turn to you for the support, the strength, and the commitment that you have shown me in the past 16 months. And I will always keep faith with the issues and causes that are important to you.

In the past few days, you have shown that support once again with hundreds of thousands of messages to the campaign, and again, I am touched by your thoughtfulness and kindness.

I can never possibly express my gratitude, so let me say simply, thank you.

Sincerely, Hillary
Hillary Rodham Clinton

My Note to HillaryClinton.com Following Sen. Obama's Nomination

On Tuesday night, I watched the post-primary speeches of Sen.'s Obama, Clinton & McCain following the South Dakota and Montana Democratic primary contests in which Senator Obama passed the milestone in delegate endorsements to become the presumptive nominees for Democratic party presidential candidate. While watching Clinton's speech, I was intrigued by what I saw, so when she said, "Go to HillaryClinton.com and leave me your suggestions" after stating that she would not be making any decisions last night, I decided to do just that. So I wrote the following in a letter I posted to her site. Let me know what you think! KH

"Good afternoon, Hon. Senator Clinton! I do start by congratulating you on a spirited Democratic primary run which has inspired women and my daughters that they still can break the biggest glass ceiling of all. The competition between yours and Sen. Obama's campaign represents many positive firsts, and lets everyone know that you don't have to be a "good old boy" or a white male to run for a major party nomination.

I am however ashamed of several things, one of them being that [campaign chairman Terry] McAuliffe introduced you as "the next President of the US" at last night's rally. How disengenuous is that when everyone else in the country knows that Obama had gained well over the 2,118 delegates needed to secure the nomination? I watched your speech and while I applaud your followers, it showed poor sport for you to not once congratulate Sen Obama on having won the nomination, when he was gracious enough to speak well of you during his victory speech in MN. Often in this campaign your staff seems to operate in denial of the most obvious facts of this Democratic contest often relying on misstatements to polarize Clinton voters against Obama's campaign. (The "Sen Clinton has won more states, popular vote, and delegates" is one of the most obvious misstatements meant to confuse those who don't know any better b/c they don't bother to do research for themselves.) Obviously if this were true, YOU would be now the nominee instead of Obama, right?

I ask you as a former resident of Arkansas while Pres. Clinton was Governor, an under-30 Black male, college educated, lifetime Democrat and voter that for the sake of party unity, the opportunity to take back the White House from one of the most corrupt and shameful presidents in history, nominate the next Supreme Court Justices, bring home the troops, revive the economy, etc that you throw your full support and encourage your "18M+ voters" to do the same for Obama to ensure this [next] President is a Democrat. Whether he offers you the VP spot or not after you stated in the campaign that Obama has not crossed the "threshold" necessary to be C-in-C is not even an issue. This presidential contest is so much bigger than you or Obama, and if you and Pres. Bill Clinton can throw your support fully behind Obama to ensure that he wins, then those of us who are all on the same side will see you as a true winner and not a sore loser. Thank you, Kéto Hodges"

Reasons Why I Would Not Vote for Hillary (EVER) by Kéto

This week, I was conversing online with one of my friends, we'll call him Bro. H. We were discussing the current political scene, and he posed this question to me, "How do you feel about the possibility of Hilary R Clinton getting the nomination over Obama in the DNC?" Well that really got me into some deep thinking as this really IS a possibilty considering that Sen. Clinton has already stated publicly that the popular vote does not matter as much as how the delegates vote (even though the delegates are appropriated based on the popular vote except of course for uncommitted "super" delegates). As of the Pennsylvania primaries, Obama leads Clinton by over 500,000 votes. Clinton has further stated that delegates may change their vote, meaning that even though Obama has a lead of over 100+ delegates over her, giving him the path to the nomination, she would not object if a sufficient number defected to her, giving her the final lead in delegates--it's as simple as that. Well, I decided to enumerate for H, my feelings on his question, and why I felt that way, so check out my post below! Let me know what you think too. KH

Bro. H, I feel...Uneasy. I feel that if Clinton gets the nomination with fewer earned delegates, fewer superdelegates, and fewer states (half) than Obama has won, then the Democratic party will lose quite of few of it's constituents--like me. (If the party nomination rules don't count then what's the point of running? Candidates might as well just pay off key party figures and call it a day.) And that is not in their best interest when trying to take back the White House and Congress, and future Supreme Court nominations in an election that they have a good possibility of winning. I was a supporter of Bill Clinton in his Presidency and up until this election cycle when I feel he and his wife started acting like Black voters owe them something. I certainly don't plan on voting for her due to several major factors among others:

1) claiming experience that she doesn't have (as if going to meetings during her husband's presidency automatically qualifies her for anything other than first lady status.) Given this logic, Laura Bush should be the President,

2) her inability to tell the truth about simple things (Bosnia sniper fire, named for Edmund Hillary, health care stories, implying that Obama is Muslim as a scare tactic, she fought AGAINST NAFTA etc),

3) trying to pit Black voters against female/feminist voters & white male voters,

4) agreeing to rules then trying to change them after she sees they (dis)advantage her (MI, FL delegates, caucuses...),

5) her record on supporting an insane war that she now supposedly opposes,

6) Clinton is supposedly the best candidate to lead on "Day 1". However, if she does win, her financial management style will doom the nation to a continued recession and higher national debt to to her inability to plan for the long run. All you have to do is look at her own campaign for proof. Clinton has known since 1999 that she would run for President in 2008, that's why she started making plans to run for the Senate in New York. She and her husband had built a vast political and financial network over the last 15 years since he was first elected President in 1992. She began raising money long before Obama, did yet she has little to show for it financially. After raising over $100 million prior to Super Tuesday (Feb. 4), Clinton has to take out a $5M loan shortly after b/c her campaign had squandered all that money, expecting to have the DNC nomination wrapped up on that day. This "plan" was admitted by her staff, so it clearly demonstrates that she has little ability to plan wisely for the long-term with other people's money, no matter that the over $100 million she had raised was one of the highest fundraising totals in the history of modern US elections, behind Sen. Obama. In the meantime, paper trails indicated that Clinton left behinds dozens of vendors across numerous states owing hundreds of thousands of dollars in unpaid campaign bills. Her staff only paid some of those bills when the vendors came forward on TV or in the media--some of these guys are small businesses who can't afford to go 1 or 2 months without collecting say $10,000 in debt. "Ready on Day 1?" Hardly.

7) finally Clinton is what the Republicans have been looking for. They are still not that excited about McCain (big money Republicans are still not embracing him--and their money is critical to winning). But... if she hoodwinks the nomination, Republicans will unite even more than they were ever able to in Bush' election-stealing escapades due to their hate of anything "Clinton". So from that standpoint, she is is unelectable, the most important argument of all.

All these reasons go to show me that Sen. Clinton practices "do anything/say anything" political opportunism--after Bush we need someone who stands for what is good and right when convenient and inconvenient, not just when the polls tell them. For me that person is Sen. Barack Obama. In a future post, I may detail the reasons WHY I Would (Will) Vote for Sen. Obama. I already voted for him in the Florida Democratic Primaries.