Super Delegate & Super Heroes

If the race for President comes down to the Democrat Convention then super delegates will play a huge role in deciding if Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama will be the parties nominee. That being said the Clinton machine is in trouble with a huge loss of super delegates. NBC and Brian Williams report that Obama has gained 35 super delegates in the last couple of weeks where as Clinton has suffered a net loss of five super delegates.

One of the super heroes of the civil rights movement John Lewis is also a super delegate. One other fact is that he has been and is still a very close personal friend of Hillary and Bill Clinton. Formerly, he committed to supporting Hillary Clinton in the convention but changed his mind to vote for Obama.

In the latest campaign setback for Clinton just days before crucial Democratic primaries in Ohio and Texas, Lewis said that his constituents back Obama, an Illinois senator, and that it was his "duty ... to express the will of the people."

Clinton had hoped that Lewis, who was severely beaten during civil rights demonstrations in the 1960s, would help her win the support of black voters. If he wins the White House in November, Obama would be the first black U.S. president.

Previously, Lewis said he was supporting Clinton, a New York senator, for the Democratic presidential nomination.

"Something is happening in America," Lewis said in a statement explaining his shift. "The people are pressing for a new day in American politics and I think they see Sen. Barack Obama as a symbol of that change."

Obama, campaigning in Ohio, said in a statement: "John Lewis is an American hero and a giant of the Civil Rights Movement, and I am deeply honored to have his support."
Asked about the switch, Clinton said she respected Lewis and understood that he has been under tremendous pressure. - Reuters

This was a tough personal call for John Lewis but it was the right one for the right reasons. John Lewis has fought for change his entire life and it could be said that he of all people can recognize the power of change in an Obama candidacy for President.

Hillary Clinton’s last chance for a knock your socks off debate in Ohio passed with nothing more than a he said, she said, minimalist attempt at true debate. The only outcome was the simple fact that Hillary looked like she was whining.

You’ve seen it here first in this political prediction. Hillary Clinton will follow the party line if she looses Texas and Ohio with a suspension of her campaign. Not because her chances to win the primary are over but for the simple fact that she too believes in change and her political party needs to win the White House this election for a far greater purpose than her own desire to be President. Her candidacy is strong but it isn’t strong enough to get the votes she needs to unseat Obama from the nomination of the Democrat Party.

Getting past this election cycle in Texas and Ohio, if Hillary Clinton suspends her campaign then Barack Obama would be a political moron not to pick Hillary Clinton as his Vice President choice in the general election. Beginning the campaign of two very brilliant minds and campaign staffs merged for one purpose and that would be CHANGE!

Politics makes very strange bedfellows and John Lewis made a tough decision that is admirable. Instead of following party politics and a friendship he surely cherishes, he chose the path most difficult to travel endorsing Obama and it was the wisest choice for someone that has believed in change for decades.

Papamoka

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Get Real Obama?

Politics in Washington D.C. is more about smoke and mirrors rather than just telling you yes or no in any given question that deserves a yes or no answer. Having watched many of the debates it is interesting to see many of the candidates on both sides of the Presidential race dodge, weave and outright not answer the questions asked of them.

It’s not often that you catch a politician just as confused as the rest of us when questions are asked and he answers as honestly as he can with the truth. Sometimes the art of politics is just being real and answering the questions truthfully.

Barack Obama is one of the few politicians in this race that will respond to a question directly. You may not like the answer but it is a direct answer with honest and sincere facts to back it up. Sometimes when you do that you get burned and can joke about it later…



I’m backing Obama for President simply because he seems like the kind of guy that would help a neighbor out. He seems more like us in the middle and lower class even though he is technically a millionaire. He seems like someone that you would enjoy watching a football game with in your living room on a lazy Sunday afternoon. He just seems more real than the alternative in the Democrat Party and the Republican Party.

Papamoka

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McCain or Obama Independents?

It was reported recently that Senator Hillary Clinton would have to win 57% of the remaining delegates to unseat Senator Barack Obama from the Democrat nomination for President. For argument sake let us all pretend Obama is the candidate against the Maverick John McCain. This will be the Presidential election of the century.

In the race of 2000 John McCain was the Maverick against George Bush and that John McCain could have been President if it were not for dirty politics. The evil scientist Karl Rove worked that election as if they were taking over the world and low and behold he actually did achieve his goal. With eight years of George Bush in the Presidency we have seen our nation go to war, mega profits snickered at and justified because of the war, and a nation of separated people. Those with the big bucks, and those of us emotionally and financially exuberant to find a dollar in an old pair of jeans.

John McCain morphed into a George Bush Junior after the election in 2000 for one purpose and that was to be his political parties’ nominee in this election. What was once a Maverick is now a yes man for W even to the point of changing his mind on torture. Just a few weeks ago he admonished Mitt Romney for dancing around the issue of torture and rightfully so. As the only Republican candidate that was ever tortured he can speak from experience. What changed John McCain’s mind between that debate and this past week? Could it possibly be the deliverance of not one but two Bush President’s to his campaign?

Independent voters are not the Ross Perot nut jobs of yesteryear like one might think. They are people stuck in the middle that can’t stand the extreme liberalism and big government on the left. They are people stuck in the middle that can’t stand the extreme hands off ideology that if it is good for big business the consequences to America do not matter of the right. Independent voters are the key to this next election and they vote! How you get them to vote for you is the task at hand.

In McCain’s case it is a toss up. You could vote for the John McCain that used to be an independent Republican mind in the Senate or you could vote for the new and improved John me too W McCain. McCain is guilty of not being the real John McCain with every speech he makes. Rather than standing up for his own convictions he has subjugated himself to more of George Bush theology in government just for the chance to sit in the Oval Office in 2009. If he or his campaign staff looked at the current President’s approval ratings for the last four years he might want to reinvent himself back into the old McCain. Independent voters are not idiots and they don’t buy sound bites that sound like Bush all over again.

As for Senator Obama, his invention of himself is just what you see. With an oratory expertise he can make you believe that change is possible and that hope is alive. Obama’s message may not be full of details but the man has the facts and plans figured out. He isn’t slamming his opponents because he does not have to! When the message is right and the people want to hear more of what he has to say then that is the ball game for many Independent voters as well. Republican crossover voters and Independent voters will put Barack Obama in the White House in 2009. Personally, I would give more credit to the Independent voters. That is the key to this election.

Come the general election, John McCain will run for the center with all he has to give. Once more he will be changing who he really is as a candidate for President. In doing so, he will morph into not the die hard conservative and become a moderate candidate that gives a lousy speech from cue cards and teleprompters.

Barack Obama will pull all his abilities together to speak without any assistance and what you will hear will be from his heart and soul simply because he believes whole heartily in the words he speaks. President Obama will bring America back to where she should be and that is right in the middle but with a concentration of helping American’s first and foremost.

Papamoka

Cross posted at MichaelLinnJones.com

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Republican Retirement or Abandon Ship?

With the new addition of Davis from Virginia dropping out or resigning from Congress the list of Republican’s fleeing public service is alarming. In some respects I’m glad that they are jumping ship but while they are jumping off, the seats they leave vacant may just be filled with Democrats. That leads me to the thought that this just might be the greatest political set up in history if you look at the economy.

Would it not be Karl Rove and W as a personal joke on America to chuck us all the bird one last time by scuttling the economy just to say screw you for not liking them more? When it comes to trust and Karl or George, they don’t deserve the courtesy of even the simplest of it.

When you really think about it and just for giggles assume that one of the Democrat’s takes the White House in 08, the Congress and Senate are all a majority of Democrat’s, and our nations economy tanks. Who will the people blame for the next eight years? Don’t place your bets on the gentleman jumping out of politics from the red and right side of the aisle accepting any blame. Regardless of the damage they have all done in the past to the nation, the blame will rest on who is in office when the crash comes.

Last week the Federal Reserve dropped rates by three quarters of a point and one week later (Today) they dropped it again. Our economy is in serious trouble and those that will serve in the next term in Congress will face the crisis of a century. Republican’s are jumping ship because our nations future will be that ugly. The well has run dry and the game is up. They fear the future and know damn well that they screwed it up big time. Where the Republican’s saw the protectionism of a free market was the undoing of our nations economy. Free markets without gentleman rules other than who can grab the most bucks the quickest does not work. AKA home lending crisis. Who can race a company to the bankruptcy courts first but take down hundred million dollar bonuses does not work.

Not to be too depressing, only the people that look out for all of the people can get our nation through a tough recession and it is not done by huge tax cuts for the millionaires and billionaires amongst us. Our nation will get through the coming recession by legislation that looks more to the interest of where the majority of the people are in the middle and lower classes. That is not a favorite group for Republican’s in any political speech. That might just be why thet are bailing public service in droves. When the economic glass is not even half full we need leaders that think in terms of hope and not what is in it for me. The millionaires and billionaires will ride this storm out but you and I will face the full storm of what a real recession is. In eight years from now the speeches of your lot in life being better now or eight years ago will rise up from the dust and they will promise the world from the seats that never felt your pain. And just like the post Great Depression days the party of change is in the Democrat’s hand and they will need to prove their steel.

It is simply ironic that John McCain has forgotten his roots and became more Liberal in politics in the original race against Bush but then became Bush for this election. Then again Hillary Clinton has become more right wing with her voting record and yet claims to be a Progressive Democrat. I don’t get where she and Bill call themselves the first Black President? Hillary isn’t Black and neither is Bill? Neither has lived or stepped in the footsteps of a black American person and saying you are black is just wrong.

Both front runners play the game but the end result is not about the people in either of their messages. It’s about the power of the Presidency for them alone. That is not what the Presidency is all about. We elect our President based on our opinions and life situation. We do not elect them on why they demand our vote.

In the days to come I believe Barack Obama is the only hope that we as a nation have in his Roosevelt and Kennedy like message of change. I find myself thinking that he is the only light in the path that we all will be forced to follow because of the past Republican sell out of America. He didn’t create the problems but he has the power to unite us all as a nation to get the American people through it.

One politician is not America but one President at the right place and time can make hope a possibility. One can not bind hope in any political message or advertisement but the only one that shines is Obama when it comes to hope. Hope is just what it means. It isn’t about fear of war, fear of terrorist attacks and it isn’t about who did what in the past in the civil rights movement. It is about our nations future. Hope is definitely not about a flag draped casket coming home from Iraq or Afghanistan. That was George W. Bush idea of hope. That isn’t working out so good these days is it?

Papamoka

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