Gore Speaks Today at the Netroots Nation Conference
- Sunday WaPo writes about how the New Yorker cover was particularly unfair and hurtful to African American women generally, in addition to Michelle Obama in particular. And another piece here.
- An Obama Deputy Campaign Chief discusses why they are aggressively pursuing voter registration and grassroots organizing in a very red state like Texas. It’s all about building for the future.
- In another surprise at Netroots Nation, Bob Barr showed up as a regular attendee.
- NY Times profiles Gore’s surprise appearance at the Netroots Nation conference today.
- Team Obama’s response to McCain and Bush flip-flopping to Obama’s position on Iraq withdrawal, Afghanistan troops and diplomacy
MEMO: Obama Leading on Foreign Policy, McCain Following
To: Interested Parties
From: The Obama Campaign
RE: Obama Leading on Foreign Policy, McCain Following
There are two problems with John McCain’s political attacks on Barack Obama’s foreign policy. First, on the biggest foreign policy questions of the last eight years, Barack Obama has made the right judgment and John McCain has sided with George Bush in making the wrong one. Second, the failure of the McCain-Bush foreign policy has forced John McCain to change his position, and to embrace the very same Obama approaches that he once attacked.
Just this week, Senator McCain has been forced by events to switch to Barack Obama’s position on two fundamental issues: more troops in Afghanistan, and more diplomacy with Iran. On both issues, Obama took stands that weren’t politically popular at the time – opposing the war in Iraq as a diversion from the critical mission in Afghanistan, and standing up for direct diplomacy with Iran – while John McCain lined up with George Bush. Time has proven Obama’s judgment right and McCain wrong.
The next shift appears to be Iraq. For months, Senator McCain has called any plan to redeploy our troops from Iraq “surrender” – even though we’d be leaving Iraq to a sovereign Iraqi government. Now, the Bush Administration is embracing the negotiation of troop withdrawals with the Iraqi government – a position that Senator Obama called for last September, and reiterated on Monday in the New York Times. And now, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki supports Barack Obama’s timeline, telling Der Speigel that, “Barack Obama is right when he talks about 16 months.
- Politico profiles each nominee’s top surrogates.
- CNN struggling with Maliki story. As of 3:20 pm Eastern, it’s not the lead story, and when they broach it, they qualify it by suggesting it hasn’t been confirmed. MSNBC began its coverage the same way about 6 hours ago, but quickly stated the Der Spiegel story was confirmed. In addition, it appears that pressure from the McCain campaign has influenced CNN’s coverage. Its top of the hour coverage of Obama’s trip to Afghanistan began with two-year old video footage of a prior visit by McCain, with the heading “Been There, Done That.”
- BREAKING: Iraq’s Prime Minister Maliki tells German publication Der Spiegel that he prefers Obama’s 16-month troop withdrawal plan. He says he’s frustrated by Bush Administration’s reluctance to agree to a plan like Obama’s, but he remains hopeful that Bush will agree to something like it before Bush leaves office. He’s careful to not endorse Obama -says he doesn’t want to get involved in U.S. election matters. UPDATE: NY Times reports on the story, and notes the McCain’s campaigns struggle to spin it away.
- TNR’s Ezra Klein on the importance of Maliki’s statement: think about how devastating it would have been to Obama if Maliki had said the opposite (i.e., rejected a timeline for withdrawal). The cable news channels would be running breathless roadblocked coverage, pounding Obama.
- Obama is in Afghanistan. Senators Hagel (R-NE) and Reed (D-RI) are with him.
- Democratic registration up 700,000 and GOP registration down 1,000,000 in states where voters register by party.
- NY Times: Romney and McCain are chummy again, and insiders are abuzz over likely selection of Romney. The Fix agrees that Romney is McCain’s front runner, and also likes Bayh as Obama’s top pick. The Sleuth likes Sen. John Thune as McCain’s sleeper pick. Roadkill agrees with the Fix.
- McSame Goes for Flip-Flop Trifecta in One Week. After McCain follows Obama’s lead in Afghanistan, Bush agrees to high-level negotiations with Iran, Bush and Maliki agrees to a time line for withdrawing troops from Iraq (using the face-saving term “time horizon” instead of the more straight talk “timeline.”
- Michelle Obama joins BlogHer.
- Ohio court rules Bob Barr must be included on the Ohio ballot. Meanwhile, at McCain headquarters, staff hurriedly prepares resumes and calls headhunters.
- Gramm Leaves Co-Chair Position with a Parting Shot of Whines. Blames Democrats attacking him for creating a distraction that’s bad for the country. How peaceful it must be to live so separated from reality — Gramm actually believes any unflattering remark about him is harmful to the country itself.
- Time’s Tumulty details Obama’s trip abroad.
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4 responses so far ↓
Morgaine Swann // July 19, 2008 at 3:50 am
Yeah, still don’t get the Evan Bayh thing…if you’re looking for something to write about, tell us why you like him so much. I don’t know much about him, but the impression I’ve gotten so far is kind of blah. Am I wrong?
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Umm, I think I was giving my best guess of who fit Obama’s Veep profile. I guess “kinda blah” (or Blayh) is in the eye of the beholder. I think for the more fiery populist side of the left, he may disappoint. He’s pretty subdued, in a Midwestern sorta way. But it’s a style that’s very appealing to voters in Indiana, and may have traction elsewhere in the Midwest, which is where elections are won and lost. This election is no exception. If Obama wins all of Kerry’s states plus Ohio, he wins. Conversely, Obama can’t afford to lose Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin or Pennsylvania. Bayh checks a lot of boxes — he’s been elected 5 times statewide in Indiana, a red state in play, including as a two term popular governor. A governor would be a nice complement on the ticket, and they’re aren’t many to choose from (Richardson, Kaine and Sebelius being the others on the short list). As governor, he never raised taxes and vetoed anti-choice legislation several times — a record that should serve him well. He’s been on the senate select commitee on intelligence for years. He voted for Iraq, but who didn’t? Edwards, Hillary, Biden… nearly all of the senators on the short list did. He’s only 5 years older than Obama and has twin boys not much older than Obama’s two girls — a postcard. He should do fine with women voters with his record, including if you consider his father’s legacy who authored Title IX and was a key promoter of the ERA amendment (and the 26th Amendment that gave 18 year olds the right to vote). There’s also a “unity” bonus since he backed Hillary in the primaries. And on his demeanor, one person’s “boring/cautious” is another’s “unlikely to make embarrassing mistakes” — a trait a Veep must have (and Richardson and Biden lack). And as Rendell said last month, you don’t want the Veep to upstage the nominee. I don’t think there’s a risk of Bayh upstaging Barack.
-RK Ref
Morgaine Swann // July 19, 2008 at 4:19 am
OK, that’s a well=reasoned argument. He would be a good choice. I still prefer Clark, but you make a really good case for Bayh.
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Thanks. Now watch Obama pick Clark!
-RK Ref
Morgaine Swann // July 19, 2008 at 4:27 am
Ha ha – well, he will if he wants to win. Clark is the only candidate that has solid cred as a Dem and with the military. That’s a huge deal. The fact that he went after McCain already makes him more attractive to me. He said it and he didn’t back down. Now if only the rest of Congress would learn that trick!
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Interesting the way you put it “solid cred as a Dem and with the military” because that excludes Powell, who has also been rumored. My guess is neither will be on the ticket, but both will be involved in an Obama Administration (fingers-crossed) in some way. Just a hunch. It is great to see him fight like that — I agree the party is in need of plain speaking, fire breathing fighters. Obama needs surrogates willing to get their finger nails dirty!
-RK Ref
Louise // July 19, 2008 at 4:32 pm
I prefer Bill Richardson or Chuck Hagel as VPs for Barak Obama. They are both introspective, well-mannered, and extremely well-spoken and intelligent. Of course, I realize that over a third of the population have no or little respect for thinkers but rather let their emotions do the thinking for them.