I've found it amazing (and refreshing as a Democrat) to hear Obama take nearly every attack Hillary has thrown at him and turn it around into something so favorable for himself. I especially loved the Texas debate when he turned her attacks of his lack of substance into an accusation that everyone following him was simply being "duped."
After reading the WSJ Journal article here, I couldn't help thinking how amazingly bad the current attacks on Obama are. Clinton, and increasingly McCain, accuse him and his talks of having no substance, no meat. The problem is, that this directs ever more attention to his speeches - a controversy has been made out of them.
These attacks are so self-defeating and useless because the reality is that Obama's speeches are incredible - they sound like nothing that has been heard in America since the 60s. They are inspiring, they are full of text, and they remind those of us who have been dismayed for the last seven years why we used to love and admire the men and women who served in the government of this country. And no matter what the content, you can't help but listen to his speeches and compare them to Hillary's and McCain's without blushing.
These attacks are phenomenal for the Obama fans out there (and I am, admittedly, proudly one of them). They focus the attention on listening to what exactly this man is saying, and when liberals, moderates, and even some conservatives hear what he has to say, they really really like what they hear.
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Sunday, February 10, 2008
Delegate Count, Democratic Primary
This site is keeping very up to date data on the number of delegates Clinton and Obama have - a teaser, he beat her 93 to 42 in delegates today.
http://demconwatch.blogspot.com/2008/02/weekend-delegate-tracker.html
I just learned how the whole process works (and if I've got something wrong, let me know!!)-
There are 4,049 delegates - so a candidate needs 2,025 to win. There are 3,253 delegates who are assigned based on the results of the primaries and then there are 796 super delegates, which includes every Democrat in the Senate, House, former presidents, former Speakers of the House and Senate Majority Leaders and other DNC officials, etc. They get to vote for whoever they want, and make up about 20% of the vote. This was an effort by the Democratic Party years back to give the Party itself a bit more control over the nominating process - raises the prospects for smoke-filled back-room dealing, but nevertheless, that's how they do it.
Some of these superdelegates have already announced who they've endorsed, and many others remain unpledged, and people have different philosophies about how they should vote - should they simply represent the view of their state and vote for who their state wanted, or go for the national leader, or vote their own conscience? The site above is tracking those endorsements as well. Hillary's winning the superdelegate endorsements 223-126, so another 450 or so remain uncommitted by choice.
Not surprisingly, Obama and Hillary are now pretty aggressively courting these superdelegates - the Clintons pull out Bill (a superdelegate himself) to call some of the big shots!
http://demconwatch.blogspot
I just learned how the whole process works (and if I've got something wrong, let me know!!)-
There are 4,049 delegates - so a candidate needs 2,025 to win. There are 3,253 delegates who are assigned based on the results of the primaries and then there are 796 super delegates, which includes every Democrat in the Senate, House, former presidents, former Speakers of the House and Senate Majority Leaders and other DNC officials, etc. They get to vote for whoever they want, and make up about 20% of the vote. This was an effort by the Democratic Party years back to give the Party itself a bit more control over the nominating process - raises the prospects for smoke-filled back-room dealing, but nevertheless, that's how they do it.
Some of these superdelegates have already announced who they've endorsed, and many others remain unpledged, and people have different philosophies about how they should vote - should they simply represent the view of their state and vote for who their state wanted, or go for the national leader, or vote their own conscience? The site above is tracking those endorsements as well. Hillary's winning the superdelegate endorsements 223-126, so another 450 or so remain uncommitted by choice.
Not surprisingly, Obama and Hillary are now pretty aggressively courting these superdelegates - the Clintons pull out Bill (a superdelegate himself) to call some of the big shots!
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