Liking Clinton Again

Just as some predicted, the wounds inflicted on the Democratic Party by the prolonged primary season have started to heal. All but a few high profile Clinton supporters have gone over to Obama, and most people, including Obama, acknowledge that the long pre-season made Obama a much better debater and candidate. Without that primary season, Obama would never have known the extent of his weakness among Appalachian voters in PA, for example.

So are we ready to like the Clintons again? Bill Richardson is, even if Bill Clinton doesn't feel the same way. And while some grouse that Hillary doesn't seem to be doing much for Obama, I suspect she is being very helpful to him in targeted ways, and being extremely helpful to her Congressional colleagues, buying back a lot of good will with her fundraising talents.

So what about me? Can I like them again? I had been feeling neutral on Hillary, and annoyed with Bill Clinton for his failure to step up for Obama, and then I read this bit in Politico. From th Al Smith dinner, by Jonathan Martin:

And on the former president's odd pledge to avoid campaigning for Obama until after the Jewish High Holidays, McCain "you've got to admire that ecumenical spirit."

"I just know Bill would like to be out there now stumping for Barack until the last hour of the last day," he said. "Unfortunately, he is constrained by his respect for any voters who might be observing the Zoroastrian New Year."

Hillary got a huge laugh at this.

This is a pretty insightful vignette. Bill really wanted Hillary to win. She didn't. For the sake of her career, she needs to get over her loss. But does Bill? In fact, if he got over it faster than she did, wouldn't that be a dog sort of thing to do? That's what loving husbands do. They stay mad for you. Everyone has always wondered at the Clintons' marriage, wondering if its one of convenience, or love. I think now love. He really really wanted this for her, believed that she'd be the best. Why should he have to give that up now? Obama would feel the same way if Michelle were in Hillary's position. This really humanizes Bill Clinton for me.

Dare I admit it? I may yet like Bill Clinton again.

DARE to Say No (to McCain)

Check out Partnership for a McCain-Free White House. Now I just hope they re-do that "brain on drugs" ad with the eggs.

A Lot of Things Rattling Around in My Head

I am maga-busy these days, making it hard to focus on blogging anything more than a few sentences at a time. So I will stick with what I know, and just blog about all the topics that pop into my head.

• McCain wants to suspend the mandatory age for 401(k) withdrawals. Putting aside whether this is a prudent proposal, doesn't it seem like its extremely micro-targeted? The target group being people who are about to turn 70 and a half, of course. How many of those folks were not going to vote for McCain already, who would be swayed by this?
  
• A haiku for the lady I saw in SF today: Lady on the street/where did your eyebrows go to?/Is your forehead cold?
• Ryan Lizza described Obama as a "left conservative", a phrase coined by Norman Mailer, in a New Yorker podcast I heard the other day. Thought that was interesting, and accurate.
• Just as Bill Clinton was considered our 'first Black President', I think Obama will be considered our 'first female President.' He operates in such an empathic, consensus-building mode of leadership that we haven't seen before. It also has a certain poetic justice to it.
  
• My brilliant kid (the older one) asked the other day where helium comes from. I actually had to look it up. A co-worker suggested I say, "From the Party Warehouse", but frankly the Big Bang** is easier to explain.

** All helium in the universe was created in the Big Bang.

That One

I am sure you have heard that McCain called Obama "that one" during the debate last night. Here's what McCain's campaign had to say in reaction to the, well, reactions:

Nicolle Wallace, a spokesman for Mr. McCain, said in a statement: “I am shocked that at a moment of national crisis, where our economy is on the minds of every single person, I am shocked that they are again proving to be the fussiest campaign in American history.”

Shocked at fussiness? Chick needs to chill out. Try being shocked that this war is still going on, that we just set aside $700 billion for companies whose CEOs may not take the money if it means giving up the golden parachute, that people beat children, that the Cubs made it to the playoffs. There's a lot to be shocked about in this world, but "fussiness" does not cut muster. I don't know how these people keep themselves in such high dudgeon. I guess this is what losing looks like. But doesn't all the shock lose its shock value after a while?

Oh, and for the headline alone.

Whadya Think of This?

Obama has an ad out that plays up McCain's inability to use a computer. The wingers have countered that McCain can't type because he was tortured in 'Nam. I was fretting about the backlash of this on Obama, til I read Undercover Black Man on the topic. So what do you think? Is the Obama campaign that brilliant, or will it really boomerang on them? If they are that brilliant, are you disgusted? I'm not, because I don't think that McCain is incapable of being president because of his disabilities. I think he's incapable of being president because he's a sell-out nut job who lives in a bubble in the past.

What Does McCain Believe?

And I don't mean that in the flip-flop sense that everyone's been asking. Reading this interview he did with Time magazine certainly leaves me with the impression that McCain believes . . . he's going to lose.