Politics
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I Approve This Message
Pretty funny: (h/t TPM)
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Obama’s Race Speech III
I think this has been a good week for Obama. We knew the race question was going to come up in a more explicit way than the innuendo strategy promoted by the Clintons; it was just a question of when. And it was also a question of how Obama would respond. It’s hard to think
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Obama’s Race Speech
I haven’t written about the Wright affair because it doesn’t matter what he said or what people think about what he said. What matters is how Obama handles it, and this morning he did about as good a job of it as I could imagine. It’s refreshing to hear somebody speak truthfully and thoughtfully about
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Local Interview with Samantha Power
This is worth reading to get a feel for both the woman and the candidate she served. We can only hope that she finds her way back to a role serving what we hope will be the Obama administration. An excerpt: Q: What is the biggest lesson you have learned in the aftermath of your
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Racism vs. Tribalism
Racism in America after slavery, I would argue, has been less about skin color and more about power clashes between tribal cultures in the North as well as in the South. Southern racism is different from northern racism because the tribal alignments and conflicts are different. So it's not really racism, but "tribalism". Humans have
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The Internecine Democrat Culture War
From the Economist: Obamaworld is a universe of liberal professionals and young people — plus blacks from all economic segments. Hillaryland, by contrast, is a place of working-class voters, particularly working-class women, and the old. These are people who occupy not just different economies but also different cultures. How many white Obama voters eat in
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Prevent Defense–(Updated)
This was not a good week for Obama. After the Clintons' goal-line stand on Tuesday, they took possession of the ball and they've pushed down the field some. The question now is whether the Obama camp will find an effective way to push back. I was disappointed at Obama's allowing the Samantha Power's "monster" comment
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The Dust Having Settled…
I think that the main reason for disappointment at Tuesday's results lies in its being the third time Obama had a chance to close the deal–New Hampshire, Super Tuesday, and now Ohio/Texas–and he couldn't do it. It's not that he's been damaged or that he has failed in some way; it's just that he hasn't
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Ohio/Texas
When you're wrong, you're wrong. I just want this to be over too badly. What is it about our indecisiveness as a people. Do we really want to drag this out until the bitter end? We just seem to love being split down the middle. I am too dispirited to write more about this tonight.
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The Race This Week (Updated)
The polls have been notoriously inaccurate in this primary season. There are probably better analyses why than my rumination here, but in a volatile situation where no real pattern or dynamic has been established and in which a large percentage of voters are undecided, the polls have little predictive value. Olbermann's "Keith Factor" is a