MICHAEL O. ALLEN

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michael o. allen

What we talk about . . .

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It was a consciously somber, serious disquisition on an incendiary topic. Going into it, I lamented the absurdity of Sen. Barack Obama, (D-IL), having to make the speech in the first place. A third of the way into it, I was glad he was making the speech.

I don’t believe the speech will settle anything for those who were not going to support Obama anyway. It may not even have persuaded former supporters who broke with him over the issue.

But, if you’re open-minded, this was the nuanced, heartfelt speech you hoped for. He eschewed the obvious rah, rah political applause lines and spoke quietly, calmly, without anger or frustration. I am glad he gave the speech.

I should say that one line in the speech rang false to me:

But the remarks that have caused this recent firestorm weren’t simply controversial. They weren’t simply a religious leader’s effort to speak out against perceived injustice. Instead, they expressed a profoundly distorted view of this country – a view that sees white racism as endemic, and that elevates what is wrong with America above all that we know is right with America; a view that sees the conflicts in the Middle East as rooted primarily in the actions of stalwart allies like Israel, instead of emanating from the perverse and hateful ideologies of radical Islam.

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March 18, 2008
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John "There will be other wars" Mccain

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Master Sgt. Andy Dunaway/U.S. Air Force, via Associated Press. Senator John McCain at Baghdad’s airport on Sunday. The presidential candidate arrived in Iraq for meetings with Iraqi and American officials.

This should be an impossibility but slowly but surely you can see the swagger returning to Republicans.

They can sense that victory is now more than a possibility in November. After George W. Bush’s calamitous presidency, no Republicans should have a ghost-in-hell of a chance of coming close to the presidency.

But Democratcs are, seemingly, deadlocked. This does not help the Democrats in any way. But you’ll find no person in America more certain about McCain’s fitness to lead this nation than Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton. He’s had “crossed the Commander-in-Chief threshold,” she famously said.

And then there’s the question of self-inflicted wounds in Florida and Michigan, Democrats’ racist rhetoric, visiting the alleged sins of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright on Sen. Barack Obama.

The Iraq war is five years old.

Hillary and McCain voted for it. No one would count Iraqi deaths, especially its civilian dead.

The shame of our nation.

March 17, 2008
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What must be said

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Transcript of Keith Olbermann’s March 12 “Special Comment” on Hillary Clinton’

s tactics against Barack Obama.

Finally, as promised, a special comment on the presidential campaign of the junior senator from New York. By way of necessary preface, President and Senator Clinton and the senator’s mother and the senator’s brother were of immeasurable support to me at the moments when these very commentaries were the focus of the most surprise, the most uncertainty and the most anger. My gratitude to them is unbiding.

Also, I am not here endorsing Senator Obama`s nomination, nor suggesting in it is inevitable. Thus I have fought with myself over whether or not to say anything. Events insist.

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March 14, 2008
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Spitzerations

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Other than the one sentence I’d mustered, so far, I have not been able to muster any enthusiasm to kick Gov. Eliot Spitzer while he is down. It would be so sweet to dance on his political grave because he was so righteous and fearsome in his element. Yet, I could not bring myself to.

I don’t know that I can even say anything intelligent about his case because I cannot bring

myself to read little more than the broad outline of the story. I feel for his wife and children, this humiliation that they have had to endure.

A friend of mine, Jim Sleeper, brings a great deal of intelligence to any subject and the matter of Eliot Spitzer is no exception. I’ll quote extensively from his two columns at TPMCafe on the subject. Jim puts his finger on the essence of the matter in his first column on March 11:

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March 13, 2008
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"Pssst…Barack Obama is a Black Dude"

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And Seth Grahame-Smith is one funny guy.

Writing in Huffington Post, he has some pretty good advice

for Sen. Barack Obama regarding the embarassing mess of Geraldine Ferraro. Listen:

So if I were David Axelrod, I’d fire up the nearest edit bay and flood Pennsylvania’s airwaves with an ad that went something like this:

(Start with a nasty frame-grab of Ferraro and Clinton). “Hillary Clinton’s best friend, Geraldine Ferraro, says Barack Obama wouldn’t be where he is today if he wasn’t black.” (Cut to Ferraro giving the finger to a group of black Girl Scouts). “We couldn’t agree more. Barack Obama’s life as a man of mixed race taught him to respect people of all colors, faiths, and points of view.” (Cut to Obama clearing brush on his ranch). “It also instilled a great love for America as the land of opportunity. A land where people from different backgrounds could come together and achieve the impossible. Barack Obama is proud of being black.” (Cut to a beautiful Obama family portrait). He even fathered two black babies — twice as many as John McCain. Don’t the working families of Pennsylvania deserve a president who’s proud of his heritage — and proud of America? (Cut to a smiling Obama). “Barack Obama…you’re damn right he’s black.”

March 13, 2008
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Are we speaking, or are we talking?

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Jim Carville Map of Pennsylvania This is a quote by Democratic Political Consultant Jim Carville from Wikipedia:

Between Paoli (one of Philadelphia’s westernmost suburbs) and Penn Hills (one of Pittsburgh’s easternmost suburbs), Pennsylvania is Alabama without the blacks. They didn’t film “The Deerhunter” there for nothing — the state has the second-highest concentration of NRA members, behind Texas.

March 12, 2008
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Pelosi speaks

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And what she has to say would not cheer Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, (D-NY).

Asked about the possibility of the so-called “Dream Ticket” of Clinton sharing the ticket with Sen. Barack Obama, (D-IL) in the fall, Pelosi said:

I think that the Clinton administration has fairly ruled that out by proclaiming that Senator McCain would be a better commander in chief than Obama. I think that any, that ticket – either way – is impossible.

March 12, 2008
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