Author: Michael O. Allen

“A.B.M.”

The Clintons and the national media covering the Democratic Party race for the presidential nomination have broken out a new story line regarding Barack Obama: That he’s “angry” and “frustrated.” Hillary Clinton practically taunts him with this. It does not help that the media has not only totally bought into this, they’re mischaracterizing their news coverage to turn normal or innocuous exchange with the candidate into “tense” encounters. ABC News breathlessly reported on its website that it had filmed a “testy” exchange between Jeff Zeleny of the New York Times and Obama. Their tape, however, does not match their description of the encounter.

A measured Obama was trying to both sign autographs for voters and talk to the reporters as he campaigned in South Carolina. His voice was not raised. A bemused smile played on his face, as if he recognized the trap he was in. The reporters were trying to manufacture a story where there was none and he was not about to give them one. He even tried to go off the record at one point.

It’s a singular achievement of the Clintons that and the media in this campaign that they’ve managed to turn Barack Obama into the “Angry Black Man” without any evidence of him being one.

Bill. Raw

Obama once said, in response to people (the Clintons) who said he’s in too much of a hurry to become president, that what they wanted was for him to wait until all the hope is boiled out of him.

It was a good line.

He probably did not realize that there was not going to be any waiting involved.

How sweet is this for Hillary. Send Bill out to bang Obama, then jump up and say, see, Obama can’t take the heat.

So what if the Democratic Party gets burned in the process? Who cares. Power. Corrupts. Absolutely.

Reason? II

A blog is a dangerous thing.

I recently smacked Harvey Silvergate for a piece in Reason Magazine that I believed was not sufficiently respectful of civil liberties.

I was wrong about Mr. Silvergate.

My post was a knee-jerk reaction to what I saw as a snide attack on the American Civil Liberties Union. A friend kindly pointed out to me that Silvergate is a member of the board of that organization.

Reason?

I don’t know who Harvey Silvergate is but, before I read anymore about civil liberties from him, I’d prefer he spend a month captive in each of the following locations: Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and Bagram Air Force Base in Afghanistan.

Silvergate is allegedly a lawyer but it appears he wouldn’t know the Constitution even if George W. Bush is standing right in front of him, shredding it.

The Bog

So, last night, there was the evil dementor Newt Gingrish on Fox’s Hannity and Colmes decrying how Lord Voldermort, er, Bill Clinton, was trying kill off good little Harry (that would be Barack Obama) and it occurred to me, those are love taps that Bill is administering to Obama compared to what Republicans will do to the hopeful one when they get their hands on him.

Wow. That was a long sentence. I’ll try to curb that.

Bill Clinton, apparently, does not mind losing a little bit of respect if it means his wife gets to go back to the White House. Power corrupts. Absolutely.

A Young Death

Heath Ledger is dead. The tabloids, both print and electronic, are going to have a field day.

I’ve seen Ledger in one complete film, Casanova, and in parts of others, including in “Ten Things I Hate about You,” the film where he first made his name. He seemed like a good enough actor. What most impressive to me about him was a profile of him in the New York Times in November.

Ledger, according to that profile, turned down roles for a year after “Ten Things I Hate about You” because “I feel like I’m wasting time if I repeat myself,” he explained.

We should have been tired of Ledger right about now. Instead, he was an intriguing personality. He carefully considered his roles and left a respectable body of work. That is what we’ll be left with when all the piranhas move on to the next prey.