MICHAEL O. ALLEN

Menu
Tag

Webb

Yet another veepstakes post

By HomepageNo Comments

The Democratic world may soon wake up with a text or email from the Obama campaign announcing his choice for VP. Drudge, the NYT, and other media outlets have been abuzz this evening with the story of Obama’s “short list” and impending announcement.

The names being floated are Bayh, Biden, Kaine, and Sebelius. Kaine would be my pick, but I think they’re all head fakes. The stories out tonight have the distinct feel of a carefully scripted campaign leak. So why leak at all?

The answer? To make the actual announcement more surprising and newsworthy.

So who, then, would generate that kind of buzz as a surprise pick? There are a lot of people whose pick would be surprising, but very few whose selection would really grab the headlines:

Clinton
Gore
Webb
Hagel

My gut tells me that Webb and Hagel are the least likely of the four.

What’s your guess?

August 19, 2008
Love0

Data point . . .

By HomepageNo Comments

Sen. Jim Webb brought up another subject on that video:

Speaking of oil going to $130, we should all remember that the month that Congress approved this war in Iraq, oil was $24 (a barrel).

Asked about the spectacle of Pres. George W. Bush panhandling around Saudi Arabia, offering the royal family there inducements to increase oil production and, thereby, lowering the price of crude oil, he said:

It’s kind of sad when you think about the fact that what we need here is a comprehensive energy strategy that takes into account all the different aspects, including nuclear. We haven’t had a new nuclear power plant in something like 30 years. Nuclear is clean, it’s safe when it’s done right.

The president of the United States is offering the Saudis the capabilities to go to nuclear when we’re not talking about that here. We need a really dramatically different national strategy on energy and I think all of us are coming to that conclusion. It’s just how we get there from here.

So we are going to get the Saudis nuclear and they’re going to bleed out all the oil and get the capital–I’m not picking on just the Saudis–but they’re going to be able to capitalize their future while we’re draining ours. That doesn’t make any sense.

May 22, 2008
Love0