And in New Hampshire, that’s grim news for Clinton:
In New Hampshire, Obama leads Clinton by five points among Democrats and by sixteen points among Independents. The survey indicates that 40% of the voters will be Independents.
This will surely hurt McCain some.
Clinton’s own website has a page showing how better Obama fares against most of the Republicans than she would. I guess: kudos for transparency. (Re-posted with fixed link).
What else does she have left?
Time for a post that’s total self-parody. Check this out:
I have seen the Paul campaign in action, and I can confirm that there are beards. Lots of them. Middle-aged electrician beards, gravitas-adding beards on thirtysomethings, thin hipper-than-thou beards on the youngest volunteers. Massachusetts grad student John Notley wears a massive, red Nordic mane that earns him the nickname Thor. It’s reminiscent of a semi-famous photo from the 1972 presidential race, of a waddling businessman handing out Nixon literature right next to a skinny hippie handing out McGovern fliers. The difference is that the nameless McGovern flunky was campaigning for acid, amnesty, and abortion, while Paul’s crew wants to bring back the paleoconservative sobriety of Sen. Robert Taft.
Scientific American has a very informative piece up about new research into the uses of LSD, psilocybin and other psychedelic drugs for mental illness:
Much remains unclear about the precise neural mechanisms governing how these drugs produce their mind-bending results, but they often produce somewhat similar psychoactive effects that make them potential therapeutic tools. Though still in their preliminary stages, studies in humans suggest that the day when people can schedule a psychedelic session with their therapist to overcome a serious psychiatric problem may not be that far off.
Awesome illustrations as well. Hat tip: Mind Hacks.
A Dish round-up:
An African-American Awakening?
The Speech that changed everything.
Why a Burkean needn’t panic.
Break-out In New Hampshire?
The secret of his supporters.
(Photo: Jeff Haynes/Getty.)
Another one:
I am American and my partner is Dutch. We have been living in the Netherlands for 12 years because it is nearly impossible to move to the US even though it would be better for my career since my employer is headquartered in the US. My partner is a full time stay-at-home father to our 16 month old son who we ironically adopted from the US. Due to current immigration policies, my partner could not get a visa to live in the US.
I could move back to the US (since I am a US citizen) and take our son with me (as he is a US citizen). I could even take our Golden Retriever (who was born and bred in the Netherlands) without any problems. But my son’s other father (we are both recognized as legal parents under US law) is not welcome. There simply are no provisions in US law to deal with our family’s situation.
Because, according to the US government, your family does not exist.
As a further response to Bainbridge’s questions, a reader reminds me of this passage in Larissa MacFarquhar’s excellent profile of the guy earlier last year:
In his view of history, in his respect for tradition, in his skepticism that the world can be changed any way but very, very slowly, Obama is deeply conservative. There are moments when he sounds almost Burkean. He distrusts abstractions, generalizations, extrapolations, projections. It’s not just that he thinks revolutions are unlikely: he values continuity and stability for their own sake, sometimes even more than he values change for the good.
And such a man, when he pushes for felt change, has more credibility and more of a chance to succeed. His candidacy is, to put it in Oakeshottian terms, an intimation to be pursued.
A reader writes:
The Iowa caucus reminded me of America Idol. Just like in the TV show, regardless of what the judges say, it’s the public who gets to decide. Who knows: maybe over the past six years or so Simon Cowell, Ryan Seacrest and company have been spreading democratic impulses into the national psyche, which have now come to fruition.
Or maybe when voters look at the pundit class, they see Simon, Randy and Paula. And when they look to a represtentative for America, they find a young, racially ambiguous super-talent. I’m surprised we haven’t yet seen a column on the Jordin Sparks-Barack Obama parallels.
A reader writes:
In Reference to this question:
What specific changes in law, society, or polity, if any, that Obama supports do you also support?
Spending and borrow is also something that you have brought up in the past. Obama is the man who created this web site, with the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act, so we the people can know where our tax money is going. Its not perfect but its a step towards transparency that no one else in the race has even begun to match.
I hate the government, as a good Ron Paul supporting classical liberal should, but if we must have one I at least want to keep a close eye on it, and this helps me do just that.
PS: Obama worked with Tom Coburn, far from an ideological equal, and pushed it over the ‘secret hold’ placed by Stevens and Byrd.
The Dish 