Category: Barack Obama

Rod Dreher jumps on the wagon:

If I were a Republican, I’d be very, very afraid. Oh wait, I am a Republican. Dang.

He thought Obama was a Muslim until further information. Emails are wonderful, aren’t they?

"I am a Christian, and I am a devout Christian. I believe in the redemptive death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. I believe that that faith gives me a path to be cleansed of sin and have eternal life. But most importantly, I believe in the example that Jesus set by feeding the hungry and healing the sick and always prioritizing the least of these over the powerful. I didn’t ‘fall out in church’ as they say, but there was a very strong awakening in me of the importance of these issues in my life. I didn’t want to walk alone on this journey. Accepting Jesus Christ in my life has been a powerful guide for my conduct and my values and my ideals," – Barack Obama, Christianity Today.

Ross considers Obama’s options if he loses this time around. I’m not thinking about that right now. It’s too painful.

"I have no doubt that once the nomination contest is over, I will get the people who voted for her. Now the question is can she get the people who voted for me?" –  Barack Obama. 

Obama on the Muslim emails:

We have no way of tracing where these e-mails come from, but what I know is they come in waves, and they somehow appear magically wherever the next primary or caucus is, although they’re also being distributed all across the country. But the volume increases as we get closer to particular elections.

That indicates to me that this is something that is being used to try to raise doubts or suspicions about my candidacy.

Best not to get paranoid.

The Clinton spin is obvious:

"He only won it because of black votes, so it doesn’t really count."

No doubt this represents disgust at the core of the Obama coalition and little else. But I have received too many emails on these lines not to pass it along:

I am a lifelong Democrat and have been a strong Obama advocate–even donating money for the very first time in my life. (And I am over 50.)  Still, all along, I thought, if Clinton gets the nomination, I’d vote for her over a Republican.  Especially after the past decade of the Republican experience.  However, after seeing Clinton in action in these past weeks and at last night’s debate (as well as Bill’s "contributions"), I will never vote for her. Never. If she gets the nomination, I will have to hope that McCain is nominated and give him a good look.

While I have considerable disagreement with him on a policy level, he is a man of integrity.  (Mostly; but that’s another email.)  Perhaps a McCain presidency balanced by a Democratic Congress will serve the country well.  But no matter the Republican nominee, one thing is certain:  I will not vote for Hillary.  The person who once bemoaned the politics of personal destruction now applies them with stomach-turning zeal.  Not to mention her well-crafted art of the politics of distortion.  No, that’s not what I want for this country.  We’ve had enough of destruction, distortion and manipulation.  Obama is a breath of welcome fresh air.  If the country does not see it, well, then I suppose we’ll "get what we deserve."  Again.

Jake Tapper looks at the question of whether the Clintons have been deliberately misquoting and misrepresenting the Illinois senator. It’s a helpful piece simply laying out the evidence. And it’s damning for the Clintons.

I loved this Byron York anecdote from South Carolina:

I went to Barack Obama’s rally here, on Sunday night, with a Republican friend who had never seen the Illinois senator in action before. Watching the crowd of more than 3,000 fill up the convention center, watching the people send up waves of energy to Obama, and watching him play off that energy in a speech that was one of the best political performances anyone has seen this year, my Republican friend said, simply, "Oh, shit." He recalled the scene from Jaws, in which the small seaside town’s sheriff realizes how big the shark he’s tracking truly is, and says, "We’re gonna need a bigger boat."

Why is something so obvious to Republicans not clear (yet) to Democrats?