The Dish

Morristown, Pennsylvania, 1.30 pm.

The polling outfit that has one of the best primary season records also shows no real impact from Bitter-gate in Pennsylvania:

Clinton has polled at 55, 53, 56 and 54 percent in the SurveyUSA polls, while Obama has polled 36, 41, 38 and 40 percent. However, the contest remains tight in Southeast Pennsylvania, which includes Philadelphia. The poll also found that Obama gained ground among Democrats who attend religious services regularly.

This campaign still surprises, doesn’t it?

I’m struck by the resonance of this sentence right now:

The tradition I am talking about … tends to be skeptical of programs for the wholesale redemption of society… It is very radically democratic and in that sense it clearly belongs on the Left. But on the other hand it has a good deal more respect for tradition than is common on the Left, and for religion too.

Who does that sound like? A reader writes:

I second the notion of your reader who sees a strong connections between the political philosophy of the late Christopher Lasch and that of Obama. The first few times I heard Obama speak about the audacity of hope as opposed to blind optimism, and describe in detail the difference between the two, I had to wonder if he’d read The True and Only Heaven. Clearly, the distinctions he speaks about are those Lasch would have recognized. The similarities are most striking in Obama’s Martin Luther King day speech. Both recognize the need for self-responsibility within a supportive community; both understand the forces that work against community in this particular era.

As a former Lasch graduate student, I can’t help but wonder what Kit would have thought about Obama’s candidacy and the end of the era of don’t-worry-be-happy conservatism that had its genesis with Reagan but has come full flower with GW Bush.

Kit recognized the perils of corporate politics and the artificial hardening of lines between "liberal" and "conservative." His politics transcended narrow categories, which is what made his critics on both the left and the right so nervous. He defied easy definition. So does Obama. Much of his appeal to me is in how intelligent his campaign has been, how he doesn’t speak down to voters, and how many of his positions cross the political divide between what’s genuine in both the liberal and conservative movements. It’s given me hope that so many people of differing political vantage points have been able to unite behind him. I suspect Kit would have approved.

Gallup still shows no change. I’m beginning to suspect that the only segment left in America that genuinely feels that elitism is a problem for Obama are … the elites. How funny is that? And how fantastic if it is borne out in the actual voting. Maybe we’re witnessing the death-throes of Rove-Morris politics, after all. I don’t know – but we will soon find out, and may even have the Clintons to thank for proving it.

The inspiration for Jason Castro’s version.

Some evidence that this issue could actually help Obama: check out this poll of respondents to the bitter flap before and after they watch Obama’s own self-defense. He’s the first Democrat I’ve seen in a long time who doesn’t respond to this kind of attack with a defensive crouch. Because he’s confident that the underlying facts and arguments will help him make his case. The critical issue for the fall will be how Independents respond to classic Rove-Clinton tactics like this. So far, they’re not biting as predicted.

My advice for Obama: seize this some more.

A powerful case:

An electoral youth-quake in North Carolina.

Quinnipiac suggests Pennsylvanians remain unmoved by the spat.

"As an Independent, it doesn’t bother me at all to be honored at the same dinner with Rush Limbaugh. In fact, to show you how much things have changed for me, one of my greatest missions this year is to convince Rush to support the Republican candidate for President!

The truth is I greatly admire Rush’s love for our country and support for our troops, as shown by his remarks tonight and his generous support of MCLEF. Rush has a big voice but he has heart that is even bigger," – Joe Lieberman.

And yet, only two years ago, Lieberman couldn’t say enough good things about Barack Obama, and begged him to come to Connecticut. What changed?