One Clintonite's Conversion

[one...two...tree 2,762]

By Howard Wolfson

For many of us who were part of the Clinton campaign, Sen. Barack Obama's appeal was something we understood only in the abstract -- data in polls, faces at a televised rally.

Most of us never heard him speak in person. At work 14 hours a day in the war room, we focused on his perceived faults and deficiencies. Our time was spent sharpening and advancing arguments. Skepticism was critical to our efforts. Insulated from Obamamania, I met few Obama supporters and distanced myself from the ones I knew. I lived this way for 18 months.

From the outside, our loss may have seemed inevitable for months, but inside the campaign we simply kept going. Each late victory brought false hope. We were finally doing too well to stop, but never well enough to win. We fought so long because we believed so strongly in our candidate; sustained by the passions of our supporters, we hoped that, as long as we kept moving, we could keep failure at bay.

Once we ran out of states and the campaign ended, we were like Rip Van Winkle. We awoke to a world transformed by political currents we had stood against. There was the neighbor in an Obama T-shirt getting the morning paper. Every parked car on the street bore an Obama bumper sticker. Had they been there along, or did they pop up overnight?

I fled the country, overcoming a fear of flying to travel abroad three times in two months. I avoided the papers and television. Media postmortems rehashed familiar feuds and created new rifts. I had no answers when my 3-year-old daughter asked why Hillary had lost or where all the Hillary signs had gone.

Many of us arrived in Denver reluctantly, feeling like uninvited guests at someone else's party. What the media described as division felt more like defeat.

Michelle Obama and both Hillary and Bill Clinton did their part to change that during the Democratic National Convention's first days. Their speeches struck the right tones of unity, softening hearts made hard by months of fighting and appealing to our common values as Democrats and Americans.

Then came Thursday night at Invesco Field. During the campaign, we scoffed at events like this, mostly because we were not capable of producing them. A cross section of voters waited for hours to enter the stadium and take their seats. As one friend put it, it looked more like an American convention than the convention of any particular political party.

Clinton delegates greeted one another with tears and hugs and were greeted in turn by Obama delegates. Several Obama supporters took my hand to thank me for what the Clintons had said that week, urging that they stay involved in the campaign. Every so often, I would simply look around me, amazed at the significance not just of the day but of the entire campaign.

The setting raised the bar for Obama's speech. The task before him: Explain what change meant and how it would be accomplished while weaving his own biography into the fabric of America's and laying out an appropriate contrast with John McCain.

No one in recent history had attempted this kind of a political conversation with 75,000 people. Barack Obama pulled it off.

For 18 months, I listened to Obama on television, sometimes intently, often just barely -- background noise to a running series of conference calls and meetings and e-mails.

In person, my attention undivided, I saw something of what so many others had seen for so long.

Progress in America is never cheap, and even today history exacts a price for Obama's victory -- the dreams of electing the first female president, the dreams of so many who rushed toward Hillary Clinton on rope lines across America and refused to give up her hand and their hopes. Today these dreams are giving way to another kind of progress.

For me, the presidential campaign began in a crowded Iowa hall, where I saw a man my age lift up a daughter around my daughter's age and tell her that one day she could be president. Last week things came nearly full circle, when I saw another man my age lift up another child and say the very same thing.

The writer, a partner at the Glover Park Group, was communications director of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's presidential campaign. He blogs at GothamAcme.com.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/31/AR2008083101620.html

[Ban Hammer 13,352]

[alienlovechild 75]

The article doesn't cite a single reason for his conversion from Clinton to Obama. He just went with the tide of Obama followers. That's pretty lame for Hillary's Communication Director. He's looking for a new job.

[Dan J 277]

The article doesn't cite a single reason for his conversion from Clinton to Obama. He just went with the tide of Obama followers. That's pretty lame for Hillary's Communication Director. He's looking for a new job.

As opposed to the tide of McCain followers?

[GaryC 7]

The article doesn't cite a single reason for his conversion from Clinton to Obama. He just went with the tide of Obama followers. That's pretty lame for Hillary's Communication Director. He's looking for a new job.

As opposed to the tide of McCain followers?

You might want to re-think that attempt at an attack?

CNN Poll: Obama 49, McCain 48

Posted: 08:00 PM ET

From CNN Deputy Political Director Paul Steinhauser

ST. PAUL, Minnesota (CNN) — On the eve of the Republican convention, a new national poll suggests the race for the White House remains dead even.

A CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll released Sunday night shows the Obama-Biden ticket leading the McCain-Palin ticket by one point, 49 percent to 48 percent, a statistical dead heat.

The survey was conducted Friday through Sunday, after both the conclusion of the Democratic convention and McCain’s selection of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate.

A previous CNN poll, taken just one week earlier, suggested the race between Sens. McCain, R-Arizona, and Obama, D-Illinois, was tied at 47 percent each.

“The convention — and particularly Obama's speech — seems to be well-received. And the selection of Sarah Palin as the GOP running mate, also seems to be well-received. So why is the race still a virtual tie? Probably because the two events created equal and opposite bounces — assuming that either one created a bounce at all,” says CNN Polling Director Keating Holland.

Barack Obama’s acceptance speech in front of a crowd of more than 80,000 people at INVESCO Field in Denver on Thursday night wrapped up the Democrats’ convention. It was one of the most widely watched political conventions in history.

The poll suggests that the convention made people who watched more likely to vote for the Democratic ticket. Fifty-one percent of registered voters said the convention made them more likely to support Obama; only 32 percent said they were less likely to back the Democratic nominee.

“Sixty-four percent rated Obama's acceptance speech as excellent or good, giving it significantly higher marks than any other recent acceptance speech. The Democratic Party’s favorable ratings went up, and the GOP's favorable ratings went down. Historically speaking, the convention was better than some and worse than others in the public's mind — not a home run, but a hit nonetheless,” says Holland

Less than 12 hours after Obama accepted the Democratic presidential nomination, McCain introduced Palin as running mate, surprising the political world.

So far, according to the poll, four in 10 Americans are not familiar with Palin. Thirty-eight percent of those questioned viewed her favorably and 21 percent unfavorably.

Men appear to have a slightly favorably opinion of Palin than women; 41 percent of men view her favorably, five points higher than women.

Americans seem evenly divided on whether McCain made a wise choice in selecting Alaska’s first term governor, who’s been in office for less than two years.

Fifty-two percent rate the selection of Palin as excellent or pretty good; 46 percent rate it as fair or poor.

Is Palin qualified to be president?

Fifty percent say she is unqualified to assume the presidency if that becomes necessary; 45 percent say she’s prepared for the White House.

In recent history, the only running mate to earn less confidence from the public was Vice President Dan Quayle in 1992.

Ultimately however, the Palin pick may have minimal effect on the race for the White House.

Almost six in 10 Americans say Palin’s selection as McCain’s running mate will have no effect on their vote. One in five say it makes them more likely to vote for McCain; one in five say it makes them less likely.

Three quarters of all voters think McCain chose a female running mate specifically because he thought adding a woman to the Republican ticket would help him win in November.

“If McCain was hoping to boost his share of the women's vote, it didn't work,” Holland said.

“Women now appear slightly more likely to vote for Obama than they did a week ago, 53 percent now, compared to 50 percent. But McCain picked up a couple of points among men. More important, McCain solidified his party's base with the Palin selection, dropping Obama's share of the Republican vote six points to just 5 percent now. The Palin selection did not help among women — that may come later — but it did appeal to Republican loyalists.”

The CNN/Opinion Research Corp. Poll was conducted from Friday through Sunday, with 927 registered voters questioned by telephone. The survey’s overall sampling error is plus or minus three percentage points.

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/...a-49-mccain-48/

[one...two...tree 2,762]

The article doesn't cite a single reason for his conversion from Clinton to Obama. He just went with the tide of Obama followers. That's pretty lame for Hillary's Communication Director. He's looking for a new job.

I actually agree he left me wondering just what the heck was he thinking. However, I'm sure he could articulate what it was about Obama's speech that grabbed him but perhaps this being just a blog he made, he didn't feel it was necessary. The rhetoric that supporting Obama requires a suspension of one's intellect is actually comical when it's being parroted by die-hard Dubbya supporters.

Edited September 1, 2008 by Jabberwocky

[alienlovechild 75]

However, I'm sure he could articulate what it was about Obama's speech that grabbed him but perhaps this being just a blog he made, he didn't feel it was necessary.

He couldn't articulate his reasons and his job is communications. That's pitful by any measure.

The rhetoric that supporting Obama requires a suspension of one's intellect is actually comical when it's being parroted by die-hard Dubbya supporters.

I think Bush's press secretary have could have produced at least a single issue compared to no issues at all for Obama. Bush isn't running anyway. Also, like it or not Bush has a record but Obama doesn't even have that. That's why called "blind faith". Another news flash for you. McCain at least had measure of independence from Bush. Obama has no independence of thought from left-wing ideology.

Lastly, how come I have to point out the obvious before anyone else can muster a thought?

Edited September 1, 2008 by alienlovechild

[IAMX 3,055]

Obama has no independence of thought from left-wing ideology.

Lastly, how come I have to point out the obvious before anyone else can muster a thought?

Well, speaking of not mustering a thought --^

Obama decided to vote with the right wing to give AT&T retroactive immunity and legalize the NSA bullshit. The left did not want that. Obama has changed on drilling. The left did not want that.

Damn him for his voting for Republican left-wing ideologies.

[alienlovechild 75]

Obama decided to vote with the right wing to give AT&T retroactive immunity and legalize the NSA bullshit. The left did not want that. Obama has changed on drilling. The left did not want that.

SRVT, you're beginning to show some promise. Obama's took some tepid steps knowing it's easy to yip and yap until you realize you may become president. Obama wants the power gather intelligence and protect presidential privilege. Expect more data mining like the Clinton era's Echelon program and who knows what else.

Obama isn't that much of a maverick. His shot at the presidency is on the line so he'll say or do things for votes. It won't piss the Dems off much because they need Obama more than Obama needs the Dems.

[IAMX 3,055]

Obama decided to vote with the right wing to give AT&T retroactive immunity and legalize the NSA bullshit. The left did not want that. Obama has changed on drilling. The left did not want that.

SRVT, you're beginning to show some promise. Obama's took some tepid steps knowing it's easy to yip and yap until you realize you may become president. Obama wants the power gather intelligence and protect presidential privilege. Expect more data mining like the Clinton era's Echelon program and who knows what else.

Obama isn't that much of a maverick. His shot at the presidency is on the line so he'll say or do things for votes. It won't piss the Dems off much because they need Obama more than Obama needs the Dems.

Sadly, pretty much all of it is true. And, much the same with McCain as well. These DNC/RNC celebrations are simply sickening.

[rebeccajo 14]

However, I'm sure he could articulate what it was about Obama's speech that grabbed him but perhaps this being just a blog he made, he didn't feel it was necessary.

He couldn't articulate his reasons and his job is communications. That's pitful by any measure.

Well, you weren't having a problem with the work he was doing six months ago.

Your duplicity is showing......