Oh-eight (D): Baby bonds and war
Posted: Tuesday, October 02, 2007 9:40 AM by Domenico Montanaro
Filed Under:
Democrats, 2008
BIDEN: The
Washington Post’s E.J. Dionne writes, “There seems to be far more interest in how fundraising is going for Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and John Edwards.” BUT “The vote on Biden's proposal to devolve power to Iraq's regions and three major groups could turn out to be a milestone in the effort to end the war. It was also a reflection of how much Republican frustration there is with the Iraqi government and the direction of President Bush's policy.”
CLINTON: Her $5,000 “baby bonds” proposal may have given fodder to Republicans. “The baby bonds proposal is one of the few mistakes Hillary Clinton has made in her campaign,” said University of Virginia Professor Larry Sabato per the
New York Times. ‘Should Clinton become the Democratic nominee, she may have handed a powerful issue to the Republican candidate.”
The
Chicago Tribune’s -- albeit conservative -- editorial page was not kind either: “Vote for me, a candidate might say, and I'll cut taxes or boost school spending or protect your embattled industry from foreign competition. But Hillary Clinton is taking a more direct approach to parents. Vote for me, she said the other day, and I might just give you $5,000. The proposition, of course, was not so direct as to constitute a bribe, but it proved that in the realm of audacity, Barack Obama has some serious competition.”
The campaign continues to do well with support from longtime African-American political leaders. Yesterday, the campaign nabbed the endorsement of Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums.
Two weeks ago, we had
flashbacks to the mid-'90s with O.J. Simpson media stalking and Clinton pushing a health care plan. Last night, those flashbacks went back to '92 with Clinton appearing with a Tsongas. Bill Clinton stumped for Paul Tsongas’ widow, Niki Tsongas, who is running in a special Congressional election in Lowell, Mass.
Clinton is co-sponsoring legislation introduced by Sen. Jim Webb (D-VA) that prohibits the use of funds for military operations against Iran without explicit Congressional authorization.
“Given recent reports about Administration military planning toward Iran and to ensure that Congress plays a proper role in the authorization of any potential military force, today I have added myself as a co-sponsor of a bill introduced by Senator Jim Webb which prohibits the use of funds for military action in Iran without authorization by Congress," Clinton said in a statement released by her Senate office. Clinton noted Iran's expanded influence in Iraq and said that she continues to support a policy of sustained diplomatic engagement with Iran.
Interesting timing, considering the attention that her Iran Senate vote got during the NBC debate last week.
EDWARDS: All in in New Hampshire and Iowa: The
Chicago Tribune writes: “Unable to match Democrat rivals Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama in fund-raising, Edwards has placed all his chips on the only bet available to him: a full-scale grass-roots push in the two earliest primary states in hopes that success there will vault him to the nomination.
The
Washington Post reported and NBC/NJ confirmed Edwards’ chief media consultant left the campaign. The Post reported, “Senior strategists Joe Trippi (himself a media consultant by training) and Jonathan Prince will take over the development and production of Edwards's ad campaign.”
OBAMA: As part of his fifth anniversary anti-war speech, Obama plans to call for the
elimination of all nuclear weapons in the world. "Obama will add his voice to a plan endorsed earlier this year by a bipartisan group of former government officials from the cold war era who say the United States must begin building a global consensus to reverse a reliance on nuclear weapons that have become “increasingly hazardous and decreasingly effective.”
More Obama from a speech excerpt: “In 2009, we will have a window of opportunity to renew our global leadership and bring our nation together,” Mr. Obama is planning to say, according to an excerpt of remarks provided by his aides. “If we don’t seize that moment, we may not get another.”
If elected, Mr. Obama plans to say, he will lead a global effort to secure nuclear weapons and material at vulnerable sites within four years. He also will pledge to end production of fissile material for weapons, agree not to build new weapons and remove any remaining nuclear weapons from hair-trigger alert.
The plan Obama is signing on to has been endorsed by Sec/States George Shultz and Henry Kissinger and ex-Def. Sec. Bill Perry and potential indie pres. candidate/ex-Ga. Sen. Sam Nunn.
But this past April Obama
wouldn’t go so far as to call for the elimination of nuclear weapons.
The Obama campaign is oddly confident about its standing right now. "I'm not too worried," said David Axelrod, a key Obama strategist. "The roadsides of Iowa and New Hampshire are strewn with the spent political carcasses of September and October front-runners."
The image doesn't exactly work. Historically, most dominant front-runners have usually managed to go on and win the party nomination, including those who had to scrape themselves off the pavement after a loss in an early voting state. But there are still plenty of historical reasons not to call the race just yet. Many candidates who seemed to be headed for a cakewalk at this point ended up fighting for their candidacies by the time voters went to the polls.
The
AP's Ron Fournier continues his look at the candidates and their attempts at controlling their images by focusing on whether Obama is a "courageous leader." Noting Obama's '02 opposition to the Iraq war, Fournier notes: "The truth is that while Obama showed foreign policy savvy and an ability to keenly analyze both sides of an issue in his October 2002 warnings on Iraq, the political upside of his position rivaled any risk. And, once elected to the U.S. Senate two years later, Obama waited months to show national leadership on Iraq."
"His latest campaign ad calls Obama‘s leader with the judgment to oppose the Iraq war before it began.’ The words ‘courageous leader’ are superimposed over video.”
Courageous or calculating? These are the facts: In 2004, while getting ready for his star-making address to the Democratic National Convention, Obama gave presidential nominee John Kerry and other leading Democrats a pass for backing Bush on Iraq. Noting he was not privy to intelligence reports shown to Kerry and others, Obama told The New York Times, "What would I have done? I don't know." Once elected, Obama didn't force the issue in the Senate."
The
Quad City Times gives some ink to an allegation that Obama broke his pledge not to campaign in Florida by speaking with reporters in Tampa last weekend. Per the QC Times, "The Tampa Tribune reported that Obama ‘hinted’ he would seat Florida’s delegates anyway if he becomes the party’s presumptive nominee. Obama spokesman Tommy Vietor said the statement was misreported. According to Vietor, Obama was asked whether he would seat Florida’s delegates if he were the presumptive nominee. Vietor said Obama answered the question by saying he was so far from being the presumptive nominee that to answer the question would be arrogant."
