SECOND EVENING UPDATE:  JUNE 10, 2008

Posted at 10:28 p.m. ET

BYE, BYE STRICKLAND

There'd been heavy speculation that Ohio's popular Democratic governor, Ted Strickland, might be tapped as Obama's v.p.   Speculation over:

ABC News' Teddy Davis and John Santucci Report: Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland (D) was Shermanesque on Tuesday in saying that he would "absolutely not" be Sen. Barack Obama's, D-Ill., running mate even if asked to join the Democratic ticket.

Asked on NPR's "All Things Considered" if he is auditioning to be Obama's running mate, Strickland said, "Absolutely not. If drafted I will not run, nominated I will not accept and if elected I will not serve.

So, I don’t know how more crystal clear I can be."

Strickland was seen by some political handicappers as an attractive vice presidential pick for Obama because he is a popular chief executive and former House member who hails from Ohio, the state which decided the 2004 election.

Strickland is attractive, but he has some positions that might have made Obama uncomfortable - such as a high regard for gun rights. 

With Strickland out, Ohio becomes that much more competitive, a plus for McCain.

June 10, 2008.      Permalink          

FIRST EVENING UPDATE:  JUNE 10, 2008

Posted at 10:19 p.m. ET

THE NEW POLITICS?

Well, I must say how impressed I am at how Barack Obama is practicing the new politics, the break with the old, corrupt ways, the great leap forward into a more perfect future:

Senator Barack Obama on Tuesday defended the head of his vice-presidential search committee, James A. Johnson, who received loans on favorable terms from Countrywide Financial, one of the nation’s largest mortgage lenders.

In a news conference at a St. Louis hospital, Mr. Obama said that Mr. Johnson and the other leaders of his vice-presidential search time, Eric Holder and Caroline Kennedy, are “not folks who are working for me, not folks I have assigned a job in a future administration.” He said they had the discrete task of reviewing or “vetting” possible vice-presidential candidates.

He said that he would not perform a thorough scrub of all of those assigned to perform specific tasks for his campaign.

“This is a game that can be played, everybody who is tangentially related to our campaign is going to have a whole host of relationships,” he said, responding to criticism of Mr. Johnson’s ties to Countrywide from Senator John McCain and the Republican National Committee. “I’d have to hire a vetter to vet the vetters.”

A spokesman for the national Republican Party, Alex Conant, called Mr. Obama’s answer “shocking.”

“Despite all his rhetoric, he won’t vet his own senior aides??!!” Mr. Conant e-mailed immediately after Mr. Obama’s press conference.

But he looks great in a bathing suit, doesn't he?

You can take the man out of Chicago machine politics, but you can't take Chicago machine politics out of the man.  Obama has absolutely botched this issue, and his denial that his vice-presidential search team is working for him is absurd on its face.  Who are they working for?  Jay Leno?

Now the key question:  How will McCain handle this, and turn this indifference to ethics into a major issue?

June 10, 2008.      Permalink          

SECOND AFTERNOON UPDATE:  JUNE 10, 2008

Posted at 5:37 p.m. ET

SUGGESTION

Do you need a father's day gift for the man who has everything?

May I suggest something that truly will thrill him - the new, genuine Barack Obama doll.  Yes, that's right.  You can see a picture of it here.

It's a wonderful doll, complete with American-flag lapel pin.  Removable, I'm sure.

All right, you say, the doll doesn't look anything like Obama.  In fact, it looks a bit more like...Al Sharpton.  But you can imagine it looks like Obama.  Yes you can!

Send no money.  The doll is available for only $219 online.

If you buy it, let me know.  I'm offering a bridge in Brooklyn...

June 10, 2008.       Permalink          

AFTERNOON UPDATE:  JUNE 10, 2008

Posted at 4:41 p.m. ET

AN OBAMA SURGE?

Two trackers out today show even further gains for Obama.  Both Rasmussen and Gallup have Obama up seven over McCain in the general election.

While these are early numbers, they're heading upward for Obama.  The question is whether they'll come down after the bump from his nomination victory fades away.

We're heading into summer doldrums.  Both campaigns will be planning a September launch.  I hope the McCain people plan something big.  He needs the attention. 

June 10, 2008.      Permalink          

TUESDAY:  JUNE 10,  2008

Posted at 3:49 a.m. ET

BEFORE YOU LECTURE US

Some days ago I commented on the pomposity of foreign journalists who wonder in print whether America, that backward land of hicks and religion, is ready for a black president.  I asked whether these earnest scribes ever looked at their own countries.

Now Anne Applebaum of The Washington Post writes a fine piece on the same theme.  Who do these people think they are?

"Will Americans vote for a black man?" I've been asked this question by foreigners of various origins a dozen -- or maybe three dozen -- times since the U.S. presidential campaign began for real in January. Now we have the answer: Yes, Americans will vote for a black man. Which means that it is time to turn this rather offensive question around: Will foreigners accept a black American president?

Applebaum cites European journalists who react to Obama's candidacy by proclaiming, "America has changed."

But has Europe changed? And have Asia and the Middle East changed? I hate to put it so crudely, but -- European newspaper reporting to the contrary -- racism is not unique to the United States. The situation of ethnic minorities in Europe and Asia is completely different from that in the United States, and in many ways our societies aren't comparable: Most nonwhite inhabitants of European societies are recent immigrants, not descendants of former slaves, and the particular circumstances of, say, the black Christian population in Arab-dominated Sudan are unique.

I'm glad someone finally said it.  More:

Nevertheless, it is safe to say that there is a distinct dearth of nonwhite politicians in Europe. The Indian caste system has an element of skin-color discrimination built in. Arab societies have their own history of trading in black slaves, and the existence in the Arab world of prejudice against black Africans is no secret. Periodically, African students in Moscow are beaten up on the street.

Well, Anne Applebaum won't be invited to give a commencement speech at any Ivy League schools, that's for sure.  More:

Listen carefully, too, when foreigners start worrying about Obama's lack of foreign policy experience. Though this is a legitimate concern, I occasionally catch a racist undertone in this kind of conversation. "How could a black man possibly understand European/Middle Eastern/South Asian politics?" is what my interlocutors sometimes in fact seem to be saying.

Wonderful column.  Wonderful Anne.

June 10, 2008.      Permalink          

THE SKIN CRAWLS

The New York Sun reports on a new committee being formed to head off war with Iran.  It is composed, of course, of the usual suspects, but with a difference:  Some are on the right, some are on the left.  This confirms the first rule of politics that many of us were taught in political science - that the far right and far left always meet, and become indistinguishable:

An unusual coalition of interest groups from left and right is launching a drive today to head off an American military attack on Iran by pushing America into high-level negotiations with Tehran.

The Campaign for a New American Policy on Iran, which bills itself as "transpartisan," consists of more than three dozen organizations, most of them left-leaning, such as the American Friends Service Committee, the Institute for Policy Studies, and the Open Society Policy Center, which is backed by George Soros.

However, the campaign also has the backing of a smattering of right-of-center groups, including the American Conservative Defense Alliance, the Libertarian Party, and the American Cause, which is headed by Patrick Buchanan.

Just a fun-loving bunch.  Buchanan, who doesn't think World War II should have been fought against Hitler, always manages to embarrass himself.  At least he's consistent.  Maybe he can talk with America-hating and Israel-hating George Soros.  They have so much in common.

As usual, the great Michael Ledeen cuts through the haze and makes sense of it all:

One advocate of a tough line toward Tehran, Michael Ledeen of the American Enterprise Institute, disputed the coalition's suggestion that America has been unwilling to talk with Iran. "We've tried everything. There's no stick we haven't brandished. There's no carrot we haven't dangled," he said. "They don't want us. They're our enemies."

But who cares about facts?  Why, aren't we all entitled to our own "narrative"?

No.

June 10, 2008.      Permalink          

PALIN?

Nat Hentoff, a truly great American journalist, with whom I agree half the time, proposes a vice presidential candidate for John McCain.  She is the governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin.  Now this is fascinating:

In 2006, Sarah Palin became Alaska's youngest and first woman governor after having earned a reputation as a determined and successful advocate of ethics reform in politics. In the primary, she defeated an incumbent Republican governor and then a former two-term Democratic governor.

During her first year in office, as reported by The Associated Press on May 10, she "distanced herself from the old guard, powerful members of the state GOP (and) stood up to the oil interests that hold great power in Alaska.."

And...

Last December, the mother of four children, Palin, four months pregnant, found she was going to have a child with Down syndrome, a condition characterized by moderate-to-severe mental retardation...

Palin's first reaction to the diagnosis was to research the facts about the condition, since "I've never had problems with my other pregnancies." As a result, she and her husband, Todd, never had any doubt they would have the child.

"We've both been very vocal about being pro-life," she told the AP. "We understand that every innocent life has wonderful potential."

And...

Because of Palin’s reputation as a maverick, and her initial reduction of state spending (including pork-barrel spending), life-affirming Palin connects with voters and has been mentioned as a possible vice presidential running mate for John McCain.

She would be a decided asset — an independent Republican governor, a woman, a defender of life against the creeping culture of death and a fresh face in national politics...

Interesting.  She would certainly liven things up. 

There is, perhaps, one problem.  Sarah Palin, a beauty contest winner, is extremely attractive, and that may actually count against her.  It's the gravitas thing.  Based on her record and intelligence, she could probably overcome it.

June 10, 2008.      Permalink