National Democrats
Persuader-in-Chief
Never underestimate a President who can talk eloquently about moral issues. It’s easy to forget that. We haven’t had a President who could do it for 20 years – since Ronald Reagan left the White House. The Bushes could hardly put together a coherent sentence. Yes, Bill Clinton could talk a blue streak.…
Read MoreNo Tears for Ted
One of the great falsehoods peddled by Jim Hunt-haters – and repeated in a recent comment on this site – is that he cried after Ted Kennedy’s speech to the 1980 convention. Sorry, haters. It didn’t happen. I was there. Standing beside Hunt on the floor of Madison Square Garden during Kennedy’s…
Read MoreObama Speaks
Watching President Obama give a speech is sort of like it used to be watching Reggie Jackson play baseball – I’m no Yankees fan but at times watching Reggie (like in the World Series game when he hit three homeruns) could be pretty amazing. Plus, President Obama has guts, which is about the rarest…
Read MoreKnuckleheads
I had no idea what a powerful and persuasive speaker President Obama is. According to Tom Fetzer & Co., if Obama gets the chance to address America’s schoolchildren, he will turn them into socialists. Wow. Especially with a subversive message like: study hard, stay in school and set goals for success.…
Read MoreStorm Clouds Over Democrats
President Obama swept into the White House not riding a pro-Obama wave but riding an anti-Bush tide. Now, Bush is gone and after nine months of marching straight left Obama’s setting off tides of his own and his popularity is vanishing faster than any newly elected President since the dawn of the Age of Polling.…
Read MoreCrafty Obama
One of the many brilliant (that means “Democratic”) readers of this blog has offered what could be a spot-on analysis of Obama’s new strategy on health care. I share it with you in full: “He has leaned back and relaxed and let Mitch McConnell and the screaming chorus shout and work themselves into a…
Read MoreFraming the Debate
Supporters of health-care reform better hope President Obama’s vacation gave him time to come up with some brilliant strategy. Because he’s losing control of the debate. The vaunted Obama message machine from the campaign is grinding its gears. They have not come up with a winning way to frame the debate. I thought…
Read MoreWhat Would Ted Do?
The commentariet says Ted Kennedy’s tactical skills will be missed in the health-care reform debate. What’s more likely to be missed is his roar. Democrats– including President Obama – lack a loud, clear voice to frame the debate. Like Kennedy did on Robert Bork. Like I heard him do at the…
Read MoreTeddy
Ted Kennedy was both an inspiration and political poison to North Carolina Democrats. We loved him because he was the last link to the glory days of John and Bobby Kennedy, the New Frontier, the Mercury 7 astronauts, the Peace Corps, “pay any price, bear any burden…” and all that. And his voice…
Read MoreCharacters
Bill Friday surprised me in our UNC-TV interview when he asked me about the most remarkable characters I’ve met in politics. So I’ve given it more thought. I’ve come down to two people I met during Governor Hunt’s 1984 campaign against Jesse Helms. At different times that year, our campaign was advised by…
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