National Democrats
Democratic Disaster?
I’ve got a bad feeling about this. My hair’s standing up on my neck the way it did early in 1994. But four months earlier this time. Obama is struggling to keep control of the agenda. August will be crucial. If the right-wing attacks on health care reform, deficits, cash-for-clunkers and “Not Born…
Read MoreThe Limits of Reason
A few days ago up in Washington the President got a visit from the Chinese; it seems China is holding $800 billion in U.S. government bonds (which basically means they’ve been loaning us the money to finance our national debt) so, naturally, about the last thing on earth they want is to see an outbreak…
Read MoreWhy Doctor O May Win
Barack Obama brought his health-care reform campaign to Raleigh just as polls suggest support is slipping for reform. As always, Washington and the media are poised for a rerun of history. They see the story in terms of the death of Clinton Care in 1994. But the story could turn out different this…
Read MoreRechanneling 1994
Back when Casey Stengel was managing the woeful New York Mets in their first year, he looked down the bench one day and moaned: “Can’t anybody here play this game?” You might ask the same question in Washington today. About both the Democrats and the Republicans. Both parties are still hung up on…
Read MorePayback
Sarah Palin and her amen chorus are an endless source of free entertainment. In the increasingly incomprehensible interviews she has given since her incomprehensible announcement that she would resign as Alaska’s governor, she has loudly complained – and her acolytes on the right and on Fox News have loudly echoed – about how badly…
Read MoreBig Spenders
Polls suggest that President Obama is losing independents who are concerned about federal spending and rising debt. In North Carolina, Governor Perdue and Democratic legislators fear the political consequences of the coming combination of budget cuts and tax increases. Democrats don’t need to panic yet. The honeymoon had to end, and Obama had to…
Read MoreStrange
Ironic news juxtaposition: Monday was the deadliest day in a year for America military forces in Afghanistan. Seven dead. And Robert Strange McNamara died. When McNamara became president of Ford and then JFK’s Secretary of Defense in rapid succession, all Washington marveled at the power of his intellect. Lyndon Johnson thought McNamara was so…
Read MoreThe New Ad Wars
Two “issue” ad campaigns caught my eye this week. They show where this kind of media strategy is going. One ad was about U.S. Senator Kay Hagan and the others, state Senator Doug Berger. When I first saw the ad about Hagan, I thought: She’s already running a campaign ad? It sounded just…
Read MoreA Sex Tape?
It’s been a rough couple of elections for Republicans, so I can understand how happy today’s news is making Carter (see his blog below). But how can you blame him? Just when you thought the John Edwards affair could not sink lower, here comes Andrew Young. Just when you thought Mark Sanford…
Read MoreDeep Throat
My guess is hardly anyone reading this blog remembers when the movie Deep Throat came out 37 years ago – but there was an article about it in the paper last Saturday. Some sleuth has figured out that back in 1972 (when I was nineteen) the FBI moved heaven and earth to keep the…
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