The Moderate Voice - Latest Comments in Is The Obama Campaign Making A Mistake ?

Re: Is The Obama Campaign Making A Mistake ?

troosvelt_1858 — Sat, 31 May 2008 23:41:12 -0000

To be honest I actually tend to side with the idea that they shouldn't have gotten any votes at the convention. The rules are the rules and they should stick to them, at least in a perfect world.

However I also recognize the political reality of some 50 odd electoral votes so I know they had to do something

Re: Is The Obama Campaign Making A Mistake ?

StockBoySF — Sat, 31 May 2008 20:38:54 -0000

On the one hand I can see how Obama would come out ahead by giving Hlllary what she wants. At the end of the day he's still ahead.

Though on the other hand, I don't think Obama wants to bee seen by other world leaders as someone who during negotiations will give away stuff just to be nice and look good. Also FL and MI did break the rules and should be sanctioned. I'm against rewarding scofflaws just because they scream loudly. What about all those states/territories which DID follow the rules? If there was no punishment for the rule breakers then in the future any state will feel that they can cherry-pick which rules they want to follow. Isn't that how banana republics operate?

So I'm happy that the DNC was fair (more than fair, if you ask me) about this issue. There was an accommodation made but the states weren't let off scott-free.

Re: Is The Obama Campaign Making A Mistake ?

pacatrue — Sat, 31 May 2008 19:30:21 -0000

If the Obama campaign disagrees with Don, it's obviously an indication that he's personally not terribly smart. Logically follows.

Re: Is The Obama Campaign Making A Mistake ?

donsingleton — Sat, 31 May 2008 18:33:04 -0000

If Obama had any sense he would have said that in the interest of party unity he asks the Rules committee to seat both FL and MI, giving him credit for undecided votes in MI. It would give Hillary all she says she wants, and yet the super delegates would flock to him. Then Hillary just has to hope e flubs up big, and since he just quit Trinity Church he is unlikely to be tied to more pastor problems from Trinity.

But Obama is not smart enough to do that.

Re: Is The Obama Campaign Making A Mistake ?

troosvelt_1858 — Sat, 31 May 2008 18:27:57 -0000

Well again, my point wasn't to argue for one side or the other, merely to point out that Obama could give Clinton all she wants and sill end up ahead and he would look good while she'd look even more petty

Re: Is The Obama Campaign Making A Mistake ?

runasim — Sat, 31 May 2008 17:10:35 -0000

I lost interest in the tactics at this meeting long before it started.

At the beginning of the primaries, Clinton declared that the delegates from FL and MI should not be seated.
She created this problem by changing her own rules mid-stream, and now everyone has to accomodate her revised positions, as they come up one by one.

It would be different, if objections raised by FL and MI were unattached to a specific candicadate, but Clinton is playing them for her own agenda, not for the sake of the Dem. Party and not on behalf of FL and MI voters.

It's a little late in the game to start parsing the tactics of all those put in an awkward position by Clinton's political games.

Re: Is The Obama Campaign Making A Mistake ?

troosvelt_1858 — Sat, 31 May 2008 17:04:16 -0000

Yes it was a typo on my part, I meant South Dakota, not Oregon. Thanks for the heads up.

As to making the argument she won by 100,000 votes I was trying to point out that even if you interpret things to the best advantage of Clinton, Obama would still have the lead.

In other words even if she gets what she wants she is behind, so Obama could have taken the high road and given her the benefits and lost nothing.

Re: Is The Obama Campaign Making A Mistake ?

Ron Beasley — Sat, 31 May 2008 16:50:36 -0000

Yes, Oregon already voted and Obama won by double digits. I don't see how you can make the case she beat Obama by 100,000 votes in MI when she was the only one on the ballot. How many Obama voters simply stayed home because they could not vote for their candidate. The only fair thing to do in Michigan is to give them half a vote, all uncommited.

Re: Is The Obama Campaign Making A Mistake ?

Jazz — Sat, 31 May 2008 16:43:56 -0000

I'd have to check to be sure, but I think Oregon already voted, didn't they?