The Latest Poll Bounce

For the third time in this long election season, Barack Obama is seeing a large gap open to his favor in the polls. Gallup Daily has him winning by 8 points, Rasmussen has him winning by 6 and in every other major poll in this country he is ahead of his rival, Republican John McCain. On a CBS morning talk show the day a Washington Post poll revealed the first of such leads, it was stated that no candidate since 1948 has lost from the position Barack Obama is in right now. 

However, the detractors would claim that Obama has bumped and bounced before. What’s different this time?

Unlike the other big leads Obama has held this election season (mind you, he has led consistently besides for a few days after the Republican National Convention), Barack Obama is seeing substance behind the bounce and this time it isn’t only he that’s doing it for him. Something in this country has happened that has people thinking twice about the silly emails they receive about Obama being a Muslim. A crisis has struck while the Republicans sat and warned about crises on the loom; this bounce, and now this election, is different because it comes out of an actual event, something tangible that has made people wake up and realize where the future of this country needs to be. Rather than listen to McCain ramble about earmarks and sing about bombing Iran, America has been thrust into a reality that only one leader of the two can actually fix. The market meltdown is something that affects every single American citizen and McCain has dug himself into a hole by declaring that the “economy is fundamentally strong,” by “suspending” his campaign and “postponing” the debate in an obvious political ploy, and by shooting himself in the foot by making a Vice Presidential pick that shows what he means when he says “country first”: nothing. 

The economic problems in this country have only just begun, unfortunately. Today, the widely controversial $700 bailout was defeated in the house in what was considered to be an easy passage until Old Maverick decided it was the place of the guy who declared he knows nothing of the economy to come fix the situation! Presidential politics had no place in something that was effectively a Capitol Hill battle; McCain, a little down at the news of the polls, just thought that he’d make himself look like a “leader” and put “country first” again by stopping the world for a photo op. While the country is distracted by this and the defeat of this monstrous chunk of tax payer money, the biggest financial institutions in the country are either being bought out, collapsed, or both! 

As the problems sustain and grow and as the mendacity of the McCain campaign, their cynical and tired political ads, and Pitbull Palin become a further, more visible burden for voters, expect this bounce to be final.

Thought: The Most Transparent Candidate?

Today, Barack Obama released the records of his and his wife’s tax returns. Kudos to Senator Obama. Senator Clinton on the other hand has not yet made good on a promise to release the records of her taxes and, instead, had initially proposed a date at which she would do so and now claims “very shortly”, the spending will be public knowledge. What’s the hold up, Hillary? What kind of document doctors do you need to look at your tax returns before they become available to the rest of the country and why are you throwing stones in a glass house? Yes, minutes before the release of Obama’s records today it was Hillary doing the thing she’s done best this campaign – hurling criticisms and insults. Hopefully she feels like a bit of an idiot that literally minutes after she made a big fuss the information was out in the open and the spotlight was back to her and her “transparency.” And, Senator McCain, you’re awfully quiet in the corner – where are your tax returns? At least he’s not making a scene out of it and drawing attention to himself! 

Thought: Democrats – Where We Go From Here And Why We Need To Speed

As unfortunate it is that we’re still stumbling along in the process of nominating a Democratic candidate for the general election, it is important for each of us to do a little bit of searching within ourselves to really think about why we’re here and where we’re going in this whole ordeal. Prior to Texas and Ohio, this was supposed to be the last big hoorah for Clinton. She is a lucky woman to still be in this race, the experts say, but is she even still in it? And how important is it to have sour milk in the fridge? Hillary Clinton’s made martyrdom of her campaign. In realizing that Obama wasn’t going to be ridden easily, she opted to go on the attack herself and criticized the media for never attacking on their part. As a result, Senator Obama who is actually running a campaign and not a lesson in smear and spin tactics, has to answer the same ridiculous questions day-in and day-out about things that should -not- be asked of the frontrunner of the Democratic candidacy. How sullen are you, Senator Clinton? To hesitate on the question of Obama’s religion as if you didn’t know any better… to copy the scare tactics of the Bush administration who you so casually scold at every opportunity… to mock your opponent’s campaign slogan… to make yourself a hypocrite by claiming to run against Obama is an “honor” and then to attempt to destroy his political career at every stop. As far as a united party goes, you, ma’am, are not the candidate to lead one and you cannot be the candidate to lead a country. Any candidate who selfishly initiates and escalates  in-fighting on the waves of her support only to hide behind her fake smile and call this election an “honor” is not a candidate who should be praised or supported. In fact, by the way she’s harped on about her experience for the job of Commander in Chief, you’d think she was the candidate who wanted 100 years more in Iraq. But that’s fine if she isn’t, she’ll settle for helping him by poisoning her own party. Let me say that, if for no other reason, you should quit while you’re ahead and while you have SOME dignity to spare.  The good news is that Barack Obama has virtually the same lead as he had (and as he pointed out) as he did the morning of the 4th, the night of the 3rd, and the tense weeks leading up to yesterday’s primaries/caucus. While we would have hoped for a clear path to victory, I’m comforted by the fact that Clinton only took in a net gain of 4 delegates from the spoils and therefore is still trailing the candidate who will change this country. On that note, John McCain opened up a wonderful little gap for the Democrats yesterday in his acceptance speech and in his noble (and successful) journey for the ever-senile president’s endorsement this morning. If the Democrats are going to call themselves (one of them rightfully, one of them wrongfully) the ‘change’ candidates then they need to stop bickering (that’s you, Senator Clinton) and move on with the show. The one thing Mike Huckabee said was that the Republicans have maintained honor in their campaign… not sure I thought I’d ever say this, but he’s right. Out with the in-fighting! My advice to the Democrats is to let the campaign continue without the ‘kitchen sink strategy’ only long enough to show that they can be civil at which point Clinton rallies behind Obama who seizes the opportunity to save this country from a third term of Bushism in John McCain.  It is important that we all look at the status of the Democratic party and look at what needs to be done. The Republicans have their candidate, let’s unify behind ours.