A New Wave

The non-vetting of Hillary Clinton

I'll have more to say about Obama's VP pick in my blog after I have a chance to review some of the voluminous information on Sen. Biden. 

For now I want to tease out the vetting of VP contenders from the actual discussion about the VP pick. 

Setting aside the harsh feelings and attitudes expressed about Hillary Clinton during the primaries, I think it was a mistake for Obama not to have vetted her for VP, which we are now learning he didn't do.

Tim Kaine on Obama's Short List! Really?

Let me preface my comments with this note: I'm not one to really follow the "veepstakes". I consider it a waste of time and energy, especially when, where I live, summer is really short.

However, after several days of online murmers that Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine is at the top of Obama's short list for VP, I have to weigh in.

Bernie Mac's lowball, emotionally-stunted humor

On a scale of 1 to 10 - 1 being "really, really outrageous and twisted" misogyny, Bernie Mac's attempts at humor on Friday (at an Obama fundraiser) rank about 3 on my misogyny meter. But Joan Walsh is less incensed than I am:

Anyway, soldiers are dying in Iraq, the mortgage industry is imploding, banks are closing, our civil liberties were seriously eroded this week (with Obama's support) and we're expected to be outraged by Bernie Mac? I'll pass.

Walsh happens to like Bernie Mac's humor. I don't. He's one of a long line of (especially) Black male comedians who use women as comedic punching bags. Friday's fundraiser for Obama was no exception:

Hillary: Is She Or Isn't She?

If Howard Wolfson has it right, Hillary Clinton isn't being vetted by the Obama VP team:

On Fox, former Clinton chief strategist Howard Wolfson indicated that Hillary Clinton is not being formally considered as Obama's running mate, in that she has not been asked to undergo the formal vetting process.

"Not as far as I know," Wolfson, who remains close to Clinton, said in response to a question from Sean Hannity. - more -

This Just In: Obama Is A Politician, After All

The Senate voted 80-15 yesterday in favor of granting immunity to telecoms who engaged in electronic eavesdropping under Bush Administration "information-gathering guidelines". This is the first part of a two-part vote on the bill. Sen. Barack Obama held a press conference after the vote, explaining why he favored the "reworked" FISA legislation:

Asked specifically why he's supporting the current FISA bill when he'd promised months ago to support a filibuster of an earlier version of the bill, Obama suggested flat out that "national security" overrides the question of telecom immunity...

[snip]

Obama's line on national security here seems to be affirmation of something that many understood already: That he will support the bill even if telecom immunity isn't stripped from it, despite his promise to try to get immunity out of the legislation. If the issue of telecom immunity doesn't override national security, he'll of course vote for the bill with or without it.

Equal Pay Should Actually Mean Something

On April 28 the U.S. Senate failed to pass a significant piece of legislation: H.R. 2831, the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2007. 

This bill was a remedy to the 2007 Supreme Court decision that ruled against Lilly Ledbetter in her pay discrimination lawsuit against Goodyear Tire & Rubber The bill would have "reset the clock" for filing pay discrimination lawsuits with each and every discriminatory wage practice by employers (issuing a paycheck for example). SCOTUS ruled that workers who face wage discrimination have only 180 days to legally challenge the initial discrimination. 

Both Democratic senators and presidential candidates (Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton) voted in favor of the bill. John McCain, the Republican, missed the vote.

Typical, right?

I thought so but then I found this interesting tidbit:

Why Faith-Based "Partnerships" Are A Bad Idea

First it was Obama's outreach, at a Chicago meeting, to Christian religious leaders. Forget for a second that this outreach effort failed to include Catholics, Muslims, Jews, or other religious/spiritual denominations and beliefs.

Then it was reaching out to young evangelicals - the Joshua Generation - followed by roll out of the Matthew 25 Network (PAC) to get evangelicals to donate money to Obama (and support/endorse him).

Today he announced his newest initiative, the Office of Community and Faith-Based Partnerships:

Obama was unveiling his approach to getting religious charities more involved in government anti-poverty programs during a tour and remarks Tuesday at Eastside Community Ministry in Zanesville, Ohio. ...

Enough With The Roe v. Wade Arguments

Since Hillary Clinton conceded the Democratic nomination on June 7, I have read at least two articles a day by progressive bloggers telling Democratic women why it is in women's best interests to vote for Barack Obama. Of the numerous articles, these six are the most representative arguments.

In every case these purveyors of wisdom alternately chide us, berate us for being angry at the media, the Democratic Party system, and its leaders, and lecture us about throwing away our Freedom of Choice if we do not do the right thing and vote for Barack Obama.

First, let me get something out of the way: I'm a proponent and advocate of ensuring women's reproductive rights.

(Re)United In Unity

"She rocks!"

These were the words shouted by a very enthusiastic Hillary Clinton supporter yesterday in Unity, NH to mark the celebrated joint appearance of Clinton and Barack Obama.

Obama Is Just A Politician After All: PART II

It's been a rough couple of days for the O-godosphere (Obama's online cheerleaders). First he makes a political calculation to abandon public financing so that he can use his own online ATM (otherwise known as "small donors"). Then he capitulates on a reworked FISA bill, which was passed by the House of Representatives on Friday.

Obama is at least old enough and smart enough to know that his decisions must, of necessity, be political; that they are frequently the best-available and best-intended compromises; and that this is how the world works (more often than not). His young supporters do not know this.