A New Wave

(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.

How About A Woman For MTP?

Over at the White House Project, Marie Wilson & Co. have another great idea: how about a woman to moderate MTP?

I think it's a terrific idea. Their blog, "Change Everything" asks readers for names - which will be forwarded to NBC.

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.

Obama Is Just A Politician After All: PART I

To paraphrase Larry Johnson's post from yesterday, it's been somewhat painful to read and hear liberal bloggers' outcries over Barack Obama's statements last week to forego public financing and, more importantly, his acceptance of a reworked FISA law, which was passed by the House on Friday.

Frankly, I'm amused to see the level of apoplexy among so-called progressive bloggers over Obama's abandonment of principle, capitulation to politics-as-usual, and political calculation. Many of them are shocked, shocked! to learn that Barack Obama is, after all, just a politician.

New Polls, Intriguing Findings

New polls are out. The "horse race" polls are, in the main, nothing new, with the exception of the latest Newsweek poll, which strikes me more as an outlier, compared to daily tracking poll numbers that are probably closer to truth.

First, the horse race numbers.

To start things off, the Newsweek poll shows Obama with a whopping lead over McCain:

... new NEWSWEEK Poll shows that he has a substantial double-digit lead, 51 percent to 36 percent, over McCain among registered voters nationwide.

[snip]

Obama's current lead also reflects the large party-identification advantage the Democrats now enjoy—55 percent of all voters call themselves Democrats or say they lean toward the party while just 36 percent call themselves Republicans or lean that way.

Hillary Clinton: Our New Populist-Feminist Heroine

Blogs and news sites are buzzing about John Heilemann's excellent profile of Hillary Clinton in this week's issue of New York Magazine.

Above all, Heilemann's article is real journalism and not the slash-and-burn, take-down, smackdown variety of "news" practiced by Chris Matthews, Keith Olbermann, MSNBC, FOX, and so many others.

CA Marries Lesbian Activists Martin And Lyon

Two of the nation's best-known lesbian activists enjoyed a big first yesterday. Phyllis Lyon, 84 (seated) and Del Martin, 87 became the first lesbian couple to marry under California's gay marriage law, which was upheld by the state Supreme Court last month.

Al Gore's Endorsement: My Take

Even in political blogs and among online political chatterboxes, Gore's endorsement today didn't generate the same buzz that John Edwards' endorsement did. It was very low-key, generating at most a paragraph or two:

ABC News' Sunlen Miller and Nitya Venkataraman Report:

Former Vice President Al Gore will endorse Sen. Barack Obama Monday night in Detroit, appearing on stage alongside the presumptive Democratic nominee for the first time in the 2008 election cycle.

Obama Says No Privatization Of Social Security

Barack Obama would change the way payroll taxes are levied for Social Security, eliminating the tax on wages between $102,000 and $250,000, but re-assessing it on incomes of $250,000 or more annually.

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Democratic Sen. Barack Obama on Friday called for higher payroll taxes on wage-earners making more than $250,000 annually, a step that would affect the wealthiest 3 percent of Americans.

Democratic Party Kumbaya, Anybody? Hello! Hello!

Not everybody in the Democratic Party is ready to make nice and unify.

Take some of Hillary Clinton's top fundraisers, who held a meeting on Thursday with Obama Campaign manager, David Plouffe. The sit-down was cordial; lots of questions were asked and answered; several fundraisers volunteered to host parties and other events for Obama and the Democratic Party. But not all: