Get to Work

Days Until Bush Leaves Office = 166

Hmmmm. Probably not the rallying cry you thought it would be, Senator:




However, if you want to talk about your lack of a plan to address rising unemployment, we would be all ears.

Another "Momentary" Gaffe by McCain

Days Until Bush Leaves Office = 182

Barack Obama continues his overseas trip today, while John McCain continues the unending gaffe-fest that is his campaign for president. This paragraph from a story in the NY Times sums things up nicely:

[T]he images of the two presidential candidates offered a sharp contrast. In an interview on “Good Morning America” on ABC, Mr. McCain talked about securing the “Iraq-Pakistan border,” a momentary misstatement of geography. (American forces are pursuing terrorists along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border; Iraq does not border Pakistan.) His aides staged an event where he was seen riding in a golf cart in Maine with the first President George Bush, while Mr. Obama flew over Iraq in a helicopter with Gen. David H. Petraeus, the top American military commander.

I find it striking that the Times goes so far out of its way to soften the impact of McCain's blunder on the “Iraq-Pakistan border” by referring to it as "a momentary misstatement of geography." The only reason this, or any of the other instances in the long list of McCain's errors in understanding the world he seeks to lead, could be considered "momentary" is that once again some one who knows better (an astoundingly long list which, in this case, would include any seventh grade student with a geography textbook) pointed out to McCain that Iraq and Pakistan do not share a border. McCain's vague and uncertain grasp of the facts of foreign policy - not the nuances, but the straightforward, schoolbook facts - is ongoing, and anything but momentary.

Not that any of this should be allowed to interrupt McCain's golf game, of course. Now watch this drive.

Doctor McCain Puts America on the Couch

Days Until Bush Leaves Office = 184

As you've no doubt heard by now, if you're part of the 76% of the population dissatisfied with the direction of the country, John McCain has the solution: jus' cheer up, fer garsh sakes!

If you're one of those sniveling malcontents who don't know how good you've got it at the moment, take a deep breath, lay back, and have a listen to Doc McCain as he diagnoses the country's ills:



Feel better now?

Quote of the Day

Days Until Bush Leaves Office = 188

This one comes from Doonesbury cartoonist Gary Trudeau, interviewed in the Washington Post:

WaPo: Any thoughts on this election year, from a satirist's point of view?

Trudeau: It's a beaut, because everyone's paying attention. But remember, the worst president in U.S. history is still in the White House. For Big Satire to ignore George W. Bush during his final year in office would be foolish -- and wildly ungrateful. He's done so much for our profession, and he may yet have another war in him. We still owe him our fullest attention.

Hear, hear!

Not The Way It Was Supposed To Play Out

Days Until Bush Leaves Office = 208

Remember the Republicans grand strategy to win back the House and Senate this year? The one that involved tying Democratic candidates nation-wide to a liberal, scary and unelectable Barack Obama? The strategy that bombed in seismic GOP losses in special elections in Illinois, Louisiana and Mississippi earlier this year?

Well, in case there's anyone who didn't already know this, that strategy is dead. How dead? So dead that Gordon Smith, Republican U.S. Senator from Oregon, is running an ad that touts, among his other qualities, that he has worked closely with and been praised by none other than Barack Obama.

See for yourself:



Taking the audacity of hope to whole new levels...

Obama Launches First General Election Ad

Days Until Bush Leaves Office = 213

Barack Obama has gone on the air nationwide today with a 30 second spot titled, "Country I Love." The ad features Obama speaking directly into the camera over a soft folk guitar soundtrack, and begins airing today in 18 states: Alaska, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Indiana, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Wisconsin.

Here's the script:

I'm Barack Obama.

America is a country of strong families and strong values. My life's been blessed by both.

I was raised by a single mom and my grandparents. We didn't have much money, but they taught me values straight from the Kansas heartland where they grew up. Accountability and self-reliance. Love of country. Working hard without making excuses. Treating your neighbor as you'd like to be treated. It's what guided me as I worked my way up - taking jobs and loans to make it through college.

It's what led me to pass up Wall Street jobs and go to Chicago instead, helping neighborhoods devastated when steel plants closed.

That's why I passed laws moving people from welfare to work, cut taxes for working families and extended health care for wounded troops who'd been neglected.

I approved this message because I'll never forget those values, and if I have the honor of taking the oath of office as President, it will be with a deep and abiding faith in the country I love.

And here's the video:

"Lift The Off-Shore Drilling Ban" = Political Gimmick

Days Until Bush Leaves Office = 214

Yes, gas is over $4.00 a gallon. Yes, it sucks. But oil is a finite, non-renewable commodity which is ever more-rapidly nearing depletion. There is no way we're going to produce our way out of this crisis.

But what if we could? Wouldn't lifting all limits on off-shore drilling (and, what the heck, while we're at it, let's open up AWNR, too!) have an immediate impact on oil supplies, commodities market prices, and the cost of a gallon of gas?

No. Take a deep breath. The answer is no. A statement yesterday from Tom Harkin sums up why:

“Already over 25 percent of our domestic production comes from offshore fields, and the oil companies already have leases to produce on many more sites. In fact, there are currently more than 33 million acres of federal lands on the Outer Continental Shelf under lease, but not producing. Opening more offshore areas wouldn’t get us any new oil in less than 5 years, and then less than a 6-month’s supply. We can’t pretend that opening up more offshore drilling is the answer when you consider that Americans are paying well over $4 per gallon for regular unleaded and using about 20 million barrels of oil per day, over half of which is imported.

That's right: the fact is that oil companies already hold substantial leases to drill off-shore that they're not even using. Even assuming that ramping up off-shore oil production would have an immediate impact on energy prices (and it wouldn't), oil companies already have the ability to do so, without requiring further Federal action.

(BTW, wouldn't you know it takes a senator from Iowa, of all places, to make these points about off-shore drilling?)

Calls for lifting the "ban" on off-shore drilling are a political gimmick. Don't fall for it.

Get a Job

Days Until Bush Leaves Office = 214

For anyone who has ever dreamed of running off to join the political circus, Democracy for America has just the ticket: classes for aspiring campaign staffers, with emphasis on how to land a job with a political campaign. Classes begin next Wednesday, June 25; the press release below gives the details.

Have you ever worked on a political campaign?

Ever wanted to but never knew where to start?

It's not as hard as you might think. Next week DFA Night School is teaming up with Democratic GAIN to help you get hired on a campaign this fall.

Getting a Job on a Campaign
Wednesday June 25th - 8:30pm Eastern Daylight Time
CLICK HERE TO RSVP NOW

Campaigns are gearing up in all 50 states right now, and they need passionate, trained campaign staff. Next Wednesday, June 25, Democratic GAIN President Amy Pritchard will be joining DFA Night School for an hour long training on 'Getting a Job on a Campaign'.

Democratic GAIN is one of the nation's most effective organizations when it comes to connecting campaigns with talented staffers across the country. We'll be sharing research suggestions, tips on touching up your resume and how to build and leverage your professional networks into the perfect campaign job as part of this month's DFA Night School.

Night School is DFA's interactive online training program. Every month Night School brings top campaign experts right to your home at absolutely no cost to you. Just CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR NIGHT SCHOOL. Once you've signed up, you'll be sent the info you need to listen to Night School live either on your home computer or over the telephone. The training will be accompanied by a slideshow you can view online or download and print out ahead of time.

Sign up today and get a job taking back our country this fall.

No Republicans Were Harmed in the Making of this Film

Days Until Bush Leaves Office = 220

Obama Campaign Launches Web Site to "Fight The Smears"

Days Until Bush Leaves Office = 221

They've passed into campaign lore by now: unsubstantiated and untrue rumors that Barack Obama is secretly a Muslim, that he does not pledge allegiance to the American flag, and many more, circulated via email blasts and hammered endlessly on right-wing talk radio.

This week, the Obama campaign is launching a web site to specifically address these attacks. The site, titled "Fight the Smears," supplements the "Fact Check" page on the campaign's main website, and lists the rumors and the campaign's response in concise, even spare terms, bullet-point fashion.

I think this is something the Obama campaign simply has to do in the face of the rumor- and fear-mongering attacks launched against the candidate over the last year or so. But I am also convinced that these attacks would be much less potent, and more effectively countered, if Obama were to start an immediate, focused effort to introduce himself in detail to the electorate. As natural as it is to want to pull back a little from the relentless grind of the past 18 months of campaigning, Barack Obama and his campaign need to get out in front of the public with a specific campaign to tell voters, in depth, about the candidate's life story and values. Books, websites and the like will only go so far with this; the overall effort needs to be more focused and aggressive.

As of this moment, and in spite of months of rumor attacks, Barack Obama still retains the ability to define himself to the electorate at large. Every week that goes by without a concerted plan to replace rumors from anonymous emailers and right-wing shills with a factual, full-dimensional portrait of Obama as a flesh-and-blood human being, and not just a political and media icon, means ceding that advantage by continuing to leave the field open for these attacks to resonate. The rumor attacks launched against Obama will lose all effectiveness when suspicion bred of novelty gives way to familiarity with Obama as an individual.

The political environment abhors a vacuum. In order to effectively combat rumors and attacks about Barack Obama, he and his campaign need to dislodge lies with truth. That effort must begin now, in-depth, and, to the greatest extent possible, be conducted by Barack Obama himself, one interview, one living room TV, one voter at a time.