(Ir)religiosity

It’s true.  Al Gore just sent me an email:

“A few hours from now I will step on stage in Detroit, Michigan to announce my support for Senator Barack Obama. From now through Election Day, I intend to do whatever I can to make sure he is elected President of the United States.

Over the next four years, we are going to face many difficult challenges — including bringing our troops home from Iraq, fixing our economy, and solving the climate crisis. Barack Obama is clearly the candidate best able to solve these problems and bring change to America.

I’ve never asked members of AlGore.com to contribute to a political campaign before, but this moment and this election are too important to let pass without taking action.

That’s why I am asking you to join me today in showing your support for Barack Obama by making a contribution to his campaign today.”

I guess this is great. BUT — it sure would’ve been better had it happened about 3 months ago.  Oh well.

When asked yesterday by reporters what it was like to be interviewed by Russert, McCain said with a smile, “I once told him I haven’t had so much fun since my last interrogation at prison camp.” [Ht. Daily Kos]  Wow.  Seriously John?

Disclaimer: Anyone who knows me or has read this blog much knows that I am no fan of the Clintons.  This list reflects that and should be taken with a grain of salt. Furthermore some of these are serious and some are probably just outrageous. I do think there are very serious reasons why Obama shouldn’t choose Clinton, but as long as this process has been I think we have to poke a little fun at it too.

Since at least January people have been talking up the so-called “dream ticket.” I don’t like it.  I thought it was a bad idea from the start regardless of who is on top.  But, now that all that is taken care of here are a few (or eight) reasons why I think Barack Obama shouldn’t pick Clinton has his VP.

The Serious Reasons

1. Unity won’t be a problem. The Democratic party will be as united as it’s going to be in November regardless of whether Hillary Clinton is on the ticket.  We see this all the time in elections.  Candidates fight tooth and nail during the primary season, they develop a cult-like following, and when it’s all said and down one is left standing.  The other endorses the winner, and while the loser’s supporters may seem bitter at first, they usually come around.¹  Now, I know there is a case to be made that this Read the rest of this entry »

1. Remember Howard Dean in 2004? Not as big of a deal, but still a good recent example. [↩]

See below for realtime updates (CST):

5:45 PM CST: Still a few hours until the polls close, but it’s already starting.  Clinton has all but explicitly conceded what has been over for at least a month and a half earlier today when she said that she would be open to being Obama’s VP.  The Associated Press has already declared that Obama has clinched the nomination.  The delegate countdown is literally changing by the minute as the superdelegates have been rolling out like nobody’s business all day.  As it stands now, according to Chuck Todd on MSNBC, Barack Obama is only 10 11 delegates away from officially clinching the nomination. 

6:22 PM CST: About 2 hours before the first polls close in South Dakota.  Three hours until Montana.  It looks like former President Carter will endorse Obama tonight.  And John McCain plays to acknowledge Obama as his November opponent tonight in New Orleans while trying to distance himself from Bush. 

6:59 PM CST: A leaked excerpt of McCain’s speech is on the Drudge Report and the full leaked transcript of Obama’s victory speech is on The News Wire.

7:03 PM CST: Oklahoma superdelegate goes Obama.  9 until nomination.

7:27 PM CST: McCain to speak at 7:30 CST, Obama at 9:00 CST, Clinton somewhere in between, MSNBC reports.

7:28 PM CST: Word from the Clinton camp: she will not officially concede tonight, thus the strategic placement of her speech between McCain and Obama.  

7:31 PM CST: Quote from leaked Obama speech: “I will be the Democratic nominee.”

7:34 PM CST: How crazy is this? Word from the pundits on MSNBC, “Obama will offer Clinton the VP slot under the stipulation that she not accept it.” I don’t really get the point of the charade and lip service in the name of healing the party.  I don’t think we’re that dumb.

7:39 PM CST: McCain has begun speaking to supporters in New Orleans. “The general election campaign has begun.”

7:40 PM CST: McCain: “Senator Obama will be my opponent and he will be a formidable one.”

7:46 PM CST: McCain: “I’m surprised that a young man (Obama) has bought into so many failed policies ideas.”

7:47 PM CST: McCain: “The American people didn’t get to know me yesterday, as they’re just getting to know Sen. Obama.”

7:53 PM CST: Is it really that hard to read from a tele-prompter?

7:57 PM CST: I am happy that McCain is in favor of alternative energy and climate change mitigation.  That’s something to look forward to either way.

7:59 PM CST: Apparently repeating “That’s not change we can believe in” enough times in a dry, monotonous voice is a self-fulfilling prophecy.

8:02 PM CST: The polls have just closed in South Dakota, networks interrupt McCain’s yawner to project that Barack Obama is the presumptive nominee for the Democratic party. 

8:10 PM CST: Numbers from SD: 11% reporting, Clinton leads 56% to 44%.  Obama will get at least 6 delegates with those numbers, thus the projections from the networks (CNN, NBC).  No official word from the campaign yet.

8:13 PM CST: Word from the Clinton camp in NY: “There is a real sense of finality in this gym in Manhattan.”

8:14 PM CST: McCain thinks he’s an agent of change now too.  He used the word 32 times (according to Tim Russert) in his speech before was interrupted by the networks!

8:20 PM CST: From the Obama camp: “Sen Clinton is a very formidable opponent. This is a hugely gratifying evening for us.”

8:24 PM CST: Sen. Clinton wins the South Dakota primary NBC projects.  She will address supporters in NY any minute.

8:31 PM CST: Sen. Clinton steps to the mic in NYC.  The big question: will she concede?

8:34 PM CST: NPR: What does Obama v. McCain look like?

8:35 PM CST: WTF?

8:36 PM CST: Clinton: “I want to start tonight by congratulating Senator Obama and his supporters on the extraordinary race they have run.”

8:39 PM CST: Clinton: “We won the swing states necessary to receive 270 electoral votes.” Supporters chant: “Yes, she will.” Too bad this doesn’t matter.

8:41 PM CST: Clinton: “I felt that each of your votes was a prayer for our nation…I’m so glad we stayed the course together. “

8:50 PM CST: Clinton: “I will be making no decisions tonight.” Dammit! Come on! Just say it!

8:54 PM CST: She basically conceding, but is to proud to say it (yet) and apparently she wants everyone to go to her website and leave her a message.  Are we in 2nd grade? 

8:55 PM CST: And I’m sorry, but ending every speech with “..and God bless America” makes me throw up in my mouth a little.  That goes for everyone.

8:57 PM CST: Montana polls closes in a few minutes.  Interesting venue choice on Clinton’s part.  Not monitors, no cell service.  Almost as if they didn’t want people to know everything that happened…you know…in reality.

9:00 PM CST: No real numbers in, but NBC projects Obama the winner in Montana. 

9:06 PM CST: Obama to speak soon to supporters in St. Paul, Minnesota, the site of the Republican convention.

9:08 PM CST: Obama is making his way to the stage.

9:09 PM CST: Obama is trying to start his speech.

9:13 PM CST: Just realized that this might end with enough time for me to watch the Daily Show and the Colbert Report.

9:15 PM CST: Obama: “The primary season is finally over…because of you I can stand here and say that I will be the Democratic nominee for president of the United States of America.”

9:17 PM CST: Obama: “Our party but forth the most qualified, talented field of persons to ever run for this office.”

9:20 PM CST: Obama: “Our party and our country are better off because of Hillary Clinton.”

9:22 PM CST: Obama: “You can rest assured that when we finally win the battle for universal health care in this country, she [Clinton] will be central to that victory”

9:24 PM CST: Obama: “I respect his [McCain] many accomplishments, even if he chooses to deny mine.” Nice.

9:26 PM CST: Obama: “There are many words to describe John McCain’s attempt to pass off his embrace of George Bush’s policies as bipartisan and new. But change is not one of them.” 

9:27 PM CST: Obama: “Change is realizing that meeting today’s threats requires not just our firepower, but the power of our diplomacy.” What? No automatic deference to the myth of redemptive violence?

9:32 PM CST: This is getting really good. I mean, really good. Obama: “The chance to get a college education should not be a privilege for the wealthy few, but the birthright of every American.” Supporters chanting: “YES! WE! CAN!”

9:34 PM CST: Obama: “The other side will come here in September and offer a very different set of policies and positions, and that is a debate I look forward to. It is a debate the American people deserve. But what you don’t deserve is another election that’s governed by fear, and innuendo, and division. What you won’t hear from this campaign or this party is the kind of politics that uses religion as a wedge, and patriotism as a bludgeon — that sees our opponents not as competitors to challenge, but enemies to demonize. Because we may call ourselves Democrats and Republicans, but we are Americans first. We are always Americans first.”

9:35 PM CST: Obama: “Americans are a decent, generous, compassionate people, united by common challenges and common hopes. And every so often, there are moments which call on that fundamental goodness to make this country great again.”

9:36 PM CST: Obama supporter in the crowd: Si, se puede!”

9:37 PM CST: Obama: “America, this is our moment. This is our time. Our time to turn the page on the policies of the past. Our time to bring new energy and new ideas to the challenges we face. Our time to offer a new direction for the country we love.”

9:41 PM CST: This last paragraph of Obama’s speech: “The journey will be difficult. The road will be long. I face this challenge with profound humility, and knowledge of my own limitations. But I also face it with limitless faith in the capacity of the American people. Because if we are willing to work for it, and fight for it, and believe in it, then I am absolutely certain that generations from now, we will be able to look back and tell our children that this was the moment when…we came together to remake this great nation so that it may always reflect our very best selves, and our highest ideals.” Wow. I think I’ll end it with that.  On to november. Yes. We. Can.

9:48 PM CST: Ok, last one. Seriously. I couldn’t resist. Tom Brokaw: “He [Obama] has now moved from ‘Yes we can’ to ‘Here’s how.’”

This was a big weekend politically speaking.  At least two major things happened.

First, Barack Obama officially “resigned” (does anyone else find that to be weird terminology?) his membership at Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago.  To me, this is unfortunate.  From a political point of view, I completely understand why Obama did it and perhaps it is the best for Trinity as well since members have been badgered and the congregation has been put under the microscope the last several months. (An aside, this is really great article on the whole matter, spot on I think)

But, this is a bit troubling too.  I agree with Jeremy, have we really reached the point of driving our politicians away from their faith communities? As much as I’d like to disbelieve it, it seems that our poisonous, divisive, political arena has become so politicized and partisan that many our elected officials, and in this case even our viable candidates, cannot be involved in a faith community at all. Apparently, the president of the UCC agrees.   That’s sad.  

And on a certain level, I can’t help but wonder if all of this driving away is related to the bitter taste we have in our mouth from the past (and in some cases still present) dominance of the religious right and the “moral majority” in politics.  Hmmm.

Second, the Democratic National Committee did a good thing and a bad thing this weekend in their decision to retain all Florida and Michigan delegates from their primaries with the penalty of half a vote.  Ultimately all of this comes down to the rules and has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with “every person’s vote being counted” as the Clinton campaign keeps preaching.  I support voter’s rights just as much as the most stringent Clinton supporter, but the fact is both Florida and Michigan blatantly disregarded the rules the decided by the DNC.  And that’s all there is too it.  The broke the rules.  They have to be penalized.  It has nothing to do with voters being disenfranchised.  The states thought they were above the law and they have to answer for that.  Period.

So, the good thing.  The DNC allowed the Florida results to stand with all the delegates retain half a vote. That’s fair.  Both Clinton and Obama were on the ballot and neither actively campaign there.  So, the vote is acknowledged while allowing the penalty to take effect.  The result is Clinton gets 105 pledged delegates from Florida and Obama gets 67.  Like I said, pretty fair.

The bad thing.  Although I am a public Obama supporter, I disagree with the DNC’s decision concerning Michigan.  The decision is the same as Florida, but the circumstances a very different.  Clinton received the majority of the vote in Michigan and Obama didn’t even appear on the ballot.  Neither candidate actively campaigned in the state.  However, the DNC’s decision gave Clinton her recorded vote and then proceeded to give all the “uncommitted” vote to Obama.  Now, I know most of those uncommitted voters were likely for Obama, but not all of them were and at that point in time Clinton and Obama weren’t the only candidates in the race.  So I don’t think Obama deserves all the uncommitted vote because it never was completely his in the first place.  The result in Michigan is that Clinton received 69 pledged delegates to Obama’s 59.  Not very fair in my opinion.

The bottom line: none of this really matters anyway.  Before the DNC’s ruling, Obama led Clinton by 202.  His lead has been cut to 174, but it’s still enough.  The numbers simply aren’t there for Clinton.  Obama will be the Democratic nominee.  That will become overwhelmingly clear tomorrow night.  I doubt it will become official.  I hope it does, but the Clinton camp has vowed to take this all the way the the rules and credentials committee the end of this month.  

But, it won’t matter.  It’s over.  And I’m becoming more convinced the Hillary Clinton is hell bent on hurting Obama’s chances as much as she can by carrying this on so she might have a chance in 2012.  

I just don’t get Hillary Clinton.  I really don’t.  Actually, I just don’t get the Clintons.  They seem really, really power hungry and I just a tad narcissistic.  That being said, why in the world is Hillary staying in the race at this point?  I understand the rationale behind getting a few fundraisers in to knock off some of the debt, but all the language the Clinton camp is using leads us to believe she’s still in for the long haul.  I just don’t get it; it’s virtually a mathematical possibility for her to win at this point. 

Let’s look at the numbers.

Despite what Hillary said last week, 2,025 delegates are needed to secure the nomination. 

According to the Associated Press, as it stands now Obama has a total of 1,847 delegates (1,591 pledged, 256 superdelegates) and Clinton has a total of 1,686 (1,423 pledged, 263 superdelegates).  So Obama needs less than 200 and Clinton needs over 300.  Around 270 superdelegates are yet to be decided and 217 delegates will be decided in the next 6 primaries.  Even if the delegates from Florida and Michigan were counted as is and even if most of the superdelegates went Clinton–both of which have been major talking points for her thus far–Obama would still have the lead.  She would need to win at least 66% of the remaining delegates in every contest to overtake his lead.  Neither of them will likely do that. 

I suspect by May 20 Obama will be very close to the magic 2025 number.  I’d like to think Clinton would concede at that point, but everything coming from her campaign lead us to believe she’s in until at least June3 perhaps even the convention.  I just don’t get it.  For what benefit?  The hope that chaos will ensue at the convention and the DNC will overturn the pledged numbers decided by the people?  If you plan on making history Mrs. Clinton that would be your chance.  A candidate with the delegate numbers has never been robbed of the nomination. 

In my mind this is already over.  Barack Obama is the presumptive democratic nominee and will face John McCain in November.  I think that’s most people’s understanding at this point.  Unfortunately, it seems Hillary Clinton may be the last to be apprised. 

Check here for realtime updates (in central standard time) as the results come in

06:01 PM CST: The polls in Indiana just closed. 30 minutes until the close in NC. Predictions across the board and early reporting precincts show Clinton up on Obama by a sizable margin. I suspect he’ll close that margin quite a bit. I’d really like to see this thing ended tonight. The only way I see that happening is if Obama sweeps the board by a pretty good margin in which case Clinton would likely throw in the towel. But I doubt that happens. I think Clinton will hold Indiana by 5 or less and Obama will claim North Carolina by about 5 maybe a little more.

06:30 PM CST: Polls just closed in NC and all networks are projecting Obama the winner. With 17% reporting in IN, Clinton is up on Obama 57-43.

06:35 PM CST: Karl Rove is on Fox News. I tried to watch for a few minutes just for fun, but I can’t bear it.

06:43 PM CST: There’s really nothing new with the exit polls, mostly the same stuff as in the past except that it appears Jeremiah Wright affected voters in both states thought we don’t know if that means people liked Obama’s response or disliked what was said. Indiana exit polls here, North Carolina exit polls here.

06:49 PM CST: Numbers in NC show Obama way ahead by over 30%.

07:00 PM CST: One hour after the polls closed in Indiana and with 34% reporting Clinton is still up on Obama 57-43. Obama still the “decisive” victor in NC though there are no hard numbers in yet. The headline at the Huffington Post: “Obama Routs Clinton in North Carolina…Presumptive Nominee?”

07:01 PM CST: Indiana has officially moved from being “too close to call” to “too early to call.”

07:08 PM CST: New numbers in from Indiana: Clinton 56, Obama 44 with 38% reporting.

07:10 PM CST: Hard numbers from NC: Obama 65, Clinton 34 with 5% reporting.

07:25 PM CST: According to Huffington, CBS has called Indiana for Clinton.

07:28 PM CST: Word from the Obama campaign via MSNBC: “The die is cast. May 20 is our D-day.”

07:30 PM CST: New numbers from Indiana: Clinton up by 10 (55-445) with 50% reporting.

07:39 PM CST: Numbers update. Indiana: Clinton 54, Obama 46, 52% reporting. North Carolina: Obama 63, Clinton 35, 15% reporting.

07:46 PM CST: Interesting exit polls in Indiana. Rush Limbaugh has been badgering Republicans all week to get and screw things up by voting for Clinton. The numbers are interesting. 11% of voters in Indiana were Republican and they virtually split the vote between Clinton and Obama, 52-48, while denoting the will vote Republican in the fall. However, of those voting Republicans the overwhelming majority believe Obama is more likely to beat McCain in the November.

08:01 PM CST: The numbers in Indiana are beginning to shift in Obama’s favor somewhat. With 67% reporting Clinton leads 53-47. Obama is preparing to speak to supporters in North Carolina.

08:09 PM CST: Numbers update. Indiana: Clinton 53, Obama 47, with 68% reporting. North Carolina: Obama 59, Clinton 39 with 28% reporting.

08:11 PM CST: Obama is on stage. Should be speaking shortly.

08:12 PM CST: Obama stepping to the microphone, saying the usual 50+ “Thank you’s.”

08:15 PM CST: Obama: “[We have a] victory in a “big state,” a swing state. And we stand less than 200 delegates away….”

08:19 PM CST: Obama: “When this primary season is over we will have to remember who we are…this fall we intend to march forward together, united.”

08:23 PM CST: Ok, I understand why they use personal stories of people they’ve met on the campaign trail. But seriously, after a while it just gets old. I really don’t think people enjoy being used.

08:30 PM CST: Obama: “We will end [the old politics] by telling the truth.”

08:36 PM CST: Obama just ended his speech. The gap in Indiana is closing even more here are the new numbers: with 73% reporting Clinton leads Obama 52-48. We’ve now moved back from “too early to call” to “too close to call.”

08:47 PM CST: Numbers update. North Carolina: Obama 56, Clinton 42 with 57% reporting. Indiana: Clinton 52, Obama 48 with 76% reporting.

09:03 PM CST: The numbers haven’t changed much word has it late precincts won’t be in for another hour. As it stands now in Indiana Clinton holds on to the 4 percent margin at 52-48 over Obama with 81% reporting. In NC Clinton has cut Obama’s lead a little, but not much to do anything the numbers are Obama 56, Clinton 42 with 66% reporting. Clinton is expecting to speak soon. I probably won’t cover it that much. Flipping back and forth to SVU.

09:21 PM CST: It looks like Lake County, IN is key at this point. It is expected to be Obama territory, but they have said the well not be releasing any results until maybe as late as 11:00 CST. The numbers stand the same percentage wise (52-48 Clinton), but Obama is slowly closing the gap.

09:28 PM CST: The numbers by percent in IN: Clinton 52%, Obama 48% with 85% of precincts reporting. Actual votes: Clinton, 546,204, Obama 503,274.

09:31 PM CST: Clinton is being introduced and is preparing to speak. What can she say at this point.

09:48 PM CST: Clinton is still speaking. Plugging her website for donations. AP: Clinton Lost Last Chance for Upset. The margin in the numbers in IN remains the same. Still waiting to hear from Lake County.

10:03 PM CST: Clinton just finished speaking and used the same sort of uniting language that Obama did. Hard numbers update. North Carolina: looks like this one is pretty much final with 91% reporting Obama over Clinton 56-42. Indiana: with 86% reporting Clinton holds on to the lead 52-48, actual votes are Clinton: 560,720, Obama: 521,415. Still waiting for Lake County and a few other Obama strongholds at the top of next hour. That should seal it off.

10:21 PM CST: Still waiting. Margins remain virtually the same. Should know more in about 40-45 minutes . Word has it around 11,000 absentee ballots in the northern counties are being counted. This is good for Obama as he tends to fair better with early deciders.

10:40 PM CST: Waiting, waiting, waiting. According to NBC there are about 220,000 outstanding ballots, most in Obama favored counties. This is about to get really interesting.

10:46 PM CST: The margin is narrowing. With 91% reporting in Indiana, Obama barely trails Clinton, 49-51.

11:03 PM CST: Top of the hour. Indiana still “too close to call.” Clinton is up by 2% and Obama is still closing the gap.

11:16 PM CST: Deadlocked again at 51-49 Clinton’s favor with 92% reporting. The margin is now less than 20,000 votes.

11:37 PM CST: Wow. It is getting really close. With 95% of the vote in Clinton leads by around 16,600 votes (51% to Obama’s 49%). The remained 5% is almost exclusively Lake county. Tim Russert on MSNBC: “We now know who the nominee is.

11:43 PM CST: Just in: Clinton has canceled her morning news show appearances reports the Huffington Post.

12:02 AM CST: Clinton as canceled her entire public schedule save a fundraiser tomorrow in Washington. She is barely holding on to the lead in Indiana. With 95% reporting she has a lead of less than 1.39% or 16,500 votes. We may see this into tomorrow morning.

12:11 AM CST: Ok, with 99% of the vote in Clinton is declared the “apparent winner” of Indiana with 51% of the vote to Obama’s 49% with a difference of about 22,000 votes.

12:17 AM CST: Final numbers for the night. North Carolina: with 99% reporting Obama wins 56-42.  Indiana: with 99% reporting at this point in time Clinton narrowly wins 51-49.  The actual delegate count is yet to be determined though I predict Obama will net around 13-15 effectively erasing Clinton’s Pennsylvania gain.  I think we can now use the words Barack Obama and presumptive nominee in the same sentence.  The question now is how much longer will Hillary allow this to go on?

Check here for realtime updates (in central standard time) as the results come in.

6:33 PM CST: The polls close in about 30 minutes.  Unfortunately I’ll be in a meeting at that time so I won’t be monitoring the news, but I’ll have wifi access. Check back later on.  

7:04 PM CST: Polls just closed.  NBC declares the race too close to call. ABC cannot project a winner.  No word yet from CNN.

7:21 PM CST: Still no word on the hard numbers.  The Huffington Post estimates voter turnout at 52% and the exit polls, Obama: 52, Clinton: 48. Obama: 48, Clinton: 52. 

7:23 PM CST: This is funny. Apparently Chris Matthews got a little trigger-happy and declared the polls closed about 30 minutes too early. 

7:30 PM CST: Full CNN exit polls here.  Looks pretty divided. Obama is doing well with first-time voters and Clinton better with old-timers. No big surprise. Pretty predictable. 

7:37 PM CST: Early numbers: Clinton is ahead by 30% over Obama with 0% reporting.  Still too close to call (NBC). No networks projecting a winner yet.

7:50 PM CST: Clinton: 60, Obama: 40 with 1% reporting.  All networks aside from CNN project Clinton the winner.

7:57 PM CST: New numbers.  With 3% reporting, Clinton: 55, Obama: 45.

8:01 PM CST: 5% reporting. Clinton: 53, Obama: 47.  Cutting the lead. That’s what I’m talking about.

8:09 PM CST: 7% Reporting: Clinton 52, Obama 48

8:33 PM CST: I’m back home from my meeting and can devote more attention to this now.  Nothing much has changed.  Clinton’s lead fluctuates from 5-7% and I suspect it will end up being 5-6% at the end of the night.  All in all I think Obama can definitely claim a victory given the early predictions. Hard numbers now: Clinton 53, Obama, 47 with 21% reporting.  

8:38 PM CST: CNN finally makes their projection.

8:41 PM CST: CNN has a county map up.  Interesting, Clinton has virtually swept middle PA, but many of the populous counties are not in yet and they are Obama favored. Hard numbers: with 32% reporting, Clinton: 54, Obama: 46. 

8:52 PM CST: It’s not looking as good now.  With 42% reporting Clinton has swept the Pittsburgh area and is now up on Obama 55-45.  Hopefully the lead narrows more.

9:00 PM CST: The numbers haven’t really changed.  +1 in favor of Obama with 47% reporting.  I find it especially humorous that Chris Matthews thinks he know everything since he’s from Pennsylvania.

9:14 PM CST: The margin of victory as widened back to 10%.  Clinton is preparing to address her crowd.  The Philadelphia area still waits to be tallied. 

9:17 PM CST: Are they really chanting, “Yes she can!”?  Lame.  

9:50 PM CST: The lead is back at 10% in favor of Clinton with 78% reporting.  Obama is speaking to supporters in Indiana. Chester county outside Philadelphia is still not reporting. 

9:55 PM CST: Obama: “After 14 months it is easy to forget what this campaign is about.”  Word.

10:06 PM CST: Obama never ceases to inspire me in his speeches.  But he just had to end with “God Bless America.”  I hate that.  

10:26 PM CST: Well, I guess I was wrong.  It looks like Clinton is holding on to her 10% margin.  With 88% reporting she least Obama 55-45.   That’s too bad.  But it’s still far from over. North Carolina will be interesting, especially given some of the stuff like this going on.  

10:50 PM CST: I think what troubles me the most about all this is the very divisive exit poll data (see link above).  And of those sets the most troubling is this: 95% of Clinton supporters said the believe Obama would be the Democratic nominee and 98% said they would not vote for Obama in November.  Yikes.

Hillary Clinton compares Rev. Wright to Don Imus. Real classy. Especially given her husband invited Rev. Wright to the White House when he was dealing with the Lewinsky scandal.

Apparently I picked the wrong week to go on sabbatical. Lots happened. Both at home and around the world. Here’s a quick re-cap, though I’m sure most of it is old news to most of you.

The main story of the week: Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s “controversial” sermons. Barack Obama’s pastor was brought to the forefront this week and Obama has been lambasted over and over again for it. Quite frankly, I’m sick and tired of hearing the sound byte snippets of Rev. Wright’s sermons–which have been taken out of context and severely misunderstood–played on loop via the corporate news media. It’s quite unpopular to do so, but I stand with Rev. Wright and I agree with him. America needs more Rev. Wright’s daring to speak truth to power; indeed he is more right than he his wrong. As for those that have called for Obama to “leave his church” I would say this: going to church is not about having your ears tickled or your presuppositions confirmed. It’s about being challenged and being pushed beyond normalcy. The idea that one should leave a church to find another once they hear something they disagree with, has led to the current fractured American church. Why do you think we have so many different denominations, sects, and branches? Calling for Obama to leave his church just because his pastors made have made a few “controversial” comments, is asking Obama to distance himself from the church itself. Furthermore, to ask a Christian minister to not be prophetic, to preach only what is safe, or what is popular, is to ask that minister to not be Christian. After all, Jesus would have never been elected; indeed such things got Jesus executed by the nation state.

In response to his being blackballed, Obama gave a speech. Not just any speech, but the speech. The speech that America has needed to hear since Martin Luther King, Jr. and the civil rights movement. This may be the speech that defines Obama. It has already, as of this post, been viewed over 3 million times on YouTube. And of course, since he left the stage, reading the last sentence of his manuscript, the 24-hour, corporate news media propagandists have been picking it apart, ripping him to sheds, and engaging in just what Obama warned us against. I think Jon Stewart puts it very succinctly, “Obama spoke to Americans as though they were adults.” It’s a shame that most of us aren’t. Though it is good to see some people going against the flow in some unlikely places. I won’t go into much of the speech because everyone already has, I would point to a couple of places, here, here and here, that are worth stopping by. I add my “what they said” to that.

After hearing the speech, Bill Richardson endorsed Obama, calling him “a once in a lifetime leader.” Honestly, I wish he (and some who haven’t yet) would’ve done this earlier, but apparently Obama’s speech “clinched it” for him. At least it allowed Obama to end an otherwise tough week on a high note. Of course the Clinton people, downplayed it all, calling the endorsement “insignificant in this environment.” I wasn’t really surprised about that, though I’m sure they would’ve broadcast it loud and clear had Richardson opted to endorse Clinton. What did surprise me a little was when I heard that some in the Clinton camp were exploiting Holy Week, comparing Richardson to Judas. Seriously? Richardson is Judas? Give me a break. Just because he is connected to the Clintons doesn’t mean he can’t be his own man. And, as one blogger points out, by that analogy Hillary Clinton would be Jesus. I think I’ll leave it at that.

Then there was the passport thing. Apparently, over the course of last year, and even the beginning of this year, State department officials peeked at the confidential passports files of all three presidential candidates. Looks like the State department’s right hand doesn’t know what its left hand is doing. But hey, what else is new?

And of course, last Wednesday was the 5th “anniversary” of the invasion of Iraq. Five years, 4000 US lives–who knows how many Iraqi lives, because “we don’t do body counts”– $3 trillion and what do we have to show for it? Only more lives broken, ruined, and terminated while the war profiteers get rich. Shame on us. I’ll be speaking at a war protest on Wednesday. I’ll try and post my speech up later.

Speaking of war protests, many people celebrated Easter yesterday. I wish more people would have celebrated like this, rather than spending outrageous amounts of money on new clothes and expensive meals. What better way to commemorate resurrection than to affirm life and condemn its termination? [Ht. Corey Hau]

And finally, for the not-so-important stuff that happened around my house. As you can see, I completely overhauled my blog (more about that later), which needed to be done pretty bad. I was sick for most of the week (nothing like being sick on your spring break), so I sat around and puzzled over CSS. My wife, Bonnie, now has her own site and has started blogging. You should hop over and check it out. And, another really big thing happened over the last week, but I’ll wait and dedicate a whole post to that later.

Whew. I think that’s it.