Media reaction to Obama's SC victory

As a follow up to the prediction I made recently that both left and right haters of HRC would join forces, I found this via TPM/Veracifier:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-xgof01thA

HRC sure has a strange effect on people (as Ray Davies would say): Maureen Dowd and Bill Kristol are uniting. Scary.

Also, via Ha'aretz (Israel), an interesting op-ed by Bradley Burston on the recent developments in the Dem race:

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/948883.html

Obama wins in SC, Bill Clinton plays the race card and Weekly Links #2

Obama received around twice the votes HRC did in the South Carolina primary on Saturday. This is great news and gives the Obama campaign a lot of momentum heading into the 22 primaries/caucuses that will be in play come Feb 5. A full rundown of the weekends events can be found here:

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8UECM4G0&show_article=1

As for the HRC campaign response? Bill Clinton immediately made the suggestion that Obama is "just like Jesse Jackson." Full text from ABCnews.com:

January 26, 2008 8:18 PM

Said Bill Clinton today in Columbia, SC: "Jesse Jackson won South Carolina in '84 and '88. Jackson ran a good campaign. And Obama ran a good campaign here."

This was in response to a question from ABC News' David Wright about it taking "two Clintons to beat" Obama. Jackson had not been mentioned.

Link (with disgusting reader comments): http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/01/bubba-obama-is.html

Now, the Clinton campaign has been trying to paint Obama as "the black candidate" for about 3 weeks now. Josh Marshall at TPM has an analysis of Bill's involvement that you can read here:
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/064811.php

Aside from the stain these episodes have left on HRC's campaign and how immoral I think the whole effort is, I'm left wondering if the strategy is working. For a former president, who was once glibly called the "first black president" to issue thinly racist comments you'd think is pretty risky. So far the comments have seeped slowly into the national press, and if pundits start spontaneously comparing Obama to Jackson, I think you could call the strategy a success. Obama will have to counterattack harshly, in my view, and publicize the concerted effort HRC is putting into exploiting stereotypes, without seeming like the stereotypical "angry black man" that Michael Savage et al refer to when speaking about Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton. Luckily this is uniting a lot of disparaging factions. Sean Hannity and his ilk absolutely detest HRC, and the more rational members of the media, such as Keith Olbermann and Bill Moyers, probably aren't reacting positively to the comments either. Maybe they'll all join forces on this issue, and HRC's strategy will backfire. Like the Zen Master said "we'll see". Either way, it shows what kind of people the Clintons are, and how we Americans cannot suffer an election that turns into a referendum on Bill's presidency. Get the Clintons out, get the dynasties out. This truly is, as Obama put it "the past against the future."

Some links this week:

HRC Campaign says they aren't trying to stir the pot:
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/064877.php

Caroline Kennedy endorses Obama:
http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Caroline_Kennedy_A_President_Like_My_0127.html

"Obama is a Muslim terrorist" smear campaign is hurting Obama:
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0108/8109.html

The Obama Healthcare plan:
http://www.barackobama.com/issues/healthcare/

HRC wins Nevada caucus - Obama pulls more delegates

Obama campaign speaks about Nevada pre-caucus.

Weekly Links #1

Each Friday or Saturday I'll try to post a round-up of the week's top election stories/op-eds. Here's edition #1:

(Jan. 19 is the date of Nevada's caucuses.)

My Way News: Obama's humor on display in Nevada

Pollster.com: Obama closing in on HRC in Nevada

AP: Nevada unions back Obama

AP: Nevada newspapers endorse Obama

LATimes: Obama and HRC's positions on gambling might affect the Nevada caucus

WashingtonPost: Eugene Robinson op-ed: The Hard Choice is Now

WashingtonPost: Krauthammer op-ed: Black Dreams, White Liberals
(amazingly CK doesn't come off as a total jackass in this op-ed)

State.gov: Discussion on the history of primaries and caucuses. Might be interesting to those unfamiliar with the American electoral system.

New Year New Website

Hey everyone, the new website is up and we're pretty happy with it. Even though it's just a free blog template, we hope the resources we publish here can be of use both to the American ex-pats in the UK who will be voting, and to our British friends who are trying to follow the American presidential campaigns all the way through November. Additionally, we'll try to keep you up to date on any events in Edinburgh concerning the '08 Elections.

The layout of the website is pretty simple. Most of the links sections contain articles written in major American newspapers or blogs about Obama or the Democratic nomination. Under 'Election 08' you'll find some of the best websites for tracking the election. On the main page we'll be publishing running diaries of some of the debates and try to keep you up to date on the week's events.

OBAMA 08!!