SWEET PICK! KUDOS TO MCCAIN FOR CHOOSING SARAH PALIN FOR HIS VP
McCain has reached for the stars and grabbed one. On a recent cruise to Alaska, I had the pleasure of spending an afternoon with Sarah Palin. She is brilliant and articulate and, in Alaska politics, is a breath of fresh air as an alternative to their corruption epitomized by Alaska Republican Senator Ted Stevens. Now Obama, who has spent two years preventing a woman from being president, will spend two months preventing one from becoming vice president – and hopes to do so with women votes. The entire premise of the Democratic convention was the fungibility of Bush and McCain. Now McCain has vividly demonstrated the difference. Sarah Palin is no Dick Cheney!
CHALLENGE TO MCCAIN
Published in The New York Post on August 29, 2008.
DENVER
A MASTER was at work last night. A politician who can inspire hope filled in the blanks of his program and articulated his vision with skill and panache.
Barack Obama, never short on inspiration, gave us specifics. He delivered a State of the Union Address, laying out his programs fully and well. He gave exactly the right speech with the right delivery and balance of detail and rhetoric.
And he wove his background and his philosophy into and around his proposals, combining moving words with specific proposals. The speech will surely give him the bounce he needs – turning a deadlocked race into a potential landslide.
A STRATEGIC OPENING FOR MCCAIN
Many political campaigns run against the wrong candidate. The opportunity to pick on a vulnerable target is so tempting that they are lured into attacking someone who isn’t running. In 1992, the Republicans unleashed their convention barrage at Hillary and left Bill unscathed. In 1996, Dole still ran against Clinton the liberal and ignored the changes in his political positioning. Campaigns go after the flaming red cape, so glittering a target, and leave the matador alone.
RX FOR A BIG BOUNCE: WHAT BARACK CAN LEARN FROM AL
Published in The New York Post on August 28, 2008.
If Barack Obama wants to get a serious bounce in the polls from his speech tonight, the gifted speaker should eat some humble pie and copy dull old Al Gore.
At the 2000 Democratic Convention, Gore gave one of the best acceptance speeches in recent history. And by “best” we mean a 17-point bounce in the polls.
WHAT’S UP WITH BILL
Published on TheHill.com on August 27, 2008
Barack Obama would do well to remember the lines from Hamlet: “Madness in great ones must not unwatched go.” Bill Clinton’s strategy is to take refuge in his carefully cultivated reputation for being undisciplined and borderline-eccentric to drop bombs on Obama in such a way that Hillary can escape blame.
Bill and Hillary do not want Obama to win. If he does move to the White House, Hillary will be unable to run for president until 2016 (Obama would run again in 2012), by which time she will be closing in on 70 years of age. But Hillary cannot afford to be seen dumping on Obama.
STELLAR SPEECH WON’T BOOST BARACK
Published in The New York Post on August 27, 2008.
Her words were emphatic: “Barack Obama is my candidate and he must be our next president.” Hillary Clinton’s endorsement was unambiguous and she held nothing back. She attacked John McCain with gusto and purpose and made the case for a Democratic victory splendidly and with passion and commitment.
She did such a good job, in fact, that when she left the podium and the cheering rose to a crescendo, everybody in the hall was asking the same question: Why didn’t Obama pick her for vice president?
MAGIC WORDS: ‘I LOVE THIS COUNTRY’
Published in The New York Post on August 26, 2008.
DENVER
‘I love this country”: Those are the magic words that Michelle Obama said at the Democratic National Convention last night.
They’re the words we’ve wanted to hear from her ever since we saw her say that she was proud of her country “for the first time in my adult life” now that her husband was winning primaries en route to the White House.
Did she buy into the American dream? Was she part of our national aspiration – or part of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s twisted view of us? Those were the questions we wanted answered. Last night, she answered – loud and clear.
HOW PERMANENT WILL OBAMA’S BOUNCE BE?
Everybody agrees that when Barack Obama finishes his historic outdoor acceptance speech on Thursday night and the 75,000 adoring fans in attendance finally quiet down, he will bounce up in the polls, likely to as much as a 10-point lead or even more.
Obama is at his best when delivering a telepromptered speech to a large and enthusiastic crowd. What would be a major task for some is just batting practice for this skilled orator. But how long will his bounce last?
To make it stay and not let McCain dissipate it with the Republican convention that will follow hard on the heels of the Democratic gathering, Obama needs to give a State of the Union speech, not a campaign speech, to his national television audience.
