Does this mean an Obama presidency would be a cakewalk?

Sayeth Adelman:

Primarily for two reasons, those of temperament and of judgment.

When the economic crisis broke, I found John McCain bouncing all over the place. In those first few crisis days, he was impetuous, inconsistent, and imprudent; ending up just plain weird. Having worked with Ronald Reagan for seven years, and been with him in his critical three summits with Gorbachev, I’ve concluded that that’s no way a president can act under pressure.

Second is judgment. The most important decision John McCain made in his long campaign was deciding on a running mate.

That decision showed appalling lack of judgment. Not only is Sarah Palin not close to being acceptable in high office—I would not have hired her for even a mid-level post in the arms-control agency. But that selection contradicted McCain’s main two, and best two, themes for his campaign—Country First, and experience counts. Neither can he credibly claim, post-Palin pick.

I sure hope Obama is more open, centrist, sensible—dare I say, Clintonesque—than his liberal record indicates, than his cooperation with Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid portends. If not, I will be even more startled by my vote than I am now.

UPDATE: WP version, with this additional and startling bit of information:

In today's Post-ABC tracking poll, Obama is winning 22 percent of conservatives. That's his best showing yet among these voters, and if the percent holds on Election Day, it would be higher than conservative support for any Democratic nominee since 1980.

Obama also wins 12 percent support among Republicans in the tracking poll -- exactly double Kerry's 2004 Election Day haul.

Sure, Obama has a more inclusive health care plan, he offers the opportunity for generational change, he was right about invading Iran Iraq* and his VP has a more distinguished reading list than "all of it," but the Republican National Committee still thinks it has the goods on Obama. A deep, dark secret that will cause you to doubt everything you thought you knew about the man.

Of course, the Obama campaign denies such waffling. Spokesman Hari Sevugan:

Besides, it's not as if he randomly inserted the name of a local sports team into a campaign platitude with no regard for previous statements! That would be bad.

* I AM SO DRUNK TODAY. But, seriously, he's right about both, huh?

From TIME's Amy Sullivan:

It must officially be two weeks before Election Day because the
leashes are now off. This afternoon, while Mike Huckabee was telling a
Missouri television station that Barack Obama's high school and
college drug use should be a legitimate campaign issue, Rudy Giuliani
was on Fox News complaining that the media has failed to do its job
fully investigating Obama's college background. "God forbid
somebody would do some reporting on Barack Obama's use of drugs,"
snarled the former mayor.

Yes, God forbid. If only the New York Times would take the matter
seriously and run a front-page story laying out their
findings...Oh, wait. They did. In February. And it was a memorable article, too,
as it must be the first recorded instance of journalists charging that
a presidential candidate may have exaggerated his drug use, in
a memoir in which he voluntarily offered up details of youthful
indiscretions.

Just out of curiosity, has John McCain ever answered questions
about any possible drug use in his past?

Remember when John McCain said that Rev. Wright was off limits? Apparently, that was a pledge with caveats.

• "Charles Manson was a community organizer." [MNPublis]

• "She may be a little 'trigger-happy' - I should know." [MSNBC]

• "Joe the Biden" [NYT]

• "Vote YESH on Prop 2!" [HuffPo]

• An interactive map as to the best locations to steal the election. [DVice]

If you’re gonna accuse your opponent of supporting voter fraud, heckling and harassing early voters is maybe not a great idea.

FactCheck.org takes the Obama campaign to task for an ad that claims McCain would cut Medicare benefits, and calls the charge "a rank distortion":

These claims are false, and based on a single newspaper report that says no such thing. McCain's policy director states unequivocally that no benefit cuts are envisioned. McCain does propose substantial "savings" through such means as cutting fraud, increased use of information technology in medicine and better handling of expensive chronic diseases. Obama himself proposes some of the same cost-saving measures. We're skeptical that either candidate can deliver the savings they promise, but that's no basis for Obama to accuse McCain of planning huge benefit cuts.

Here's the photo essay Powell spoke of:

Sphere Related Blogs & Articles |