a different take on the news

It’s fun to watch Barack Obama slither toward the center, isn’t it:

Presidential hopeful Barack Obama tours the Chrysler Stamping Plant in Sterling Height, Michigan, on Wednesday, May 14.

Jae C. Hong / AP

In case you missed it, Barack Obama’s American flag lapel pin is back. How long it will stay on is anyone’s guess.

If you blinked, you missed John Edwards’s endorsement of Obama earlier this week.  In that case, you also missed Edwards’s lavish praise of Hillary Clinton [e.a.]:

Mr. Edwards spent several minutes praising Mrs. Clinton, which was met by loud boos by the largely white crowd who had filled the arena with no knowledge of the endorsement to come.

He called her a capable senator and a stalwart campaigner who deserved respect for tenacity and service. “We are a stronger party because Hillary Clinton is a Democrat, we are a stronger country because of her years of public service, and we’re going to have a stronger presidential nominee in the fall because of her work.”

Hmmm. What ever could he mean?

Exurban Jon at Exurban League:

If Bush gave a speech about drug dealers, would you release a statement saying, “how DARE you insult me!”? Of course not; you’re aren’t a drug dealer. So if you really aren’t an appeaser, you shouldn’t have willingly identified yourself with that group. …

I’ve done plenty of PR work in my time, senator. Although you shouldn’t have released a statement at all, here’s how you should have handled a press question about Bush’s comments:

“One thing all Americans agree on is that appeasement doesn’t work. As president, I will engage in tough, principled, and direct diplomacy just like Kennedy, Nixon and Reagan before me. And of course, no American president will engage with terrorists, least of all those who seek to destroy our stalwart ally, Israel. I look forward to celebrating the 65th anniversary of Israel’s independence.”

Another amateur-hour play from Barack and his first responders. Ho hum.

I’ll bet you thought this song 

The killers claim the mantle of Islam, but they are not religious men. No one who prays to the God of Abraham could strap a suicide vest to an innocent child, or blow up guiltless guests at a Passover Seder, or fly planes into office buildings filled with unsuspecting workers. In truth, the men who carry out these savage acts serve no higher goal than their own desire for power. They accept no God before themselves. And they reserve a special hatred for the most ardent defenders of liberty, including Americans and Israelis.And that is why the founding charter of Hamas calls for the “elimination” of Israel. 

And that is why the followers of Hezbollah chant “Death to Israel, Death to America!” That is why Osama bin Laden teaches that “the killing of Jews and Americans is one of the biggest duties.” And that is why the President of Iran dreams of returning the Middle East to the Middle Ages and calls for Israel to be wiped off the map.There are good and decent people who cannot fathom the darkness in these men and try to explain away their words. It’s natural, but it is deadly wrong.

As witnesses to evil in the past, we carry a solemn responsibility to take these words seriously. Jews and Americans have seen the consequences of disregarding the words of leaders who espouse hatred. And that is a mistake the world must not repeat in the 21st century.Some seem to believe that we should negotiate with the terrorists and radicals, as if some ingenious argument will persuade them they have been wrong all along.

We have heard this foolish delusion before. As Nazi tanks crossed into Poland in 1939, an American senator declared: “Lord, if I could only have talked to Hitler, all this might have been avoided.” We have an obligation to call this what it is — the false comfort of appeasement, which has been repeatedly discredited by history. (Applause.)

was about you.Because everything is always all about you, isn’t it, Barry?

They’ve had a hold over me ever since I came back from my beach vacation.
Plus: I’m really busy in my not-online life as not-Hepzeeba.

It did occur to me to write about a few funny things, like the rebirth and relaunching of James Frey, who was the subject of my very first post.

But I’m not inspired. And you, dear readers, are entitled to read posts that are not drivel and that are worth your time.

So hang tight, and hope for the best: that I’ll be back in good form … when I’m over the hump.

As Jennifer Rubin notes, Obama executed his first good pivot last night:

Obama is a fast learner. His speech last night included a heavy dose of heartfelt appreciation for America, reverence for the land of opportunity and lots of empathy for working class voters. Like a vacuum cleaner, he is sucking up the Clintonian message to blue collar voters and absorbing the rhetoric which has successfully lured a coalition of working class whites, seniors and women. Don’t expect any more Snobgate slip-ups.

Now things will start to get really interesting for Obama, as he tries to tack to the center.

While his candidate urges reconciliationBarack Obama’s number-one fan writes:

in the end, the Clintons were defeated not by Republicans, but by African-American Democrats. How wonderful. How poignant.

Really? Why?

Salon’s Joan Walsh wasn’t talking about the blogosphere’s Andrew Sullivan (quoted above) on Reliable Sources last Sunday when she lit into her “journalist” colleagues:

KURTZ: Joan Walsh, …Do you think that one of the reasons that Wright has become such a huge issue for the media is that we’re now in a period where journalists, for the first time really in this campaign, are being far more critical of Barack Obama because he’s in some political trouble?

WALSH: I think that is true. I think it’s just a natural dynamic of political coverage. And you and I both have seen it before.

But, you know, I was struck when I got to Iowa and New Hampshire in January by how our media colleagues were just swooning over Barack Obama. That is not too strong a word. They were swooning.

They — I was at a speech. I remember it — I’ll write about it some day — in Manchester. And every — the biggest names in our business were there.
And they were — they could repeat some of his speech lines to one another. It was like a Bruce Springsteen concert where the fans sing along.

And, you know, I respected it to some extent. He’s a towering political figure. Of our generation, he is probably the best politician. He’s inspiring. And reporters, white reporters, black reporters, reporters of every race, we want to get beyond racism in America.

So he was inspiring. I understood it. They’re human. They responded.

KURTZ: Well…

WALSH: The downside, though, is that they hate — hate Hillary Clinton, most of them. Hate is not too strong a word. And so there was such a double standard with anything she did.

KURTZ: Well, most of them — most of them, that may be unfair. And I agree with you that a lot of journalists just saw Obama as a vehicle to a post-racial society. But, of course, in a political campaign, we are supposed to be fair despite our personal feelings.

WALSH: Right.

The biggest names in journalism hate and despise Hillary Clinton so much that they have managed to insult half of all Democrats by labeling the Clintons as racist Republican-thug clones.

Interesting development.

I, for one, will never ever automatically vote for a Democrat again, as long as I live. I hope they’re proud of themselves.

A lot of people are going after Barack Obama because of his 20-year relationship with the grievance-nurturing America hater Jeremiah Wright. And then there are those who hate his commie policy ideas:

Obama and others are wrong on this one:

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama’s proposal for a windfall profits tax on oil companies could cost $15 billion a year at last year’s profit levels, a campaign adviser said.

The plan would target profit from the biggest oil companies by taxing each barrel of oil costing more than $80, according to a fact sheet on the proposal. The tax would help pay for a $1,000 tax cut for working families, an expansion of the earned- income tax credit and assistance for people who can’t afford their energy bills.

“The profits right now are so remarkable that one could trim them 10 percent or so, which would turn out to be somewhere in the $15 billion range,’’ said Jason Grumet, an adviser to the Obama campaign.

I simply oppose the notion that the government should be in the business of deciding how much profit is “too much” …

Well, duh.

Now … back to my vacation.