He's baaaaaack!

For those of you who have enjoyed this blog so far, I'm sorry. It's been a crazy time with finals, and then another big change in my life.

We are moving! So, my family has been busy packing and toting things 40 miles away to our new full-time abode. I'm not sure how often I will be posting in the immediate future. I still haven't decided on how to acquire internet access there, but it will happen.
is in must be of concern to him. Again, those white auto-workers may
Of course, a lot has happened since my last post. Hillary has suspended, repeat, suspended her campaign. That's a big difference from conceding.

What this means is two-fold: 1) she holds onto her delegates, keeps raising money to pay debts, and remains a threat behind the scenes should Obama stumble badly or something about his past raises it's ugly head. 2) She will give a speech at the convention, have her delegates vote on the ballot, be involved in platform/committee work at the convention, and perhaps keep alive any veep consideration.

In reality, she probably knew this was where her campaign was going to wind up after Super Tuesday. She is now playing the game for 2012. She does NOT want Obama to win this year, but she has to behave like she is doing everything to help him beat John McCain. Why? Because then she would have to wait till 2016 to run! Margaret Thatcher aside, 68-year old women have a tough time winning elections for top-management positions.

She has to worry about what will happen if he loses. She will get blamed for it by many in the party. Bill has damaged her future position with some of the divisive commments he has made in this campaign. The Clintons have come across as "we are entitled to this and how dare you give this to some freshman untried senator over us!"

The fact of the matter is, I repeat, McCain has had the luck of the Irish this year. He won against a weak set of opponents. The Democrats should have had a lock on the White House this year, and yet the Democrat-led Congress has even lower approval ratings than the outgoing Republican president. Amazing.

As for the president's approval ratings, the Senate Intelligence Committee tried to pile on him with a report that stated the old "Bush lied/people died" rhetoric. They never tell you that the Senate Committee had EXACTLY THE SAME INTELLIGENCE that he did and the Senate voted to give him the authorization to go into Iraq. What even MORE interesting is the editorial in today's Washington Post, no fan of President Bush, defending the president on those accusations! This is one of the few links in my piece today, so I highly recommend reading the entirety of this short editorial. You have to read the reports from the government during election time. Many times, like this report, the report's facts don't agree with the summary handed out for the media to devour for the nightly news.

Meanwhile, the Democrats have chosen a nominee that got slaughtered in battleground states, that Democrats can usually count on (Michigan, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, even Massachusetts) by a woman whose "brand" has been severely hurt by the comments and baggage she and her husband have brought to the dance this election. In the last several primaries, it became clear that Mrs. Clinton was earning many votes as a "stop Obama" candidate.

So, what happens next? Watch what the candidates do. Obama has been in Michigan three times in the last several days. This means that he needs shoring up there and the problems that Detroit mayor Kwame Kilpatrick be a problem demographic group for him. He MUST have Michigan and its 17 electoral votes if he is going to have a chance. And he has been to North Carolina a few times. It is one of the few southern states where he hopes to win (looking for a coalition of liberal whites on the college campuses with a large African-American community).

Well, this was just a quick summary of where we stand. I will try to sit down and do a longer analytical piece with more links in the next few days. Meanwhile, if you are of the mind to read my more partisan reaction to events, don't forget to click the link at the side and read my "Lincoln's Ghost" blog...!

Later,

Coach