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July 17, 2008

Exclusive: Thursday, July 17

Presidential Watch

For a list of 38 of Barack Obama's "Not Exactly" statements, CLICK HERE.

Would You Hire a President Who Padded His Résumé?

Jennifer Rubin, Pajamas Media.com

Barack Obama has a solution to his lack of accomplishment and experience: pad his resume. If resume fraud were a crime, Obama would be looking at fifteen to life. And it is not just an isolated incident or two. He is a repeat offender.

Obama started early. Even the New York Times acknowledges that in his book Dreams From My Father Obama accomplished little as a "community organizer."

Now Obama is running for the presidency on the slimmest record of accomplishment of any major party candidate in recent memory.

Unlike John McCain who has taken his lumps from his own party but who has actually accomplished something in Congress, Obama's record is relatively barren.

Perhaps sensing that Obama needed to demonstrate some record of accomplishment his campaign put up an ad in early July touting his record on welfare reform, claiming he "passed a law to move people from welfare to work - slashed the rolls by 80 percent." But this wasn't true. Read article.

Obama's Bear Market?

Stephen Moore, Online WSJ.com

Are global investors anticipating a Barack Obama victory in November and the economic storm that his high-tax and antitrade policies would bring? That's a convenient reading of the stock market's recent behavior for Republicans, who have reason for wanting to deflect blame from George W. Bush and his Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke. But we do know investors are forward-looking and the slide in the dollar and the fall in the market have accelerated at the same pace as Mr. Obama's meteoric political rise over the past nine months.

Bettors believe Mr. Obama is 34% more likely to win in November than Republican John McCain. That implies big tax hikes aimed at the returns on investment in the stock market.

The lesson here for investors is to keep an eye on the betting markets as a leading indicator as to the direction of stocks. "If the political winds keep blowing left," says Dan Clifton of Strategas, an investment advisory firm, "the market is going to tank. In that case, I advise, get out of the market while you still can." Read article.

Obama The Blur

Review & Outlook, Online WSJ.com

At his current pace, Barack Obama is going to give Bill Clinton a run for his reputation as a political shape-shifter. Witness his performance this week in the Senate on foreign intelligence surveillance. He voted to gut the bill before he voted to pass it.

For two weeks, Mr. Obama has been taking flak from his left flank for declaring his support for executive branch eavesdropping on terrorists overseas. During the primaries, Mr. Obama had promised to join a filibuster to kill it. But, lo, as the general election beckoned, he saw the light of Presidential power shine upon him and decided not to give John McCain an opening to call him soft on national security.

Mr. Obama's both for-it and against-it pose raises the issue of what he really believes. Perhaps in voting for the killer amendments, he was trying to appease the left while knowing he'd pay no political price because the amendments would fail. But this hyper-triangulation hardly inspires confidence in a potential President, who doesn't have the luxury of being on both sides of every issue.

Most Presidential campaigns put a candidate in sharper focus as they unfold. Since he's locked down the nomination, Mr. Obama has become the candidate who blurs. Read article.

Jackson Incident Revives Some Blacks' Concerns About Obama

Perry Bacon Jr., Washington Post.com

The larger point of Jesse L. Jackson's criticism of Barack Obama -- if not the crude way he expressed it -- touched a nerve among some African American political activists who have been unhappy about the senator 's pointed critiques of absentee fathers and other problems in the black community.

Jackson, an Obama supporter, spent much of yesterday apologizing for a remark that was caught by a Fox News microphone and aired Wednesday on the network. Jackson was overheard saying Obama's pitch to expand President Bush's federal assistance for faith-based social service programs was "talking down to black people." He then used a base phrase to say what he wanted to do to the senator from Illinois.

Ronald Walters, who teaches at the University of Maryland, worked on Jackson's presidential campaigns in the 1980s. He criticized a speech Obama gave last month chastising black fathers who were "acting like boys instead of men," and adding that "we need them to realize that what makes you a man is not the ability to have a child -- it's the courage to raise one."

Walters said that "we're not electing him to be preacher in chief," and that Obama needs to give more speeches about how he would help black communities. Read article.

Ego-Bama - Swallow Some of That Pride

Jonah Goldberg, NY Post.com

In his pre-campaign book, "The Audacity of Hope," Barack Obama proclaims, "I find comfort in the fact that the longer I'm in politics the less nourishing popularity becomes, that a striving for rank and fame seems to betray a poverty of ambition, and that I am answerable mainly to the steady gaze of my own conscience."

Some might think this odd testimony from a young and inexperienced freshman senator on the cusp of seeking the highest rank, and the most famous position, in the world. It's a bit like a parish priest saying he's happy with his modest lot in life and then declaring he's throwing his hat in the ring to become pope.

But a closer reading reveals a possible explanation. Perhaps he's an adulation junkie. Maybe the diminishing "nourishment" Sen. Obama receives from "popularity" is actually causing him to ratchet up his pursuit of more and more praise just to get the minimal fix he needs.

That would account for why a man who thinks striving for popularity is a character flaw has nonetheless decided to give his nomination acceptance speech in a 76,000-seat football stadium. Read article.

Manipulating the Media for Obama

Cliff Kincaid, AIM.org

Thanks to Matt Drudge, Jesse Jackson's disparaging comments about Barack Obama have become national news. Who benefits? Obama. It makes Obama look like a moderate, compared to the disgraced, discredited and venomous Jackson. But this doesn't mean, by any stretch of the imagination, that Jackson, a failed black presidential candidate, will cease to be a national black "leader" and spokesman. Remember this is a "Reverend" who has survived the embarrassment of fathering a child out of wedlock.

Now why would Fox News, which recorded and provided Jackson's private comments, want to make Jackson look bad and Obama look good? Why did it take several days before the comments were aired by Bill O'Reilly of Fox News? And who outside of the news organization was made aware of the controversial remarks before they were put on the air? Was the Obama campaign notified in advance and consulted about what to do?

We do know that Fox News owner Rupert Murdoch is already on the Obama bandwagon, having declared the candidate a "rock star" and a winner with a good university record. Murdoch's New York Post endorsed Obama in the Democratic primaries, after Murdoch, who had been supporting Hillary Clinton's candidacy, figured she was a loser. Read article.

Right on Cue: Obama Media Minions Focus on McCain's Divorce

Patrick Casey, American Thinker.com

It can be argued that Barack Obama won his Senate seat in 2004 on the back of his opposition's divorce files. While much ado was made nationally of the contents of his Republican Senate opponent Jack Ryan's files, the release of which caused Ryan to drop out of the race against Obama, divorce files were also critical to Obama's win in that year's Democratic Senate Primary. Is Obama now going to try to use Senator John McCain's divorce files to win the Presidency?

The New York Times recalled in April of 2007 that Team Obama, running for an open Illinois Senate seat in 2004, was locked in a two man race against millionaire Democratic liberal Blair Hull - and losing. The following account about that race is contained in a fascinating NYT profile of David Axelrod, Obama's chief strategist - Obama's Narrator:

"As the 2004 Senate primary neared, it was clear that it was a contest between two people: the millionaire liberal, Hull, who was leading in the polls, and Obama, who had built an impressive grass-roots campaign. About a month before the vote, The Chicago Tribune revealed, near the bottom of a long profile of Hull, that during a divorce proceeding, Hull's second wife filed for an order of protection. In the following few days, the matter erupted into a full-fledged scandal that ended up destroying the Hull campaign and handing Obama an easy primary victory."

Notice the method - Axelrod and Obama worked behind the scenes to force a newspaper to do their dirty work, much the same way they drove the coverage demanding the release of Jack Ryan's files.

Therefore, it's not surprising that this morning we wake up to see the following article on the front page (top left) of the Los Angeles Times: McCain's broken marriage and fractured Reagan friendship. Read article.

RJC: Obama Should Disinvite Hagel from Israel Trip

Suzanne Kurtz, RJC.org

Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC) Executive Director Matt Brooks issued the followed statement today calling on Sen. Barack Obama to drop Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE) from his upcoming trip to Israel:

"If Barack Obama is getting advice from Chuck Hagel about Israel, then the American Jewish community has a lot to worry about. Of all the senators with whom Obama could have traveled with, Hagel's record on Israel is one of the worst. Senator Obama should disinvite Senator Hagel from this trip," said Brooks. "The message to the Jewish community is heard loud and clear. Where Barack Obama has chosen to visit Israel with one of the most anti-Israel senators, by contrast, on John McCain's most recent trip to Israel, he chose to visit with Joseph Lieberman."

The National Jewish Democratic Council (NJDC), cited clear examples of Sen. Hagel's abysimal record on Israel. Read article.

Now Auditioning Obama Surrogates and VP Contestants

Larry Johnson, No Quarter USA Blog.com

Wanted: Surrogates to ably represent Senator Obama in all news media.

Qualifications:

1. Ability to parrot the same three talking points ad nauseum while pretending to say something new, deep and valuable. Yes we can!

Senator Obama:

a. Is a great communicator

b. Has good judgment

c. Brings people together

2. Position features no pay for your trouble. Necessitates barking like an attack dog to rip Senator McCain a new one, all the while pretending it has nothing to do with the newbie Senator from Illinois, who, as you know stands nobly above the fray at all times.

3. Ability to think fast on your feet is a must. Since the Senator has no real qualifications for the job of President and a sketchy, brief Senate record at best, be prepared to improvise.

Sample talking points:

a. I can't point to anything specific, I dunno, there's just something special about the guy. (ref. Gov. Richardson)

b. He's so fresh. (ref. Speaker Nancy Pelosi)

c. His inexperience is actually a plus. (again, that Pelosi lady - wow, she's good!)

d. He's clean. He's got the whole package. (ref. Senators Biden and Reid)

4. Surrogate must be ready, willing and able to be thrown under the bus at the first sign of trouble for the campaign. Must supply your own protective gear. Read article.

The Dissent Deceit

Ralph Peters, NY Post.com

Parrot-talk on policy infects both ends of the political spectrum. Extremists like things neat and simple. But, these days, tape-loop talk has reached epidemic proportions on the left. Rational debate? Ain't going to find it at that MoveOn fund-raiser.

Worst of all, the most enduringly popular slogans tend to be either dishonest, misattributed - or just plain dumb.

We've all heard humorless America-haters promote themselves by announcing, As Thomas Jefferson said, "Dissent is the highest form of patriotism."

The first problem with that self-righteous bull is that Jefferson never said it. On the contrary, he warned of the dangers of political dissension carried to extremes.

The earliest traceable provenance of the slogan goes back to an obscure 1960s lefty who just made it up (long before activist-historian Howard Zinn commandeered it).

My fellow Americans, let me ask you: Were Abby Hoffman, Jerry Rubin and Sen. Barack Obama's Weatherman Underground pals (who bombed their own country) really more patriotic than those who served in Vietnam? Was trashing the campus records office truly the "highest form of patriotism?" Read article.

Distant Thunder: Voters' Doubts about Obama McCain's Strongest Asset

Ronald Brownstein, National Journal.com

Sherry Shutts usually votes Republican, and four years ago she pulled the lever for President Bush. But when Democratic Rep. Ed Perlmutter, who represents this older suburb just west of Denver, knocked on her door while campaigning for re-election last week, Shutts surprised him by reporting that she wasn't yet committed to John McCain, the presumptive GOP nominee.

Shutts, who is in her 60s and keeps the books for her husband's construction business, told Perlmutter she wants change and is dubious that McCain can deliver it. "He just doesn't seem very dynamic," Shutts said. "I keep waiting for him to come forward with something that makes me think he's going to do a good job." But Barack Obama, the presumptive Democratic nominee, hasn't won her loyalty either. "He gives an elegant speech," she said, "but ... he hasn't been there very long."

Such ambivalence was voiced frequently during the two days I spent interviewing nearly 60 voters in the Denver suburbs around the Fourth of July. With Colorado as a top battleground state, these suburban communities could be ground zero in the presidential campaign by Election Day. Read article.

Backlash: 2 million angry: Democrats reject Obama?

WND.com

More than two million angry Democrats are rejecting Sen. Barack Obama as the likely Democratic nominee for the presidency this year, according to a new protest organization.

"I hate to use this word but it's fascist, and that's the approach they're taking to silence any Hillary Clinton supporters," Will Bower, co-founder of PUMA/Just Say No Deal, an exploding coalition of voters who say they have raised $10 million in just days to pay down Clinton's campaign debt.

"Barack Obama wants to give his acceptance speech in a stadium because he intends to minimize any pro-Hillary supporter dissent. It's not because he wants to include more people. He knows that if they pull any shenanigans at convention, the Hillary delegates will walk out, and they don't want that to be seen or heard. They're bringing as many Obama supporters as they can to fill that stadium. It's fascism," he said.

The voters who still are supporting Clinton are doing everything they can to make sure that doesn't happen, raising an estimated $10 million since Independence Day to retire her debt. Read article.

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