Carol Marin’s column today is about the hurdles faced by female candidates.
And just Tuesday, Thomas B. Edsall’s New York Times column pointed to what he called “disturbing” Democratic numbers. “In the 42 top-tier ‘Red to Blue’ races selected by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee for intensive financing and support, 25 of the candidates were male and 17 were female,” wrote Edsall. “In those contests, male candidates batted .800: 20 victories to five defeats. The women faced higher barriers: three won and 14 lost, batting .176.”
It’s got to be something that Hillary Clinton is studying. As the Democrats embark on a presidential season that arguably could yield a woman or a person of color like Sen. Barack Obama as its presidential nominee, we are once again asking if the country is ready for either.
We have a long way to go on both fronts.
But it may well be that gender remains the larger liability.
Which is the “larger liability” in American politics today? Gender or race? Explain.
*** UPDATE *** As if on cue, we have some new polling numbers.
CNN just ran results from an Opinion Research Corporation poll that asked two questions:
* Do you think America is ready for a black/African-American president or not?
* Do you think America is ready for a woman president or not?
And here’s the story:
Sixty percent of voters said, “A female president? No problem.'’ Both men and women agree. Do Democrats see a problem? Nope. Seventy percent of Democrats say the country’s ready for a female president. Perhaps they have one in mind.
How about an African-American president? A slightly higher number, 62 percent, see no problem with that either. Whites are a little more confident than blacks that the country is ready for a black president. But a majority of blacks believe the country is ready.
Can those results be trusted? Polls are not always reliable when they ask people about prejudice. As CNN’s polling director, Keating Holland, noted, “Sometimes people will hear a question and give pollsters the answer that they think the pollster wants to hear.'’
The question of electability may be less about prejudice in general and more about this woman and this African-American. Holland said, “Americans may be thinking about these specific people, [New York Sen.] Hillary Clinton and [Illinois Sen.] Barack Obama.'’
I think a much better question to ask would be “Would you rule out voting for a black or female presidential candidate?” and I think there was a poll earlier this year about the female side of that (with quite a few saying “No”) but I haven’t been able to find it yet.
Obama appeared yesterday at a public hearing by the Advisory Board on Radiation and Worker Health to push for compensation for poisoned workers, but his mere presence was more interesting to some.
Apologetic for the “fuss†he was creating at a meeting Tuesday in Naperville, Sen. Barack Obama pleaded the cases of hundreds of Illinois workers who became sick toiling at nuclear weapons plants less than a half century ago.
The prospective Democratic presidential candidate also brought along a crush of media attention.
“This is one of the rare times it’s useful to have this big throng,†he said to the more than two dozen media members attending a federal worker health advisory board meeting. “That’s a joke. Don’t hold it against me.â€
He is not concerned that his star power presence at these types of hearings gets in the way of his message.
“A lot of you wouldn’t be here today, otherwise,†he said. “The whole point of appearing here is to make sure the story is widely disseminated.â€
For the 29 years he worked at a Joliet chemical plant, John Keca thought he was manufacturing detergents.
“He was sick most of his time” at the plant, his widow, Phyllis, 80, said Tuesday.
But in fact, Keca had been exposed to uranium dust while working at the Blockson Chemical Co. Blockson had a government contract to extract uranium from ore between 1952 and 1962.
John Keca died in 1996 of colon cancer, his wife said.
Meanwhile, one of the AP’s top political reporters demonstrated once again why the Beltway media crowd is such an object of derision. Check out this lede:
Sen. Barack Obama had a good first date in New Hampshire this week — he was a little late, but wore a nice suit, had interesting things to say and used a little flattery.
* And Jeff Greenfield, who used to be a decent reporter, has apparently lost his freaking mind. This Greenfield piece for CNN has been making the rounds on the blogs this week.
The senator was in New Hampshire over the weekend, sporting what’s getting to be the classic Obama look. Call it business casual, a jacket, a collared shirt, but no tie.
It is a look the senator seems to favor. And why not? It is dressy enough to suggest seriousness of purpose, but without the stuffiness of a tie, much less a suit. There is a comfort level here that reflects one of Obama’s strongest political assets, a sense that he is comfortable in his own skin, that he knows who he is. […]
But, in the case of Obama, he may be walking around with a sartorial time bomb. Ask yourself, is there any other major public figure who dresses the way he does? Why, yes. It is Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who, unlike most of his predecessors, seems to have skipped through enough copies of “GQ” to find the jacket-and-no-tie look agreeable.
And maybe that’s not the comparison a possible presidential contender really wants to evoke.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, Washington, DC - all of it, from the very tippity top right down to the lowliest janitor who thinks he owns the place - is the problem.
Instead of answering detailed questions at a campaign announcement press conference, Mayor Daley had reporters lining up yesterday for ten minute, one-on-one interviews. Here are some highlights:
* Sun-Times: City casino ‘not on our priority list’
Mayor Daley bobbed and weaved to avoid questions posed by the city hiring scandal Tuesday, even as he made himself available for a parade of 10-minute interviews.
Throughout the day reporters lined up at the mayor’s campaign headquarters for one-on-ones with Daley. But when it came time for answers about the scandal that culminated in the conviction of his former patronage chief and three other high-ranking city officials, Daley was less than forthcoming. […]
On his on-again, off-again quest for a Chicago casino, the mayor said it’s “up to the governor.”
Mayor Richard M. Daley, in a campaign-kickoff interview Tuesday, left the door open for residential development on the doomed A. Finkl & Sons Co. factory site on the city’s North Side that has been the focus of efforts to preserve industrial jobs in Chicago. […]
[Question] If you’re really for the property tax cap extension, as (Illinois House Speaker) Michael Madigan says he is too, why hasn’t it passed the House?
[Answer] We’re getting closer every vote. We have another vote next month, coming up in January. And we’re going to follow through.
[Question] Are you really going to push for it?
[Answer] Oh, yeah.
* AP: Daley cites “few bad apples'’ for City Hall problems
A relaxed and chatty Daley said he was different from private-sector CEOs who step down when bad things go on under their watch.
“They failed to act,” he said.
Daley said he has taken steps to clean up problems at City Hall. He has said the city would continue retooling its hiring and contracting systems to prevent abuse and had imposed new fundraising rules.
“So far, sure, I think I’ve done enough,” Daley said. He said the city has to meet higher standards than a public company because it operates on taxpayer money.
When Daley was asked if he thought he could be charged as part of the federal investigation, he said: “I wouldn’t even know that.”
* NBC5: Mayor Talks About Corruption, Iraq, Passion For Job [video is here]
Daley was upbeat and frank during the interview, during which Ahern fired off many different topics, ranging from his own son’s embarking on a career in the Army to Daley’s position on corruption within his administration to his unbridled passion for the job.
“I’m the most accessible public official you’ve ever met, and you know that in your own career,” Daley told Ahern with a smile.
* The Tribune story concentrated mostly on the mechanics of the interview process.
Bill Cameron, a reporter for WLS radio, said while he appreciated Daley giving the gift of time, it was clearly an effort by the mayor to deliver a campaign message “that he was fighting corruption and never benefited from any of it.”
“He wouldn’t even concede that he has benefited politically by the work of those who have been prosecuted,” Cameron said. “He not only said to me that he’s not worried about what may be coming to him from the feds, because he did nothing wrong, but that he didn’t know what was going on and he didn’t benefit from any of it. But of course he did.”
But even the most seasoned journalists, recognizing Daley’s availability as more a political tactic than an act of holiday kindness, weren’t about to look a gift mayor in the mouth.
“Everybody’s always happy to get a one-on-one with the mayor,” Cameron said. “But he stayed right on message.”
Although I’m sure it will take heat from people who think that it’s a cover to help illegals, this seems like a decent idea.
A panel of state agencies wants to create “welcoming centers” for immigrants, allowing them to apply for job training, health care and other services at one location.
The proposed state-funded centers would be based in suburbs and in Downstate towns with recent spikes in immigrants, according to the panel’s report being released Wednesday.
The last four or five small-town, Downstate restaurants I’ve eaten at (far outside Springfield in previously all-Anglo areas) had a surprisingly large number of Latino, Southastern European and even Arabic employees, so just based on that admittedly cursory observation, the help may be needed.
But, as always with this administration, there’s a big announcement with no funding attached.
Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who commissioned the two panels, is endorsing the recommendations but has not yet committed any funding, a spokesman said.
Grace Hou, co-chair of the state agency panel and assistant secretary of the Illinois Department of Human Services, acknowledged that dwindling money in the state budget might make it difficult to secure expanded funding for immigrant integration.
One the eve of a crucial vote in the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules to roll back mercury emissions, Midwest Gen cuts a deal.
The operator of six coal-fired power plants in northern and central Illinois has struck a deal with Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s administration calling for drastic cuts in mercury emissions.
Under the deal announced Monday, Midwest Generation officials also agreed to reduce smog and soot at its plants in Chicago, Waukegan, and outside of Romeoville, Joliet and Peoria.
Officials said the fate of three older plants, two in Chicago and one in Waukegan, will be determined by the cost of their cleanup. Those plants could be closed if the cleanup is too costly.
State officials and environmental activists cheered the agreement Monday.
Gotta give the guv props when he deserves it, and he certainly deserves it today. The worst offending plants are terrible polluters (as I recall, some of the company’s plants were grandfathered out of federal clean air laws), but let’s hope they can clean them up because workers there make a good buck.
Meanwhile, on a somewhat related note, Ameren claims the price tag for dealing with the ice storm could be more than $25 million.
Ameren’s efforts to restore electricity to hundreds of thousands of households and businesses after a Nov. 30 ice and snow storm probably will cost more than $25 million, the head of the Ameren Illinois utility companies said Monday.
Scott Cisel, president of the three Ameren Illinois utilities, said he does not yet have a price tag for the recently concluded storm recovery effort. But he expects it will exceed the $20 million to $25 million cost of recovering from a July windstorm that also knocked out electricity for days. […]
Cisel also responded to news reports that the Illinois Commerce Commission last year told Ameren its tree-trimming program did not meet state standards. He disagreed.
“Tree trimming is important, but tree trimming does not mitigate the problems of a severe storm. When you have ice on limbs that are 10, 15 feet away from a line, that fall into your line, that’s way beyond tree trimming.â€
The big story of Mayor Daley’s announcement yesterday wasn’t what he said, but what he filed. I’m not sure if this means his organization is a hollow shell or he wants it to look that way, but, anyway, here’s the story.
Although Daley’s announcement was a scripted show of force, his nominating petitions showed a potential sign of weakness. The mayor filed only 24,160 signatures — fewer than twice the legal requirement and at least 14,000 fewer than mayoral challenger Bill “Dock” Walls. It was the first time in six mayoral elections that a challenger filed more signatures than Daley did.
Four years ago, the mayor filed a wheelbarrow filled with 140,000 signatures. But that was before the city hiring scandal — and before Daley demanded that Democratic precinct workers who circulated petitions swear they were promised no jobs, promotions or benefits.
“People are no longer willing to work for Daley if they can’t be assured a job, a promotion or a contract,” Walls said.
Even bigger news was the interest in aldermanic races.
“We think we’re going to probably if not beat, possibly meet where we were in 1991,” said Langdon Neal, chairman of the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners. “We hear that there’s going to be a lot of candidates per ward.”
By day’s end, 37 of the 47 sitting alderman were facing challengers, and 12 hopefuls had filed for the open seats in the 7th, 8th and 18th wards, where the incumbents have moved on to other elected offices.
“It’s indicative of the interest the people have in local government,” said Ald. Edward M. Burke (14th), dean of the City Council. “Municipal government is really where the rubber meets the road.”
And Natarus tries to put the best spin on a dire situation.
Ald. Burton Natarus (42nd), who has been on the council since 1971, filed for re-election just moments after Brendan Reilly joined the race. Reilly is a former aide to Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan.
“I think I’ll be OK,” Natarus told reporters as Reilly stood a few feet away.
Natarus is in the fight of his life, but I’m not sure he realizes it yet.
I have some YouTube videos about filing day, but the site appears to be bloggered for now (thanks, Google) so check back here a little later.
*** UPDATE *** YouTube is back online, and here are the promised videos, which were posted by 50th Ward candidate Naisy Dolar. That fight in 50 is gonna be interesting. The best news for the broken down warhorse incumbent Bernie Stone is that he faces two strong opponents, who could cancel each other out. Otherwise, this would be one of the hottest races in the city. Dolar, by the way, seems to handle herself well in front of the cameras.
ABC7…
NBC5…
WTTW…
*** UPDATE 2 *** In case you were wondering after seeing the NBC5 report, Joe Moore’s opponent Jim Ginderske has not yet filed any campaign finance reports beyond the usual creating the committee stuff.
* Emanuel knew more than he admitted in Foley scandal
* Obama makes the official announcement: He’s a Bears fan
* Judge: Pay up the fees, governor - Administration told to file payment plan in video-game lawsuit
* Shimkus to quit page board - Says he enjoyed the job, except for the scandal
* 2 take Tusk’s place - Nix, Peters replace deputy governor
* Strom circulates peititions for mayoral candidacy against Davlin
* Six candidates filed Monday to run for Hoffman Estates village trustee, on the first day of filing for municipal races in Schaumburg, Hoffman Estates and Palatine.
* Wheaton already close to primary - Candidates” first day of filing makes it close
* Here’s who filed Monday for positions on the spring ballot in Naperville.
I’m thinking we should have a party, so I’m throwing it together at the last minute because, well, I just didn’t think of it sooner. Besides, I think I’m obligated to throw a party since I won the Illinois Times’ best blogger award.
So, let’s do it this Wednesday night starting around 7-ish at Two Brothers, 309 E. Monroe St., Springfield.
This invite is open to all Capitol Fax subscribers, Illinoize bloggers, Capitol Fax Blog commenters, independent Springfield-area bloggers, and just plain ol’ dedicated blog readers. It’ll be a mostly cash bar, but I’ll definitely pick up at least a few rounds and maybe some pizzas if people get the hungries.
I know it’s extremely late notice, which means I’m running the risk of nobody showing up (that’s why I chose a relatively small venue), but I’m in the mood for a party. Is anyone interested?
Governor Rod R. Blagojevich today named Sheila Nix, his former senior advisor and deputy campaign manager, and Louanner Peters, previously his deputy chief of staff for social services and deputy campaign manager, as Deputy Governors effective December 15. Current Deputy Governor Bradley Tusk plans to return to his hometown of New York City for a position in the private sector. […]
Nix will be based in Chicago and will oversee the administration’s policy, legislative affairs, and communications efforts, while Peters will be based in Springfield and will oversee public safety and social service programs and operations. Governor Blagojevich is not the first to name two deputy governors; in 2000 under Gov. George Ryan, Katherine D. Selcke and Dr. Hazel Loucks simultaneously held the position with Selcke concentrating on programs and policy and Loucks focusing on education.
*** UPDATE *** Once again, I forgot to post my syndicated newspaper column. Coincidentally, it’s about Tusk’s departure and Nix’s ascension.
The consensus among insiders seems to be that the departure of Deputy Gov. Bradley Tusk this month will mean a less confrontational administration in the coming years.
The State Journal-Register slams Congressman John Shimkus hard today over his involvement in the Foley page scandal. Shimkus chaired the page board, you will recall. The editorial is entitled: Shimkus now looks like an insider. Go read the whole thing.
“After Rep. Foley resigned, on approximately October 2, 2006,†the report states, “Rep. Shimkus told fellow Page Board member Rep. Shelley Moore Capito that he believed he had done the right thing in 2005 based on the information he had, but added words to the effect of ‘Dale’s (Rep. Dave Kildee) a nice guy, but he’s a Democrat, and I was afraid it would be blown out of proportion.â€
In November 2005, Shimkus had confronted Foley and told him to stay away from pages after the parents of a former page provided excerpts of a suggestive e-mail to their son from Foley. Shimkus at that point had only seen excerpts of the e-mails, the report notes, and neither he nor others demanded to see the full text of the e-mails. […]
…(I)t has already detailed the hectic buzz of meetings on the Hill that followed Foley’s resignation. Reading the report, one gets the feeling that these meetings were long on political damage control and short on taking responsibility. (The full text of the report is available at www.house.gov/ethics/Page Report.pdf.)
In an Oct. 4 meeting with The State Journal-Register editorial board, Shimkus stated, “I don’t know of a single thing I would have done differently.†In that same interview, he said that the e-mail excerpts he saw in 2005 were fairly innocuous. Yet he also said he told Foley to cease all contact with pages based on those excerpts. We wondered at the time why he would not have demanded to see the full text of e-mails to understand whether the excerpts really were innocuous. In Friday’s report, the ethics committee wonders essentially the same thing. […]
But it also makes clear that for Shimkus - who in 2005 disavowed his term limit pledge - the days of campaigning as an outsider standing up to Washington’s insider culture are long gone.
My own opinion is that the page scandal means Shimkus will have lots of trouble running statewide, if he ever decides to make that jump. Your thoughts?
*** UPDATE *** Shimkus to resign from the Page Board, according to AP.
Former House chief clerk Jeff Trandahl told the ethics committee that he warned Shimkus in November 2005 that Foley was a “ticking time bomb” who had been confronted repeatedly about e-mails sent to pages. Shimkus confronted Foley then and told him to stop sending e-mails to a former Louisiana page.
Shimkus said Monday he doesn’t remember that warning, however.
“I do not recall Jeff Trandahl telling me that,” Shimkus said. “I recall me being the only member of Congress that confronted Foley.”
Shimkus also suggested politics was at play in the Foley scandal.
The Illinois State Rifle Association issued this press release yesterday:
On behalf of the officers and directors of the Illinois State Rifle Association, I would like to extend condolences and sympathies to the families of those killed and injured during Friday’s armed assault on a downtown Chicago law office. I would also like to commend the Chicago Police Department for taking the decisive actions necessary to bring the standoff to a swift conclusion.
This tragedy underscores the fact that we live in a violent world - a violent world where individuals bent on committing murder and mayhem will take great lengths to evade the law and thwart even the most sophisticated security systems in order to commit their barbaric deeds.
As home to some of the nation’s leading financial service companies, the Citigroup Center employs state of the art security hardware and comprehensive security procedures to protect its tenants. Nonetheless, Friday’s gunman was able to muscle his way through a security checkpoint, travel to the 38th floor of the building, chain the doors to the law office shut, and methodically execute 3 people — all for the sake of a disagreement over, of all things, a toilet seat.
With their only means of escape chained and padlocked shut by the gunman, the 30 or so workers in the law office became the proverbial “fish in a barrel.” Had the police not intervened so swiftly, the gunman could have continued on his rampage, unimpeded, until he either ran out of ammunition, or until he ran out of victims to kill.
One has to wonder how the outcome may have differed had any of the law office staff been trained and licensed to carry a defensive firearm. Unfortunately, the answer to that question will remain unknown as Illinois is one of only 2 states in the nation that prohibit law abiding citizens from carrying firearms as a means of self defense. Indeed, the outcome would be hard to predict, but at least the people in that office would have been given a fighting chance to survive.
In response to Friday’s tragedy, the Illinois State Rifle Association will be drafting legislation that will provide well trained, law-abiding citizens the opportunity to carry defensive firearms. That legislation will be introduced into both chambers of the General Assembly early next year.
Question: Do you support concealed carry? Why or why not?
Bonus question: Was this press release an appropriate response?
While U.S. Rep. Henry Hyde was known for his views on national issues, he never lost touch with what’s important to residents in the 6th Congressional District. […]
•Opposed expansion at O’Hare International Airport, supporting instead the building of a third regional airport in Peotone.
•Brought back $200 million in federal aviation funds for soundproofing schools and homes around O’Hare.
•Secured $300 million to control flooding in the Des Plaines River watershed. […]
•Gained permission from the federal government for I-355 to be built.
Henry Hyde made a name for himself as a freshman congressman battling government-funded abortions.
More than two decades later, as chairman of a powerful committee, he made the case for President Clinton’s impeachment.
For 32 years, the Republican from Wood Dale has been a leading spokesman for conservatives on Capitol Hill, even as he softened his views on several issues.
But in a few weeks, his career will come to an end — on his own terms, not at the hands of voters.
• President George H.W. Bush: “Caretaker. No great advances, except Desert Storm was an important event that resulted in an amalgam of different countries to work together against a Muslim state.â€
•President Clinton: “The word ‘tragic’ is too melodramatic but he had a generally failed presidency, I think. He could have been a great leader. He had too many personal problems. I don’t think history will go beyond the asterisk that will appear after his name.â€
Moving to secure his own place in Chicago’s storied political history, Mayor Richard M. Daley is expected to declare his candidacy on Monday for a sixth term as he seeks to vault past his late father’s record for longevity.
Though Daley’s announcement will come against the backdrop of a continuing and politically damaging federal investigation into City Hall corruption, it also will be made in the absence of any high-profile re-election challenge.
If he is victorious and serves out the full term, Daley, 64, would have 22 years in office. That would just surpass the record of 21 years and seven months set by his mentor and father, the late Mayor Richard J. Daley.
I never really believed that Daley would allow the pundits and the prosecutors to run him out of office. Any thoughts on this upcoming “contest”?
Meanwhile, Congressman Jackson’s wife is expected to run for alderman.
The wife of U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-Ill.) plans to run for alderman of the 7th Ward in the Feb. 27 elections, sources said Friday.
Weeks after her husband declined to challenge Mayor Richard Daley, Sandi Jackson’s entry into the race would create a marquee clash with some of the mayor’s most powerful black allies.
The longtime 7th Ward alderman, William Beavers, recently stepped down to become a Cook County commissioner. Beavers wants the mayor to appoint his daughter and chief of staff, Darcel Beavers, to succeed him. […]
Earlier in the week, Jesse Jackson Jr. said his wife had collected 5,000 nominating signatures for alderman and had mailed campaign literature in the ward. The couple’s home is in the South Shore neighborhood.
*** UPDATE *** And here’s the announcement coverage from CBS2:
“I have more to give to keep Chicago moving forward,” Daley said. “I am a candidate for mayor of the great City of Chicago.
“I’m proud of what we’ve accomplished together to improve the lives of the people of Chicago,” added Daley, 64, who made his announcement at the Gary Comer Youth Center, at 7200 S. Ingleside Ave. He stood on a stage with people of every race and creed. […]
Later Monday, he will make two campaign-style stops — one near the Loop and one on Milwaukee Avenue.
He will hold one-on-one interviews with the news media later, but took no questions Monday.
Good news and bad news on the job front. First, the good news…
From 2005 to 2006, the number of [Illinois] employed grew by about 135,000, the largest job expansion recorded in the state since 1994, said Matt Eskew, the report’s data research associate.
As a result, the state’s unemployment rate fell by 1.1 percentage points between 2005 and 2006, the second-largest drop in the nation.
And now the bad news…
Despite the gains, Illinois continues to see a loss of higher-paying jobs, Eskew said.
The study finds that from 2005 to 2006, the state lost a total of 10,900 jobs in its highest paying sectors — manufacturing and information. […]
In the past year, the state added another 64,400 service-sector jobs, which represented a 2.2 percent rate of growth.
* Finke: Another warning that the state’s financial situation is precarious and another response from the Blagojevich administration dismissing the warning as wrong. Deja vu all over again.
* Laney: It’s time to ask why state is $106 billion in red
* Editorial: Pension system for public workers needs an overhaul
* Schoenburg: Governor, publicity are like two peas in a podcast
* Legal flap brewing over ownership of noose used in Illinois’ last public hanging
* Obama heightens presidential prospects with first trip to N.H.
* Obama: “I think that people are very hungry for something new. I think they are interested in being called to be part of something larger than the kind of small, petty slash-and-burn politics that we have been seeing over the last several years, and to some degree I think I am a stand-in for that desire on the part of the country.”
* Klau has a very good piece about Obama and Google AdSense
* Political Insider: House Majority Leader John Boehner sent a five page memo to Republican lawmakers as the House wrapped up its business for the year and Republicans head to minority status in the next Congress. Key point: “If we want to reclaim our majority, we first have to reclaim our mantle as the party of hope, freedom and reform … the party of Reagan and Lincoln. As our Democratic counterparts may discover the hard way, having a majority is of limited value if you don’t have a vision and a plan for using it.”
* Primary looks likely for Elgin - Eight say they will be running for council
* Here’s how spring elections shape up - Schaumburg, Palatine and Hoffman Estates hopefuls announce their intentions
* Who might be running against three-term incumbent Mayor George Pradel? What will happen with the four Naperville council seats that will be on the April 17 ballot?
One of the downsides to writing a column for the Sun-Times is all the nutballs who write me e-mails. Here’s one I received after my latest column appeared about Obama.
You must really be simple. Borat hasn’t done a thing since hes been in office, nothing! When the senate is in cession he only appears three times a week. What’s that all about? And look at all the black trouble makers that would surround him plus he’d be the commander in chief, very scarry thought.
Race, said Obama, whose father was black and mother white, “is still a factor.” Minority candidates have “a higher threshold in establishing themselves with voters.”
Meanwhile, Hal in comments last week had a pretty good argument about the “experience” issue for Obama.
I’m not that concerned about experience. I favor term limits for national politicians anyhow, so experience isn’t a big deal.
Honor, intelligence, integrity and self-deprecating humor are superior to “experience” any time.
But what about integrity? Greg Hinz’s column has some new revelations.
Barack Obama made national headlines last month when he loudly enlisted in the campaign to get Wal-Mart Stores Inc. to treat its workers better.
The Chicagoan who would be president — maybe — told members of a union-backed coalition that they have “a moral responsibility to stand up and fight” the big retailer. “The battle to engage Wal-Mart and force them to examine their own corporate values and what their policies and approaches are to their workers . . . is absolutely vital,” the Associated Press quoted the U.S. senator as saying. […]
Which raises a question — not about corporate values but about Mr. Obama’s values. Specifically, while Mr. Obama bashes Wal-Mart, why does his wife, Michelle, make $45,000 a year serving on the board of a Chicago-area company that pays its executives a very hefty amount of money while laying off mostly minority workers in an economically deprived area, a company whose No. 1 customer is — you guessed it — Wal-Mart? […]
Ms. Obama, vice-president for external affairs at the University of Chicago Hospitals, says she was asked to join the board — five months after her husband took office — after putting out feelers indicating she’d like to get some corporate management experience. She says Mr. Reed’s compensation is benchmarked to that of other food firms and that the firm hopes to expand and hire more workers, many minorities, once it boosts its efficiency.
The person behind some of these negative Obama stories is Joe Novak, a longtime political operator (Vrdolyak, Poshard, etc.) who works for an outfit that is trying to strip not-for-profit hospitals of their tax exempt status because they don’t offer enough charity care. Mrs. Obama is an executive at University of Chicago Hospitals. Novak also has a blog, which is chock full of references to Michelle Obama, and a website called ObamaTruth.org.
Regular readers will know that I have reported that Senator Obama once appeared on the website of the Service Employees Union with a quote saying “hospitals terrorize the uninsured”.
I also have reported that that quote was removed about the time that his wife Michelle received approximately a $200,000 a year increase in her compensation from The University of Chicago Hospitals.
Another indication that the hospitals had got to him was his refusal to co-sponsor legislation introduced by then Assistant Minority Leader Dick Durbin (D-Il) that would make hospital disclose some of their prices.
His staff saying, “the Senator has some concerns on how this would impact hospitals”.
*** UPDATE *** Is “experience” even a valid argument when it’s judged by years of service or committee rank? The incoming chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, who presumably has lots of DC “experience,” doesn’t even know whether Al Qaeda is Shia or Sunni. Unreal.
