The past few days have been rather uneventful in the political arena. The media has been concentrated on the growing McClellan scandal and its impact on the administration, so there has been little election news.
But over the past 24 hours, alot of news has risen on the election scene.
First, John McCain's gaffe concerning troop levels in Iraq. In a speech focusing on Iraq, McCain assured voters that U.S. troop levels were almost below pre-surge levels and that more troops were coming home. Unfortunately for McCain, 120,000 is the pre-surge level, but right now our troop level is at 130,000 and the Pentagon reports that troops will actually be increased to 140,000. So, not only are we not bringing troops home to be "close" to the pre-surge level, more troops are actually being sent over. When criticized, McCain fell back on the fact that Obama has not been to raq in 872 days. Convenient for McCain to argue this, since his many visits to Iraq made sure that he knew troop levels, he knew the difference between Sunni and Shia, and who was connected with Iran and he knew how safe the streets of Baghdad were. Oh wait, he didn't know the proper troop levels, he didn't know the difference between Sunni and Shia, and thats right, his 100 man protection force while he was on the "safe" 1 square block of Baghdad makes me feel so secure. Last time I checked, I didn't need a 1 man protection force in safe neighborhoods of the U.S. but hey, maybe I'm mistaking?
Second. Today the DNC Rules and Bylaws Committee (RBC) to decide the fate of Michigan and Florida. After much deliboration, the final conclusion was a 100% representation of both delegations, with each delegate and superdelegate receiving half a vote. Florida's delegation will be sat based off of the January results, while in Michigan, Clinton will recieve 69 and Obama 59 delegates. Throughout this progressive committee meeting, there were some partisans who attempted to divide the party. Most importantly, Harold Ickles, a senior adviser to the Clinton campaign used fear words of "hijacked" and threatened to move forward to the credentials committee to appeal the ruling. The crowds were very disrespectful at times, and I was quite disapointed in many of the supporters, of both campaigns, who couldn't act like respectful adults. Overall, I am pleased with the results, not becuase it is good for Obama over Clinton, which some may argue it may be, but instead, I feel it was the most fair way to seat the delegations. After reading up on the proposals, as well as listening to over 7 hours of debate on the proposals today...I felt that there was no other way to seat Michigan, and that the Florida seating was expected and needed to be fair to the 48 states who did comply. So bravo RBC, you have truly taken a step towards party unity.
Third, Obama has resigned from Trinity Church of Christ. While many may claim this is politically driven, I feel that this was a personal choice based off of his failed relationship with Rev. Wright. I think Sen. Obama felt betrayed by Wright as well as betrayed by many of the members of the church. As a result, he made a personal choice within his family to end his membership with the church. While the media turn this into a political story, I would like to commend Sen. Obama for standing above the fray on this issue and showing the American public that it's not about who you know or who you have known in the past, it is about who you are as an individual, and your character, and I think the American people will judge Obama based off his character, and not that of his pastor.
Overall, a good few days for Senator Obama. With the RBC ruling, Chuck Todd from MSNBC predicts that following Puerto Rico tomorrow and South Dakota and Montana on Tuesday, Obama will be just 20 or so delegates away from the nomination. I think this is the week of Pelosi, Gore, Reid and other high profile endorsements. After over 17 months of campaigning, the end is finally near, and now we can look forward to John McCain.
Obama 2008 - We have defeated the Clinton Machine, Bring it on GOP, we will defeat your machine too!
Change For America!
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