The Atlantic - Latest Comments in Obama looking at 270

Re: Obama looking at 270

Breukelyne — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 21:22:18 -0000

May I also point out one commonality between Howard Dean and Barack Obama: a real relationship with and respect for their wives, Judy Dean and Michele Obama, and their autonomy as smart individuals.

It's unusual in politics. Most political marriages have a whiff of old-fashioned power alliance about them.

Re: Obama looking at 270

cminus — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 15:48:35 -0000

Davis, I've already heard that law referred to as the Gruening-Morse Law, after Sens. Ernest Gruening (D-AK) and Wayne Morse (D-OR), distinguished statesmen who cast the two votes against the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution and were rewarded by the voters by being booted at the next available opportunity.

(Their replacements were Mike Gravel and Bob Packwood, respectively; making their defeats contenders for the worst trade of the 1960s not involving Frank Robinson or Milt Pappas.)

Re: Obama looking at 270

dxmachina — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 21:38:07 -0000

We can immortalize the good Governor by giving him his own Law:

Dean's Law -- the only thing in politics than being wrong is being right too soon.

Re: Obama looking at 270

jason b. — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 20:46:05 -0000

You know what's crazy? I was playing around with WaPo's "Pick Your President," messing with the swing states; there I learned that McCain can win PA, OH, FL, IN, NC & NV, but lose MT and still lose 271-267. That is far out.

Obama is the perfect candidate for these unorthodox times.

Re: Obama looking at 270

rikyrah — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 19:29:04 -0000

I've been praising Howard Dean since 2006. The pivotal moment for right now is Dean winning the DNC Chairmanship. That was the turning point. He fought back those DLC clowns, and opened up Democratic Party offices in states that had been abandoned. Dean keeping the Chairmanship in 2006 was also key. It also helps that Barack Obama is the nominee. Obama is a believer in the 50 State Strategy. If this had been Hillary Clinton, we'd be fighting the same tired 2000, 2004 map, and we would be losing.

If Obama had stuck to the 2000, 2004 map, I'd be scared to death. It's easy to STEAL in one or two states. The genius of the 50 state strategy, is that Obama never allowed himself to be locked in like that.

Re: Obama looking at 270

Travis Mason-Bushman — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 17:47:33 -0000

Err, that was supposed to say I (heart) you.

Re: Obama looking at 270

Travis Mason-Bushman — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 17:38:07 -0000

I you, Ta-Nehisi, for recognizing the role Howard played in laying the groundwork for this coming tidal wave.

Howard was the first politician I ever lost my heart to. I traveled to Des Moines on Caucus Week to fight the ground battle, and have the orange "Perfect Storm" hat to prove it.

I was in the Val-Air Ballroom for "The Scream," and it was my introduction to how a complete non-event can be spun by the media into anything it wants.

None of us in the room heard it the way it went out on TV, because the sound system was dead and there were a couple thousand dejected supporters he was trying to fire back up. The rest is history.

I really wish I could be casting a vote to give Howard Dean four more years right now. But, I think he's going to be enjoying this election, and I hope that history will remember how he made it possible.

Re: Obama looking at 270

Phoebe — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 17:37:30 -0000

Thank you for the bit about Dean - exactly right, as is everyone who expanded on it in these here comments. Dean had a McCain temperament, which didn't help, but he also had a solid, far-reaching brain in his head, which McCain does not; McCain is about as farsighted and steady as a pinball.

What Dean and Obama also have in common is a very sure hand on where to compromise to get real things done. Vermont had state subsidized health care for every kid under 6, and the only balanced budget in all 50 states with Dean at the controls. Both are also for civil unions over marriage, which I truly believe is exactly the trojan horse the right wing says it is. Good for them, if it gets it to happen. Their success rate tells me it will.

Re: Obama looking at 270

John Henry — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 15:06:33 -0000

I agree Dean deserves alot of credit for investing in grassroots. From what I've read the Clintons were always against it and that lead to the friction between Dean and the Clintons.

Re: "Barack Obama is now the candidate of white people who say nigger, but have lost their jobs, retirement and health care."

But, let's give George W. Bush credit for royally screwing things up. The financial/economic disaster is up until now the most recent and serious failure of deregulation or laissez-faire economics. Let's not forget thanks to deregulation no one trust the government to safeguard our drugs, food, toys, states from greedy energy speculators anymore, miners from unsafe, greedy mining companies. Where's the next ticking timebomb? My money is on the environment. As McCain says, nuclear safeguards, blah blah blah.

Re: Obama looking at 270

MoeLarryAndJesus — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 14:12:31 -0000

I'm a Red Sox fan. The last 4 games of the 2004 ALCS, when Papi and Co. slew the hated Yankee beast and the 4 game coronation in the 2004 World Series were a long-hoped for perfect dream for me.

Election Night is going to be better, because as much as I despise the Yankees, the Repiglicans are worse, and watching them get slaughtered is going to be like watching all 8 of those games combined. It's hard to imagine what could top it, unless it's war crimes trials for Dumbya & Dickless.

Re: Obama looking at 270

Breukelyne — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 14:01:17 -0000

If I didn't already heart your blog TNC, I would now for this:

"And now let's give credit where credit is due. Howard Dean. He caught way too much shit for that comment about Confederate Flags and pickup trucks. He was the wrong guy to execute the plan. He was right--even if he was the wrong guy to execute the strategy."

I loved Howard Dean for being that nerd trying to courageously do the right thing and royally screwing up in the process. We need more white politicians to be honest and sincere about trying to do the right thing when it comes to race, even if they step on a minefield in the process.

I was pissed off at both Al Sharpton and John Edwards when they jumped on Dean to score political points for his Confederate flag voter comments. Because if you cared more about actually moving the dialogue forward on race and politics than your own career, you wouldn't do that.

And the fake righteousness was especially annoying from Edwards. That turned me off Edwards from the get-go. I always thought he was a big phony.

Re: Obama looking at 270

frankie d — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 13:56:35 -0000

while i've had issues with some of the tactical moves of obama's campaign, his ability to organize and the way he has laid out and kept to his strategic plan has been incredible.

and one of the smartest things he's done is avoid being locked into just one precarious path to 270. he was smart enough to realize that his best path lay along the route that dean started to lay the foundation for, back in 2003.

i hope that he ultimately gets credit for the true genius he has shown, the revolutionary way that he approached this election, from the very outset.

it burns me that the media fixates on the supposed inevitability of both obama's and the democrats' electoral success this time around.

balderdash!

clinton should have been the nominee.

mccain had a fighting chance to win this thing.

but obama, through his true genius at organizing and plotting out a way to his current position, has blown them both away.

the fact that the media refuses to give the brother credit for his hard work and true innovation is just one more example of residual racism floating in the system.

Re: Obama looking at 270

MikeBoyScout — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 13:45:31 -0000

As a Dean(iac) delegate from 2004, I was just thinking yesterday how our strategy and Gov Dean's execution has REALLY worked.

Yes, he may have been the wrong man, at the wrong time to have carried it out in 2004, but his anti-war / 50 State strategy has is showing itself to work over 2 cycles.

Think about sending the DEMS a thank-you with a check. The good Doctor has done well.

Re: Obama looking at 270

Eduardo — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 13:42:51 -0000

"We don't have to like each other to realize that we could all sink together"

Exactly. People need to understand that the more fucked up a group --any group-- of society is, the more fucked up not only society as a whole is but also the more fucked up every other group is. Not understanding this is where our tribal genes betray us. So even if you can't bring yourself to like every single group --be they white evangelicals or gays or blacks or whoever-- you must have their best interest at head, if not at heart.

Re: Obama looking at 270

Sansouci — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 13:33:47 -0000

"Barack Obama is now the candidate of white people who say nigger, but have lost their jobs, retirement and health care."

Just like 9/11 you can feel history turning a page. Obama is creating new rules and I am not sure anyone knows (Black Left or Black Right) how to handle it. What does it mean when white working class resentment against Blacks gives way to practical/pragmatic reasoning? We may never "solve" the race problem but can we at least learn how to get s*** done, despite it? I am cautiously curious.

Re: Obama looking at 270

Doctor Jay — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 12:58:58 -0000

One thing that makes the difference, at the margins, in Virginia is manners. Virginians don't necessarily demand that you be nice, but when you are tough, you have to do it with good manners, classy. And that's Obama. McCain's angry interruptions and sarcasm in the debates was a big negative for him with these voters, I think. I expect NC is pretty much the same.

Re: Obama looking at 270

josh — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 12:56:41 -0000

JoeF,

that was a GREAT line. Made me actually stop and think for a second.

Re: Obama looking at 270

justin case — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 12:41:01 -0000

What anonymous said. No matter who wins — and I pray it is Obama with a solid mandate — there's going to be tough times ahead. We need as many people as we can invested in solving the problems we face. Everyone will need to learn from what Bush and the Republicans did wrong, both policies and politics. We can't afford to be sore winners.

Re: Obama looking at 270

JoeF — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 12:37:49 -0000

"Barack Obama is now the candidate of white people who say nigger, but have lost their jobs, retirement and health care. Amazing."

"...Now the poor klu-klux man see that we all brothers/

not cause things the same, because we lack the same color/

and that's green..."

-Lupe Fiasco, "American Terrorist", 2006

Jus' sayin...

Re: Obama looking at 270

anonymous — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 12:32:44 -0000

Two points:

First, it ain't happened yet. Go work your ass off. Find somebody who doesn't agree with you... and be nice about persuading 'em to vote for Obama/Biden/plus. Run up the score, this ain't little league: no mercy rule.

Second, if it DOES happen the way the polls are tending now -- that is, Obama gets 430 electoral votes, 60 votes in the Senate and picks up maybe 30 more in the House: be HUMBLE.

All a landslide gets you is the chance to earn the public's respect for the way you use the responsibility they just gave you -- and it ain't like the job is easy, or predictable. So no hubris, lest we invite nemesis.

Re: Obama looking at 270

shani-o — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 12:12:53 -0000

This election is unprecedented in so many ways. It makes me wonder if it's just a matter of the stars aligning, or if we needed a man like Barack Obama to see opportunity and go further than anyone had gone before.

Re: Obama looking at 270

Persia — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 12:07:27 -0000

May I also note, blackink, that Dean was pretty moderate when actually governing. While I think he would've been an excellent President, I also think he's in a perfect position right now, so I can't complain too much.

Re: Obama looking at 270

blackink — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 12:00:43 -0000

Great point. Howard Dean really did lay the groundwork for this run, from his online fundraising efforts to trying to change the map when many Democrats were content to stay in their lane.

I still think he would have been the right choice in 2004. Dean is an unabashed liberal. He never backed down when everyone else retreated from the term, like it was a bad word or an epithet. Dean stood his ground and you really can't say enough about that considering some of the milquetoast Dems of the recent past.

Not to mention, given all the gaffes that have played out during this campaign, it's crazy to think that his moment of exuberance sort of led to his primary collapse. Dean certainly should take a bow on Nov. 4, assuming the polls aren't a farce.

Re: Obama looking at 270

marcus — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 11:55:16 -0000

a change is gonna come.

Re: Obama looking at 270

rob! — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 11:42:58 -0000

i think the election coming down to the same 2 or 3 states every 4 years was ALWAYS a bad idea, so i'm glad that someone--anyone--is breaking the hold Florida and Ohio had on the rest of us.

and i'm REALLY glad its Obama doing the breaking.