That Promising Young Fellow, Barack Obama

From Obama’s debate intro Thursday night

Senator Clinton mentioned Barbara Jordan, somebody who … said that what the American people want is very simple: They want an America that is as good as its promise. I’m running for president because I want to help America be as good as its promise.

And I marvel at this, because I’d been thinking a lot lately about Obama’s promises, and a former Hooters waitress from Panama City Beach, Florida.

You may remember Jodee Berry, who was led to believe that the winner of her employer’s regional sales contest would be awarded a brand new Toyota! After hustling her hot-pants’d buns off and winning the contest, a breathless Ms. Berry was blindfolded, escorted to the parking lot, and presented with her brand new toy Yoda!

The disappointed waitress brought suit for breach of contract and fraudulent misrepresentation, eventually settling for an undisclosed sum, but one clearly sufficient to cover the price of any Toyota on the lot.

In this context, we review a curious set of instances in which Sen. Obama’s counterparties came to believe that something had been promised, but when those promises stood to be fulfilled the Senator’s position became … something else again.

Whoo-Hoo! Snow Day!

I called the site this morning and We Are Closed! The adolescent may break out the sled. I might join her, er, after I dig out my driveway. Here’s the scene from the back deck:

In the meantime, while the snow gently falls into soft piles all around my house, I get to watch Contessa report these shocking statistics. Hang on to your coffee.

In the month of January, the Clinton campaign spent:

$5 Million on Top Consultants

$25,000 on Bellagio Hotel Rooms

$11,000 on Pizza and

$1,200 on Dunkin Donuts

I know, I know, it’s incredible. I mean, the consultants are expensive and they only won her CA, NJ, MA, FL, MI, NV, NH, AZ, NM, OK, NY and Arkansas. (Did I miss any?) She ONLY got the most populous states with the highest number of electoral college votes. And the Bellagio is just one of the most exclusive hotels in Vegas, which tends to make it a little safer for the security conscious. What is she afraid of??

But only $11,000 for pizzas? Heck, I don’t know how she got through the state of NJ with only that many pizzas let alone all of the other primary states in January. However, I *do* know that there were an excess number of cheddar goldfish at the Trenton HQ (because I ate half a box?). But I see no number for that. I can only imagine how horrified we will be when her campaign is forced to confess the bottom line for “tiny snack crackers”. What are they hiding?

And to think Obama’s been spending even more money than Clinton, well, I shudder to think about it. What did he do to lure in his Obamaphiles to help him? Will we find that he’s maxxed out his credit card at iTunes? Broke the bank on the hypnosis consultants? Bought the entire US supply of purple Kool-Aid?

Enquiring minds want to know.

Who you gonna believe? Me(dia) or your lyin’ eyes?

Am I the only one who thinks Hillary wiped the floor with Barack Obama last night? And concede? Are you nuts? She didn’t concede. She did exactly what I told her to do, via telepathy transmitted through my tinfoil antenna. Of course, I’m just an average American voter, not an “expert” political pundit so maybe I just have no idea how to interpret what I’m actually seeing with my own eyes but, to me, she was the very epitome of Grace Under Pressure. And in performing so well, she pointed out *his* incredible immaturity.

And I have read a lot of people who say his debate performances have improved. I’m sorry. Those people are being too kind. Most of them still acknowledge his answers are rambling and unfocussed. I know what her point is when she’s done. But when *he’s* done, I’m still working my way out of the last prepositional phrase.

Voters know she’s down. They know she’s lost a slew of primaries and caucuses. But until you see it in person, with them sitting side-by-side, it’s just like the evening news. It’s bits of statistics and soundbites and momentum. How many people went into that auditorium thinking they preferred one candidate and came out preferring the other? That’s what happened to me at YearlyKos07 when I thought I was supporting John Edwards and was so impressed by Hillary Clinton that she became my choice. You can fake a lot of stuff but you can’t fake fluidity. You either know it or you don’t. You are confident with the material or you’re not. You are either a fully developed candidate or you’re immature.

The last bit was debate magic. And unlike his use of Deval Patrick’s carefully scripted and specific references, her comments were of a more general nature. I could have written that myself. There was a universality about it. Jeez, no one, except maybe her husband, has ever taken so much abuse. Were there better words for her to use than the ones she had?

Does the pinacle get much higher for anyone? There is only one position on a professional level that is higher than the one she presently occupies. She’s married to a frickin’ ex-president. For all of the other women of the world, it does not get any higher. She has gone beyond what all other women have achieved politically. She is living in a world that many of us can not imagine. But her world won’t fall to pieces if she loses. She’s still got the money to pay the rent. She says that the election is not about the two people on the stage. It is not a popularity contest or a fight to the death. It is about a committment to pubic service.

Then she shook his hand. It wasn’t a concession. That was an in-your-face “I’m not going to let you or the media or the cocky bravado of your delusional fans make me cower in your presence.” It doesn’t surprise me that the media want to cast the handshake as a concession. They desperately want her to go away so they can move to the next phase of their manipulation of the election.

But it looked like she confidently stepped right up and shook his hand. One wonders if the shoe were on the other foot whether he would mature enough to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune and do the same towards her. “It is an honor to be sharing the stage”. Yes, it is. For him. And now, everybody knows it.

Oh, and Josh Marshall is full of it.