The view from abroad

At the suggestion of the great Nimzy I bought last week's (6/7-13) issue of the Economist for their take on the U.S. primaries. It was a really interesting look at our process through English eyes, stripped of the baggage American journalists bring to the process. They bring their own baggage, but it is a refreshing change and offers new insights.

For example, many of us see the primaries as overly long, overly expensive and inefficient. But they remind us that this is the only country in the world where this process takes place, publicly and with the participation of everyone who wants to participate, while the rest of the world nominates its party representatives behind closed doors. Any American journalist saying such a thing would either be kicked out of the journalism club for boosterism or hired by Fox.

There were lots of other interesting observations; perhaps my favorite, in part because it is so British in tone, is their take on Bill Clinton's role in Hillary's campaign: "Most Democrats love him. But he is also a cad and a narcissist."

Never mind

Just when I thought Senator Obama was showing some evidence that he might be an exceptional executive he makes the bonehead move of selecting, and quickly having to fire, James Johnson as his VP screener.

Johnson was an oddball choice to begin with and then it turns out he accepted sweetheart loan deals from a company he was doing business with while running Fannie Mae. Maybe all it shows is how hard it is to find an honest person in Washington, but he had Caroline Kennedy on the committee, too. How bad a job could she have done?

Gail Collins does a better job than me of pointing out what a ridiculous mistake this was in her New Time Times column today.

The Barack Advantage

It was clear that Barack Obama had a money-raising machine since he threw his hat in the ring last fall. Then I read recently about his nearly 8-1 advantage in campaign staff over John McCain. Then last week, Rupert Murdoch may, or may not, have predicted an Obama landslide victory in the fall. At minimum, he called Barack “a rock star” and whatever you think of Rupert, he rarely backs losers.

In light of all this I wanted to look more deeply into Obama’s organizational but the current (June 16) issue of Time beat me to it and laid it all out in “How He Did It,” a fascinating, in-depth recounting of how he and his closest supporters built the most effective, grassroots, national political organization -- maybe ever.

They used a creative, decentralized, technology-driven, fiscally conservative, organization to overwhelm Senator Clinton’s old-fashioned, top-down, Washington-centric, throw-cash-at-it, and ultimately disorganized and non-strategic operation. It was like Google versus the US Postal Service. It’s an excellent article.

My fear is that the general campaign is going to be Google versus Bob’s Hardware Store. That’s the way it is starting out. Obama has more than twice as much cash on hand as McCain, and a far better organization to go with the ultimate advantage of having no association what-so-ever with George W. Bush.

I’m starting to wonder if maybe old Rupert may be on to something.

Our first black President

Not so fast all you Obamamaniacs. Perhaps you are not aware that many historians believe that this honor was already won by our 29th President, Warren G. Harding. According to a recent New York Times article, President Harding may well have had an African-American great-grandmother.

While probably best know for the Teapot Dome scandal, I've always admired him for having several high school pals either in his cabinet or as close advisers. One of them rented a house near the White House where they regularly played poker, drank, and may possibly have entertained some ladies.

The evidence is inconclusive, but as a proud graduate of Warren G. Harding High School in Warren, Ohio, I hope it is true. Ohio gave flight and light to the world, but the last couple of decades have been tough for the Buckeye state. This is an honor that can bring the spotlight home again.

No recount?

Panel 1: [Florida] "Every vote must count."

Panel 2: [Florida & Michigan] "Whatever"

2-1/2 speeches

I watched 2-1/2 political speeches last night. Hillary was Hillary. She’s gotten better from the podium, but what she had to say couldn’t have made anyone happy except a minority of the people who voted for her. And Barack was Barack. He had 20,000 people under a big dome in Minneapolis, and he knows how to fire them up. He didn’t start until around 10:30, and listening was a little like eating a big snack of empty calories late at night. When it’s all over and you ask yourself what he said, the answer isn’t really very substantive.

But it was John McCain speech that disappointed the most. The substance and specifics were there, and he certainly made it clear that he was no fan of George Bush’s policies on the war, disaster relief, fiscal policy, energy policy, international relations, and several other fronts.

But it was a badly delivered speech, poorly staged and poorly conceived. It used to be that whatever else was true, the Republicans could stage a hell of an event, with no detail too small to obsess over. But this was held in a small town near New Orleans in what looked like a high school gym. When the crowd of maybe a couple hundred cheered or booed the echoes were reminiscent of a homecoming pep rally.

Worse, the rhetorical theme he kept returning to was sighting something Obama said or did, that he would never do or say, and punctuating the point with the line, “that’s not change we can believe in,” a counter to Obama’s “change we can believe in” slogan. McCain is also now using the slogan, “A Leader We Can Believe In.”

Questionable grammar aside, it makes no sense to run a campaign that plays off your opponents themes, especially when your opponent is likely to outspend you more than 2 to 1. There’s a long way to go, but the national McCain organization has around 90 employees and Obama has over 700. McCain has raised $96.7 mm and Obama has raised $265.4 mm. These things matter. Republicans have usually had the most professional marketing organization behind them, but this seems very amateurish so far.

In case you’re thinking he can make up the difference with so-called free media, the reason I called this post “2-1/2 speeches” is that CNN broke in half way into the McCain speech last night for a “major, major projection” that Obama was going to get the nomination. Wow. There’s some breaking news for you.

Bo Diddley, RIP

I walk 47 miles of barbed wire,

I use a cobra-snake for a necktie,

I got a brand new house on the roadside,

Made from rattlesnake hide,

I got a brand new chimney made on top,

Made out of a human skull,

Now come on take a walk with me, Arlene,

And tell me, who do you love?