Obama apology demanded, No Vogue – no vote, Conservatives Don’t Like Strong Women?, Obama Flip-Flop, and MO Praises Hillary
By LisaB on June 19, 2008 at 4:00 PM in Barack Obama, CNN, Democratic Party, Dems4McCain, Hillary Clinton, John McCain, Michelle Obama, NAFTA, Sexism
1) One of the headscarf-wearing women denied a seat behind Obama is demanding a personal apology from the candidate.
Aref said she received a phone call and apology from an Obama campaign offiicial, but said that’s not enough.
“I do appreciate they’re taking the time to look into what happened,” Aref said. “I think it’s a huge deal. I was hoping for an apology from Sen. Obama himself. He needs to send a strong message this kind of discrimination won’t be tolerated.”
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“It is offensive and counter to Obama’s commitment to bring Americans together and simply not the kind of campaign we run,” Burton [a campaign official] was quoted as saying. “We sincerely apologize for the behavior of these volunteers.”
Of course, it’s the VOLUNTEER’S fault!! Probably a kid donating his/her time to help out and, WHAM! under the bus. Nothin’ but fumes.
Read the rest ->
2) Meanwhile, back at HuffyPot, Claudia Cividino, a Hillary supporter in the beginning, changed her mind when Clinton declined an invitation to appear in Vogue Magazine. Also, while some of her oh-so-progressive fellow typists at the ‘Pot felt Clinton’s misty eyes in PA were contrived to the point of conspiracy, Cividino felt she didn’t show enough emotion or know how to use her emotions.
After years of a bobble head in the top office, this country seems to be asking for competent leadership and a new approach to solving our problems, which will require intelligence in the classic sense, as well as emotional intelligence. As far as I’m concerned, Hillary disqualified herself on this last point.
Do the google. I don’t link to the ‘Pot.
3) And at NewsBusters, Matthew Balan calls out Roland Martin of CNN.
CNN contributor Roland Martin, when asked on Tuesday’s “Anderson Cooper 360″ if Michelle Obama was being held to a different standard than other presidential candidates’ wives, unequivocally placed the blame on conservative men. “No, I think what you have is you’ve got some weak men on the conservative side who, frankly, don’t like strong women. I mean, we saw the exact same thing take place for Hillary Clinton back in 1992…. All of a sudden… Michelle Obama is this angry black woman, when in fact, she’s an accomplished woman, a mother, a wife. And so, they are trying to define her in that way, because they don’t want to deal with the reality.”
I’d like to snark, but I truly don’t know where to begin and I’m trying to keep this entry short. Supply your own punchlines below, please.
4) While the Obama campaign is blasting McCain for his position on off-shore drilling, Fortune notes Obama has quietly toned down his opposition to NAFTA. Obama certainly used NAFTA as a club to pummel Hillary during the primary to the extent that she had to remind him as the first lady she didn’t actually write the legislation.
But now NAFTA doesn’t suck so bad, I guess. Nina Easton reminded Obama of his former words:
In an interview with Fortune to be featured in the magazine’s upcoming issue, the presumptive Democratic nominee backed off his harshest attacks on the free trade agreement and indicated he didn’t want to unilaterally reopen negotiations on NAFTA.
“Sometimes during campaigns the rhetoric gets overheated and amplified,” he conceded, after I reminded him that he had called NAFTA “devastating” and “a big mistake,” despite nonpartisan studies concluding that the trade zone has had a mild, positive effect on the U.S. economy.
Of course, after that, Obama’s handlers backed off Obama’s latest words:
Obama spokesman Bill Burton said that Obama-as the candidate noted in Fortune’s interview-has not changed his core position on NAFTA, and that he has always said he would talk to the leaders of Canada and Mexico in an effort to include enforceable labor and environmental standards in the pact.
But Nina noted:
Nevertheless, Obama’s tone stands in marked contrast to his primary campaign’s anti-NAFTA fusillades. The pact creating a North American free-trade zone was President Bill Clinton’s signature accomplishment; but NAFTA is also the bugaboo of union leaders, grassroots activists and Midwesterners who blame free trade for the factory closings they see in their hometowns.
Hmmmmmm. Take a position to beat up on democratic rivals, then switch to a smarter position as soon as the path is clear. Then have your handlers opine that you never actually switched! Brilliant.
Watch for all of Hillary’s policy positions to get “Obamized.” He’ll take credit for them the way he took credit in Il for legislation he did not work on and for glomming on in DC to yet more legislation he did not work on.
5) Signs of the Apocalypse
The WSJ today had a short but remarkable item by Susan Davis.
In a guest appearance on ABC’s “The View” today Michelle Obama sided with Sen. Hillary Clinton’s view that sexism played a role in the presidential primary campaign.
“Yes, there’s always a level [of sexism],” she said. “People are not used to strong women.” Obama credited Clinton for her race and for breaking down barriers for women.
“And I think that Hillary Clinton, as she said, has made 18 million cracks on the ceiling and we need to keep pushing it and pushing it.” She further credited Clinton for paving the way to make it easier for her young daughters, Sasha and Malia.
“She’s taken [the hits] so that when my girls come along they won’t have to fight it as badly,” she said.
You know, I’m going to really have to think about what she said.
Hmmmmmmm. Uh-huh.
Done.
Gag.
I call bs on that. Un-freakin-believable.
6) If you go to JohnMcCain.com, the picture leading to the section “Citizens for McCain” is of a woman holding up a Hillary Clinton poster now also sporting McCain bumper stickers.
Sweet.
by Ronald Scott
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