By The Wolf
Usually I would wait until after a primary to do my write
up, but it’s apparent that today’s primary in West Virginia is going to be a bloodbath. According
to TPM Obama would be lucky if he hits 30%, but all in all that’s not going
to matter.
As we stand right now, Obama has 1,869 delegates and Clinton has 1,697 (this
includes Super delegates) and 2,025 is the number needed to win (not including
the delegates from FL and MI that have been excluded by the DNC). The
Economist says that Obama’s lead in delegates cannot, “cannot remotely be overturned by Mrs. Clinton in
the six remaining primaries.” This includes West Virginia, Kentucky, Oregon,
Montana, and Puerto Rico, who have 217 delegates up for grabs, all of them
given out in proportion to the popular vote. As the NY Post said, she’s toast.
Thus, the talk
right now is about the general election and the so-called unity ticket, in
which Obama would make Clinton
his VP. Over at The Plank there’s been quit a bit of discussion about this, and
there are both positive
and negative
sides to the debate. Still, considering Obama’s black support (as evidenced in
his win
in South Carolina) Hillary might not be so welcome, especially following
her ‘hard working Americans, white Americans’ quote she made to USA
Today last week.
In terms of the
general election, Obama has a long road to travel. Ambinder
crunches the numbers and in the GE he picks it McCain 245 electoral votes
to Obama’s 221. Obviously those numbers will change, and some of the states
Ambinder gives to McCain I think are debatable, such as the Dakotas and South Carolina, which I
think will be closer than he gives credit. We also have to remember that Obama wins in most
national polls. Still though, Obama is going to have to deal with the
various misconceptions and lies spewed by his detractors. Beyond the usual BS
like him
being a Muslim (lie) and his lack
of patriotism (huh?), he has to deal with other deceptions against him that
lie tangential to this phony Republican narrative.
For example McCain
has openly embraced the notion that Obama is the candidate of Hamas. It is
true that spokespeople for Hamas have praised Obama saying, “We like Mr. Obama
and we hope he will win the election. He has a vision to change America.” A
quote used by the McCain campaign in an attempt to make him seem like a
terrorist sympathizer. Of course the McCain campaign doesn’t note that Obama
has repeatedly denounced Hamas and condemned former President Jimmy Carter’s
meeting with Hamas leaders, but why would they? They seem to believe that
foreign powers should play
a role in our elections.
On the same
fallacious tip, Obama was recently
misquoted by House Republican Leader John Boehner as saying that, ‘Israel is a
constant sore that infects American foreign policy.” This is a complete lie.
The actual quote by Obama in an interview with The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg,
is that the Middle
East conflict is a
constant sore infecting American foreign policy. Even Goldberg had to come out
to chastise Boehner saying,
“I would
add to Andrew's post, by calling Boehner's statement mendacious, duplicitous, gross, and comically refutable. So Mr.
Boehner, do the right thing, and correct the record. I'll be happy to post the correction
right here.” [Boldface mine]
You can read the entire Goldberg interview with Obama here.
Call me gullible but the blatant dishonesty of half of this
stuff is shocking, but even more shocking is that people, both black and white,
fall for it. If what we’ve seen so far is any indication of the fall campaign
then expect the mud to be flung both far and wide, and lies to sprout like
weeds. Some of what Obama says might help. Hell, even this might help: