“Negative is Good”

Thoughts from Charlie Beckett in London:

[Clinton wo Ohio and the popular vote in Texas by]pointing out in measured but unmistakable terms that her opponent was, as we say in sarf London, “all mouth and no trousers”…

“Yes we can” and “change” are great slogans but he has studiously avoided answering any critique of his record or his policies. Narrative and aspiration are important in politics. Gordon Brown is in desperate need of both. But American politics is particularly competitive and that means you eventually have to go beyond rhetoric and undergo tests of substance.

What If Clinton Had Rejected and Denied Her Iraq War Vote?

As the Democratic race, one way or another, begins to wind down, I wonder about what might have been: What if Hillary Clinton had both repudiated and apologized for her Iraq war vote in a way similar to John Edwards in that 2005 Washington Post op/ed? Such a mea culpa would have mitigated, though not fully neutralized, Obama’s effective rhetorical use of the vote as both a shield and attack.

Chelsea Clinton Has a Health Care Problem

I haven’t finished the New York Chelsea Clinton cover story, but this passage will be tough to beat:

In 2006, Chelsea took a job as an analyst for Avenue Capital, a hedge fund specializing in distressed debt run by longtime Clinton donor Marc Lasry. On the stump for her mother, she neglects to mention her six-figure salary but regularly complains about her health-insurance plan. “I’m hoping that it will filter back to my employer,” she jokes.

“Obama is to Tech as Edwards was to Poverty”

So opines Tim Wu:

Both candidates have good people involved in their tech and internet policies, and the basic outlines of their policies are similar.  The difference is in the degree of emphasis and engagement, and Obama to my mind has a much stronger vision of what he would do.  It isn’t that Hillary Clinton has bad policies; rather, it’s the sense that, so far at least, neither tech nor telecom issues are of great importance to her campaign…..I have been impressed with the willingness of Obama, as a candidate, to speak on normally arcane issues like the 700 MHz auction, computer privacy, and patent policy.  These positions, and other reasons, have led to things like the TechCrunch endorsement and my own support.  For these issues don’t exactly make talk radio….I am optimistic that the Clinton campaign has its heart in the right place. Obama has become a leader on tech policy in the way Edwards was on poverty policy, but that doesn’t mean these ideas aren’t transferable.  In the event that Clinton does win, my hope is that she ends up adopting Obama’s tech policies for the general election.

Pro-Clinton Push Poll in California

So says the LA Times.

The Dangers “Naive” Voters Present Obama

Al Giordano finds an interesting nugget in the midst of all the ridiculous talk of a Clinton-Obama, or Obama-Clinton, ticket.

There was one thing in the debate that could hurt Obama and it’s ironically related to the fact that people like him: the prospect, raised by CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, of a Clinton-Obama ticket. But that’s a pipedream for those that gullibly believe it. In the event that Clinton wins the nomination she might well offer the position to Obama, but I’ll bet money with anyone that wants to part with it that he’d never agree to it.

Unfortunately for Obama, he can’t say that aloud, or risk being accused of a “snub” anew. He knows that he’d be crazy to subjugate himself that way to a campaign that takes DC lobbyist and PAC money (which would dissolve much of the good will that his small donor base has for him), and with a nominee that might well burn down to November defeat, turning its vice presidential nominee into something that would look like Edwards looked this round after his ‘04 vice presidential run (and like Lieberman looked in ‘04 after his ‘00 VP candidacy). Obama is ambitious (you have to be, politics), but not blindly so, and not crazy. It ain’t gonna happen. But if a big enough sector of voters is naïve enough to think they could get two for one by voting for Clinton, that could give her a bounce on Tuesday. Obama needs to dissuade some voters of that argument without frontally assaulting it. I don’t know how he does that.

Chinese American Election Views

Jun Wang summarizes online chatter:

Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have stirred a heated debate, as well as generational warfare, in the Chinese-language blogosphere. First generation Chinese Americans have embraced Clinton in huge numbers for her stances on China and other issues, and many youth are backing Obama. Most of the bloggers’ energy, however, is being expended in vitriolic attacks on the candidates they don’t support …But both Clinton and Obama have problematic positions on China, bloggers say. On MITBBS.com, “Googleme,” an Obama supporter, writes, “The Clinton Administration was not friendly to China…Bill Clinton is the only American president in 30 years who allowed top Taiwan governors come to visit the United States. It is an aggressively bold encouragement of Taiwan’s independence from China.” The assumption is that Hillary Clinton would pick up her husband’s China policy.

Other bloggers mock Obama’s “naive inconsistency” – he originally proposed to “stop the import of all toys from China,” which would have been practically impossible. He later called for the United States to ban only toys from China that were made of toxic materials.

(Still) Waiting on Gloria

Ten days later, Democrats are still waiting to see if LA County Supervisor Gloria Molina will endorse a candidate for President. LEL calls her “arguably the most powerful elected official in the Latino Community anywhere in America.” I wonder if Hillary or Obama are considering taking positions on either of the issues that she’s been working on lately: graffiti (and sometimes, controversially, mural) clean-up and a proposed ban on plastic bags.

Dolores Huerta Explains Her Support for a Clinton Restoration

Dolores Huerta explains her rationale for supporting the Clintons (my attempt at an English translation first):

“Remember the years of the Clinton presidency? Those were the good years…and now we want another Clinton to return.”

‘¿Recuerdan los años de [Bill] Clinton en la presidencia? Esos fueron los años buenos… y ahora queremos que otro Clinton regrese”, señaló la icono de la lucha de los trabajadores del campo en California, Dolores Huerta, ayer durante la inauguración de la casa de campaña de Hillary Clinton en el Este de Los Ángeles...

Clinton in California Calling 350,000 voters a day

La Opinion in LA reports the Clinton campaign’s claim that they are making 350,000 phone calls to Californians each from 4,500 phones in 28 state offices. Some quick math shows that the campaign could call all 3 million of California’s registered Democrats in the 9 days before the primary.