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Nov. 10, 2008 Second of four parts: After making history by becoming the first African-American to earn the presidential nomination of one of the two major parties, there was speculation as to whom Barack Obama would choose as a running mate. His foe in the upcoming election was Republican “Maverick” John McCain, who had angered the conservative base of the GOP. They saw McCain as more of a centrist rather than a candidate with true conservative values. The animosity between the Obama and Clinton camps left a reeking residue. Some party elders believed that an Obama-Clinton would be an unbeatable ticket, but none held their breath waiting for such an agreement. On the other hand, most pundits argued that such a ticket—a black man and a woman—would shoo-away working class white males. Obama’s vetting committee was comprised of Caroline Kennedy, Eric Holder and Jim Johnson, who later resigned after it was revealed that he received a favorable mortgage from Countrywide Financial, a firm linked to the sub-prime loan mess and that was in dire financial straits. Also, it was a company that Obama had criticized several times during the campaign. “Barack Obama called out Countrywide by name on the campaign trail during the primaries. He particularly criticized the company’s CEO for his excessive compensation and more generally “infecting the economy and helping to create a home foreclosure crisis,” which he linked not only to the 2 million who lost their houses but to school districts that couldn’t purchase supplies and pay teachers.” (Source: Ed Morrissey, Video: Obama On Countrwide In April, hotair.com, June 10, 2008). McCain immediately attacked Holder’s remaining on the team. “’I think people in the media and observers will make a decision as to whether these people, individuals, should be part of Sen. Obama's campaign, I think it is a matter of record that Mr. Holder recommended the pardoning of Mr. [Marc] Rich.” (Source: McCain Goes After Second Obama VP Vetter, cnnpolitics.com, June 12, 2008). Rich was a fugitive from justice who had fled the country after being indicted for tax evasion and allegedly having illegal oil dealings with Iran . When President Clinton later pardoned him, Holder was serving under him as the deputy attorney general. With Hillary an afterthought, the hottest rumor was that Virginia Governor Tim Kaine headed Obama’s “short list.” Also under consideration were Joe Biden, Bill Richardson, Even Bayh, Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell (a Clinton supporter), former South Dakota Sen. Tom Daschle, Florida Sen. Bill Nelson (whom House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi pushed), Retired Georgia Sen. Sam Nunn, and longshots Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill (to placate the PUMAs), Kansas Governor Kathlen Sebellius, and Washington Sen. Patty Murray. Former Vice-President and Academy Award winner Al Gore was even mentioned, as was Obama’s close friend, Republican Senator Chuck Hagel of Nebraska , who did not endorse Obama (however, his wife did). Obama made his choice a week before the party’s convention: former rival and Delaware Senator Joe Biden. Within minutes the McCain campaign issued the following statement: “There has been no harsher critic of Barack Obama’s lack of experience than Joe Biden. Biden has denounced Barack Obama’s poor foreign policy judgment and has strongly argued in his own words what Americans are quickly realizing, that Barack Obama is not ready to be President.” (Source: Andrew Malcolm, Breaking: Obama Selects Biden As His VP Running Mate, http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington, August 22, 2008) McCAIN’S RUN McCain’s opposition in the GOP was former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani; Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney; Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee; Texan Ron Paul—ten-term member of the House of Representatives and best-selling author; California Representative Duncan Hunter; and former TV actor and Tennessee Representative Fred Thompson. During the early stages of the GOP primary season, McCain weathered a financial storm. His campaign went broke and he was forced him to fire most of his staff. When he finished third in the Iowa Caucuses behind Huckabee and Romney, hid epitaph was being written. Showing grit and determination, all the while deflecting questions as to whether he would pull out of the race (as many in the GOP had advised), McCain stumped vigorously in New Hampshire and defeated Romney and Huckabee (in that order) to reinvigorate his campaign. Donations trickled in as McCain won in South Carolina and Florida , but lost in Michigan , which Romney won as a favorite son. (His father, George W. Romney, once served as Governor of the state). Giuliani did not enter the Iowa, New Hampshire, nor South Carolina contest, and instead put all his chips in one basket—Florida. He hoped to win the state, get back into the delegate race and build steam from there. His strategy backfired big time, as he finished third. The following day he left the race and endorsed McCain. McCain still couldn’t generate much buzz. He was being dogged by the right and the media seemed obsessed with Thompson. It was widely expected that he would become the odds-on favorite. He had a folksy style that gave him an endearing image, but more important was known as a fiscal conservative--someone the party would rally behind. On September 5, 2007, Thompson announced his candidacy on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, saying “In 1994, our conservative principles led us to a comeback and majority control of the Congress. Now, you don’t want to have to come back from another Clinton victory. Our country needs us to win next year, and I am ready to lead that effort.” (Source: Thompson Announces Bid—Hollywood-Style, The Associated Press / http://www.msnbc.msn.com). But Thompson’s campaign never took off. To many observers he appeared “too lazy” to campaign and on the stump came off as dull. He did, however, finish second in Wyoming , after finishing fifth in New Hampshire and in fourth place finish in South Carolina . He left the race on January 22, 2008, and immediately endorsed McCain. Hunter finished third in Wyoming , but dropped out after losing in South Carolina and he too, endorsed McCain. Paul, a favorite among college-age voters, finished third In Maine, second in Montana , third in Utah and second in Wyoming . Though he never officially left the race, he scaled back his campaign and after that was hardly heard from. The race was now down to McCain, Huckabee and Romney. Romeny--despite winning in Michigan , Wyomimg , Maine , Colorado , Utah , Alaska , Minnesota and his home state of Massachusetts --pulled out just 2 days after Super Tuesday. He cited his belief that continuing on would cut into the time needed to fight the Democrats, giving them an advantage in the fall general election. In order to win the nomination, He would have had to win 4 of every 5 remaining states. McCain did not compete in Wyoming and finished third in the West Virginia caucus after he instructed his supporters to vote for Huckabee, who won. He finished second in Maine, Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Tennessee, Colorado, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Montana, and Utah, but pulled off wins in Arizona, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Missouri, New York, Washington, Virginia, Maryland and Wisconsin. He clinched the nomination on March 4, after running the table with wins in Vermont , Rhode Island , Texas and Ohio . Speculation for McCain’s running mate centered on Romney, Huckabee, 36-year-old Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal; South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford; former Ohio Congressman Rob Portman; Minnesota Governor Tom Pawlenty; Florida Governor Charlie Crist; and longshots Independent/Democratic Senator and friend, Joe Lieberman; Condoleezza Rice; former Pennsylvania Governor and Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge; and Texas Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson. There wee rumors that McCain, desperate to separate himself from Bush and Karl Rove, wanted to pick Lieberman. The more conservative of the party, however, would not back such a ticket. Meanwhile, Rove fought ob behalf of Romney. The so-called compromise was Palin, and the only pundit that guessed right was Fox News commentator Bill Kristol. McCain called the 44-year-old Alaska Governor, “’The running mate who can best help me shake up Washington ." McCain added, “She's exactly who this country needs to help me fight the same old Washington politics of me first and country second…She's got the grit, integrity, good sense and fierce devotion to the common good that is exactly what we need in Washington today." (Source: McCain Taps Alaska Governor As Vice-President Pick, cnnpolitics.com, August 30, 2008). Palin’s selection energized the GOP faithful. She was seen as a maverick, conservative and thrilled the convention goers with a speech that attacked Obama as unexperienced, and lacking foreign policy acumen. However, the Governor was serving her first-term as chief executive of a state with a population the size of Indianapolis , Indiana , America ’s 12th-largest city. Moreover, her only prior administrative experience had been as Mayor of Wasilla , Alaska —a town with a population of fewer than 8,000 people. Despite the bounce in the polls that she gave the ticket, she had her critics who thought McCain had shot himself in the foot by opting for someone whose resume was as thin as Obama’s. Her speech at the Republican convention had the party faithful feeling optimistic. Joe Biden dissected her speech and pointed out, "I didn't hear the phrase 'middle class.' I didn't hear a single word about health care. I didn't hear a single word about helping people get to college,” he said on CNN's American Morning. "They don't have a single answer how to dig us out of the hole we've been dug into the last eight years." (Source: Kristi Keck, Dana Bash, Ed Hornick, Paul Steinhauser and Scott J. Anderson, Palin Comes Out Throwing Punches, cnnpolitics.com, Sept. 4, 2008) OBAMA AND JESSE JACKSON At this point, Obama had received the meaningless endorsement of Jesse Jackson. There had never been a closeness between the two men, and it came to a head after Obama made a speech in which he challenged black fathers. Obama said they needed “…to recognize that there is a particular problem when more than a half of African American children are growing up without a father in the house.” During a break in an interview with Fox News, Jackson shocked and infuriated the Democratic faithful by accusing Obama of “acting white,” referred to Obama as “nigger” and threatened to “cut off his [the Senator’s] balls.” Jackson accused Obama of "talking down to black people ... telling niggers how to behave." The comments had been picked up by an open microphone. The words were more shocking because of Jackson ’s being an ordained minister and an icon of the Civil Rights Movement. Jackson also stood at the forefront of the campaign to ban use of “the N word” among blacks, in particular. More mind-blowing was the fact that Jackson 's son Jesse, Jr. was close friends with Obama and Jackson ’s oldest child, Santita, was the godmother to the Obama’s daughter, Malia. Jackson apologized and Obama dismissed the remark, but cable news broadcasts continued to run the clip. Bill Burton, a spokesman for the Obama campaign responded, "{Obama} will continue to speak out about our responsibilities to ourselves and each other, and he of course accepts Reverend Jackson's apology." According to reports, bad blood had flowed between Jackson and Obama for some time. “Eight years ago, Obama, a little-known state senator, mounted an upstart challenge to four-term incumbent Bobby Rush for his U.S. House seat. Jackson endorsed Rush. President Clinton also joined the effort to stop the newcomer. He overrode his policy of staying out of Democratic primaries to back Rush, who trounced Obama more than 2-to-1… That's not the only time Jackson was in Obama's way. In 1995, he tried to arrange for his son to get the state Senate seat that Obama eventually won in his first political race.” (Source: Obama, Jesse Jackson Share Complicated history, http://cbs2chicago.com, Mar 7, 2008). CRITICISM OF OBAMA, PALIN: HYPOCRISY Obama, who had initially promised to rely on public funding for his campaign, went back on his word. He was raising money at a record-breaking pace and bombarding the airwaves with ads contrasting the differences between he and McCain on issues of healthcare and the war in Iraq . Obama opposed from the outset and McCain supported it. McCain had also admitted to voting with George Bush “90% of the time,” which the Obama campaign cited in ads, interviews and during the debates. While they argued issues, the GOP resorted to the Karl Rove school of campaign negativism. The question for the Republicans was how far would the McCain-Palin team go in criticizing Obama, not only for his “inexperience,” but for his past associations with Rezko, Wright, Ayers and controversial Catholic minister Michael Pfleger. Interestingly enough, any criticism of Palin was met with accusations of Sexism and of being “unfair” or “too tough.” Obama insisted that families be kept out of the fray, nut there were those on the right who continued to trash Michelle Obama. According to several news outlets, “A rumor has circulated about a videotape of Mrs. Obama railing against ‘whitey’ in a vitriolic diatribe at Chicago ’s Trinity United Church of Christ. The rumor—repeated by conservative talk show hosts such as Rush Limbaugh—implies this ‘October Surprise’ could torpedo Sen. Barack Obama’s historic quest for the presidency of the United States .” (Source: Ashahed M. Muhammad, Right Wing Attacks On Michelle Obama Hit A New Low, thefinalcall.com, June 19, 2008). Republican strategist Stephen Marks pointed out, “Considering there are so many issues, legitimate issues that you can use on Barack Obama, to attack his wife to me is sheer utter stupidy of the highest level. Mr. Obama is going to come to his wife's defense, and it's going to humanize both of them." (Source: David Mattingly, Michelle Obama Likely Target Of Conservative Attacks, ccnpolitics.com, June 12, 2008). McCain however, vowed to “take the high road” and debate issues and not character. This further alienated the hard-right segment of the GOP who wanted to “swift boat” Obama and bring up the subject of Obama’s past associations with Ayers, Wright, Rezko and Pfeger. This came at a time when Pfleger had launched an incendiary diatribe against Clinton in Obama’s former church. The minister shouted that Hillary felt “entitled” to the nomination, adding in a mocking, feminine tone, “There's a black man stealing my show!" Pfleger later apologized, but the right-wing talk show hosts and Fox News, led by the inimitable Bill O’Reilly, continued to harp on the issue. More telling was O’Reilly’s response to Michelle Obama’s alleged “militancy.” O’Reilly made an interesting choice of words when he stated, “I don't want to go on a lynching party against Michelle Obama unless there's evidence, hard facts, that say this is how the woman really feels." Michelle Obama was portrayed as unpatriotic. There was even a New Yorker magazine cover which portrayed the Obamas dressed in Muslim garb, toting automatic weapons and bumping fists. In the cartoon Michelle is wearing an Angela Davis-like afro hairdo and there is an American flag burning in the fireplace. Hanging on the wall is a portrait of Osama Bin-Laden. The New Yorker’s editor, David Remnick, defended the cover as “satirical,” and told CNN’s The Situation Room, "The idea is to attack lies and misconceptions and distortions about the Obamas and their background and their politics. We've heard all of this nonsense about how they're supposedly insufficiently patriotic or soft on terrorism." (Source: Alexander Mooney, New Yorker Editor Defends Controversial Cover, cnnpolitics.com, July 14, 2008). Meanwhile, Palin was being handled with kids’ gloves by an overprotective GOP. She criss-crossed the country making speeches, but was giving no one-on-one interviews. Rumors circulated that the McCain Vice-presidential search committee had not done a good job of vetting the Alaska Governor. The right had always railed against teenage pregnancies and those where the parents were unmarried, particularly in the inner cities. However, Palin’s 17-year-old daughter, Bristol , was pregnant out of wedlock, and it was suggested had that been the Obama’s daughter, it would have become an issue. Palin called the pregnancy “a blessed event,” and left it at that. Later it was announced that the father of the child planned to marry her daughter, then the Palin’s gathered the clan together and posed for photos as if they were the Waltons. Hovering over Palin’s head was a state investigation by a bipartisan committee as to whether or not Palin abused her power when she fired Walt Monegan, the commissioner of public safety because he refused to terminate one of his underlings, who happened to be Palin’s sister’s ex-husband. Sean Cockerham wrote that there was concern among GOP strategists “Whether the 72-year-old McCain's selection of 44-year-old Palin as his running mate was carefully considered or impulsive…” When asked about it, McCain’s campaign manager Rick Davis answered, “I’m not going to get into that.” (Source: Sean Cockerham, How Thoroughly Did McCain Vet Palin?, Anchorage Daily News, McClatchy Newspapers, September 3, 2008). Such lax background research would come at great cost, but for the moment, the GOP was still blinded by the 9-point gain Palin’s presence gave the ticket. Poet/essayist E. Joyce Moore wrote in the Huffington Post, “Sen. John McCain has opted out of yet another interview on CNN. He did not take an interview this week with Anderson Cooper, and now has canceled his Larry King Live appearance too. All, he claims, because Campbell Brown ‘went over the line’ when asking McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds about Palin's experience.” Moore added, “Is this how it's going to be? Can't ask any questions because Palin is too sensitive or any questioning of her abilities is sexist? As a woman, I take issue with that. The whole knight-in-shining-armor syndrome, where both men and women feel compelled to protect Palin, is manipulative and we need to stop buying into it. If you put yourself on a ticket as a vice presidential candidate, then you have to be able to take the tough questions and answer them. You can't have it both ways.” (Source: E. Joyce Moore, McCain Is Suddenly Camera Shy, The Huffington Post, Sept. 3, 2008) Bob Herbert was one of the first to take note of Palin’s lack of depth and the fact that she was nothing more than pretty packaging. In a New York times op-ed column, Herbert wrote of Palin, “She’s meant to shift attention away from the real issue of this campaign — the awful state of the nation after eight years of Republican rule. The Republicans are brilliant at distractions. Willie Horton was a distraction. The chatter about gays, guns and God has been a long-running distraction. And we all remember the Swift-boat campaign.” (Soure: Bob Herbert, Head For The high Road, newyorktimesonline, September 1, 2008). PALIN ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL Some believed that the choice of Palin was a strategy designed to lure the disenfranchised Hillary supporters who would refuse to vote for Obama for whatever reason. Renowned feminist Gloria Steinem weighed in on this issue in an op-ed piece, writing “Selecting Sarah Palin, who was touted all summer by Rush Limbaugh, is no way to attract most women, including die-hard Clinton supporters. Palin shares nothing but a chromosome with Clinton . Her down-home, divisive and deceptive speech did nothing to cosmeticize a Republican convention that has more than twice as many male delegates as female, a presidential candidate who is owned and operated by the right wing and a platform that opposes pretty much everything Clinton's candidacy stood for -- and that Barack Obama's still does. To vote in protest for McCain/Palin would be like saying, "Somebody stole my shoes, so I'll amputate my legs." (Source: Gloria Steinem, Palin: Wrong Woman, Wrong Message, The Los Angeles Times, Sept. 4, 2008). An ABC News poll found that, “…the selection of Palin makes people likelier to vote for McCain by just 6 percentage points, half the 12-point margin by which Sen. Joe Biden makes them more likely to support Obama. And as for Clinton supporters, eight in 10 said they'd vote for Obama in November, according to a Gallup Poll conducted…after McCain announced his selection of Palin.” (Source: Jocelyn Noveck, Most Clinton Backers Say Palin’s Too Far A Stretch, Yahoo News/The Associated Press, September 5, 2008). Palin, a former beauty pageant contestant, was derided by bloggers as “trophy vice,” “Caribou Barbie” and “first MILF (Mother I’d Like to F—k),” but the mainstream media had fallen in love with the self-described “hockey mom” from Alaska and she was seen by many as typical, small-town America . However, the typical mom doesn’t have a child afflicted with Down’s Syndrome, and if she had, it is unlikely she would take time out from the care of that child to campaign for vice-president of the United States . Essayist Gregory Townes wrote, “If you're a man and you decide to run for office despite your wife's reoccurrence of cancer (referring to John Edwards) you're a ‘questionable spouse.’ If you're a woman and you decide to run for office despite having five kids including a newborn...well, we don't know what that is 'cause ‘that’s not a fair question to ask.’” (Gregory Townes, E-mail To The Real Sista Writers Membership, October 2, 2008) While McCain criticized Obama for his lack of foreign policy experience, Democrats made the same accusation against Palin. McCain responded on ABC’s Good Morning America, “She's the commander of the Alaska National Guard...She has been in charge, and she has had national security as one of her primary responsibilities." Palin told ABC’s Charles Gibson that her national security credibility was, “about reform of government and it's about putting government back on the side of the people, and that has much to do with foreign policy and national security issues." She cited her stint as chairman of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, and said "I want you to not lose sight of the fact that energy is a foundation of national security." (Source: Robert Schlesinger, Sarah Palin's Charles Gibson Interview—We Know She Can Memorize the Talking Points, but Does She Understand, Them?, U.S. News and World Report, Sept. 12, 2008) It wasn’t long before the media got past Palin’s catchy soundbites and she was exposed as an intellectual lightweight, or little more than Dan Quayle in a dress. The first hint of her lack of depth came during an interview with ABC News anchor Charles Gibson. Palin stammered her way through the interview and when pressed to explain the Bush doctrine, could not. Robert Schlesinger wrote in U.S. News ad World Reports, “The first parts of the Gibson interviews gave no indication that she has given serious thought to how to run the country. Instead we got talking points about how she's ‘wired.’ There were a few genuinely painful (and perhaps scary) moments…Less noted was Gibson's asking about her comment that, as governor of Alaska, she hadn't been focused on Iraq. Palin responded: ‘Of course I've been focused on the war, of course I've been, as every American has been, since 9/11.’ Ummm, one problem there, governor: We haven't been at war with Iraq since 9/11.” Schlesinger also noted, “McCain has argued that Alaska 's proximity to Russia qualifies as foreign-policy experience for Palin. [Palin responded] ‘And, Charlie, you're in Alaska . We have that very narrow maritime border between the United States , and the 49th state, Alaska , and Russia . They are our next door neighbors. We need to have a good relationship with them. They're very, very important to us and they are our next door neighbor.’ [Gibson responded] ‘What insight into Russian actions, particularly in the last couple of weeks, does the proximity of the state give you?’ [Palin replied] ‘They're our next door neighbors and you can actually see Russia from land here in Alaska , from an island in Alaska .’ It's almost as if his question—what insight has that proximity given you—was an ignored interruption of her talking point. She tried to salvage, but did so with a non sequitur.” (Source: Schlesinger , U.S. News and World Report, Sept. 12, 2008). Polling not only indicated that the race was close, but that Palin had lost some of her luster and was now being viewed as a drag on the ticket, rather than the feisty, fiscal conservative McClain claimed she was. “Where the selection of Palin was once seen as an asset, a majority of voters now say McCain's vice presidential pick reflects poorly on the decisions he would make as president, according to the Post-ABC News poll. Overall, 52 percent of likely voters said they are less confident in McCain's judgment because his of surprise selection of Palin; 38 percent are more confident because of it. That represents a marked reversal from the initially positive reaction to the pick.” (Source: Michael Abramowitz and Juliet Eilperin, McCain Battles Palin Backlash, cbsnews.com, Oct. 23, 2008). Stories surfaced that the GOP spent $150,000 on a campaign wardrobe for the so-called hockey mom from small town America . After hearing the media making much ado about it, McCain responded, "Voters are more worried about the economy." (Source: Michael Abramowitz and Juliet Eilperin, McCain Battles Palin Backlash, cbsnews.com, Oct. 23, 2008). If McCain couldn’t see Palin as the problem, surrogates did. It was obvious to everyone but him that he had picked the wrong running mate. ------------ About the author: Timothy N. Stelly, Sr. is a writer who resides in Northern California. His latest work, under consideration for publication, is a poetry book titled "Stories From The Black Side Of The Rainbow." website: http://stellbreadO@tripod.com Email: stellbread@yahoo.com Tell a friend about this site! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com and are not allowed to be posted on other websites. ARTICLE THIEVES WILL BE PROSECUTED! |
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