The High Road vs. The Low Road

Barack Obama was right to praise his campaign team last night. I'm not sure we will ever witness a presidential campaign run better than his. Obama continues to score high in many characteristics—his intelligence, his positions, his speechmaking, his composure—but at bottom it seems that it was his campaign—headed by David Plouffe and David Axelrod—that succeeded in framing and highlighting his "taking the high road" qualities while his opponents looked more and more like they were "taking the low road."

Obama benefited from what might best be described as the collapse of the Republican Party—at least for the time being. Along with a host of low points including 9/11, the invasion of Iraq, the poor response to Katrina, and the profound shaking up of the economy, the legacy of George Bush will now include the undermining of his own political party.

It wasn't as if people couldn't see this political turnaround coming. As with other debacles of the Bush presidency, there were the warning signs—most obviously in the preceding election results and the 2007-2008 popularity polls. Yet the Bush administration continued to pursue an agenda that seems to have been favorable chiefly not even to his party-at-large but to an increasingly small group of wealthy cronies.

Last night's election occasioned the historic ascent of Barack Obama as well as a historic rejection of Republican politicians, including a significant number in New York. I believe that Obama, with his team, has the abilities to take on the great challenges of this time and achieve the stature of an Abraham Lincoln or an FDR, but only time will tell if he will fulfill his potential. He can do it, but it will require sticking to the "high road" he has followed and persuading others to join him route despite the pressures from powerful "low road" influences.

Obama made history last night, but the real history is to be made in the times ahead. May his campaign continue for years to come.



Source (9:18)

IT'S DOUBLE DROP-OUT WEDNESDAY!

The fortune-teller down the block predicts that both John Edwards and Rudy 9iu11ani will drop out of the Presidential campaign by the time the sun sets over the Reagan Library.

Perhaps predictably, BAT has had no enthusiasm for the Republicandidates but feels relatively good about the Democratic front-runners, with Barack Obama currently the favorite.

Feel free to contribute your own opinions here. It's a regular Democracy Wall!

Photo: David Marc Fischer

SEE IT NOW: (POLITICALLY) INCORRECT VIDEO!

An instant classic of Incorrect Video, "Mitt's Our Man" by THE MITT GIRLS! has found a berth at IOWA COLLEGIATE REPUBLICAN ("THE OFFICIAL BLOG OF THE IOWA FEDERATION OF COLLEGE REPUBLICANS"), where co-chairman Dom McDowell calls it "A very cute movie done by two very talented College Republicans in Iowa" and offers a "Nice job ladies" to the two talents, identified as Melissa JoAnn Spiegel (University of Northern Iowa) and Ashton Brittney Schmidt (Drake University). I think what I find most jaw-dropping are the gyrations by what appear to be memorial monuments (if they are, in fact, memorials). I like the Mitt mitts too.

Thanks, Wonkette! And thanks, Irwin Chusid, for the concept of Incorrect Video.



Source (2:05)

BREAKING: MICHAEL BLOOMBERG TO CONVERT TO CHRISTIAN FAITH

Days after New York City's mayor Michael Bloomberg filed forms to leave the Republican Party, the billionaire shocked the nation again by announcing that he was leaving Judaism to become Episcopalian.

"I have nothing against Judaism," Bloomberg assured reporters from a pulpit in Pasadena, California. "It's just that, after practicing Reform Judaism for my entire life, I have somehow reformed myself...into a Christian!"

Like many other well-known Republicans, Bloomberg has undergone a number of changes in recent years. Well-established as a businessman and life-long Democrat, he switched his political allegiance to the Republican Party around the time that he declared his intention to enter mayoral politics. As a "born-again" Republican and newly elected mayor of New York, Bloomberg showed his enthusiasm for his newly adopted and then-powerful political party through large contributions and mass arrests of peaceful demonstrators and passersby during the 2004 Republican Convention. Now in his second and final term as mayor, Bloomberg attracted national attention yesterday when, rudely interrupted by the press while idly passing time in California, he explained that he was abandoning the now-weakened Republican Party to better reflect his latest political leanings.

Bloomberg, who has stated that he pictures himself living a life of philanthropy after his mayorship ends, is said to have already shown characteristic largess to his new religious faith through seven-figure donations, an invitation for the church to hold its 2007 convention in New York City, and a pledge to arrest and detain hundreds of law-abiding citizens should the church accept his invitation.

There are, however, rumors that Bloomberg is actually considering a run for the Presidency as part of his preparation to become a full-time philanthropist. The whispers persist despite Bloomberg's constant evasions.

"I assure everyone that none of my plans for the future have changed. I'm the same Michael I've always been," said Bloomberg as he left for a lunch of roast beef, mayonnaise, and Wonder Bread sandwiches.

Photo: David Marc Fischer

THE NEWS FROM UTAH (REPUBLICANS)

Brace yourselves, folks!

From Utah's Daily Herald: "Utah County Republicans ended their convention on Saturday by debating Satan's influence on illegal immigrants...." Read on here--it's worth it! (Thanks to Wonkette for the lead.)

And don't miss this AP story: "Brent Tenney says he feels pretty safe when he goes to class at the University of Utah, but he takes no chances. He brings a loaded 9 mm semiautomatic with him every day...."