Tom In Paine


Friday, June 20, 2008
OBAMA'S AMATEUR NIGHT CANDIDACY AND WHY THE DEMOCRATS NEED AN OPEN CONVENTION NOT AN OPEN MIC NIGHT

Howard Dean,Nancy Pelosi, the press and super delegates supporting Obama never seemed to understand that running for the Presidency of the United states isn't the same as having open mic night at the DNC.

But a funny thing is happening to Obama on his way to Denver. No one is laughing. Because Obama's act is bombing. And even Howard Dean, Pelosi, Obama's supporters and the super delegates sitting in the audience arent laughing. And for a very good reason. Obama's act isn't funny. Except to those who didn't vote for him.

In less than two weeks Obama, the candidate who said he was ready to be President on day one, has had Jim Johnson, the person he put in charge to vet Vice Presidential candidates resigning within days of his appointment because of questions over shady loans, then angered Muslims, probably all over the world but especially in the US because he removed two Muslim women who were sitting directly behind him because he didn't want them to be seen, then Mr. Rejecting the Politics of the Past reversed himself and went back on his pledge to have his campaign publicly financed showing for the millionth time his word means absolutely nothing, and last but certainly not least, he told an audience of 7,000 Jews that he completely supported an undivided Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and then 24 hours later after the Palestinians went ballistic, reversed himself trying, almost hilariously, to say that he didn't make himself clear about what he meant by "undivided".What he did do was succeed in completely shredding his credibility with both Israelis' and Palestinians on the most important and difficult foreign policy question in the Middle East.

Obama is going to have to find another introduction to his act besides Mr. Words Matter, or The Change Candidate because keeps Obama reinventing the terminology, known not as a "loose cannon" but more appropriately as "loose change".

It didn't take Obama long to show what more than half the Democratic party saw throughout the primary. That he has about as much talent and as much skill and as much ability to execute the office of the President as Jerry Seinfeld. Actually that's not fair to Seinfeld. Seinfeld would at least leave them laughing.

So even before becoming the official nominee ( and if the Democrats have an open and honest convention with Clinton's name on the ballot and a roll call vote anything can happen) he has destroyed his credibility with both Israelis and Palestinians, he has insulted Muslims which can do us no good whatsoever in the war on terror, he has alienated those who believe in campaign finance reform, but has miraculous unified Israelis, Palestinians and Muslims who now collectively think he is an idiot.

This should come as no surprise. Obama lied, backtracked and changed his story repeatedly throughout the Wright episode displaying the same lack of credibility and character we have come to expect. The press chose to ignore all this rank dishonesty and instead of holding his feet to the fire, showed the kind of racial condescension that Lenny Bruce used to satirize in the Sixties.

The press actually praised his attempt to wriggle out from under all the lies he was caught telling, with his Philadelphia speech, the "I am not a crook" moment which the same editorial writers who praised Bush's reasons for going to war in Iraq called his "Lincoln Moment".

Following his "Lincoln Moment", Obama lied to the people of Ohio about his position on NAFTA and was caught doing it. He misrepresented his position on Iraq which was revealed by one of his former foreign policy advisors.During the Wright episode he lied repeatedly about his relationship to him and his church,what he knew, when he knew it, and in his "Lincoln Moment" said he couldn't disown Wright or his church, any more than he could disown his own grandmother or the entire black community which then of course in his uniquely Lincolnesque way, was followed by disowning both Wright and his church.We are still waiting news on his grandmother.

Another great moment in Obama's act was his Memorial Day speech where he said,

"On this Memorial Day, as our nation honors it's unbroken line of fallen heroes, and I see many of them in the audience today..."

Okay now that was funny.But not if your Howard Dean, the DNC or super delegates supporting him. And not if you were a Democrat hoping to take back the White House which has to start looking more and more remote every day as long as Obama is the nominee. But maybe now super delegates are starting to see why the majority of the party voted against him in the first place.

Which is no laughing matter but there is still something that can be done and Howard Dean needs to do it. He needs to insure the Democratic Convention in August is an open convention not a coronation. And not open mic night.

Hillary Clinton has not withdrawn her name as a candidate. She hasn't released her delegates. Her campaign is suspended, not over. Obama's actual pledged delegate lead over Clinton is only 1% -- a lead of only 77 delegates not counting the 55 disputed delegates he didn't win and didn't earn in the Michigan compromise that the Clinton campaign said they would take to the credentials committee.And lets not forget that Hillary Clinton is the winner of the popular vote.

Howard Dean and the DNC must have an open convention with Hillary Clinton's name on the ballot as it should be,and a roll call vote as the democratic process dictates, so that super delegates can do what they were supposed to do in the first place -- use their judgment to pick the best nominee -- not the judgement of someone with a lower job approval rating than George Bush which is what Nancy Pelosi has, and not Dean's judgement, but their own. It is the only sensible thing to do, the only thing that can give the Democratic Party time to ensure the best candidate is the nominee.

Obama as the Democratic Presidential candidate has already become the bad joke a lot people thought he would be. And it should be obvious by now that he is not going to leave anyone laughing. Instead the time may be coming for Obama to flick the ash off his cigar and simply say, "Say goodnight Michelle".