Well Obama has kicked-off his Inauguration with the historic train ride from Philadelphia to Washington DC.
His speech in the 30th Street Train Station was filled with promise, grace, and encouragement. It again reminds me what a once in a lifetime President we have before us. It is not to say that we can expect Barack Obama to fix all the deep and troubling problems we have before us, but his leadership, intelligence, and his ability to connect with the American people demonstrates what a truly remarkable and promising President he will be - not just the US, but in the international community.
And yet while our problems may be new, what is required to overcome them is not. What is required is the same perseverance and idealism that our founders displayed. What is required is a new declaration of independence, not just in our nation, but in our own lives - from ideology and small thinking, prejudice and bigotry - an appeal not to our easy instincts but to our better angels.
That is the reason I launched my campaign for the presidency nearly two years ago. I did so in the belief that the most fundamental American ideal, that a better life is in store for all those willing to work for it, was slipping out of reach. That Washington was serving the interests of the few, not the many. And that our politics had grown too small for the scale of the challenges we faced.
But I also believed something else. I believed that our future is our choice, and that if we could just recognize ourselves in one another and bring everyone together - Democrats, Republicans, and Independents, north, south, east and west, black, white, Latino, Asian, and Native American, gay and straight, disabled and not - then not only would we restore hope and opportunity in places that yearned for both, but maybe, just maybe, we might perfect our union in the process.
Given the intense negotiations on the Iraqi agreements that are currently underway, Secretary Gates and Secretary Rice thought it appropriate to update the Presidential Candidates John McCain and Barack Obama, they also informed Joe Biden. Noticeably missing was the other VP candidate - Sarah Palin.
At a press conference at the State Department, Sean McCormack was asked by reporters regarding Palin.
Q: You called Senator Biden, you called McCain. Did you also call Governor Palin?
McCORMACK: No. If you hadn’t noticed, she’s a governor. Not a senator or a congressman.
Q: She’s a vice presidential candidate.
McCORMACK: Right.
Q: She also has extensive foreign affairs experience. (LAUGHTER)
McCORMACK: Right. I explained to you the reasoning behind the phone call.
Q: Maybe if this has to do with Russia, you would have called her.
So let's get this straight, they haven't bothered to update the VP Candidate on the Campaign Strategy about pulling out of Michigan, and they don't bother to bring her up to speed on the Iraqi War Negotiations.
A small part of me feels a little bad for Palin, and how her career is most likely ruined, as she has now been characterized as a cartoonish, pathetic politician - worse than Dan Quayle. McCain brought her up to the big leagues way too soon. But then the feeling goes away pretty quick when she opens her mouth.
In a poll among undecided voters, by CBS, Biden was declared the winner of tonight Vice-Presidential Debate.
Overall, Palin survived, and did so by repeating verbatim the talking points her debate coaches had her memorize. The one thing I was struck by was how much she talked about nothing.
She was able to get by on the economic issues, which was the primary topic in the first half of the debate. But her economic talking points were about "energy independence", although I don't think it was helped by the fact that her only solution was drilling for more oil, and tax cuts. She also kept bringing up reform, but I think the voters don't really understand how "reform" translates to wallet issues. Last week's debate where McCain kept talking about earmarks wasn't exactly the attention getter for independents or any voter worried about the economy. She didn't mention health care, until it was raised by Biden, and here we have a great zinger by Biden knocking Palin about the "bridge to nowhere".
Biden: Now, with regard to the -- to the health care plan, you know, it's with one hand you giveth, the other you take it. You know how Barack Obama -- excuse me, do you know how John McCain pays for his $5,000 tax credit you're going to get, a family will get?
He taxes as income every one of you out there, every one of you listening who has a health care plan through your employer. That's how he raises $3.6 trillion, on your -- taxing your health care benefit to give you a $5,000 plan, which his Web site points out will go straight to the insurance company.
And then you're going to have to replace a $12,000 -- that's the average cost of the plan you get through your employer -- it costs $12,000. You're going to have to pay -- replace a $12,000 plan, because 20 million of you are going to be dropped. Twenty million of you will be dropped.
So you're going to have to place -- replace a $12,000 plan with a $5,000 check you just give to the insurance company. I call that the "Ultimate Bridge to Nowhere."
On Foreign Policy, it was clear that Biden was the clear winner. What was interesting was that in both the CNN and CBS reaction meters, the undecided voters reacted negatively to Palin's rhetoric on Iraq. Specifically, the graph on the right shows opinions on Palin tanking when she made her comment that a time table implied "white flag of defeat" by our soldiers.
Overall, she did not have an original point of view, and I have to admit her "folksy" tone started to grate - exactly how many "you betchas" and "doggone it" are we supposed to take? There was towards the end a moment where each Candidate got to say last words on their ticket. Palin tries to resurrect Ronald Reagan:
It was Ronald Reagan who said that freedom is always just one generation away from extinction. We don't pass it to our children in the bloodstream; we have to fight for it and protect it, and then hand it to them so that they shall do the same, or we're going to find ourselves spending our sunset years telling our children and our children's children about a time in America, back in the day, when men and women were free.
I found that comment very odd, as I don't think any of us feel that we aren't free. So it seemed almost as if this old phrase was being mis-used.
Interestingly enough, the first sexist moment came from Palin when she implied that as a mom she could understand the concerns of average Americans, as if she had the cornerstone on that market.
Palin: Being a mom, one very concerned about a son in the war, about a special needs child, about kids heading off to college, how are we going to pay those tuition bills? About times and Todd and our marriage in our past where we didn't have health insurance and we know what other Americans are going through as they sit around the kitchen table and try to figure out how are they going to pay out-of-pocket for health care? We've been there also so that connection was important.
Joe countered with sharing his personal story, and there was a moment when you could tell that he was going to tear up, and the reaction on both the CNN and CBS meters went to the roof (see the video clip below). Palin, rather oddly, didn't show any empathy, but went right back to talking about how She and John McCain were "Mavericks".
Overall, she was probably able to save herself from any widely negative views, and probably helped to revive the republican base. But I don't think she helped John McCain any, and I think tomorrow's economic news will still be on voters minds.
If you missed the debate, you can read the transcript here:
It's really amusing and insulting really the expectations game the McCain Campaign and the Media are playing with Sarah Palin in her upcoming Vice-Presidential Debate.
The Pundits are all over themselves saying what Biden should or should not do, about how he can't be seen as condescending or mean.
First of all, Biden is a genial and respectful Senator, unlike McCain. Secondly, if Palin can't take it, then how can we expect that she can handle herself in front of Putin? Why are voters buying any story about Palin requiring deference and respect by the Media and public?
This latest Katie Couric Interviews where she questions both Biden and Palin on a variety of topics is really over the top. Palin needs to demonstrate understanding and knowledge, moreover, she needs to be able to talk coherently! It's amazing, I think she wants to throw in as many big words as possible to try and sound intelligent, but she unfortunately, she ends up sounding like an idiot.
The first video was about the candidates' views on Roe v. Wade, and the second was about Dick Cheney. I don't think Palin got the memo on the conservatives argument about Roe v. Wade.
