Rendezvous with Destiny

Disavowal

Obama's disavowal of Reverend Wright has gotten mixed reactions. Basically, if you like Obama (as I do) you regard it as a positive development, and like the fact that Obama showed some anger. If you don't like him, you think that it's hypocritical; that it's simply not plausible that this was the first time Obama was hearing these sentiments in the course of a twenty year relationship.

Leave it!

House Republican leader uses the a-word to describe how they're going to beat Obama:

-By November, it will be clear that Obama’s appeal is limited to arugula-eating college professors, hardcore liberal Democrats, and the residents of Nancy Pelosi’s Congressional District.

Oh, and the other 15 million people that have voted for him.

All Guam, all the time

The chaps at DemConWatch are providing some heroic coverage of the Guam caucuses. Guam has four pledged and five unpledged delegates, and it seems the caucus is really more like a primary in the sense that there is secret balloting (and less chance of the police being called to break up fights).

The Marianas Variety has more.

Superdelegatin'

The trickle of superdelegates is becoming, if not quite a flood, at least a steady flow. Obama picks up two congressmen from Indiana and Iowa, whilst Clinton gets one from Ohio. Clinton's superdelegate lead is now down to 19.

It's a positive development that the number of endorsements is increasing, and it's a sign that the campaign is entering its final stages. Hopefully.

Maya

Excellent advert for Clinton, featuring Maya Angelou [via Politico]:

Serious

Video of Obama's press conference:

Breaking: Wright away

Obama has just made this statement:

“The person that I saw yesterday was not the person that I had come to know over 20 years.”

Added that when Wright “states and then amplifies such ridiculous propositions” –citing Monday’s statements on AIDS, Farrakhan, terrorism — “then there are no excuses.”

“They offend me. They rightly offend all Americans and they should be denounced. And that’s what I’m doing very clearly and unequivocally today.”

Holiday

The issue of a gas tax holiday has come up. McCain proposed suspending tax on gasoline over the summer months, to help people deal with high prices. Clinton seconded this proposal, but Obama is taking a stand against it. Obama appears to be on the side of the angels (or at least the economists):

The federal gasoline tax represents a flat fee of 18.4 cents a gallon nationwide. With gasoline currently averaging $3.39 a gallon, the tax represents a mere 5 percent of today’s pump price. While that’s not trivial, consider that gasoline prices have more than doubled since 2004.

The problem is that lowering gasoline prices at the pump would encourage more consumption. So in the long run, it would push prices up.

And:

Everything about the McCain-Clinton proposal is just a mess. It wouldn’t address the problem at hand; it would encourage consumption instead of conservation; it would boost oil company profits; it pushes a bogus conservative frame (government taxation is partially responsible for high gas prices); and at least under McCain’s version, it would undercut much-needed transportation funds. Ultimately, it’s part of a search for a short-term quick-fix, but in this case, it’s likely to make matters worse, not better.

The problem is going to be that opposing a tax reduction is never a popular position. Clinton will use this to continue to paint Obama as being out of touch. Politics, eh?

Superdelegates

The trickle of superdelegates continues. Clinton picked up an important endorsement; North Carolina governor Mike Easley:

"It’s an incredibly strong endorsement because Easley is popular among the blue collar 'Bubba' voters who are Democrats," said David "Mudcat" Saunders, a Democratic consultant who advised former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards and former Virginia Gov. Mark Warner on winning rural voters.

Mudcat speaks for Bubba. Valuable also because Clinton has  done well in those states where she has received the endorsement and support of governors (e.g. Ohio, Pennsylvania).

Meanwhile Obama has picked up two superdelegates today (a Kentucky congressman, and an Iowa DNC member), and one last night (a Senator from New Mexico). That gives Obama a lead amongst Senatorial endorsements. DCW now has Clinton with a lead of just 20 superdelegates.

Wright

Number one story today is predictably about the good Reverend. A smart conservative commentator has this to say:

Obama has compared his pastor to a crazy uncle, but I suspect - based on how he's talked about his minister, how he's written about him, and how people tend to think about their spiritual mentors - that if he were being completely honest, he'd describe Wright as closer to a father-figure instead. And now, as if being abandoned by his biological dad wasn't bad enough, he's lugging a quintessential Bad Father through his Presidential campaign - a pure creep straight out of an Augusten Burroughs memoir, who's happy to sabotage a younger, finer man who might just be the first black President of the United States in the hopes of feeding his own ego and becoming ... what? The next Al Sharpton? The next Willie Horton? How vile and pathetic.

Both left and right agree that Wright is having a disastrous effect on Obama, and there's nothing he can do about it. The consolation, if there is one, is that that sense is tinged with a little sympathy for Obama.

This prompts the Stump to excerpt from an Obama biography to explain why he was attracted to Trinity in the first place:

But more than that, Trinity's less doctrinal approach to the Bible intrigued and attracted Obama. "Faith to him is how he sees the human condition," Wright said. "Faith to him is not . . . litmus test, mouth-spouting, quoting Scripture. It's what you do with your life, how you live your life. That's far more important than beating someone over the head with Scripture that says women shouldn't wear pants or if you drink, you're going to hell. That's just not who Barack is."

Finally, here's Jon Stewart's take (which includes a little video of the inimitable Rev. Wright):