Week of February 25, 2008

Obama's commitment to radical centrism could also be severely tested. Franklin Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan, who enjoyed the support of popular movements, gave priority to getting their substantive legislative agendas adopted; and they succeeded by uniting their supporters and dividing their opponents. If they had focused first on uniting Democrats and Republicans behind common objectives, they probably would not have gotten their way. And, if they had initially turned their attention, as Obama has proposed, to"the most sweeping ethics reform in history," it is unlikely they would have passed public works spending (Roosevelt) or tax cuts (Reagan). Jimmy Carter, too, provides a cautionary tale: The last Democrat to take office on a radical centrist agenda, Carter failed to tame Congress or K Street and was defeated for reelection. He had campaigned for the presidency on the presumption that reformers could overturn the status quo in Washington. In the end, he turned out to be wrong.

McCain made a big mistake on Tuesday when he repudiated and apologized for Bill Cunningham’s (the Cincinnati conservative talk show host) anti-Obama remarks in a warm-up to a McCain appearance. From what I heard, Cunningham’s remarks were tough but were not over the line and certainly well short of the outrageous things that many liberals say about President Bush all the time. Cunningham referred to Senator Obama several times using his full name, Barack Hussein Obama, said he thought Obama was in the Chicago Democratic “hack” tradition, and ridiculed Obama’s position that he would sit down and talk with any dictator without preconditions.

Harsh perhaps, but it doesn’t seem to be outrageous to me. If there is anything that is untrue here, it ought to be rebutted, but that is what a campaign is about. And the guy’s middle name is, in fact, Hussein. If he thinks that its unfair to use his name, he should change it. If you are a politician seeking national office, I’d recommend changing your middle name if it is Osama, Adolf, Fidel, Ho Chi Minh, Mao, Ayatolahh, Mussolini, Amin, Attila, or Hussein–either that or get used to people using it and most likely not in your favor.

... listening to the dead is a precious aspect of our profession, and one that exists in few others.

On NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday, when the 73-year-old announced his candidacy for the fourth time, Mr. Nader tossed himself into the historical oddities bin with Harold Stassen (nine tries for the Republican nomination), Eugene Debs (five attempts with the Socialist Party) and Lyndon LaRouche (several tries with several parties).

Cynical as I am, I am still amazed that someone in the Clinton campaign not only circulated a photo of Obama in Muslim garb but that the campaign argues that there is nothing wrong with it. A campaign spokesperson argued this morning that"If Barack Obama's campaign wants to suggest that a photo of him wearing traditional Somali clothing is divisive, they should be ashamed."

Yeah right. And if during Joe Lieberman's campaign, the GOP circulated a photo of him in tallis and yarmulkah, that would also have been fine on the grounds that there is nothing"divisive" about a photo showing"him wearing traditional Jewish clothing." Or JFK clutching rosary beads. (The Obama slur is even worse. Obama is not a Muslim while Lieberman is a Jew and JFK a Catholic).