The 2008 Presidential Campaign: What Happened and Why?

[tinwë]

I don’t think the politicians in the Democratic party really want the 60 majority. The only people less popular than Bush in Washington these days are congress, and the Dems have controlled it for two years now. Having complete unchecked control would mean they would have noone to blame when things don’t magically transform into Paradise. If they do get the three currently unresolved seats I think they’d be perfectly happy to have Lieberman officially jump ship. They’d never actually admit to that of course, but that’s my theory and I’m sticking to it.

[vison]

My list of grievances with Bush runs long and deep, but this isn't one of them. If you listen to the FAA recordings from 9-11, the whole country was in chaos. Nobody had solid information about what was going on. Nobody had any idea if the attack was over or what was coming next. For Bush to take a circuituitous route back to Washington seems pragmatic to me and that was what the secret service suggested. Bush opposed it, but left the decision in the hands of the people whose job it is to protect him at all costs.
Air Force 1's specific purpose is to allow the president to fly safely while maintaining control. Honestly even in retrospect I think that was the right decision.

They don't have radios on Air Force One? He couldn't have at LEAST spoken to the nation? I can remember waiting all those 12 hours wondering what the hell was going on.

And all morning watching planes heading to YVR (Vancouver) and YYX (Abbotsford) and then - nothing. Empty skies. Eerie and frightening. My husband's cousin is at Comox Air Force Base on Vancouver Island, and he said it was the weirdest day ever. The SAC planes were up, of course, but they are out of sight as a rule. Nothing else flying in North America.

[Primula Baggins]

I remember that. Man. Days of completely flawless blue skies overhead, when we usually can count four or five north-south contrails at any given moment. And yet . . . I remember that it made me feel safer.

[Holbytla]

What was he going to tell the nation when no one knew what the heck was going on? And I highly doubt they would allow him to broadcast a message from Air Force 1 while he was trying to conceal his whereabouts.
This was a prudent decision at the time and I can't find fault with it.

[Primula Baggins]

This reminds me of the very old Star Trek with William Shatner. An invisible energy monster or some such is prowling the Enterprise killing people, and Kirk has just discovered this. So he goes on the intercom to the whole ship and says this (and only this): "Stay at your posts. Remain calm."

Which is the same as saying, "Something awful has happened, and we don't know how much more of it is going to happen, so everybody relax." That's about all Bush could have said. I would not have drawn much comfort from it.

[sauronsfinger]

Just watched the first press conference of President-elect Barack Obama. I sat there the whole time with a silly grin on my face. Kind of reminded me of John Kennedy at his press conferences.

His best line was comparing the upcoming dog to a mutt like himself. Very endearing and sweet.

[ToshoftheWuffingas]

Well I still think it's the job of the leader to find something to say. It's fair enough holby if you want to give him a pass on this, I am happy to defer but he had time in 12 hours to consider telling the nation something. Let's say he didn't shine at that point.

[Primula Baggins]

I thought it was a good press conference. Plenty of substance. He dodged answering one specific question, whether he was still planning to raise taxes on higher-income Americans. And he refused, entirely rightly, to answer what I thought was an inappropriate question about his response to getting his first presidential security briefing.

I did love the solemnity with which he addressed the dog question, as if it were some major point of foreign policy. A dry and self-deprecating sense of humor is an asset for a president, and for the people who have to listen to him.

[Frelga]

Argh, I wanted to see it! I hope it will be available on the website somewhere. Which, incidentally, is http://www.change.gov/.

[Primula Baggins]

Apparently there's an organizational chart there that has people alarmed about the radical change Obama is going to bring: it's got the Constitution at the top, above the president, and the office of the vice president has been put in a subordinate role within the executive branch!

Next he'll be telling us he's going to carry out the laws Congress passes even if he doesn't like them.

[Maria]

I'll have to watch the interview later.


Here's an exerpt from Secrets of Campaign '08, Chapter 4, "Going into Battle" that I found amusing:

At the end of August, as Hurricane Gustav threatened the coast of Texas, the Obama campaign called the Red Cross to say it would be routing donations to it via the Red Cross home page. Get your servers ready—our guys can be pretty nuts, Team Obama said. Sure, sure, whatever, the Red Cross responded. We've been through 9/11, Katrina, we can handle it. The surge of Obama dollars crashed the Red Cross Web site in less than 15 minutes.

[sauronsfinger]

My favorite part of the Newsweek series was from the section on the debates where they described the McCain stand in who did everything to anger Obama and he just kept giggling after making snappy comebacks.

[Maria]

and this, too, right after that....

For the second debate, a town-hall format, Obama was told to be careful to hold the mike by his side—not straight up in his lap—when he sat down. The same instructions had been given to John Kerry four years ago. It wasn't hard to persuade the candidates to mind the advice, said an aide; all you had to do was show them a video.

[kams]

Apparently there's an organizational chart there that has people alarmed about the radical change Obama is going to bring: it's got the Constitution at the top, above the president, and the office of the vice president has been put in a subordinate role within the executive branch!

Next he'll be telling us he's going to carry out the laws Congress passes even if he doesn't like them.

GASP! The radical!
The VP is in the executive branch, no more squishy "signing statements."
What next - all CIA operatives are safe from exposure?! The nerve of that guy.

[Frelga]

On TORC, someone quoted the bit where Obama explained how he had trouble in the debate format when the thought going through his head was, "Well, that's a stupid question, but I'll try to answer it anyway."

[vison]

Well, I hate to rain on anyone's parade here, but I, myself, don't see any resemblance to JFK and what's more, I don't want to. Even then, when I was only 17 (in 1961) I wasn't much taken with the guy. "So young!" everyone said and I said to myself, "Young? But . . . . he's older than Dad!"

I don't think he was a very good president, either. Too much going on "in private", you see. Let us hope that since marital fidelity is regarded as so important, that Mr. Obama is indeed a faithful husband. I daresay he is subject to temptation on the scale of a Mick Jagger or Bill Clinton, but I suspect his moral fibre is of a tougher nature, as in "resistance to temptation".

Mr. Kennedy was okay, at best, IMHO. A little too testosterone-fueled but that was an earlier era and he was, after all, brought up in a very testosterone-fueled family environment. Old Joe didn't care about marital fidelity except in his female scions.

Mr. Obama is going to be a much, much better president. Watch and see.

Like I said before, if you're a praying person, this is the man to pray for.

Not being a praying person, I will just hope he can find the strength and endurance he's going to need.

[Ellienor]

More nastiness aimed at Palin.

OK, I'm with Hal now. They ought to quit it. They picked her as VP; if she wasn't what they expected because they didn't do their homework, they have only themselves to blame. I know there was sniping between the Kerry and Edwards camps after 2004, but this seems to be particularly bad.

Let the woman go home to Alaska and figure out what she wants to do next. Why trash her? She's got time to become more versed in foreign policy and other such matters, should she wish to.

[Griffon64]

Prim - I saw a comment on it on another site, with link: http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin ... _xxx-3.pdf

[Primula Baggins]

Griffy, alas, your link does wacky things like downloading an empty document that wants to run software I don't have.

[Holbytla]

Why trash her?

Scapegoat. The campaign wonks are trying to bring everyone down with them. She did her fair share of screwing up, but not nearly as much as the people trying to drag her through the mud.