Friday, June 13, 2008

Barack Obama Again Uses the Internet Wisely, This Time to Expose Smears Against Him

Once again, the Obama campaign proves that it is intelligent and quick on its feet. The new Fight the Smears site launched by them in the past few days ensures that "swift boat" types of smear campaigns against Obama -- whether by web site, mail-outs, Rush Limbaugh types, or emails -- will be responded to within hours, maybe minutes.

An astonishing -- and persistent -- twelve percent of Americans believe Barack Obama was or is a Muslim, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary. Fight the Smears offers evidence for those willing to overcome bigotry with sense. Oh, and about that rumor that Obama refused to say the Pledge of Allegiance? Another lie. Fight the Smears offers video of Obama in the Senate... pledging allegiance to the flag!

There's plenty more mud to be flung. Doubtless, as McCain's forces continue their attempts to misdirect the American voting public into debating stupid rumors about Obama instead of hard facts about John McCain and his good pal Dick Cheney (whom he at one point talked about as a cabinet member in a McCain presidency, for cryin' out loud!), or about the facts of war in Iraq, or about where the McBush war has put the American economy...

Fight the Smears won't change the Republican Party's love of mud. But it may change the effectiveness of a candidate so targeted's ability to respond. Once again, Barack Obama and his campaign have blazed new trails in powerful campaigning.

Monday, June 02, 2008

My homestate gets the honor of putting Obama over the top... maybe.

Depending on how many superdelegates today and tomorrow announce their votes for Obama, it is quite possible that my homestate of Montana will be his margin to win the Democratic Nomination. He's expected to easily win Montana's majority, but that fact is dwarfed by what else he could win: The Nomination. The craziest year of primary politics ever ends tomorrow, June 3, with Montana the last state still voting (its polls close at 8pm while South Dakota's close at 7pm).

Kinda nice for this Chicagoan, who has watched Obama's rise from the git-go, to see him quite possibly cement the Democratic nomination for President in the place I spent my first eighteen years. Montana as of late has shown an increasing openness to the Democratic Party, currently with a Democratic Governor (whom some have talked up as a possible Vice-President for an Obama ticket) and two Democratic Senators. A once reliably red state has changed colors rather dramatically as the world of McBush alienated so many Montanans.

In celebration of Montana's unique role in this election -- where indeed it proves the biblical adage that "the last will be first" -- I offer a T-shirt link (eighteen bucks, but worth it!) for anyone hailing from my homestate and/or hometown (Fort Benton "The Birthplace of Montana"). Just click the link below the silly logo below. And no, I get NONE of the money involved here...