Clinton, Obama Duke it Out

The much awaited debate between Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY) and Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) took place at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, PA. Enormous crowds of supporters lined the street in anticipation of the event, holding signs, chanting slogans, and trying to out-shout each other. The debate was referred to almost as if it were a boxing match, with Moderator Charlie Gibson saying it was like the fifteenth round in a scheduled ten rounder.

In his brief opening statement, Obama said everywhere he goes, he is struck by the frustration that he sees. It’s typical for people to be frustrated and not feel as if they are being heard. In her opening statement, Clinton said the “promise” is alive and well, but the people feel as if the government is not solving problems. Make our education the true passport to opportunity. “We the people, can have the kind of future” that our children and grandchildren so richly deserve, she said.

ABC moderator Charlie Gibson asked both candidates why they would not choose each other as a running mate, and both of them grinned at the camera but didn’t say a word, causing the audience to burst into laughter.

During the lengthy question and answer period, it seemed that the rules were not being followed. The rules were ninety seconds for an answer, and sixty seconds for a rebuttal. However, Senator Obama ended up speaking quite a bit more than Senator Clinton, but whether or not it was to his advantage will not be known until April 22. When asked about this air time difference, Clinton Campaign Communications Director Howard Wolfson said, “That, I did not notice.”

In response to a question about making a comment about bitter small town Pennsylvanians, Obama said, “It's not the first time that I've made a statement that was mangled up.  It's not going to be the last.” He pointed out that when people feel that Washington is not listening, and their situation doesn’t change, they focus on things that are constant.

In her sparring move response, Clinton said that she didn’t think people cling to religion when Washington isn’t listening to them. What’s important, she said, is that we all listen to each other and we respect one another, and we understand the different 
decisions that people make in life, because we're a stronger country 
because of that. People want to be summoned to something greater than themselves.

Each of the candidates agreed that the other could win against McCain, but they each said that they, themselves, were the better candidate. We’re going to have a Democratic president, either him or me, Clinton said, and we’re going to make that happen.

Has there been progress in Iraq?

What progress has been made in Iraq? The progress question or some variant of it was asked repeatedly at the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on "Iraq After the Surge: What Next?" Chairman Joseph Biden (D-DE) said in his opening statement violence in Iraq has gone down, but not as far as anticipated. These are fragile gains, he said, and the notion of staying in the country is not the goal. The continued loss of life, drains on our treasury, the impact of readiness on our armed services, and the ability to send soldiers to where al-Qaida has grouped, is like "treading water" and we can't keep treading water without exhausting ourselves.

Ryan Crocker, U.S. Ambassador to Iraq, relayed that it is hard to see progress in Iraq, and there is much to be done. However, he said, the surge is working. We have begun to develop a long-term relationship with the United States and Iraq, and the heart of the framework is a United States presence in Iraq. Our forces will remain in Iraq past December 31, which is when the current UN agreement expires. The new agreement will not make permanent bases in Iraq or raise up troop levels. Almost everything about Iraq is hard, Crocker said, but hard does not mean hopeless. Our gains are fragile and reversible. In regards to Iraq, Americans and the world will judge us not on what we have done, but what will happen in the future.

We have been transferring power to Iraqis, said Gen. David Petraeus, commander of the Multi-National Force in Iraq. Half of the provinces in Iraq are under their control, and Iraq's security forces expenditures have exceeded ours. While the forces in Iraq itself have improved, Petraeus said, their forces are not ready to defend themselves on their own. They are shouldering a lot of the load, but they are not yet ready for a resurgence of al-Qaida in Iraq, better known as AQI. There is an operational consideration, he said, transference of power requires a lot of time and monitoring. We've asked a great deal of our men and women in uniform, he said, and we are grateful and appreciate their sacrifices. All Americans should take great pride in them.

But what would happen if we removed our troops? Senator Richard Lugar (R-IN) asked that question, and Petraeus responded that we have put our teeth into their jugular, and we need to keep it there. In response to an additional question from Senator Biden, Petraeus said we are at a "six or seven" level on a scale from one to ten towards readiness to return to our pre-surge troop level. Biden also asked Ambassador Crocker, "In a choice, the Lord Almighty came down and sat in the middle of the table there and said, 'Mr. Ambassador, you can eliminate every al-Qaida source in Afghanistan and Pakistan or every al-Qaida personnel in Iraq,' which would you pick?" The Ambassador said he would choose al-Qaida in the Afghanistan Pakistan border area.

Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) said AQI was not in Iraq before we got there, and that AQI is really the focus here. If we are successful in Iraq, he asked, do we anticipate that AQI will not reconstitute itself? At what point do we say that they will not be particularly effective? In terms of our success in Iraq, it's just as fair to say that we can't get rid of AQI but just create a manageable situation. What is a legitimate affair between Iran and Iraq that would make us comfortable enough to pull out our troops? We all have the greatest interests in seeing a successful resolution in Iraq, he said. I continue to believe that going in was a blunder. I think that the surge has reduced violence and given us breathing room, he said, but not enough breathing room. I think increased pressure in a measured way, includes a withdrawal of troops.

Clinton, Obama echo one another on issues

Senators Hillary Clinton (D-NY) and Barack Obama (D-IL) spoke to a crowd of largely CWA members to thunderous applause and multiple standing ovations about their plans as potential presidents of the United States on issues that ranged from labor unions and health care to broadband internet and green energy, from the mortgage crisis and the looming recession to NAFTA and the pending Colombia trade agreement.

Both democratic nominees expressed solidarity with union members and criticized the current Bush administration for their lack of support for the labor movement. Clinton allied herself with union workers as the “underdogs,” who kept persevering despite being told to back down. Clinton said she planned to make the Employee Free Trade Act “the law of the land.” Both candidates called for an end to privatization and outsourcing of American jobs, and Clinton promised to end tax breaks and subsidies to oil companies if elected. Obama pledged to invest $150 billion over ten years in green technology and new jobs that cannot be outsourced.

Both candidates advocated making high-speed internet available to all Americans to enable them to compete within the global economy. They also opposed Pres. Bush’s attempt to secure a trade agreement for Colombia, urging Congress to oppose the deal and call for an end to Colombian violence before negotiations are made. Clinton called herself the only candidate with a specific plan about how to fix NAFTA, and also said that Obama has no plan for universal health care. Obama said he opposes NAFTA, that he is the only candidate who will help middle-class families, and acknowledged that although he and Clinton have run a “fierce campaign,” no one can afford another four years of Bush policy. He called for an end to fighting in Iraq, and a new fight for American infrastructure.

Both candidates also compared Sen. McCain to Bush and said that McCain would worsen the damage caused by the Bush administration. Clinton said that if McCain received a 3 a.m. phone call with an economic crisis at hand, he would let it continue to ring. Obama criticized excessive war spending as wasteful, negated a 100 year occupation in Iraq alluding to a comment made by McCain, and urged America to say no to a metaphorical Bush third term.

"What, me worry?"

By Ellen Ratner

Next to George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, probably the next most familiar face in America is that of Mad Magazine's Alfred E. Newman. His one liner, "What, me worry?" became famous at a time when the Cold War threatened to go hot, and most people were worried about a 20-megaton Soviet hydrogen bomb coming soon to a city near them. Thus, "What, me worry? was the ultimate parody of the 1950s and 60s: Nuclear war? "What, me worry?" An African-American couldn't get a cup of coffee at a Woolworth's lunch counter? "What, me worry?" Prescribe thalidomide for morning sickness? "What, me worry?"

Although Alfred never went away, "What, me worry?" has an encore engagement in the same theater as the last time – Washington, D.C. You can boil down the elaborate reassurances to one phrase: "What, me worry?" Secretary Henry Paulson on the subprime mortgage collapse: "What, me worry?" George Bush on the imminent recession: "What, me worry?" Fed Chairman Ben Bernacke on "Honey, I shrunk the dollar": "What, me worry?" In fact, whether it's the looming bankruptcy of the American airline industry, a conviction in the bond market that inflation is the main enemy, gold at $1,000 per ounce or oil at $110 per barrel, Washington is like an aviary, chirping away with "What, me worry?" The fact that tens of millions of Americans are already suffering, or are terrified at the prospect of economic decline doesn't seem to have occurred to anybody.

Our economy is beset by malignant cancer, and it's as if bland, stupid reassurances are somehow a substitute for an honest diagnosis and a tough-love cure. This country has traveled so far from a culture of candor that today, we would probably dismiss FDR's famous "Fireside Chats" as scaremongering. Think of today's phrases: Assurances that "the fundamental underpinnings of the financial system are sound," that economic disaster is really no more than a "bump in the road," that the declining dollar is really "good" for us, (translation: good for the National Association of Manufacturers) and that a caring political class is sending in the cavalry in the form of a $600 rebate (a powerful stimulus indeed – in the year 1850).

However, in between the bromides, palliatives and political Prozac, a few disturbing facts can still pierce one's skull. Try these: This week we learned that in the next two years there could be as many as 3.3 million new home foreclosures. You can add to that the 1.3 million homes in foreclosure in 2007 (nearly double the 2006 rate). You do the math: With an adult population of approximately 220 million and a 65 to 69 percent home ownership rate, more than 6 million adults may be losing their homes. Six million adults, and who knows how many children? And people wonder why Barack Obama, thought by some as the most liberal U.S. senator, is so popular.



Congress and White House plans for dealing with this amount to little more than, "What, me worry?" While some Democrats want to give $400 billion to help people stay in their homes, most others – and Republicans, of course – shout about a "government giveaway" and the old "lack of personal responsibility." Odd, isn't it? No one asked about personal responsibility when it came to bailing out Bear Stearns, or providing billions and billions in liquidity to financial markets in the Fed's famous, "No Fat-Cat Left Behind" program. At least when Chrysler was bailed out years ago, there were tens of thousands of manufacturing jobs at stake. What was at stake here? Goldman Sachs' investment in Collateralized Debt Obligations, or CDOs? Well, whoopy-doo!

There is more bad news coming: Credit card debt defaults and more problems with CDOs. Meanwhile, only two job sectors have shown much growth: Education and medical care. As a country, we better be able to grow more than these if we expect to compete with China, India, the EU and Russia.

Instead of "What, me worry?" the real question is "What the hell should we do?" What can we do? First, we need a little candor. There are no good options available right now. The U.S. government must act now to prevent the housing/mortgage crises from going into a free fall. It must address the credit problem both individual and business levels. And it must do these things with the same fervor that FDR brought to the early years of his administration. No, we are not –yet – in a depression. But we must act now to avoid the possibility of one. Here are two suggestions:

Fix the crumbling infrastructure: Repair schools, roads and bridges; develop high-speed trains, national fiber-optic and Internet systems. This puts government money in the hands of working people and those who employ them.

Create an NRA program for real "green-collar" jobs. We've got the brains and brawn to address global warming and create products that can be exported. Just like steel, automobiles and railroads were to 20th century, so green technology, nuclear power and climate healthy production and consumption processes will be to the 21st century. And we've got an edge here because the early development economies like China, India and Russia aren't paying sufficient attention.

Talk is cheap. Suffering is real. And "What, me worry?" is a lie.

Clinton campaign discusses economic red phone ad, Cleaver's remarks, PA primary and more

Mark Penn, chief pollster for the Clinton campaign, and Howard Wolfson, communications director for Clinton’s campaign, held a conference call to discuss developments in the race for the democratic presidential nomination. They were joined by Phil Singer.



A caller mentioned Clinton’s new 3 a.m. economic phone call advertisement and asked for a specific example of who would be on the other line and what crisis would be at hand. Penn answered that the world is a fast moving global economy that requires real-time decisions that can affect the US economy.

When asked to respond to Clinton supporter Congressman Cleaver’s (D-MO) remarks that Obama would win the nomination, Wolfson said that while they are grateful for Cleaver’s support, they obviously disagree with that analysis and believe that Sen. Clinton will be the next president of the United States.

In response to questions about Obama’s high March fundraising figures, Wolfson said that the Clinton campaign knew Obama would raise more money than them and that nevertheless the Clinton campaign has the resources it needs to be successful. Wolfson also referenced past wins in Ohio and Texas despite being outspent, and cited Obama’s outspending in Pennsylvania by 4-1 where Clinton still prevails in the polls.

Wolfson said the Clinton campaign would release March fundraising figures by April 20. He also said that late last week Sen. Clinton herself promised that her tax returns would be available within a week, and will follow through with that commitment.

Wolfson also said that the road to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. goes through Pennsylvania, and claimed it should be a fair fight between Clinton and Obama for the state. He said that if Obama fails to win PA—regardless of the margin of the vote—that would raise serious questions about his ability to win in the general election.

Wolfson reinforced his belief that Clinton is more likely to be elected in the general election by citing an NBC morning email that displayed two hypothetical maps of Clinton versus McCain and Obama versus McCain in the general election, and said that Clinton has won all but one of what were allegedly her “toss up states” in the primaries while Obama has lost six of his.