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OK–I’m getting really annoyed with Hillary.

Florida had its primary yesterday–but it was really only important to the Republicans. On the Democratic side, the party had decided to punish Florida for moving the primary forward on the calendar by invalidating its delegates–and it secured a pledge from all of the candidates not to campaign there. All of the candidates obeyed that, although Hillary “bent” the pledge on the final days by doing fundraising appearances there.

The polls were still open for Democrats despite the delegate issue, even though the vote didn’t mean anything. It came in lop-sided in favor of Hillary. So she put together a hastily-assembled victory party and sent out a message to supporters declaring a “tremendous” victory, while asking for money:

I know I told you our campaign journey would be filled with high-stakes twists and turns. But I never knew it would be quite as dramatic as this. And last night we celebrated another big moment in this campaign with our resounding victory in Florida.
In a race this close, whatever you and I do now can make the difference. Every campaign stop, every voter we talk to, and every dollar you give can be the difference on Tuesday. Only our online supporters like you can act decisively enough to make sure the excitement and energy of this victory carries through on February 5.

This is really rubbing me the wrong way, since she is clearly trying to spin the non-event in Florida as a victory to try to blunt her loss to Obama in South Carolina. It’s crass, it’s annoying, it’s blatantly obvious, and it whiffs of desperation.

Keep it up Hillary–and you’re going to need Republicans to vote for you on Election Day as the constituency you’re alienating stays home.

The gloves have come off in South Carolina, as both Obama and Hillary know the loser of that upcoming contest will be seriously hobbled going forward to the nomination. The bickering has gotten to a point of bitterness that is so extreme that it threatens a rift in the Democratic party.

Hillary is particularly guilty of this–both by running ads quoting Obama out of context and by unleashing Bill in all his ferocity against her opponent. Now–I love Bill and always will, and I understand Hillary is backed against a corner–but do we really need to stoop to the level of Republicans? I’m particularly displeased that she is trying to paint Obama with words he didn’t say, and is being so harsh that she threatens to alienate a lot of rank-and-file Dems including her own supporters if she wins the nomination.

The only positive thing about all of this is that we’re seeing how Obama reacts under withering fire, which the Republicans are sure to unleash on him if he wins the nomination. We don’t want another candidate that’s going to wilt and let himself be defined by the opposition. Obama until now has been relatively passive in responding, though I think that has been more out of respect for Bill, the presumptive leader of the Democratic Party. He needs to get over that, though, and prove that he has the balls to fight back hard…and he seems to finally be doing that.

Overall, though, this level of mudslinging is unseemly and I’d much rather see the candidates return to a level of civility. I understand the need to win, but it’s not worth winning the battle to lose the war. Then again, the GOP is so muddled in its own nomination fight that it may not matter–time will tell.

A new study by the Center for Public Integrity and the Fund for Independence in Journalism proved what we on the left have known all along: Bush lied about Iraq–and he lied, and he lied some more.

In fact, he lied at least 259 times about Iraq’s possession of WMD’s and its links to al-Qaeda in the months leading up to the war in 2003.

Said the study:

“It is now beyond dispute that Iraq did not possess any weapons of mass destruction or have meaningful ties to al-Qaida. In short, the Bush administration led the nation to war on the basis of erroneous information that it methodically propagated and that culminated in military action against Iraq on March 19, 2003.

…

“[The statements] were part of an orchestrated campaign that effectively galvanized public opinion and, in the process, led the nation to war under decidedly false pretenses.”

The study didn’t spare the media, either:

“[The statements] were part of an orchestrated campaign that effectively galvanized public opinion and, in the process, led the nation to war under decidedly false pretenses.”

“The cumulative effect of these false statements — amplified by thousands of news stories and broadcasts — was massive, with the media coverage creating an almost impenetrable din for several critical months in the run-up to war. Some journalists — indeed, even some entire news organizations — have since acknowledged that their coverage during those prewar months was far too deferential and uncritical. These mea culpas notwithstanding, much of the wall-to-wall media coverage provided additional, ‘independent’ validation of the Bush administration’s false statements about Iraq.”

This all has bearing on the current presidential election going on, as people try to sling mud at some candidate or other (Hillary, Edwards, etc.) over their having initially voted for the war. Well excuse me, but if I had been subjected to a relentless months-long misinformation campaign emanating from the president himself over the certainty of WMD’s and terrorism in Iraq I probably would have voted the same way. In fact I supported the war to begin with, having been played for a fool just like everyone else. This is why I consider these votes to be non-issues and pin the blame fully and squarely on Bush.

US markets were closed today, but in overnight futures trading the Dow Jones Industrial Average is down 528 points. That comes on the heels of markets world-wide falling hard.

It is going to be a very ugly day tomorrow. The economic chickens are finally coming home to roost.

So this is is what our oil addiction has come down to–the leader of the free world figuratively getting on his knees and begging for more oil from OPEC and the Saudis.

Said Bush:

“When [US] consumers have less purchasing power, it could cause the economy to slow down. I hope OPEC nations put more supply on the market. It would be helpful.”

How utterly embarrassing. It underscores American helplessness in its addiction to these foreign powers that are taking the humongous sums of money we’re sending to them for oil or debt to turn around and buy pieces of our own banks to save them from the mortgage crisis. Yep–we’re paying other countries to come over here and buy pieces of our own country so as to feed our debt and oil addictions.

It’s like the prince with land but no money who insists on partying by selling pieces of his land to continue his habit, until he eventually ends up being nothing but a renter on his own property.

The Saudis are playing their own little game too. Their response to Bush’s bleating was:

“Our interest is to keep oil supplies matching demand with minimum volatility in the oil market,” Oil Minister Ali Naimi told reporters. “We will raise production when the market justifies it. This is our policy.”

Sorry for the stupid question–but what more justification than historically high $100+/barrel prices is needed to convince the Saudis the market justifies it? Why are they leaving extreme wealth on the table when they could generate insane amounts of money by pumping more oil?

Hmmm…maybe it’s because they can’t.

So…Obama trounced Clinton in the Iowa caucuses (so did Edwards). Congrats, Obama!

While Edwards had much to be happy for, Obama was the real story last night as he picks up huge momentum going into New Hampshire.

As for Clinton, well, she was looking rather dejected last night. No doubt that this was a big blow to her campaign.

In keeping with what happened, my stance is going back to neutral on the race. I had previously declared preference for Hillary–while my doubts about her were many and growing I viewed her as the most electable candidate. But Obama pulled off his win in a state that has mostly white rural voters, showing that his candidacy is possible.

Yet still, I worry. The 800 pound gorilla in the room remains: is this country ready for a black president? I hear a lot of people say yes, but what lies in wait behind the scenes? Two recent events come to mind.

First was Harold Ford last year in Tennessee, who everyone thought for a while would win a Senate seat. He was doing well until his opponent started running ads featuring scantily clad white women blowing kisses at him, strongly playing into people’s prejudices about black men’s sexual power with white women. His candidacy tanked and his opponent won the race. Maybe he lost because of other reasons, but can we really say that race wasn’t the cause of his defeat in a fairly conservative southern state?

Second was something much more personal and closer to home for me. When I visited with family over the holidays, an older relative of mine and I had a discussion about politics and the likely candidates. When talk turned to Obama, this relative who normally votes Democratic and who normally acts in a non-prejudiced way, said to me: “I don’t want that n****r as president” (or its rough equivalent in Spanish). I was mortified. And while the resulting lecture by me ensued, the back of my mind raced as to the implications. If here in front of me was a fairly rock-solid Democratic voter protesting Obama’s candidacy on the basis of his race, what else awaits Obama elsewhere?

Is this country full of people who put on a veneer of being non-discriminatory but whose real prejudices will come out at the voting booth? We may soon find out.

It’s not that I think someone like Obama shouldn’t risk it. Of course he should. America should remain the country of equal opportunity, and we shouldn’t even be having to ask these questions. But we’re also at a crossroads as a nation, sorely limping in the wake of 7 years of Bush’s despotism and 12 years of GOP Congressional rule. From the economy, to global warming, to our energy dependence, to our international reputation, to the deficit, to poverty, to health insurance, and to a myriad other issues, America seems to have entered a steep decline. We need strong visionary leadership, preferably from a Democrat, to start fixing the mess. As Democrats and as a country we collectively cannot risk anyone but the strongest most electable candidate. Anyone less simply will not do.

We can’t afford to lose again to yet another witless oaf like Huckabee.

My mind is open that Obama could be such a candidate. He is clearly visionary, an amazing speaker, and wildly popular. It may be that he breaks through the glass ceiling of his race and pulls off a spectacular victory, demonstrating that America is finally ready to move forward from its ugly racial past to a new day where the words “equal opportunity” aren’t just empty truisms.

Prove it to me, Obama. Prove to me that you can appeal to more than just the liberal Democratic base–that you can talk with people past their lingering prejudices and straight to their hearts. I would love to see you as President–but you have to prove to me that you have what it takes to win the hearts and minds of a majority of people in this country, including in the South.

I desperately want to believe. I’m just not there yet.