I’m very pleased to hear this:
Barack Obama’s presidential campaign has requested information from Democratic Sen. Chris Dodd as part of its search for a possible vice presidential candidate.
The former White House hopeful and Connecticut lawmaker indicated Wednesday that he has been approached by the campaign. “There’s been some inquiries, yeah,” Dodd said. “They ask for a lot of stuff. I’ll leave it there.”
I don’t think Dodd would be a vote magnet or anything, and there may be some issues in his past that would cause some controversy. But Sen. Dodd is one of the four or five most progressive senators we have, and he’s been fantastic on civil liberties. Obama would gain a lot of confidence and good will by going with Dodd.
Sebelius is on the short list, too.
No..please. He can do better, even though you seem to be pushing her as VP.
As I noted elsewhere, this seems like cognitive dissonance made flesh. How could Obama live with a guy who championed a filibuster against a sellout that Obama voted for? Good cop/bad cop would certainly be a change, if nothing else.
I’d be interested in hearing the fanboys explain how Obama “had to” sell us out of FISA because then the GOP would quit attacking him, yet put the leader of the cause the sold out on the ticket? So now the GOP will attack him after all because he chose a “pro-terrorist” and he’s gained less than nothing.
Actually, he’d get credit for being broad-minded and also be able to promise with more credibility that the OVP will be cleaned up and FISA will be fixed.
He already had credibility before he threw it away for nothing. So he’s floating Dodd to try and squirm out of his mistake?
We gotta stop the fretting and all the hysteria. Calm the outrage. The GOP and neocons are working hard to define Obama, the only candidate we have, as: a commie, a Marxist, a liberal, a Muslim, a radical, un-American, he talks down to blacks, he’s sold out his base. Wow!
We don’t know what we got. Nothing satisfies. We Dems take comfort in losing. We’re headed down the same road as we did with Gore and Kerry.
The GOP sees what we got in Obama – a superb candidate. They know Obama transcends all their made-up categories and are having difficulty because nothing in the Rove playbook is working.
While we fret others are getting the Obama message.
Obama is the only candidate we have and there’s a need to circle the wagons. The GOP are very good at protecting their candidate – right or wrong.
No, it isn’t “we” who are headed down the same road as Gore and Kerry, it’s Obama. They didn’t lose because they took principled stands on the issues. They lost because they waffled and cowered when they could have stood up for what they, and their base, believed in.
Do you really think this vote will make the slightest difference in the Right’s attacks as un-American, terrorist-loving, liberal, radical, etc., etc? I always had some doubts about Obama’s policies, but loved his political smarts. This gross turnaround is political Dumbass. He is indeed taking the Gore/Kerry route by killing the enthusiasm of his base while getting zero gain for his pandering. But since his opponent is proving certifiably insane, Obama may still have a good shot at the White House.
taking your eye off the prize.
the enthusiasm should be on winning. We’re no longer contesting the primaries. It’s one thing to have an intra party stance, quite another to take on the GOP. GOP has killed us off with the label “Liberals tax and spend campaigns.”
America has changed – from the swing to the far right with the pendulum now resting in the center. After the last decade and constrained by his race (yes that’s the reality) Obama is forced to do a delicate political dance to win this thing against McCain.
Elections, and in particular, this election will be won or lost on Independents. Progressive voters are in the minority…and are acting as if Obama is about to kill the Democratic Party.
Truth be told, Obama is still fighting for the nomination while at the same time building out to take on McCain. He may have clinched the nomination but until the votes are recorded he’s still fighting for the nomination. The Clintons and their supporters are not yet on board; they’re holding out. Where’s Bill Clinton?
Wouldn’t that be ex post facto. Making behavior (now, post FISA II) legal, illegal?
Dave, what’s your theory for Obama’s sellout?
And why are the Republicans willing to give the Democratic Congress and Democratic President all that FISA power?
I detect some cognitive dissonance too. Got an explanation as to why the GOP wants President Obama to be able to listen in on their phone calls and read their emails?
As to Obama, I can only assume tht he’s started listening to the same worthless consultants who killed Gore’s and Kerry’s campaigns. They still think Clinton won because he triangulated, not because Perot gave it to him in spite of himself. It stuns me that Obama isn’t smarter than this, but fear is a paralyzing thing, and easily activated.
As to the GOP, who says Obama’s gonna be prez? The Thousand Year Reich is still inevitable.
Or do they just figure the new boss will be the same as the old boss where it counts?
Bob-
The midterm elections of 2006 created a crisis in government. Much of what Bush was doing prior to that was in a special legal category. Essentially, this category is defined by actions which are historically understood to be crimes, but which are not crimes if the Justice Department says they are not, or if Congress says they are not, or if the administration refuses to enforce the law. So, once the Democrats came into power there was one faction that was willing to interpret these actions for what they were traditionally considered to be: crimes.
This meant the Bush administration to go even further to redefine the law, by refusing to respond to subpoenas and instructing the Justice Dept. not to enforce them.
As a result, the Dems have most often backed down rather than take things into court where Republicans are waiting to ratify radical unitary executive interpretations of the law.
Add to this, some level of complicity in these crimes that disincentivizes the Dem leadership to push too hard, and finally, that the Dems are not being punished at all for their weakness because all polls and all other metrics show they are on a roll and on pace for a realigning election.
Your theories on the power of the IC is but a small part of a larger narrative.
what are the laws for replacing US Senators in Connecticut? Just wondering since they have a Republican Governor.
PS: I wish someone would set up a site or a wiki with all the replacement laws in all 50 states.
This was actually an issue in 2000. Lieberman was criticized for running for re-election to the Senate from Connecticut that year, since it meant a Republican would have been appointed to his seat if Lieberman became VP. Assuming that the laws haven’t changed in the last 8 years, the same situation would apply.
It could mean that Obama will ove further to the right, and Dodd would balance the ticket.
Dodd is better in the Senate.
What Obama needs is someone with military experience or at least strong executive experience. The last thing he needs is another Senator. Sorry – I think he’s just covering the bases and paying people back for support – courtesy investigations, etc.
Agreed about another senator, unfortunately. Also that this is just a meaningless gesture. Anyway, I think Gore led us to think that the VP spot is way more important than it really is. Doesn’t matter all that much, unless the prez is, like the incumbent, a complete moron.