Al Gore Endorses Barack Obama

I haven't been in a very pleased mood lately, in spite of the fact that the end of the 43-term white male monopoly of the American presidency may be just four months away.  But Al Gore's endorsement of Barack Obama does please me.  It helps neutralize some the venom and bile of Hillary supporters who believed that Hillary should win regardless of how many delegates her opponent won.

Women supporters of Hillary were and are right that women have systematically been condescended to, demeaned, subjugated, exploited and objectified in the United  States.  But, that's not Barack Obama's fault and there's no evidence that he won't do everything in his power to turn that around.  He seems to treat his wife with a lot of respect, particularly compared to John McCain, who called his wife a "c*nt" (sorry) in public, in front of reporters.

Obama chooses Patti Solis Doyle
to lead V.P.'s campaign team.

I'm pleased that Barack Obama has chosen Patti Solis Doyle for a high-level position in his administration.  I wrote last year that Clinton deserved a lot of credit for appointing Solis Doyle, a bright Mexican-American political manager, as her campaign manager, so  I and many other people were disappointed when Clinton blamed Solis Doyle for Clinton Iowa loss and threw Solis Doyle overboard.  As I said on March 31 of 2007,

I've heard some anti-immigrant sentiment recently but I'm not feeling it.  I'm proud that Hillary Clinton's campaign manager, Patti Solis Doyle, is Mexican-American, second-generation.  Diversity works for the Democratic Party.  Culture Kitchen

Then Clinton fired her.  Go figure!

Now, some Clinton surrogates are saying that the choice of Solis Doyle to lead the V.P.'s campaign, with Solis Doyle having been fired by and estranged from Clinton, means that Hillary will not be Obama's V.P. choice:

Solis Doyle -- who after her firing midway through the primaries is no longer on speaking terms with much of the Clinton inner circle, including the senator herself -- has been tapped to serve as chief of staff to the future vice presidential running mate. Not exactly a signal that Obama is considering Hillary Clinton for the job.  

At least that's how Clinton loyalists see it. "It's a slap in the face," Susie Tompkins Buell, a prominent Clinton backer, said in an interview. "Why would they put somebody that was so clearly ineffective in such a position? It's a message. We get it." She said it was a "calculated decision" by the Obama team to "send a message that she [Clinton] is not being considered for the ticket."  WaPost

Well, the choice at least means that if Clinton wants to be V.P., she'll have to mend her bridges with Solis Doyle and work with her hand in glove, even after firing her.  It seems like Obama may have someone else in mind for V.P., perhaps anyone else.

In response my earlier diary (". . . but don't boo her !!!")
http://www.mydd.com/story/2008/6/17/9829 /90236#readmore
I received (in addition to about 7 inappropriate and uncalled for tip jar TR's from random visiting kos-ites) comments such as this:

". . . I do NOT believe that sexism caused HRC to lose the nomination.  The cause was a poorly run campaign."
http://www.mydd.com/comments/2008/6/17/9 829/90236/76/post#here

Hmmm.  Who ran that "poorly run campaign"?  Why, America's newest sweetheart, Patti Solis Doyle !!!

(Cross-posted at the big orange.)

It's about Character Assassination, not physical assassination.

Hillary isn't calling for you to assassinate Obama, she's calling you to THINK and WORRY about it.

She doesn't think he'll be assassinated, as far as she knows.
He's not a Muslim, as far as she knows.
He doesn't have the support of working whites, as far as she knows.

It's just another part of her "waiting for the horse to talk" strategy.

I find it somewhat troubling that one of Hillary's main advisors, Mark Penn, has been given such a free ride on why her campaign was run so poorly.  First, the bad planning concerning caucus states, no plan for post-Super Tuesday primaries, the Colombia Trade Agreement fiasco and now we find out Mark Penn thought the primaries were winner-take-all.

well that right there explains why she lost.

Times went over the 5 mistakes that the Clintons made

http://www.time.com/time/politics/articl e/0,8599,1738331,00.html

I think the 2 that really did it for her

2. She didn't master the rules
Clinton picked people for her team primarily for their loyalty to her, instead of their mastery of the game. That became abundantly clear in a strategy session last year, according to two people who were there. As aides looked over the campaign calendar, chief strategist Mark Penn confidently predicted that an early win in California would put her over the top because she would pick up all the state's 370 delegates. It sounded smart, but as every high school civics student now knows, Penn was wrong: Democrats, unlike the Republicans, apportion their delegates according to vote totals, rather than allowing any state to award them winner-take-all. Sitting nearby, veteran Democratic insider Harold M. Ickes, who had helped write those rules, was horrified -- and let Penn know it. "How can it possibly be," Ickes asked, "that the much vaunted chief strategist doesn't understand proportional allocation?" And yet the strategy remained the same, with the campaign making its bet on big-state victories. Even now, it can seem as if they don't get it. Both Bill and Hillary have noted plaintively that if Democrats had the same winner-take-all rules as Republicans, she'd be the nominee. Meanwhile, the Clinton campaign now acknowledges privately:

3. She underestimated the caucus states
While Clinton based her strategy on the big contests, she seemed to virtually overlook states like Minnesota, Nebraska and Kansas, which choose their delegates through caucuses. She had a reason: the Clintons decided, says an adviser, that "caucus states were not really their thing." Her core supporters -- women, the elderly, those with blue-collar jobs -- were less likely to be able to commit an evening of the week, as the process requires. But it was a little like unilateral disarmament in states worth 12% of the pledged delegates. Indeed, it was in the caucus states that Obama piled up his lead among pledged delegates. "For all the talent and the money they had over there," says Axelrod, "they -- bewilderingly -- seemed to have little understanding for the caucuses and how important they would become."

By the time Clinton's lieutenants realized the grave nature of their error, they lacked the resources to do anything about it -- in part because:

make no mistake her Husband won TWICE under these rules, there is no excuse for her campaign NOT to be filled with people who 100% knew how to work this system. Bill should have been there explaining the importance of caucuses, at least he should have known.

to bad Penn was contracted so she has to pay that $4 million, because that man should not be allowed around Democratic politics again.

During the Primaries Hillary's Campaign has had Mark Penn's company Burson-Marsteller do $14 Million in polling and consulting of which $4.5 Million is still owed by the campaign.

Clinton still owes about $4.5 million to her former chief strategist, Mark Penn, who resigned amid a controversial relationship with the Colombian government earlier this month. There has been talk that Clinton may even need to lend her campaign more money, something she did in late January as she was being outspent in February 5th states.

CBS News

Penn is probably even happier than Clinton that the money is rolling in again.

ok on the confrence call today Howard wolfson finally settled this whole fired, resigned stepped down thing and gave us Mark Penn's new role with the campaign.

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/04/hillary_spokesperson_penn_stil.php#comments

Mark Penn isn't going anywhere.

On the Hillary campaign's conference call moments ago, Hillary spokesperson Howard Wolfson left zero doubt: Camp Hillary will not be heeding the Obama campaign's demand that they fire Penn completely.

Asked about reports that Penn is still participating on internal campaign strategy calls, Wolfson said, "I'm not going to send out a daily email about who's on which calls and who isn't," clarifying: "Mark is no longer senior strategist, but he will be playing a continuing role in strategy."

Pressed by a reporter to explain the difference between Penn's former and current status, Wolfson said: "The difference would be between the editor in chief of your newspaper and one who plays an important role at your newspaper."

He added that "anyone at a workplace" would understand "the difference between someone who is playing the key role" and "someone who is playing an important role."

So there you have it: Penn will continue playing an "important" role.

so there you go, he is now in an "Important" role no longer a "Key" role. I think this is punishment enough and I hope he has learned his lesson.

We start the week with another fine example of true Leadership.  News reports surfaced the end of last week that strategist for the Hillary Clinton campaign was talking with the Columbian government on Free Trade.  

It turns out Mark Penn appears to have been acting in his role as chief executive of the international communications and lobbying firm, Burson-Marsteller Worldwide.  Reported by the Wall Street Journal of a Monday meeting.