Deep

The Split

Obama came out strongly today against Rev. Wright's comments at the National Press Club:

In Winston-Salem, Obama sharply attacks Reverend Jeremiah Wright and the substance of his remarks yesterday, a far sharper disavowal than he gave in Philadelphia last month.

The core of his message: That Wright was not only offensive, but the polar opposite of Obama's own views and politics.

"I have spent my entire adult life trying to bridge the gap between different kinds of people. That’s in my DNA, trying to promote mutual understanding to insist that we all share common hopes and common dreams as Americans and as human beings. That’s who I am, that’s what I believe, and that’s what this campaign has been about," Obama said.

"I am outraged by the comments that were made and saddened by the spectacle that we saw yesterday," he said.

Obama also distanced himself from the man in a way he has been reluctant to in the past.

"The person that I saw yesterday was not the person that I met 20 years ago," he said. "His comments were not only divisive and destructive, but I believe that they end up giving comfort to those who prey on hate, and I believe that they do not portray accurately the perspective of the black church."

"They certainly don’t portray accurately my values and beliefs," he said.

"If Reverend Wright thinks that’s political posturing, as he put it, then he doesn’t know me very well and based on his remarks yesterday, I may not know him as well as I thought either."

"I gave him the benefit of the doubt in my speech in Philadelphia, explaining that he has done enormous good in the church," he said. "But when he states and then amplifies such ridiculous propositions as the U.S. government somehow being involved in AIDS; when he suggests that Minister Farrakhan somehow represents one of the greatest voices of the 20th and 21st century; when he equates the U.S. wartime efforts with terrorism – then there are no exuses. They offend me. They rightly offend all Americans. And they should be denounced, and that’s what I’m doing very clearly and unequivocally here today."

"It is antithetical to my campaign. It is antithetical to what I’m about. It is not what I think America stands for," he said.

Good Job, McCain

In response to the North Carolina GOP running ugly, negative ads about Obama and Rev. Wright, John McCain wrote the following letter:

Dear Chairman Daves,
From the beginning of this election, I have been committed to running a respectful campaign based upon an honest debate about the great issues confronting America today. I expect all state parties to do so as well. The television advertisement you are planning to air degrades our civics and distracts us from the very real differences we have with the Democrats. In the strongest terms, I implore you to not run this advertisement.

This ad does not live up to the very high standards we should hold ourselves to in this campaign. We need to run a campaign that is worthy of the people we seek to serve. There is no doubt that we will draw sharp contrasts with the Democrats on fundamental issues critical to the future course of our country. But we need not engage in political tactics that only seek to divide the American people.

Once again, it is imperative that you withdraw this offensive advertisement.

John McCain

Can you imagine what a real, dirt free campaign we'll get once Clinton to realize the inevitable?

Pyrrhic victory

A Pyrrhic victory is one that comes with with devastating cost to the victor. And that's what Clinton had in Pennsylvania. She has squandered a 20 point lead and any goodwill left in party. Even the NY Times, which endorsed her, is calling for her to step down:

The Pennsylvania campaign, which produced yet another inconclusive result on Tuesday, was even meaner, more vacuous, more desperate, and more filled with pandering than the mean, vacuous, desperate, pander-filled contests that preceded it.

Voters are getting tired of it; it is demeaning the political process; and it does not work. It is past time for Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton to acknowledge that the negativity, for which she is mostly responsible, does nothing but harm to her, her opponent, her party and the 2008 election.

If nothing else, self interest should push her in that direction. Mrs. Clinton did not get the big win in Pennsylvania that she needed to challenge the calculus of the Democratic race. It is true that Senator Barack Obama outspent her 2-to-1. But Mrs. Clinton and her advisers should mainly blame themselves, because, as the political operatives say, they went heavily negative and ended up squandering a good part of what was once a 20-point lead.

On the eve of this crucial primary, Mrs. Clinton became the first Democratic candidate to wave the bloody shirt of 9/11. A Clinton television ad — torn right from Karl Rove’s playbook — evoked the 1929 stock market crash, Pearl Harbor, the Cuban missile crisis, the cold war and the 9/11 attacks, complete with video of Osama bin Laden. “If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen,” the narrator intoned.

If that was supposed to bolster Mrs. Clinton’s argument that she is the better prepared to be president in a dangerous world, she sent the opposite message on Tuesday morning by declaring in an interview on ABC News that if Iran attacked Israel while she were president: “We would be able to totally obliterate them.”

By staying on the attack and not engaging Mr. Obama on the substance of issues like terrorism, the economy and how to organize an orderly exit from Iraq, Mrs. Clinton does more than just turn off voters who don’t like negative campaigning. She undercuts the rationale for her candidacy that led this page and others to support her: that she is more qualified, right now, to be president than Mr. Obama.

It is getting to be time for the superdelegates to do what the Democrats had in mind with they created superdelegates: settle a bloody race that cannot be won at the ballot box. Mrs. Clinton once had a big lead among the party elders, but has been steadily losing it, in large part because of her negative campaign. If she is ever to have a hope of persuading these most loyal of Democrats to come back to her side, let alone win over the larger body of voters, she has to call off the dogs.

Prediction

I don't know why, but I've got a funny feeling about today's Pennsylvania primary. I'm probably wrong, but I think Obama's going to pull a Truman and win this thing - by 2-3 points.

OBAMA JAY Z MASH UP

God, that was awful

Things not talked about during tonight's debate:

The financial crisis
The collapse of housing values in the US and around the world
Afghanistan
Health care
Torture
The declining value of the US Dollar
Education
Trade
Pakistan
Energy
Immigration
The decline of American manufacturing
The Supreme Court
The burgeoning world food crisis.
Global warming
China
The attacks on organized labor and the working class
Terrorism and al Qaeda
Civil liberties and constraints on government surveillance

April Fool's - The Aftermath

Apparently, I'm much better at April Fool's than I thought. I'm still amazed at homw many people actually believed I would leave the States for Ireland because of the election. As if Amber would ever leave her little sister. People at work started lining up for my office, and I received numerous e-mails from friends and family, some quite touching. My favorite, however, was the following timeline from my good friend Matt.

Morning:

- Stay at home with child while wife goes to dentist

- Arrive at work 20 min before big meeting

- Read Charlie’s email

- Reply to Charlie’s email with condolences

- Forward email to wife wondering WTF



Afternoon:

- Leave meeting, very hungry

- See reply from Charlie stating “Thanks for the email, check the calendar”

- Grab lunch with boss and tell him about crazy day

- Boss mentions that it is April Fool’s and Wiechmann might be getting taken

- Reply to Charlie’s message with a smart email with smiley

- Try to save some face by playing along and emailing others

- Bigler replies that Charlie’s email was a joke

- AJ replies that Charlie’s email was a joke

- Wiechmann feels sad

- Wife replies that Charlie is crazy, but when can we visit him?

- Wiechmann feels a bit better J



Stupid April Fool’s Day!

Someone Please Make Her Stop

This is just getting embarrassing now:

Moving On

Hey folks,

After a lot of thought and anguish, Amber and I have decided to sell our place and move to Dublin. The current political climate, with Dems fighting Dems, has really been hard on us, and we think the best way to deal with it is to, well, not deal with it. Amber's already accepted a job with FARA (Active Retirement Ireland), and I've applied for a number of jobs. We both have Irish passports, so taking Kaleb with us will be no problem, though he'll have to be quarantined for a short time. We'll be flying over later this month to find a place to live, with an actual move date to be sometime in July. I'll keep you posted as we begin our new adventure.