Educate Yourself

Vetting our two Democratic presidential candidates has definitely been a mixed bag. On one hand, Hillary Clinton’s life and political history has been in the news and reported online for many years. Barack Obama is another deal. He has essentially gotten a free ride in the national media, only being questioned seriously when the news was so shocking that the mainstream media had no choice but to report it.

So I went hunting, and was often surprised at what I found. It amounts to a pattern that I find dismaying. There are a lot of links here, documenting sources for my conclusions, and there is a lot to read.

Here is my list, in no particular order. See if you agree with me, and answer the questions for yourself… did he really not know, or is it just that he didn’t mind?

READ IT HERE

Stolen Election 2008

With the determination not to allow a revote in Michigan and Florida and no word from DNC spokesman Howard Dean on a plan to seat the delegates, it's looking more and more like another stolen election for the Democratic nominee and, if the political status quo have their way, it will be Senator Clinton who gets shafted.

I wonder if the fact that Obama voluntarily took his name off of the Michigan primary slate will figure into the determination. Was this just a bad political decision or a sneaky calculated move? Was it Obama's intent to disenfranchise voters in order to promote a win for himself? It appears so.

In Florida, Obama ran political commercials on MSNBC and CNN in violation of the DNC rules forbidding candidates to campaign in that state. Oops! He blames this on buying a multi-state block of advertising and apparently no one noticed that Florida was included. Wow, chalk another one up for the Uniter.

And what about the press conference Senator Obama held after a Florida fundraiser? Oops, again! Not to mention that in that press conference he vowed "he'll do what's right by Florida voters". Really? When? Now Obama is apparently hiding behind his lawyers:

Obama has yet to declare his support or opposition, although his campaign has raised a number of procedural and legal questions about the most recent proposal for an early June primary in Michigan.

"The proposal offers a rerun for the state but not for all the voters,'' Bob Bauer, Obama's election lawyer, wrote in a memo during the day. He warned of the possibility of numerous legal challenges and embarrassment to the party.

As a Clinton supporter, I don't believe it is fair to split these delegates 50-50. That is completely unjust. Hillary won both of those states and to equally divide these votes is not fair to the voters. By the way, is the DNC enforcing all of its rules uniformly?

Finally, if the DNC and Dean cannot come to a solution that not only the candidates, but the voters of Michigan and Florida agree on, this election may as well be handed to McCain on a huge old silver platter, tied with a great big red, white and blue bow.

Sigh.

Cross posted at MyDD