Congrats America

Congratulations to America on her first African American President in history.

Sen. Obama ran a tight ship and was amazingly on message and sharply focused. And the current President's unpopularity helped push his ship even further.

Sen. McCain, against all odds tried in vain to get around the anti-incumbency factor. He would have made a good President.

Good luck to the new President for he has a lot of promises to keep.

Tale of two conventions

With McCain's acceptance speech, the battle right royal for the White house begins. Each party has thrown down the gauntlet and challenged the other for a duel. November 7th, we will know.

However one thing I noticed between the two party conventions kind of surprised me. Both parties more or less had the same goal for the convention.

The democrats had one main goal - unite the party behind Obama.

So what did they do ? They brow beat Hillary into falling in line. Pushed President Clinton to retreat for now. They then orchestrated a unity of sorts and then brought in Biden to solidify the blue collar, small town voter base. They needed to do all this so that Obama could launch himself with the party's traditional solid base in his pocket.

On the other hand, the republicans had one main goal - unite the party conservatives behind McCain.


So what did they do ? They change the whole subject and theme of the election. Cleverly, they bring in Sarah Palin. A total conservative, with introductory pictures and videos showing her firing a gun, electrifying the party base. Up until this time, the hard core conservatives of the party were one foot in and other foot out of the Straight Talk express. But with this VP pick, looks like all are on board now.

This leaves McCain to take the high ground and play the reach out across the aisle game. Sarah's speech yesterday left no one in doubt who will be the lead attach dog and McCain's speech made it quite clear which group he will be targeting - Independents & Hillary Democrats.

Its very ironic that both candidates in this so called historic election have more or less the same issue - locking in their party base.

The Runaway candidate

Senator Obama is at it again. He has now dropped James Johnson from his Veep team after news of his personal finances found its way to the press.

The Senator reversed course after a failed attempt to resist pressure to act, something that has become his trademark response to anything and everything.

Deny Deny Deny, then cave in. He did that when the NAFTA-Canada story broke out, he did that with Reverend Wright, he did that with the Trinity United Church of Christ, he did that when his "bitter - cling" comments broke out, he did that when Rev. Michael Pfleger mocked Hillary and now this.

Surely the Republicans are going to see an opening here. The Senator seems to be giving a dozen sticks to the McCain camp to beat him with.

This is what happens when a "once in a life time" candidate comes by, sets lofty goals and righteous ideals, preaches like a pontiff and then eventually stumbles on this own steps.

Will Sen. Obama learn from his mistakes like he has been learning on the job these past months ? Time alone can tell.

Hillary's tactical retreat

When she stepped onto the podium and endorsed the presumptive Democratic nominee, it looked almost sad.

Sad for the millions of Hillary supporters. A huge relief for the delegates in the Hillary camp raring to endorse Obama. And the coming down of the primary curtains for the Obama campaign.


Obama can now finally look forward to the general election. He, for now, has the entire democratic party including Hillary's half right behind him.

However, having won 18 million votes, Hillary is a leader in her own right in the party now. She has now stepped out of her husband's shadow and will be a formidable politician in the American political arena for years to come.

People are already talking of her next avatar. Would she be the VP ? Would she contest for the Governorship of New York State ? Perhaps she would relaunch her bid in 2012 or 2016. Anythings possible.

Knowing the history of the Clintons, there is no soul who believes that America has heard the last of the Clintons, especially the tenacious fighter in Hillary.

A tactical retreat, for a bigger launch soon.

A historic moment

A historic moment for the Democratic party. The first African-American candidate to clinch the nomination of a major party in the western world finally came about.

Senator Barack Obama, the Democrats and the United States are well on their way to complete the unfinished agenda of Dr. King and his movement.


The 'eyeStreet times' wishes the Senator and the party the very best for the general election.

Just as the Senator and his campaign never ran a campaign agenda based on racist division but on racial inclusion, so will the eyeStreet times base all its judgements on the Senator's achievements and policies alone.

Let the games begin.

Clinton defiant !?

Finally the democratic primaries have come to an end. Just a few hours ago, Obama jumped over the magic number 2,118 to clinch the nomination.

A couple of minutes ago Hillary Clinton wrapped up her speech in New York. A much touted concession speech fell much short of the mark.

I did not believe she would concede defeat. Why should she ? She has more votes than Obama eventhough the wise superdelegates decided to go with Obama.

As I write this I am listening to Obama's speech from Minesotta. He just mentioned Bill Clinton's name, the second flattering remark about the former president in his speech. How unfortunate that he would not talk about the Clinton years during the primaries. This new found love for the 2 terms of democratic rule from the White House sounds puzzling yet interesting.

Hillary in her speech very clearly said, she will decide her future course of action keeping in mind the best interest of the party and the country. That is perhaps the best option she had and the best half concession she could have announced today. Nothing more, nothing less.

Calling this an act of defiance is nonsense. The MSM's love for the Obama phenomenon is unbelievable. They find fault with Hillary for not extending a bunch of flowers to Obama and begging for his acceptance. They forget that Clinton is no push over. She has a large following and a strong base in the party, spin it which way you want. Her supporters outnumber Obama's and he better take good note of it.

Any apparent slight towards Hillary or her supporters would cost Obama dearly.

Political expediency wins over new kind of politics

So, finally Obama has succumbed to political expediency.

He just announced that he was walking out of his Church of 20 years. Oh! what a fall from grace for the Church.

Obama received wild and wide praise for this balanced speech on race just over a couple of months ago. The speech where he disagreed with his pastor's views but refused to disown him, the speech where he threw his white grandmother under the bus, the speech where he very ably tried to walk the tight rope.

That was the Obama his supporters loved. Any other politician would have dropped the hot potato for political reasons but not the great new leader. He would speak his mind to the people and the great american public would understand and forgive him. Luck him, they did then. They gave him the benefit of the doubt.

Couple of days ago, another pastor goes on the rampage from the pulpit of his church, yet again. This time people started wondering - why does Obama keep company with so many of these people who have opinions outside of the american mainstream ? Is there a pattern here ? Is there some dark secret about Obama we all dont know yet ?

Swiftly, the Obama campaign put lot of distance between their candidate and the pastor. Obama himself condemned the comments followed by the pastor himself apologizing. Compare this with the dance Obama did when Rev. Wright's comments came out earlier. Obama and his people have come a long way. No tight rope walking, no sermons on how good the pastor is otherwise, etc, etc. A surgical strike to take out the issue before it blew up any further.

And then they over did the kill.

Obama then quickly went even further and resigned from the Church. WHY !?

What happened now that did not happen in the past 20 years that he pushed himself to get out of his Church ?

Well, not much on the side of the Church but a lot on the side of this Church-goer. Right up until his Church did not hurt his presidential run, he stuck with it. Refusing to disown the church and his pastor using eloquent words and lofty ideals, he convinced the MSM and the people of his sincerity.

But as I had mentioned in my earlier blog, he pushed Rev. Wright out of his bus as soon as the Reverend used the "politician" word on him. How dare he (Obama) be called a politician when he touts his new breed and change mantra !

The problem with Obama is that he and his campaign have set themselves up to such a high level of expectation that any fall from that height would be near fatal. My humble opinion is that he will regret this if he did not tune down the rhetoric on this "Change & Hope" mantra.

This larger than life candidate could eventually be just that - too good to be true.

Why no to Obama ?

Fresh after the Indiana and North Carolina primaries, I re-evaluated by support for Hillary against Obama.

Whatever the spin doctors may say, Obama has withstood the onslaught of the past weeks to win NC and to come within striking distance in Indiana.

So is the game over finally ? Obama supporters have been screaming for the past few months asking Hillary to quit so that Obama can sprint to the finish line and begin the race for the general election.

Personally I think the above is all bullshit. If Obama really thinks he is the nominee of the democrats then he should have done what McCain did to Huckabee. He should have a knocked her out of the ball park long time ago.

Instead he crawls around, allowing her to make repeated comebacks, leading to a suspicion that he lacks the deal closing trait.

Well supporters will argue that he did that this time. Well, I dont think so.

However this does not mean that Hillary is winning either. She still swings between near death and life. So her claim to the nomination is still weak.

Its interesting to note that for the democrats, choosing between two strong candidates battling it out, is not much different from choosing between two weak candidates who are not able to knock the other one down.

What a year for them when all assumed that the Presidency was destined for the democrats.

Just the other day, I was talking to my friend after Obama publicly distanced himself from his pastor in the strongest words yet.

Think about it. Whether it was last year when the Obama campaign began or the beginning of this year when the Jeremiah Wright controversy broke out in the press or even the recent speech by the pastor, I did not see or hear anything new that the pastor said or did that he has not said before from the pulpit.

The Obama, who did not find it necessary to condemn him last year, or even this year in this "race speech", suddenly found it necessary to condemn him after his recent speech at the press club. Why ? His pastor did not say anything new, except calling Obama a politician !

That did the trick. Obama got offended for being called a "politician". A term he uses for his opponents while declaring himself above such things.

It is shocking that this candidate who would not distance himself from his pastor earlier, would instead throw his grandmother under the bus just to prove that he straddles across races.

A person who doesn't loose half a chance to portray his so called non-politician credentials, plays politics when it comes to his association with his church and pastor.

A typical Barack Obama style of denying any wrong doing at first then making an almost apology before defending his earlier comments as a misread of what he actually meant.

No Sir. Even if I could, I would not vote for Obama.

Beyond the Presidential look !!

I just finished watching the Democratic Presidential debate '08. It was held at the Saint Anselm College, Manchester in the State of New Hampshire.


All the expected issues were discussed. The Iraq war, troop withdrawal, Health care reforms, Immigration reforms, deficits, surpluses, state of the economy, global leadership of the US, etc etc.

Frankly, I don't have an opinion on most of the issues listed above save the war and immigration reforms.

Anyways, the only reason I watched the debate was to see how many of the candidates were straight shooters. I did not care much for the differences of approach and opinion between the candidates.

All I wanted to see was this - Did they answer to the point or did they beat around the bush.

For me, the person who took the 'beating around the bush' cake was Barak Obama. I must agree. He does look Presidential and imposing. But beyond the Presidential look, he did not impress me at all.


Most of his answers had a lot of "hmms" and "aahs". Seemed like he was forming an opinion in his mind as he was attempting to answer the questions. Not impressed at all.

However, I must add that most other candidates never gave answers to the point. For example, the question about what would you do in the first 100 days of office once elected, brought out answers that were 100ft above the ground.

Candidate Bill Richardson's answer was the most surprising. He said he would first deal with education reform, knowing that the questioner was a teacher.

Senator John Edwards said he would go around the world !! What ? Go around the world in the first 100 days ? That seemed like a backup answer to a curve ball question. So much for being a successful lawyer.

Only two candidates answered to the point. One of them was Sen. Hillary Clinton.

Another question was from a National Guard who wanted to know if his serving in Iraq was for a purpose or was completely a waste of time. Governor Bill Richardson went round and round without ever answering the question. In comparison, Sen. Clinton answered well and to the point.

The two candidates who impressed me most was Sen. Clinton and Sen. Biden. Both candidates came up with smart and forceful answers rather than verbose ones.


Senator Biden came out forcefully on the Iraq war and the need for the United States to act quickly to stop genocides and save helpless people around the world.

In the end, there was nothing Presidential about Barak Obama after he opened his mouth.

courtesy : pictures from CNN