Why We Can Trust Obama on Negotiations with Enemies
June 3, 2008
“Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate.” — John F Kennedy
Today is likely to mark Obama’s move to finally secure the democratic nomination for President of the United States. This long journey has been marked by gaffes, preacher associations, heated debates, conflicting polls, and passion filled charges. Now it will be marked with the end, a final speech to kickoff the general election. For those that have been following this from the beginning though, the Obama nomination has not always appeared to be so likely.
In June of 2007, after one of the first debates, Hillary threw the first punch, hoping to expunge any Obama “hope” early in the game, by demonstrating that his inexperience on foreign policy was his greatest weakness. Unfortunately for her, she helped him create one of the key differentiators between them, and gave him a foreign policy stump speech.
Now, over the weekend, in reflecting on a conversation Obama had with Clinton, he recalled:
“… she and I have been on this same journey together, and … once the dust settled, I was looking forward to meeting with her at a time and place of her choosing.”
No preconditions.
Hillary can bring her requests for a spot on the ticket, or her plea for aid in repaying her $40 million in debt. Despite suggestions an innuendo that she might be waiting for the worst to happen to Obama, he’s willing to sit down and talk. It can be over tea or whiskey, at the shooting range or bowling alley, in West Virginia, or Kentucky. It’s her choice. And she can lay out the conditions. He will listen. And then they will negotiate.
If Obama can negotiate the mending necessary to bring Clinton and her supporters on board, I have full faith he’ll be able to start a dialogue that secures our borders, starts the path to peace in the middle east by involving Iran and Syria, and convinces Dr. Strangeglove of North Korea that he really doesn’t want those nuke toys western countries harbor so selfishly.
Weekend Diary of a Poltiical Junkie
June 1, 2008
SATURDAY
6:30 AM PST: Turned on CSPAN and watched 30 members of the DNC Rules & Bylaws Committee hash over various arguments on why two states that went against party rules should have a reduction in their penalty because no one thought Hillary would not be the nominee by June of 2008.
10:30 AM PST: Sometime around noon, after all grievances were heard, and the biased arguments of declared members of the committee had been fully aired, everyone took a break (a long break) and decided to talk behind closed doors.
11:00 AM PST: I turned off the TV and missed the removal of one unruly Harriet Christian, a Clinton supporter, but thankfully for YouTube I would later watch it multiple times as I went between fits of tears and laughter.
4:00 PM PST: Clicking between DrudgeReport, CNN and HuffingtonPost, I learned that Obama had officially resigned from his church, the United Trinity Church of Christ. I found myself both empathetic and a bit peeved that he did this (I’d not watched his explanation until later - and when I did, it made more sense, as it related as much to the burden being placed on the church than his political aspirations). Now I just wish people that weren’t going to vote for him in the first place would give it up.
5:00 PM PST: Or sometime around that time the DNC Rules & Bylaws committee finally meets again (yeah!) , and I watch as rude Clinton supporters interrupt continually during the motion, debate and vote period. Finally, as the ruling on Michigan is discussed, Harold Icki (a Clinton supporter, and supposedly the one that was supposed to stack the deck in her favor) decides it’s finally his time to pontificate and accuses the rest of his colleagues of hijacking 4 votes from Hillary (actually 2 votes considering they were half votes). He seems convinced that this would have made a difference and obvious to the fact that during the long recess his candidate was very close to getting a lot less.
SUNDAY
12:00 PM PST: Or sometime around this time, I learned that Obama lost Peurto Rico to Hillary Clinton (big suprise). Hillary claimed she’d now had the popular vote (bigger surprise considering she’s made this claim for over a month now and no ones been listening). And that she planned on continuing her campaign until she truly owned everyone in the United States a wad of cash.
3:30 PM PST: Logged on and created a profile on Hillaryclinton.com, thinking I’d try a bit of party unity myself and create havoc on the blog posts of Clintonistas. I think they saw through my black male disguise though because I never saw a single comment get posted.
4:00 PM PST: I decided, heeding her call for money, to donate $10 to her campaign. Along with the donation I sent a memo explicitly requesting that she use this money to payback the supporters she was defrauding with her argument that she actually had a chance to win the nomination.
5:00 PM PST: On barackobama.com I write a blog post, explaining my devious donation…and it seems Obamacans didn’t see my humor. I realized there really is a rift in this party…wow…I never would have guessed. I get a sense that this is what happens when generational shifts create chaos in government. The old skin doesn’t shed without some blood.
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Note: Times are likely inaccurate but hopefully the general chronology coincides with your own weekend, fellow political junkies.
