September 8, 2008
One and a Half Cheers for the McCain-Palin Ticket (Lanny Davis)
ST. PAUL — America should be proud of itself. When all is said and done and all the pundits are finished with their punditry, we have four pretty good candidates running for president and vice president in both parties.
Either way, we will make history — the first black president or the first female vice president.
I still have serious doubts about Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's qualifications to be one heartbeat from the presidency and about her extreme views on abortion — prohibiting all abortions, no matter how early the term, even in the case of rape and incest, except to save the life of the mother but not to protect her health. > Read More
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What's This September 3, 2008
Second Thoughts on McCain's VP Pick (Lanny Davis)
My first reaction on Friday and Saturday — along with that of my most of my Democratic friends — was that John McCain's selection of an inexperienced novice governor with ultra-conservative views on social issues — from a small state that has a fraction of the population of Brooklyn — to be one heartbeat from the presidency was a strategic blunder of the highest magnitude from which he would not recover.
The fact that Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) made an overt reference to Hillary Clinton in her introductory press conference, apparently in the hope she could attract some of the disgruntled Clinton supporters, made little sense. She and Sen. McCain (R-Ariz.) must know that her ultra-conservative views that appeal mostly to the religious right wing of the GOP would not go over well with most, if not virtually all, of Hillary's voters. In short, her issue positions would trump the fact that she was female — to assume otherwise is nothing short of patronizing to Hillary's female supporters. > Read More
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What's This September 2, 2008
McCain Thinks Women Care Less Than Men About Issues (Lanny Davis)
Do women care less than men about issues? John McCain (and Sarah Palin) seems to think “Yes.”
But the answer, or course, is “No.” Yet there seemed to be that assumption — in my view, if so, patronizing and politically wrong — underlying at least part of Sen. McCain's judgment to select Gov. Palin as his vice presidential nominee.
It appears Sen. McCain hopes that the governor's gender will help his appeal to disenchanted female Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton supporters — and Gov. Palin explicitly was aiming to do so when she appealed to the "18 million cracks in the glass ceiling" represented by Sen. Clinton's total vote in the primaries. However, while some Hillary supporters may still not have completely gotten over their disappointment at her loss to Sen. Barack Obama, or his failure to make her his VP choice, is it likely they will be attracted to vote for a McCain-Palin ticket because Gov. Palin is a woman — even after they learn that the governor who, if elected, will be by constitutional definition one heartbeat away from the presidency, and who opposes the right of a woman to choose to terminate a pregnancy under all circumstances, even if caused by rape or incest, in the earliest stages of pregnancy? I don't think so. > Read More
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What's This September 1, 2008
Beyond the Fifth Stage of Grief — Passion and the Obama Speech (Lanny Davis)
Ever since Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) conceded defeat and endorsed Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) on June 7, I really did try hard to follow Mrs. Clinton’s urgings and to move beyond the fifth stage of grief to be enthusiastic about the Obama candidacy.
To remind those who forget, the “five stages of grief” were first categorized by a 1969 book, On Death and Dying, authored by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross: They are: (1) Denial, (2) Anger, (3) Bargaining, (4) Depression and (5) Acceptance.
Most of us supporting Mrs. Clinton had reached No. 5 by the time of the Denver convention, but what we knew in our head had not yet fully reached our heart. As Mr. Obama himself said when he met with key Clinton fundraisers and supporters the week after the Clinton concession at a Washington hotel, he did not expect that passion to be easily transferred to him — and that he would have to earn it. > Read More
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What's This August 25, 2008
Are We All Georgians? Not So Fast (Lanny Davis)
As the Democrats open their convention today, it might not be politically correct to ask the question — were the Russians entirely wrong and Georgia entirely right in their conflict over South Ossetia?
In this context, it is also fair to ask whether the putative Republican nominee, Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), was exercising good judgment when he immediately called Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili to express his support for Georgia and to declare, apparently referring to all Americans, "We are all Georgians."
Maybe it's the contrarian in me: When virtually every Democratic and Republican leader from left to right and the entire mainstream media so quickly reach consensus on the same one-sided narrative — the "good little democracy Georgia" vs. the "bad Russian evil-empire invaders" — I instinctively say to myself, "Not so fast. What are the facts?" > Read More
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What's This August 17, 2008
Sen. Ted Stevens: An Innocent Man (Lanny Davis)
Just the headline of this piece alone, I’ll bet, shocks a number of people.
Most people assume, or have concluded, that Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) is guilty. After all, didn’t a D.C. grand jury indict Mr. Stevens on seven felony counts? Haven’t the United States Government and its federal prosecutors concluded that Mr. Stevens failed to disclose taking more than $250,000 worth of gifts on his Senate financial disclosure forms?
Of course the media hype and page one, above-the-fold headlines about these charges lead to the public impression that Sen. Stevens must be guilty of … well, something. > Read More
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What's This August 11, 2008
Jesse Jackson's 'Post-Racial' Legacy for the Democratic Party (Lanny Davis)
I first heard the Rev. Jesse Jackson speak in a Chicago hotel ballroom in July 1968, shortly after Sen. Robert F. Kennedy's assassination and just three months after the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King.
We were an audience of largely white college students fresh from the anti-Vietnam War presidential campaigns of Sen. Eugene McCarthy and Mr. Kennedy. By then we all knew that Mr. Jackson had been in the parking lot talking to Mr. King when the horrible shots rang out and Mr. King fell, mortally wounded. > Read More
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What's This August 4, 2008
Fellow Democrats: Kill the Elitist and Undemocratic Caucuses (Lanny Davis)
It's time for Democrats to kill the undemocratic and elitist caucus system for selecting national convention delegates for the presidential nomination. Instead, all delegates should be selected in primaries.
The 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver — the national party's supreme governing body — can do it — or at least take the first step to doing it by passing a resolution establishing a new Presidential Selection Rules Reform Commission. Such commissions have been established many times before, beginning after the 1968 convention, to change the delegate selection rules. A new one is needed more than ever. > Read More
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What's This July 31, 2008
Why Obama Should Pick Hillary (Lanny Davis)
The following piece appears in today’s Wall Street Journal. — Ed.
Picking a vice president is, obviously, Barack Obama's decision to make. He must be comfortable with whomever he picks. Comfort level between a president and vice president may be the most important factor of all.
So I can only offer my argument, based on some facts and subjective impressions, as to why I believe it would be in Sen. Obama's (D-Ill.) personal and political interest to select Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) as his vice presidential running mate. Not just to enhance his chances of winning — but, more importantly, to help him be a more effective president.
Let's start with one undisputable fact: Sen. Clinton is the only Democrat who gives Sen. Obama a statistically significant boost in any national poll results.
This is not a criticism of other candidates. This is simply a fact — a product of Sen. Clinton's nearly 18-month national campaign in all 50 states and the 18 million votes she won. The result was a dramatic increase in her favorable ratings across the spectrum, even among some of her most conservative critics. > Read More
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What's This July 28, 2008
Advice to John McCain: Be John McCain (Lanny Davis)
For the purpose of full disclosure, I must tell you that I am a liberal Democrat and a supporter of Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) for president.
Mr. Obama's positions on the major issues are virtually identical to mine, and I believe he will make a fine president. His successful tour of Iraq, Afghanistan, the Middle East and Europe should answer many voters' questions about whether Mr. Obama can act, talk and look like a president. > Read More
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