Barack Obama, as well as Hillary Clinton, has been campaigning daily for 16 straight months.  As far as I can tell they might have taken one or two weekends off during all that time.

There is approximately four and a half months left in this race to the White House.  Just two months from the Democratic Convention.  Obama and his crew have a lot to think about and work on to prepare for the coming events.

News is reporting that Barack plans on spending the weekend with his family.  I sincerely hope he and his crew take more time than that.  They not only need to rest after such a long historical primary; they need to rest up for the upcoming challenges.

If it makes you feel any better Senator, even the President of United States takes time off.  In fact, the following was just reported back in March which doesn’t include his daughter’s wedding recently:

According to CBS Radio correspondent Mark Knoller, Bush has now broken the record.

Knoller says that last weekend's trip by Bush to (where else?) Crawford, TX with the Danish minister in tow was the 70th trip of his presidency. In total, Bush has spent 452 days on vacation during his presidency. That's close to 1 1/3 years out of seven and half.

A normal citizen is lucky to get 2-4 work weeks of vacation a year which equals a maximum of 160 days in 8 years.  If President Bush can take that much time off – so can you Obama.

Barack Obama, you and your crew (Hillary and hers too) – deserve to take some major down time off.  I sincerely hope that you do.  I as your supporter and well wisher, want you 'all', to be fresh and sharp for the coming months of campaigning against John McCain and his GOP machine. 

So TAKE A BREAK sir!  Please!

Obama should offer to do 4 debates this summer:

1 townhall (referee for timing issues ONLY)
1 with 1 commentator 
1 townhall (referee for timing issues ONLY)
1 with 2 commentators

Then by the time Aug rolls around - Obama will know which venue he does best in against McCain. 

Obama should agree to the above debates on the condition that HE gets to choose which kind they have in the fall.

I recommend that the commentators be Hannity or O'Reilly and Olbermann or Racheal Maddow (different times of course).

This forces both candidates to take on the questions from the most conservative and liberal/progressive political pundits.

It will prepare them for the Fall debates when most voters will be paying attention.

It's a secret!

Bush wants 50 military bases, control of Iraqi airspace and legal immunity for all American soldiers and contractors

A secret deal is being negotiated in Baghdad would perpetuate the American military occupation of Iraq indefinitely, regardless of the outcome of the US presidential election in November.

The terms of the impending deal, details of which have been leaked to The Independent, are likely to have an explosive political effect in Iraq. Iraqi officials fear that the accord, under which US troops would occupy permanent bases, conduct military operations, arrest Iraqis and enjoy immunity from Iraqi law, will destabilise Iraq's position in the Middle East and lay the basis for unending conflict in their country.

But the accord also threatens to provoke a political crisis in the US. President Bush wants to push it through by the end of next month so he can declare a military victory and claim his 2003 invasion has been vindicated. But by perpetuating the US presence in Iraq, the long-term settlement would undercut pledges by the Democratic presidential nominee, Barack Obama, to withdraw US troops if he is elected president in November.

The timing of the agreement would also boost the Republican candidate, John McCain, who has claimed the United States is on the verge of victory in Iraq – a victory that he says Mr Obama would throw away by a premature military withdrawal.....

This story reads as though having permanant bases in Iraq would BENEFIT the President and John McCain by proving they've reached a Victory in Iraq.  I don't see how they consider having more bases in Iraq as being a victory, do you? 

If this is true and it happens, Americans will be furious.  They want our troops home and out of Iraq - not setting up home. 

It will just reinforce McCain's statement about his being willing to stay in Iraq for 100 years or more.  I think this will hurt McCain. 

As for Mr Bush, it might help him if he gets us so involved over there we'll 'have' to stay at some level, for years to come.  He and I will be long gone by the time our men and women can come home for good.

In my view, we'll be like the Israeli Army -- constantly going after the terrorists and extremists for years to come.  Keep in mind that Israel has been fighting this same enemy or one similar for decades and they still haven't rid their country of them all.

Remember President Bush's Appeasement speech  in Israel on May 16, 2008?

The president, at Israel's 60th anniversary celebration in Jerusalem, suggested that some Democrats were acting in the same way some Western leaders did when they appeased Hitler in the runup to World War II.

"As Nazi tanks crossed into Poland in 1939, an American senator declared: 'Lord, if only I could have talked to Hitler, all of this might have been avoided.' We have an obligation to call this what it is: the false comfort of appeasement, which has been repeatedly discredited by history," he said while speaking to Israel's parliament, the Knesset.

He called it a "foolish delusion" to think the U.S. can negotiate with terrorists.

 

----------------------------------------------------------

First off, keep in mind the man that said those words about Hitler was a Republican.

Secondly, Keith Olbermann on Countdown of MSNBC reported tonight that President's own man that he put into Iraq's leadership role, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, is now set to talk to Iran's President.

Hm'mmm!  I wonder if the President will say anything about THIS bit of news in public?

 

Hillary said she wanted RESPECT for HER 18 million supporters.  She wants them to be listened to and heard, no longer invisable.

Well Hillary, what about paying a little RESPECT to Obama and HIS 18 million supporters?

Hillary's surragotes are out there on tv land saying she DESERVED a little TIME to reflect and reassess her position -- that's why she didn't concede last night.

Well Hillary, as you pointed out, you've supposedly been having people telling to get out for months now.  You've known for at least a month and a half that you could NOT get the delegate count needed, yet you chose to stay in.  You've refused to gracefully step  away for a long time now.  Last night was the final straw for Obama supporters.  Once again you snubbed your noses at Obama and HIS 18 million supporters by telling people you didn't know yet what your plans were.

With all due respect Hillary - you knew dam well what you had to do, you just refused to out of spite.  You wanted to get on record YOUR version of being ahead in the popular vote.  Just so you know - you didn't get the popular vote either.  Almost all the reputable pollsters verify that now.

Now, after being 'forced' to get out by your elected official supporters, we hear you will or might endorse Obama on Saturday, and you might either concede or just drop out. 

Still - you refuse to LET GO!  You refuse to RESPECT Obama or HIS supporters. 

If this is your version of Party Unity -- I'd hate to see.....whoa....wait a minute....I've already seen your Party DIVIDE side.  So has the GOP. 

Did you see the new video they have of you telling Americans that Obama makes a good speech but he's not Commander-n-Chief material?  Thanks Hillary.

We'll be hearing a great deal about the Tony Rezko case and the man's verdict of ‘guilty’ on some of the charges brought against him.  We'll be hearing how Rezko did fundraising for Illinois Governor Blagojevich and Senator Barack Obama.  Always with the caveat that they were not involved in this indictment....yet their names are repeated each time a story is written or said on television….as though they were indeed involved somehow.

Just to clue you in; Rezko has also raised money for former Illinois Governor Jim Edgar, a Republican, and he co-chaired a mega million-dollar fund-raiser for President George W. Bush in 2003.  I'm sure there's been many others he's held fund-raisers for.

Just keep that in mind when you see or hear those commercials and videos of Obama and Rezko standing near each other in the future.  If you worry that Obama might be corrupt - just replace Obama’s face with either Edgar's or Bush’s -- either of them could be 'guilty' of wrong doing too - if you are guilty by association!

I thought I'd remind folks how John McCain lost Montana to Mitt Romney and Ron Paul back in Feb of this year.

Montana is a RED state -- they vote Republican.

Barack Obama won that State against Hillary Clinton.

Does this mean Obama has a good chance of winning there in the General election?  I think maybe so.

I would like to point out that Hillary Clinton did NOT win the popular vote during the Democratic race for a presidential nominee – according to RealPolitics.com.

Barack Obama without IA, NV, ME, WA caucuses and without Michigan, ended up with 33,916 more votes than Hillary Clinton.

Barack Obama with IA, NV, ME, WA caucuses and without Michigan, ended up with 144,138 more votes than Hillary Clinton.

Even if you include Michigan and the caucuses of IA, NV, ME and WA (giving Obama the Uncommitted in Michigan – remember, his name wasn’t on the ballot for voters to choose from, Hillary’s was – the State vote wasn’t suppose to be counted), Barack Obama still leads by 53,997 votes.

The only way Hillary can CLAIM the popular vote is if she is allowed to count the Michigan primary and nothing from that race is given to Obama. 

Voters in Michigan were told their vote would not count, so thousands more might have voted if they knew it would have counted.  Barack Obama’s name was not on the ballot.  He like the other Democratic candidates, except Hillary, removed their names from the ballot.

Think about Michigan’s primary vote as a sport event.  You have two basketball players competing to see who can get the most free throws.  During the 'official timing’, player one gets 22 baskets and player two gets 18.  During a practice session however, player two gets 12 more and player one gets none. 

Player one is announced the winner – player two says, “Whoa wait a minute, I got a total of 30 baskets.  I’m the winner!”

Hillary Clinton is of course, player two.  She's demanding something that didn't officially count and refuses to give Obama the same sense of entitlement.

I'll give Hillary this -- she did make history during the primary to be the first woman to have come 'so close' to winning and getting almost 18 million votes.

But the fact remains, Barack Obama won 242 more delegates and he won the popular vote.

You know, I realize my candidate wants me to now join hands with Hillary Clinton by marching together to a win in November; but I've got a really huge bone to pick with her right now and I must express it.

I don't care if you are a Clinton fan, a McCain fan or a Obama fan -- you HAVE to realize the historic nature of what happened tonight.  Barack Obama is the very first BLACK MAN to have ever in the history of any Party to have won his party's nomination for President of these United States.  This was to be HIS NIGHT to celebrate.

It wasn't suppose to be John McCain's night to campaign and supposedly 'begin' his General campaign -- he got to start that way back in March I believe.

It wasn't suppose to be Hillary and Bill Clinton's night to 'continue' her campaign for 'something SHE wants' -- she lost the nomination -- period.  That is a plain fact.

On one hand Hillary is claiming she wants to 'bring the party together' to send a Democrat to Washington to take back the White House; on the other hand she's telling Americans that SHE won the popular vote (which is disputed by several experts).

She telling them that she won the states that Democrats need to win in November (a primary win is no guarantee to a win in the General) and that voters decided who was the 'stronger' candidate to take on John McCain this fall - her.

To top that off, she teases the media and Obama supporters about "what SHE wants now"!  She wants others to respect HER 18 million voters.

Finally she says, "I will be making no decision tonight, as to where I go from here."

Refusing to even announce a suspension of her campaign.  Demanding the STAGE once again.

THIS is how she plans on bringing Democrats together?  Who the 'HECK' does she think she is?

I realize she's made history too; but it's common courtesy to give the WINNER the STAGE.

How RUDE to not allow, not just Barack and Michelle, but the whole black community the benefit of having a night of their own to celebrate history being made.  This was THEIR night - not McCain's and not Hillary's - their's!

How dare Hillary and McCain to be so selfish!

Who will be the SUPER DELEGATE to put OBAMA over the TOP?  Who will essentially nominate the FIRST BLACK Democratic nominee?

I keep hearing about Obama needing Hillary and how HE will need to convince Hillary supporters that he can deliver for them and to come to HIS side.

What about Hillary proving to Obama supporters that she will HELP their nominee win in Nov and help his administration - after all -- we aren't happy with her ANY MORE than Hillary supporters are of HIM.

How will she prove to us that she won't sabotage his administration later?

One other thing.  The media keeps talking about how HE can't get the women, jews, latinos; but they NEVER talk about the fact that she loses MEN, BLACKS, HIGHER INCOME and Younger generations.

It's time for supers to announce their support for Barack Obama and give Hillary a REASON to suspend her campaign. 

Her excuse has been all along that Obama didn't have the NUMBERS needed.  Well, with your help, at least 22 of you, he will have, and she will be FORCED to admit it.

Let's get the General election started Supers - do your duty and end this today!

I feel the urgent need to repeat a previous Blog that I posted a few days ago.  CNN and TPM are reporting talks may be held about the possibility of Obama asking Hillary to be his VP.  This is the WRONG way to end this.  She isn't ANYTHING like what Obama has ran on the past 15 months.

POST:
Barack Obama would be foolish to allow Hillary Clinton anywhere near his administration.

Hillary has proven over the past few months that she is not about the Democratic Party, she is in fact, all about Hillary Clinton. She would not be a ‘loyal’ administer of Barack Obama’s policies. She would not give her ‘all’ for him and his administration. She is an angry and frustrated person right now.

She will never forget that Barack Obama took away her dream of being President. At this point I think of Hillary the way I thought about George W. Bush when he took on Governor Ann Richards in Texas to replace her as governor for saying those famous words about his dad "Poor George. He can't help it. He was born with a silver foot in his mouth.” Bush also took on Al Gore in the 2000 election as payback for Bill Clinton and Gore’s for removing his dad as President in 1992.

Bush was very angry at Saddam Hussein for supposedly trying to kill his father years ago, that’s why we went to war in Iraq. George W. Bush has been all about ‘payback’ since 1992.

Hillary Clinton is in that same mode -- it’s payback time. Giving Hillary a shot at working on Obama’s health care plan would have a double whammy effect. Republicans will remind Americans during the fall campaign how she and Bill wanted to give us a very complicated universal health care plan such as the one Canada has and how Americans didn’t go for it back in 92, why would they go for it now?

Secondly, Hillary because of the ‘mode’ I mentioned she’s in – would be working ‘against’ Obama’s plan behind closed doors – allowing it to fail.

Barack Obama would run into the same problems having Hillary as his Vice President. I’m afraid that the ‘mode’ she’s in, she will only do him harm in the long run. If Hillary had conceded this election long ago or hadn't sided with McCain on different occasions, I perhaps would have endorsed her for VP or any other position – I can no longer do so.

Obama will be very sorry if he gives her any position in his administration. Hillary is about Hillary -- not the Party and especially not about a President Barack Obama.

Clinton campaign chairman Terry McAuliffe said Tuesday that once Obama gets the majority of convention delegates, "I think Hillary Clinton will congratulate him and call him the nominee."

Well it's about  darn time!  Course if you read between the lines, he says once Obama gets the majority of CONVENTION delegates......

This probably means that in August at Convention!

There people are NUTS!!!!!

It's being reported that Hillary has emailed all her BIG DONORS to travel to NY for her speech.  Why would donors waste more money to hear her "I Concede to Obama" speech? 

Secondly, it's also reported that Obama said that He and Hillary would be working TOGETHER in November.  What does THAT mean?  By Nov 4th if he's won, he no longer NEEDS her (for his campaign).  Has he decided to give her the VP slot?  Or worse, are supers coming to HER side instead of his?

I hate all this second guessing but I just can't help but worry.  Something FISHY is going on with Hillary's plan for a NY speech.

Do any of you know of any polls besides ARG that have been done in these last two States?  Why haven't they been reported?

Please pass along a link if you know of one.  Thanks

Super delegates should weigh in BEFORE Tuesday's primary in Montana and South Dakota.

The polls are showing Barack Obama currently leading in those two states; but even if he were to tie with Hillary, he would only get around 15 delegates total.  This means he needs at least 33 super delegates to put him over the top.

In the interest of UNITY, at least 30-35 super delegates need to endorse Barack Obama by tomorrow night.  This would allow the STATES to be ones pushing Obama over the required 2118 DNC rules count for the nomination.

Surely out of about 200 undeclared supers, 30-35 are willing to allow the States of South Dakota and Montana push Obama to the Democratic nomination?

These people would not only be helping Obama win, they would 'put excitement' in the states of South Dakota and Montana -- we normally do not win these States during a general election -- perhaps doing this would give them reason to vote Democrat in November.

So, come on supers -- let the States be the ones to be reported as having handed Barack Obama the nomination -- not the super delegates!!!

It’s being reported that Hillary Clinton would get the chance to pilot Mr Obama’s reforms of the American healthcare system if she agrees to clear the path to his nomination as Democratic presidential candidate.
 
Senior figures in the Obama camp have told Democrat colleagues that the offer to Mrs Clinton of a cabinet post as health secretary or to steer new legislation through the Senate will be a central element of their peace overtures to the New York senator.
 
Barack Obama would be foolish to allow Hillary Clinton anywhere near his administration.

Hillary has proven over the past few months that she is not about the Democratic Party, she is in fact, all about Hillary Clinton.  She would not be a ‘loyal’ administer of Barack Obama’s policies.  She would not give her ‘all’ for him and his administration.  She is an angry and frustrated person right now.  She will never forget that Barack Obama took away her dream of being President.

At this point I think of Hillary the way I thought about George W. Bush when he took on Governor Ann Richards in Texas to replace her as governor for saying those famous words about his dad "Poor George. He can't help it. He was born with a silver foot in his mouth.” 

Bush also took on Al Gore in the 2000 election as payback for Bill Clinton and Gore’s for removing his dad as President in 1992. 

Bush was very angry at Saddam Hussein for supposedly trying to kill his father years ago, that’s why we went to war in Iraq.  George W. Bush has been all about ‘payback’ since 1992.  Hillary Clinton is in that same mode -- it’s payback time.

Giving Hillary a shot at working on Obama’s health care plan would have a double whammy effect.

Republicans will remind Americans during the fall campaign how she and Bill wanted to give us a very complicated universal health care plan such as the one Canada has and how Americans didn’t go for it back in 92, why would they go for it now? 

Secondly, Hillary because of the ‘mode’ I mentioned she’s in – would be working ‘against’ Obama’s plan behind closed doors – allowing it to fail.

Barack Obama would run into the same problems having Hillary as his Vice President.  I’m afraid that the ‘mode’ she’s in, she will only do him harm in the long run.

If Hillary had conceded this election long ago or hadn't sided with McCain on different occasions, I perhaps would have endorsed her for VP or any other position – I can no longer do so.

Obama will be very sorry if he gives her any position in his administration.  Hillary is about Hillary -- not the Party and especially not about a President Barack Obama.