Couldn’t agree more that Obama is a professional politician. As a supporter, that fact makes me a little less nervous about the match-up with McCain and the (potentially deadly) ultra-liberal tag.

A Clinton supporter put this link in somewhere above, to Obama’s 2003 website when he was running in the primary for his current Senate seat: http://web.archive.org/web/20030816155957/www.obamaforillinois.com/index.shtml.

At least a couple of things jumped out that provide a bit of a back story for the inevitable tack back to the centre if (which I think likely but not guaranteed) he wins the nomination.

One is the bit in his bio (there are other references) boasting that he “co-sponsored legislation that expands innovation through charter schools, increases accountability for all school districts, improves the recruitment, training and retention of a highly skilled teaching corps, and limits tuition increases and maintains scholarships to make higher education more accessible”.

Although teacher’s unions are quite sceptical about charter schools usually (not sure what happened in this case) it’s arguably the sort of progressive yet market-orientated stance that fits well with his message to independents, that he will bring people together across the aisle.

The same goes for the several references along the lines of “Demanding Accountability. Obama was the chief sponsor of legislation that creates a Hospital Report Card to guide consumers on issues from infection rates to nurse-patient ratios. He was also the chief sponsor of the Truth in Hospital Billing and Finances Act.” This ties in with his current health care plan, which is sold as less prescriptive, more market-friendly, a bit more centrist than Clinton’s. Maybe a bit of a theme developing? I notice he is now talking about “infrastructure” and “productivity” too.

One of the impressive things about his candidacy is his ability to lock up huge slabs of the base liberal vote without actually giving too much away that McCain can beat him up with (though there have been some things and the 100% liberal rating last year wasn’t a good look even if there weren’t many substantive issues he differed from Clinton on). Even on the Iraq war his statements between the invasion and the end of 2006 display a clear desire not to alienate voters who initially backed it, and to maintain some room to move. See also this quote from the 2003 website: “Obama will encourage the government to once again seriously consider joining, among other things, the Kyoto Protocol on global warming and the International Criminal Court”. “Encourage”? “Seriously consider”? He may have gotten harder on these things since, but he is clearly a man that understands political sensitivities in the centre ground.

He has to be careful for now though. As people here have noted, at least one of those academic economists who apparently dominate his domestic policy team has already hurt him by exposing his NAFTA beliefs as somewhat more nuanced than Ohio primary voters may have guessed (helpfully assisted by Harper’s Chief of Staff it seems – watch for the revenge when Harper goes to the polls next, if Obama wins). And another academic advisor had to resign after making the obvious point that Obama’s Iraq decisions will ultimately be guided, at least in part, by conditions on the ground. They need to wrap Clinton up before they start spreading these sorts of things around, or at least they need to do it a bit smarter, as I am sure they recognise.

“And–though you would never know it to judge from the candidates or the media that cover them–Obama and Clinton together share more in common with their Republican counterparts in Washington than they do with the millions of people who hope a Democratic president will do something to change the status quo.”

Ouch!

Barack Obama: If the Red Phone Rings, Call Me NOT Hillary
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-MHPopRsN0&NR=1

Sun Mar 9:
http://news.yahoo.com/edcartoons/tomtoles;_ylt=AhbxICl9tsl4vjcMLs.MFDEl6ysC

Market steady:
The Kid……………………..1.90
Johnny Bomb-Bomb……..2.95
Brutessa……………………4.00
——————–
“They have a hunting season on the rabbit
If you shoot him, boy, you go to jail
But the season is always open on men
Don’t nobody need no bail
Down in Mississippi
Down in Mississippi where I come from
Down in Mississippi where I belong…”
(J.B. Lenoir)

Tomorrow’s Primary will be open season on 33 Dem delegates in MS, Dixie, USA.
6 SDs will remain on hold.
An Obi/HRC split of 20/13 would be a nice little 7-net for The Kid.

If we crack enough corn and pick enough cotton and keep buildin’ Dem levee banks mighty strong ‘n’ all, maybe Big Boss Man will break out a fresh thread fo’ us uppity “cultists”.

*pretty please with sugar on top*

The Votemaster also goes on exploring the theory “Is an Experienced President a Good President?” You can download the data and come up with your own answer.

http://www.electoral-vote.com

The only other possibility would be a sudden outburst of anti-Obamaraism from Gore, Kennedy, Edwards et al and a decsion by the DNC to pressgang the supers in to voting for Clinton. And does that look likely on current indications?
No, and the trend of the supers is all Obama’s way.