Re: Top 10 Reasons Obama Defeated Clinton for the Democratic Nomination

Re: Top 10 Reasons Obama Defeated Clinton for the Democratic Nomination

Robert Creamer,

You are 100% correct.

The better team won.

Senator Hillary Clinton took many things for granted.
Advisers and strategists who are willing to listen, but unwilling to learn, surround her.
She is like a film director with a bad casting director and ended up with a bad cast that ruined her first feature.

Senator Barack Obama actually exploited the contrasts between him and Senator Hillary Clinton to use her popularity to his political advantage.

She fell off her high horse while she was still celebrating her Super Tuesday victories.
Only a miracle or a conspiracy of the universe can make her the Democratic nominee.Anything is possible in politics.

Newt Gingrich: A Conservative Declaration of Independence and the Democrats' Dilemma

Newt Gingrich

A Conservative Declaration of Independence and the Democrats' Dilemma

'If We Want to Get Competitive, We Had Better Change, and We Had Better Change Now'
The Coming Democratic Train Wreck
Compounding the Democrats' Dilemma: The Super (Politician) Delegates
The Answer: Hold New Primaries in Michigan and Florida
For Those Who Still Doubt: The Director of National Intelligence Speaks
A Success Story of Real Change
House Republicans Seize the Moment of Change
E-mail Your Friends About Real Change

This weekend, I had the opportunity to address CPAC -- the Conservative Political Action Conference. This is the same group to which Ronald Reagan delivered his historic "bold colors, not pale pastels" speech in 1975, sparking a new center-right coalition that would become the ground troops of the Reagan Revolution.
In my speech, I called for a conservative "declaration of independence" from the Republican Party.
By a "declaration of independence" I don't mean a third party. I mean a renewed willingness among center-right Americans to criticize Republicans when they are wrong as vigorously as we criticize Democrats when they are wrong. And I mean a reinvigoration of the grassroots to focus on all 513,000 elected officials in our country, not just those in Washington.

I told the conservatives at CPAC that we need to embrace the movement for change in America and make it our own. As I argue in my new book, Real Change: From the World that Fails to the World that Works, all change is not equal. We need the right changes, not the wrong changes.
You can watch and read my whole speech here.

'If We Want to Get Competitive, We Had Better Change, and We Had Better Change Now'
There's one more point I touched on in my CPAC speech that points to a real challenge for Republicans in November.

Last week, on Super Tuesday, 14.6 million Democrats turned out to vote versus only 8.3 million for the GOP. A similar thing happened over the weekend in the Washington and Louisiana contests. This Democratic advantage in turnout is the continuation of a troubling pattern: More energy, more votes and more money are being poured into the Democratic contest than the Republican race.

As I told my audience at CPAC, "There is something big happening in this country. We don't understand it, we're not responding to it, and we're currently not competitive. And if we want to get to competitive, we had better change, and we had better change now."

The Coming Democratic Train Wreck
But the Republicans aren't alone in facing challenges this election year.
Remember when the Michigan and Florida Democratic parties moved their primaries up in the calendar in violation of the Democratic national party rules? The Democratic Party bosses decided to punish them by refusing to seat -- or count -- their delegates at the party's national convention in August. At the time, it seemed like a good move, since everyone assumed that the Michigan and Florida delegates wouldn't really matter in the nomination battle. The conventional wisdom then was that one Democratic candidate would emerge early in the contest and arrive at the convention with a comfortable margin of delegates for the nomination.
So much for the conventional wisdom.

Because of the troubles being experienced by the campaign of Sen. Hillary Clinton, it appears more and more likely that the Democrats' fight for their presidential nominee will go all the way to their convention in Denver in late August.

So here's the Democrats' dilemma: If the delegate count of both campaigns is close by the time the convention rolls around, Florida and Michigan's combined 366 delegates will suddenly become very relevant.

Compounding the Democrats' Dilemma: The Super (Politician) Delegates
Compounding the Democrats' dilemma is the existence of 796 so-called "super delegates."
I call these delegates (who are technically uncommitted and can decide to vote for either candidate) "politician delegates" because that's in fact who they are: Democratic insiders whose purpose is to put down insurgent campaigns and protect the interests of Democratic politics as usual.

Sen. Clinton is mounting a full court press for the politician delegates. But any effort by either campaign to win with these party insiders what they can't win with the voting public should concern all of us.

Not counting the votes of Democrats in Michigan and Florida and allowing party insiders to choose the party's nominee has the potential to ignite civil war in the Democratic Party.
Much worse, it will produce a tainted Democratic presidential candidate and de-legitimize the election itself.

The Answer: Hold New Primaries in Michigan and Florida
Democrats know they need to resolve the dilemma before their August convention. The question is: How?
Giving the Michigan and Florida delegates to Sen. Clinton -- particularly in light of reports that she bent the Democratic Party rules against campaigning in both states -- is a recipe for chaos.
On the other hand, leaving the Florida and Michigan delegates unseated runs the risk for the Democrats of alienating two big states they want and need to win in November.
The answer for the integrity of the process is to hold the Michigan and Florida primaries again.
The voters -- not the party insiders -- have the moral authority to choose the nominee. The voters should get that chance.

For Those Who Still Doubt: The Director of National Intelligence Speaks
You may have missed it in all the coverage of Super Tuesday, but Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell gave his annual national security threat assessment to the Senate Intelligence Committee last week.

For anyone who still doubts that the United States and our allies are in a fight for our very existence, Director McConnell's testimony should put those doubts to rest.

Here's part of what he said (emphasis mine) :
Al Qaeda is improving the last key aspect of its ability to attack the U.S.: the identification, training, and positioning of operatives for an attack in the Homeland. While increased security measures at home and abroad have caused al Qaeda to view the West, especially the U.S., as a harder target, we have seen an influx of new Western recruits into the tribal areas since mid-2006. We assess that al Qaeda's Homeland plotting is likely to continue to focus on prominent political, economic, and infrastructure targets designed to produce mass casualties, visually dramatic destruction, significant economic aftershocks, and/or fear among the population.

We judge use of a conventional explosive to be the most probable al Qaeda attack scenario because the group is proficient with conventional small arms and improvised explosive devices and is innovative in creating capabilities and overcoming security obstacles. That said, al Qaeda and other terrorist groups are attempting to acquire chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear weapons and materials (CBRN). We assess al Qaeda will continue to try to acquire and employ these weapons and materials -- some chemical and radiological materials and crude weapons designs are easily accessible, in our judgment.

Read his entire testimony here.

A Success Story of Real Change
Last week, I reported to you about the beginnings of a movement for real change. The House Republicans are leading an all-out fight to end the corrupt, undemocratic practice of congressional pork-barrel earmarks.

House Republicans are calling for an immediate moratorium on pork-barrel spending. But earmarks can't stop without the cooperation of Democrats. So last week, the House Republicans forced a vote on a GOP bill to immediately halt earmarks and establish a bipartisan committee to fix Washington spending. All Republicans supported the bill, but 204 Democrats voted against it and the measure failed.

That's the bad news. The good news is that House Republicans are vowing to keep up the fight. Here's what Minority Leader John Boehner (R.-Ohio) had to say following the Democrats' rejection of the reform:
"Washington is broken, and it will never be fixed until the earmarks stop and fundamental reform begins. Today's vote is not the end of the earmark reform fight. Rather, it is just the beginning. House Republicans will continue to force votes on this issue until the earmark process is brought to an immediate halt, and we hope the majority eventually joins us."

House Republicans Seize the Moment of Change
I write in Real Change that one of the reasons Republicans failed to make the Reagan and Contract With America revolutions permanent is that Republicans, especially in the House, haven't been able to get over their minority party mindset. They've been too complacent and too timid.
I write:
"Those who want Republicans to become a natural governing majority have to come to grips with how deep and serious the problem is: Republicans must be capable of seizing the moment of change and making it permanent by implementing real change."
I'm happy to report that House Republicans, led by John Boehner, have seized this moment of real change with their battle to eliminate earmarks.

To learn more about this worthy fight, please visit the House Republicans new website dedicated to earmark reform at earmarkreform.house.gov.

Your friend,
Newt Gingrich

P.S. -- E-mail Your Friends About Real Change. My most sincere thanks to all of you who have helped make Real Change such a success. As I write this, Real Change is set to be announced as the No. 3 non-fiction book on the New York Times bestseller list (for February 17) and No. 10 on Amazon.com's non-fiction list. If you haven't yet purchased the book, you can do so here. And for those of you who have, thank you, and there's one more thing you can do. Use your own e-mail lists to tell your friends about Real Change. You can send them to newt.org/realchange where there are all sorts of videos, tools and sneak peaks to convince them to join the movement to transform American, from Washington to Sacramento and everywhere in between.

Barack Obama: The New Face of America and other Realities

The euphoria over the presidential candidacy of Senator Barack Obama in the American presidential race for the Oval Office is now the daily staple of the American news media. Barack Obama sells more newspapers and magazines and atttracts more visitors online. Nobody wants to be left out of the Obamania.


I have read most of the news reports, features and commentaries on the political phenomenon of Barack Obama and this is my critical analysis of this political impressionist, who is the latest poster boy of American Democracy since Bill Clinton in the early 1990s.

Barack Obama's political ambition is driven by sheer intellectual "grit and wit".

I have separated the commonsense from the common nonsense, because of the ignorance and gullibility of most people who have joined the personality cult in millions.
Hello!
Let us separate the fantasy from the reality.

Who is really Barack Obama?
Senator Barack Obama is the Hawaiian born son of a black African student, Barack Obama, Sr, from Kenya and a white American woman Ann Dunham from Kansas. You can read the rest of his melodramatic story in his autobiography, "Dreams from My Father" and his book of political thoughts and other opinions, "The Audacity of Hope".
Barack Obama became an American celebrity overnight when he made headlines as the first African American Editor of the Harvard Law Review in 1990.


"Any idiot can run for president."
~ Ann Coulter

Ann Coulter said, Mitt Romney was more likely to be sworn in as the next President of America than Barack Hussein Obama, but that was before Mitt Romney gave up after losing to Senator John McCain in the Super Tuesday primaries and caucuses on February 5, 2008.

Ann Coulter said, Barack Obama has locked up Hollywood money, but that was before Hillary Clinton trounced Barack Obama in California to win the biggest prize of Super Tuesday. The uproar over the endorsements of superstars Oprah Winfrey, Senator Edward Kennedy, Caroline Kennedy, California’s first lady Maria Shriver, Robert De Niro and other Hollywood superstars could not stop Hillary Clinton from winning the approval of the majority of voters.

You have to read Ann Coulter’s political satire of Barack Obama in “Jonathan Livingston Obama” or her New York Times bestseller "If Democrats Had Any Brains, They'd Be Republicans" anytime you are bored.

On Barack Obama’s “Boneheaded” Estate Deal with Antoin “Tony” Rezko, the convicted Chicago slum Landlord.
I have read all the details of the complicated relationship and I have my conclusion in a single sentence.
If the 1992 Whitewater estate scandal could not stop the Clintons, then the Antoin “Tony” Rezko scandal cannot stop the Obamas.

Barack Obama has explained his non-committal or neutral votes in the Illinois Senate and the US Senate and his press statements have put the issues raised to rest. The Planned Parenthood has addressed his vote against the Induced Infant Liability Act in the Illinois Senate in 2002 and Obama’s moral resolution that the decision on the choice to save any unborn baby that survived an abortion should be left to the woman is quite rational.

On whether America is ready for a non-white President?
Of course.
Retired General Colin Powell, the former US Secretary of State would have become the first African American President of America in 1996 if he wanted to, but he declined and President Bill Clinton had his second term. Majority of Americans, regardless of their color, class or creed, are ready to elect the first African American President of the United States, so racism cannot stop Barack Obama, except the majority of American women who are supporting Hillary Clinton for President.

My criticism of Barack Obama is on his hypocritical personality in contrast to the open book personality of Hillary Clinton.

‘I opposed DOMA (Defense of Marriage Act) in 1996. It should be repealed, and I will vote for its repeal on the Senate floor. I will also oppose any proposal to amend the U.S. Constitution to ban gays and lesbians from marrying.
~ Senator Barack Obama in a 2004 letter to the Windy City Times, a publication for Chicago Gay Community to support his election into the US Senate and in 2006, Barack Obama voted against the Federal Marriage Amendment.

How can someone who claims to be a baptized Christian support gay marriage and the adoption of children by gay couples?

No true Christian will oppose the DOMA and oppose the amendment to ban gays and lesbians from marrying, except he is insane. But Barack Obama had to support gay marriage and gay couples adopting children, because of his desperation to win the votes of gays and lesbians to become the next President of America.

He said Hillary Clinton will say anything and change nothing to have her way, but Barack Obama is actually the one guilty of such double standards.



From "Barack Obama: The New Face of America and other Realities" by Orikinla Osinachi, to released in April, 2008.

Hillary Clinton Raises $6 Million in 72 Hours

The Hillary Clinton Camp has raised $6 million in 72 hours for her presidential campaign to exceed the target of $3 million set after her superlative Super Tuesday victories in New York, New Jersey, California, Massachusetts and other states. She beat Barack Obama to the biggest prize of California and that provoked him to raise over $7 million to boost his presidential campaign in the quest for the presidential nomination of the Democratic Party. Barack Obama won more states, but Hillary Clinton won more votes and more delegates. She has won more votes than Barack Obama since she bounced back after losing the Iowa Caucuses to him by 8%. She defeated him in the New Hampshire Primary and Nevada Caucuses and she was the first choice of most voters in the No-Contest Democratic Primaries in Michigan and Florida. Barack Obama defeated her in the South Carolina Primary before the Super Tuesday Primaries and Caucuses in 22 states. The contest for the Democratic presidential nomination continues with more primaries and caucuses in about 10 states.

Here is the latest mail sent to all HillRaisers and other supporters of Hillary Clinton for President. Read and kindly join us.

Dear Orikinla,

Now THAT is what I call two good days.

Not only did we celebrate huge victories for Hillary all over the country on Super Tuesday, but you matched our success with a breathtaking show of support.

You exceeded our $3 million goal in less than 24 hours. In fact, we've already hit FOUR MILLION DOLLARS! Incredible! And so far, more than 35,000 people -- 35,000! -- have made online contributions.

Your response has been so amazing that we are doubling our goal: $6 million in 72 hours.

I'm simply awed to see everyone stepping up for Hillary. And boy did you pick a good time to do it! We poured our heart, our soul, and -- you better believe -- tens of millions of dollars into February 5. Now it's time to build our resources back up for what we know will be a long and hard-fought contest.

If you've been considering whether or not to give, Hillary needs you right now. The next contests for the nomination are just days away.

Contribute now to help us reach $6 million by midnight Friday.

We have the best candidate. We have the best strategy. All we need to win are the resources to put our plan into place. And we are depending on you.

You accomplished something incredible in the last 24 hours -- $4 million contributed and 35,000 online donations. We know you can sustain our campaign when we need you the most.

Let's reach a new milestone for Hillary -- help us raise $6 million by midnight Friday.

Contribute today to help us reach our new goal.

I'm so proud to work for someone with Hillary's strength and character. Watching her on stage Tuesday night made me more proud than ever to be a part of this historic campaign.

I know you feel the same way, and I speak for her when I tell you we are so grateful to have you on our side.

Sincerely,


Patti Solis Doyle
Campaign Manager
Hillary Clinton for President


JOIN US AND CONTRIBUTE.

American Voters Say Hillary Clinton Will Make The Best Commander in Chief of the U.S. Armed Forces

From the 6 p.m. ET hour of MSNBC's February 5 primary coverage:

HOLT: With the field of Democratic candidates reduced to two, we asked primary voters, "Who would make the best commander in chief of the U.S. armed forces?" And here, it was Hillary Clinton who was the clear favorite. The first woman candidate with a serious shot at winning the presidency beat out her male rival -- look at these numbers -- 50 percent to 35 percent. Keep in mind, this at a time the nation is fighting on two fronts.

Hillary Clinton Wins More Delegates in Super Tuesday, While Barack Obama Wins More States

Photo Credit: FOX News

Senator Hillary Clinton has won more delegates than Senator Barack Obama in the Super Tuesday Democratic primaries and caucuses while Senator John McCain won most of the states and delegates of the Republican Super Tuesday primaries.

DEMOCRATS

Hillary Clinton: Arizona, Arkansas, California, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma, Tennessee

Barack Obama: Alaska, Alabama, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, North Dakota, Utah

REPUBLICANS

John McCain: Arizona, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma

Mitt Romney: Alaska, Colorado, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota, Utah

Mike Huckabee: Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Tennessee, West Virginia


STATE BY STATE

Alabama: Barack Obama, Mike Huckabee

Alaska: Barack Obama, Mitt Romney

Arizona: Hillary Clinton, John McCain

Arkansas: Hillary Clinton, Mike Huckabee

California: Hillary Clinton, John McCain

Colorado: Barack Obama, Mitt Romney

Connecticut: Barack Obama, John McCain

Delaware: Barack Obama, John McCain

Georgia: Barack Obama, Mike Huckabee

Idaho (D): Barack Obama

Illinois: Barack Obama, John McCain

Kansas (D): Barack Obama

Massachusetts: Hillary Clinton, Mitt Romney

Minnesota: Barack Obama, Mitt Romney

Missouri: Barack Obama, John McCain

Montana (R): Mitt Romney

New Jersey: Hillary Clinton, John McCain

New Mexico: TBD

New York: Hillary Clinton, John McCain

North Dakota: Barack Obama, Mitt Romney

Oklahoma: Hillary Clinton, John McCain

Tennessee: Hillary Clinton, Mike Huckabee

Utah: Barack Obama, Mitt Romney

West Virginia (R): Mike Huckabee

FROM FOX NEWS SUPER TUESDAY WINS BY CANDIDATES AND STATES

Click here for the full report.

STOP PRESS:
I sympathize with the bereaved families of the over 20 people killed by catastrophic
tornadoes and thunderstorms across Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky and Mississippi, last night.

Voices Across America

Dear Orikinla,


Come Monday night, we'll be only hours away from millions of people in 22 states heading out to make their voices heard.

So what I want to do Monday night is the kind of campaigning I love the most -- talking with people, listening to their questions, and sharing our hopes and dreams for America's future.

Will you be a part of this special opportunity to share ideas with people all across the country?

We're planning our Voices Across America town hall meeting. This event -- one of the biggest town hall meetings America has ever seen -- will be broadcast live Monday night on Hallmark Channel starting at 9 p.m. EST. Or you can watch it live on
HillaryClinton.com.

I really hope you'll tune in -- and, if you can, get your friends and family to join you. But there's an even more immediate way you can help. Take a moment to send me the question you'd most like to ask me at this crucial time in our campaign.

I'll be taking questions from audience members in New York and in 21 other locations in states that will be voting the following day. We'll all be connected by satellite, and I'll take questions from online supporters like you.

Better still, we'll choose one person who submits a question online to come out to New York and ask their question in person.

I hope you'll join me Monday night at 9 p.m. EST either by watching on Hallmark Channel or on HillaryClinton.com.

And if you send me your question today, who knows, you might just get to join me in New York!

Click here to send me your question.

We've made listening and learning a big part of our campaign from the very beginning. So I'm really excited about what we have planned for Monday night. It will be a great evening of conversation followed by a great day of victory.

Thanks so much for all you are doing. This is a remarkable experience we are going through and I'm so glad you're a part of it.

All the best,

Hillary Rodham Clinton

Watch Super Tuesday Primary News Coverage 24/7

Super Tuesday Primary Polls


Delegates

Democrats
Clinton 230 Obama 152 Needed: 2025

Republicans
McCain 97 Romney 74
Huckabee 29 Paul 6 Needed: 1191

Click here for the details of all the polls in all the states.

Barack Obama Wins South Carolina Primary by A Landslide

Senator Barack Obama has won the South Carolina Primary by overwhelming votes in a state with majority of African American voters.

Senator Barack Obama got 55% of the total votes cast.Senator Hillary came third with 27% of the votes and former Senator John Edwards had 18% of the votes.



This was last poll for the Democrats before Super Tuesday on 5 February, when over 24 states will vote in primary contests.

IOWA HAS DONE IT AGAIN!

Presidential front runners, Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama

IOWA HAS DONE IT AGAIN!

Yes. Iowa has goofed again.

The Iowa Caucuses have chosen two presidential candidates that even heaven knows will not win the nominations of their respective parties, because neither Barack Obama nor Mike Huckabee has what it takes to win the nominations and none of them will contest in the presidential election on November 4, 2008..

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton is still the Democratic Presidential Candidate who will be the flag bearer of the Democratic Party on November 4, 2008.Senator Barack Obama and former Senator John Edwards would be swept away by the Tsunami Tuesday primaries on February 5, 2008.

Super Tuesday typically represents a Presidential candidate's first test of
national electabilityIn 1992, after losing earlier primaries, Democrat Bill
Clinton emerged as a candidate "back from the dead" when he convincingly won a
number of Southern primaries on Super Tuesday. Clinton ultimately went on to win
the Democratic nomination and the presidency.Wikipedia

Let us wait for the big picture after Super Tuesday.I am still standing by Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton for President.

Forward ever, backward never!

The Iowa Electronic Markets at the University of Iowa has predicted that the Democratic nominee will beat the Republican in the November presidential election.

The results so far showed that even though Barack Obama has won the Iowa caucuses, Hillary Clinton is still going to be the Democratic nominee.

This is a confirmation of my analytical summation that winning Iowa does not guarantee Barack Obama or John Edwards the nomination. Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton will prevail all the way to the White House as the next President of the United States of America.