Hillary Clinton and 1960s Radicalism

Remember my post on Hillary Clinton’s vulnerability to charges of radicalism after the last Democratic debate?

Now I’m joined in that thought by former 1960s radical Tom Hayden. Here’s what he writes in The Nation:

“Hillary is blind to her own roots in the sixties…She was in Chicago for three nights during the 1968 street confrontations. She chaired the 1970 Yale law school meeting where students voted to join a national student strike again an “unconscionable expansion of a war that should never have been waged.” She was involved in the New Haven defense of Bobby Seale during his murder trial in 1970, as the lead scheduler of student monitors. She surely agreed with Yale president Kingman Brewster that a black revolutionary couldn’t get a fair trial in America. She wrote that abused children were citizens with the same rights as their parents.

Most significantly in terms of her recent attacks on Barack, after Yale law school, Hillary went to work for the left-wing Bay Area law firm of Treuhaft, Walker and Burnstein, which specialized in Black Panthers and West Coast labor leaders prosecuted for being communists. Two of the firm’s partners, according to Treuhaft, were communists and the two others ‘tolerated communists’.” 

 

 

Jeremiah Wright’s Media Tour

I caught most of Jeremiah Wright’s address to the National Press Club today. There’s no way this can be helpful to the campaign of Barack Obama. It was notable that Obama’s chief strategist, David Axelrod, called into MSNBC on-air to push back against the wire-to-wire coverage of Wright’s media tour. That’s the best evidence that the Obama campaign would love to see Wright just go away. The fact that he isn’t means damage for the campaign, both now and for November.

Roslindale Rant

The Boston Globe chose to focus on Roslindale as a prism through which to view the economic downturn. It’s a bit of an unusual choice, considering Roslindale’s not being particularly hard hit by mortgage foreclosures as are some communities on the 495 ring or in Southern New Hampshire, where I spent much time last fall. But the neighborhood is a vital, but often unnoticed, part of city life. I suppose the choice to center on Roslindale makes more sense with the recognition that several major executives at The Boston Globe, including Al Larkin and Brian McGrory, grew up in Roslindale.

Stephanie Ebbert, who’s been reporting on Boston since she came to the Globe from Pennsylvania some eight years ago, certainly nailed one major attribute of Roslindale Square, the food.

“The village is a food lover’s paradise, with ethnic markets, inviting restaurants, and a belt-straining six bakeries. Here, you can find burritos, baklava, bibimbop, pizza, paella, and pho. Casually chic restaurants mingle with unadorned postwar markets whose owners seem to see no need for upgrades.

“The storefronts of Greek markets dangle candles ribboned and bedecked with toys for Orthodox Easter, while the broad window at Fornax Bread Co., maker of artisanal breads, is draped with artfully mismatched aprons.

“Unlike most urban centers, Roslindale Village still feels completely real, dominated by locally owned businesses and traversed by people and a wide array of races and incomes.”

But overall I felt this take out had an arbitrary feel. For example, she makes a big deal out of the fact that Bob’s Pita Bakery has admittedly disappointedly stopped baking its own bread. (In fact, with the departure of the Near East Bakery on Washington Street in West Roxbury, there’s no place to get freshly baked pita, where previously there were two bakeries nearby.) But she neglects one of the most welcome recent additions to Roslindale Village, the Boston Cheese Cellar. Of course, a write-up of such a high end, sophisticated food shop, which has experienced an uptick of growth this year in the face of tough economic times, would have directly contradicted the “neighborhood in crisis” notion being promulgated in  Ebbert’s piece. 

When I drove through the Village last night, the neighborhood was buzzing with couples and families walking to dine at one of the many fine local restaurants.

Perhaps I’m too sensitive on this. I’m a neighborhood property owner as well as a new member of the Main Streets board. It’s great that the world has finally noticed what we have here. It’s too bad it’s taken a downturn to get them to take note.

PA Primary: Continued Recriminations

Overheard in a Newton cafe was a conversation between two Barack Obama supporters. The server — you might call her a barista but it wasn’t Starbucks — is recounting her experiences canvassing on behalf of Obama in Pennsylvania to a pro-Obama customer.

The young woman is talking about knocking on doors in a diverse yet heavily Republican area. She’s expressing anger at the media for characterizing Hillary Clinton’s margin of victory as a ten point victory. It’s amusing to now hear Obama supporters complaining about the press — just as I heard Clinton people doing several months ago. I’m reminded of something Ari Fleischer once told me; the press is biased…in favor of conflict.

She’s saying she’s hooked by politics, “totally addicted.”

On the plane back from Pittsburgh, I flew with a couple who had been in Pennsylvania for several weeks canvassing for Obama. Classic moonbats.

Of greater interest is that I sat next to a Massachusetts Teamster who I had seen breaking down the stage at an Obama event. He told me that the Obama forces achieved their goal, which was to keep Clinton at ten points or below. By either of those measures, Obama succeeded.

 

Pennsylvania Primary: After Action Report

I have to give great credit to Suffolk University’s David Paleologos for once again nailing the PA primary result.

This is my third experience of being in a state the night prior to an election and experiencing the tremendous enthusiasm around Barack Obama, only to see him lose. Hillary Clinton may not pull passionate supporters at rallies in such large numbers as Obama, but her people come out and vote on election day.

I’m starting to think that members of the media are mislead by these exuberant events. Obama supporters, to be sure, are the most likely to go to rallies and then to vote on election day. And, if you are a passionate Obama backer, you are likely to go to a rally to be part of the Obama experience. But few observers ever consider the people who don’t go to Obama rallies when he’s in town. The people who don’t show up aren’t necessarily Obama voters, and reporters don’t interview them .

Also to my comments about the Jewish community. According to Andrea Mitchell today on MSNBC, the Jewish community in Pennsylvania was divided on its support, as I suggested it would be.

Bill Clinton Hits Squirrel Hill JCC

Pittsburgh is unique for having the second-highest percentage of its Jewish population living within its city limits. The greatest number of those Jews live in Squirrel Hill, a graceful neighborhood of tree-lined streets, single-family homes as well as a commercial district with shops and coffee shops. I’d analogize the neighborhood to Brookline.

As I arrived at the Jewish Community Center to observe the balloting, I spotted a number of television live trucks parked alongside the building. Inside Michael Bartley, a WQED reporter, was interviewing voters for a report that was going to be fed to Lehrer News Hour.

I quickly learned that Bill Clinton had just left. The whole building, which he wasn’t permitted to enter, was buzzing about his visit.

I view the visit as an effort to solidify support among older Jewish Americans, some of whom are still put off by Barack Obama. I wouldn’t over value this because I spotted several Obama supporters at the location.

Inside I overheard several political conversations. One man did say “he speaks more like a preacher than a politician. That shows the influence Reverend Wright had on him.” But then his friend cautioned him not “to make too much of it.”

 

Counting on Casey

I spent some time talking to Robert Casey, a pro-life Democrat who is doing everything he can to get Barack Obama elected. Here’s my column in the New York Sun.

“If Barack Obama is to win Pennsylvania today or in November as the party’s eventual nominee, it will be, in part, due to the work of a Pennsylvania senator, Robert Casey Jr.

The image of Mr. Casey, standing atop a Scranton hill wearing a windbreaker and speaking in favor of Mr. Obama, is being shown in heavy rotation in western Pennsylvania for a television ad. The emphasis of the ad is on the presidential candidate’s ability to revive the economy and unite the country.

Mr. Casey, who was elected as a senator in 2006, is a pro-life Democrat. His support of Mr. Obama shows that the Illinois senator can reach beyond the support of African-Americans and white liberals. On Friday, Mr. Casey stood on stage at a rally outside Heinz Field in Pittsburgh with former members of the Pittsburgh Steelers who played in the 1970s and early 1980s, when they won four superbowls. The popularity of the team during that time made it possible for Pennsylvanians to transcend ethnic, religious, and political divides.

‘This crowd is young and old and white and black and focused on the future,’ Mr. Casey said to cheers from the audience as he stood beside legendary running back Franco Harris.’ “

PA Primary: The Expectations Game

Reporting from Pennsylvania, I attempt to survey advocates and political analysts on the expectations game in The New York Sun.

The Clinton campaign is arguing that because Barack Obama outspent it here by a 3 to 1 margin, Hillary Clinton only needs to win the state outright. Most people I talked said she needed a win in the high single digits or double digits, although a new Suffolk University poll suggests she may get that. 

Here’s a flavor of the story: “At stake today is the future of the Democratic nominating contest in which voters have been casting ballots for nearly five months, as well as the political fate of a New York senator who has been in the national limelight for 16 years. If Mr. Obama wins or loses only by a slight margin, money could dry up for Mrs. Clinton, a reality that could mean the end of her campaign. A sizeable victory for her, on the other hand, could propel her forward and represent the third major contest, after Texas and Ohio, during which Mr. Obama has failed to seal the deal with Democratic voters.

This primary, a Des Moines Register political columnist, David Yepsen, pointed out in an interview, is best thought of as analogous to the Iowa caucuses, where expectations mean more than the actual results.

Though Mrs. Clinton held a 20-point lead in some Pennsylvania polls six weeks ago, observers say she could certainly bill a 10-percentage-point win as a triumph, considering that Mr. Obama has spent millions more dollars on advertising in the state. ‘Perception-wise, if these polls hold up that would be a pretty decisive win with being outspent,’ the director of Suffolk University’s political research center, David Paleologos,  said. ‘I think it’s on to Indiana.’

A former chairman of the Democratic National Committee, Steven Grossman, who is a Clinton super-delegate, said that a big win would cut into Mr. Obama’s popular vote advantage and help with fundraising. ‘It keeps her legion of smaller contributors energized and continuing to fund her.’

A supporter of Mr. Obama who is president of New Future Communications, Jamal Simmons, said ‘if the race is closer than 10 points that will be a blow to the Clinton campaign and people will begin to call for her to lower the rhetoric, take down some of the negative ads and run on her issues, otherwise she will just start to look like a sore loser.’

‘Anything short of her Ohio victory margin [10 points] will leave Clinton in a weak position to prevent a further and more accelerated erosion of support among super delegates,’ a Brookings Institution senior fellow, Thomas Mann, said. ‘If Obama wins or loses narrowly, I suspect he will have a majority of delegates in two weeks, with his harvest in North Carolina and Indiana and a rush of support from uncommitted superdelegates.’ “

PA Primary Update: Millvale

Yesterday my reporting took me to the Western Pennsylvania community of Millvale. Millvale lies only minutes from the heart of Pittsburgh, but its distance across the Allegheny River makes this compact former industrial town feel much farther away.

The big issue in town is flooding, which has contributed to pervasive job loss. Local officials present said Senator Clinton understood the needs of a small town like this more than her opponent, Mr. Obama.

Bill Clinton showed up for a campaign event at the old St. Ann’s Church. It looks like one of the many proud old Catholic and Orthodox churches that dot this area, but is now a night club, Mr. Smalls Funhouse, owned by members of the jam band Rusted Root. The church is now a club because the area’s dwindling population has meant the consolidation of parishes.

Clinton spoke for just over ten minutes. His was a classic political stump speech. “If you’re hearing somebody say you better quit because you can’t win, it’s because they’re afraid you will win,” he said.

After the crowd poured out of the church, onlookers lined up along the hilly street adjacent to it to catch a glimpse of him leaving. He exited wearing glasses but quickly took them off when he noticed there was such a large crowd waiting. He gave them the classic Clinton, bit lip and thumbs up. Then before he got in his vehicle he crossed the street to hug 85-year-old May Mayhugh, standing out on her porch. Mayhugh who had just gotten out of the hospital.

“I have prospered under Bill Clinton, and I’ll be happy to have another Clinton in the White House,”  Millvale’s mayor, Vincent Cinski, said after Clinton had departed. 

It’s important to point out that despite the economic plight of Millvale, it has a branch of the fabulous Pittsburgh chain of diners, Pamela’s, famous for the breakfast and pancakes. But due to the observance of Passover, I have no report on this PA food find today.

 

Steelers for Obama

Last night I stopped by Heinz Field, where a group of former Steelers, among them Dwight White, Robin Cole and Franco Harris rallied along with Senator Robert Casey for Barak Obama. Dan Majors has coverage in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Harris, the Steelers legendary running back, likened supporting Obama to being a member of the four-time Super Bowl-winning 1970s team, which sadly due to unmentionable events in February still stands as the greatest pro football dynasty. “It’s wonderful to be part of a winning team once again.” Interestingly, Franco, like Obama, comes from a multi-racial background, but I couldn’t get close enough to him to ask him about it.

The Steelers, owned by Dan Rooney, who also appeared at last night’s rally, are the most important cultural institution in Western Pennsylvania. The best analogy to Boston is the Red Sox; Franco even used the phrase “Steeler Nation” several times in his remarks. Paging Dan Shaunessy.

The composition of the crowd was biracial, a large number of African-Americans, suburban whites, a few big goons in black and gold, and, as always, white hipsters, such as the t-shirted alternative band Frequency. Events like this are all about getting out Obama’s most fervent supporters and peeling white blue collar voters away from Hillary Clinton.

This diverse group was unified on two fronts — Obama and the Steelers. When the participants took the stage, the crowd took up a new Obama chant: “Here we go, Obama, here we go!” This was a play on the popular pro-Steelers chant.

The Teamsters had a large presence there as well. After the event, I met a Teamster from Arlington, MA, who proudly wore his Red Sox hat as he disassembled the stage.