My old friend Bud Ferillo, an Obama supporter (and coiner of "Corridor of Shame") who was quoted in this Bob Herbert column, has shared with me a note he sent to David Broder, whom he says he has "known pleasantly for years":
Dear David:
Long time no hear. Hope you are well.
I read your piece on South Carolina and agree that this is a must win state for Obama who I am supporting enthusiastically. I think the black vote is breaking heavily for him and should provide a double digit win, even though Bill Clinton will be here most of the week. Obama is stumping the state solidly. You’d think he was running for Governor of SC with four appearances a day set through Thursday. Hillary has left until Friday. I expect they’ll spin SC as a race based vote and continue that labeling to discount the results.
Early voting here in Richland County (seniors over 65 can vote 30 days prior to a primary or election and absentee voting is easily done) is extremely heavy. I stood in a line for 75 minutes to cast my ballot today and was one of very few whites to do so. Also standing in line for an hour was 85 year old Federal Judge Matthew Perry: we agreed that voting in SC is still an arduous task!
My reason for writing, other than to say hello, is to address the charge that Obama does not have the experience to be president.
I sat down today – with the knowledge that he has 8 years of elected office in the Illinois legislature and three years in the US Senate for 11 years in total years in elected office – and Wikipedia’ed (new verb) earlier presidents.
My report is this and I am somewhat surprised that no one has mentioned this: Obama has more time in elected office than the following individuals before they were elected President: George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln ( only 2 years in the US House), Woodrow Wilson, Warren Harding, Calvin Coolidge, Herbert Hoover, Franklin D.Roosevelt, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush. (I quit my research with these but there are probably more US Presidents who meet the experience test than those I have listed.) And … to top it off … more time in elected office than Hillary Clinton and John Edwards.
Is this not worth some attention? What the hell am I missing?Hale to the Redskins!
Bud/
I think Bud meant "hail to the Redskins" there. And I don’t so much mind him running down Thomas Jefferson like that, but I’m a John Adams man from way back. I think we have to consider the crucial job he did representing our nation in both Paris and London during the Revolution. Sort of counts for more than routine elective service, I’d say.
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The Clintons’ charge of lack of experience against Obama is laughable unless they are hinting that ole Bill will be there to steady Hilary’s hand on the tiller of the ship of state, but maybe they do in fact want to convey the notion that this will be Bill’s third term. Candidate Clinton has her time in the Senate, but that’s about all that counts.
Hale to Mike, he makes a good point. Clintonians must think a vote for Hill is a vote for Bill.
A lot think that Bill’s presidency was also Hillary’s presidency-in-waiting.
Brad, I am a fan of both Adams and Jefferson and I agree their work on the founding document of the nation (time as VP, each of them) Jeffersons time in France representing the U.S. also – not to mention his work writing Virginia’s declaration of Independence as well as time as governor there were worthwhile. All three of the first men listed had a tremendous amount of experience. All elected offices may not be the same either (w/30 years as mayor of pough-dunkville is one ready to be pres, more so than a 1 term gov. of Michigan?).
None the less I actually tend to agree storngly with the point that Hillary has little claim to the mantle of “most expereienced.” Is Jenny Sanford any more likely to be ready to be Gov. than she was when Mark Started? Or better still is the average attorney’s spouse any likely to better represent you in court than than any one else because they are married to an attorney? Plumber’s spouse to fix your sink? Why the President’s spouse, is the job any LESS intratcate than any other skill?
Also for those who have made the mistake the first commenter here notes, that a vote for Hill is a vote for Bill, I think they will be as sadly mistaken as those who thought a vote for G. W. Bush was like a vote for G.H.W.Bush, I wrote about that phenomenon here some time ago.
http://notverybright.wordpress.com/2007/06/13/new-presidential-math-bush-%e2%89%a0-bush-and-clinton-%e2%89%a0-clinton/
I’ve done similar research and sent it to the Obama campaign. I moved from Florida, to Los Angeles in 2006, to pursue a career in screenwriting. I am always proud to be a southerner (who happens to be african-american). Your observations about Barack Obama and the Clintons, make me even prouder to be a southerner. Most southerners are polite, even when others think they’re being slick. But common sense has prevailed. People throughout the country see what you have seen. People tease my son and I for being southern, but we never allow ourselves to be diminished.
I have been contacting my friends in Florida, and they have been contacting their friends in other states. I can tell you after this election Bill Clinton will never have the kind of support in the africa-american community he once enjoyed.
I may get a chance to write about the election for th BBC. Wouldn’t that be a flip?! I miss the south!.
thanks,
gloria
The great sadness in all of this, is that we have good strong candidates with passion and vision in the Democratic Party that are spending too much time and energy ripping each other to shreds, while the Republicans sit back and enjoy the madness of it all. I was hoping the Democrats had enough sense between them to be respectfully civil and focus on reclaiming the White House in the next election…Looks like the Republicans are not the only ones who believe in the ancient strategy of divide and conquer.
I guess the Clinton/Obama ticket is out of the question!
Watch for another round of “poor Hillary” as her campaign descends from sorry to just plain tragic.
Billary may try to spin a major loss in SC, but there’s no way to seriously discount it given our demographics and Bill’s past showings. They’ve blown it for good this time. Blacks should rightfully feel betrayed by their low blows on Obama. Team Clinton has somehow managed to taint the good name of “experience.” And their attempts to adopt Obama-like character come across as just plain pathetic. … I still say it’s because they’re not plausible as real people, much less trustworthy leaders.
Nothing Hillary says in Greenville can turn the tide now, even if she turns on the tears again. It’s Obama’s nomination to lose from here on out, and he hasn’t made many mistakes yet.
South Carolina being the birthplace of John Edwards, I feel that The State has done his campaign a disservice in writing off his 2008 effort to some kind of nebulous “anger” when in fact the former North Carolina senator has a boatload of positions involving important mainstream issues which merited editorial discussion and analysis in the daily newspaper serving the South Carolina state capital.
The State could be for Edwards, against him or neutral with respect to his candidacy, but he brings forward to the 21st Century some of the basic political principles and philosophical commitments rooted in Thomas Jefferson’s 19th Century “republicanism” and Woodrow Wilson’s 20th Century progressivism which deserve a serious hearing and evaluation in our major newspapers in this part of the South.
Are newspapers nowadays just content to watch the tides come in and go out at the ocean’s edge in hopes some bottle filled with campaign fodder will wash up on shore? Yes, the other Democratic candidates are really making news and showing strong support in 2008, but Edwards’ program for the country has been overlooked especially in McClatchy’s Charlotte and Columbia newspapers, which historically have been guardians of the particular popular wisdom and practical insights of folks in the Carolinas.
We sure haven’t gotten much of a foreign policy discussion other than the immediate region around Iraq, and this country needs to take measures to keep up with emerging economic trends in the European market, Asia and Latin America. This used to be a strong suit for Southern politics and journalism in presidential campaign seasons.
But as The State’s political pages are showing us, some of the more celebrated political science experts in Virginia and Georgia are pushing the view that there’s not much being offered in the way of substantive issues by the Carolinas’ own John Edwards.
Here’s hoping the voters of the Palmetto State will recognize the folly of such a narrow view of an important Southern presidential primary in the Democratic Party and will reflect on the considerable qualifications and platform strengths of the South and North Carolinian seeking the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination in 2008.
evan andersen
this guy is nuts. brilliant people take less time to understand their experiences and therefore I can understand why it is taking Obama so long. evan andersen thinks that in the end, you cannot compare the two because the presidents that came before us really sacrifised. to think that obama even is on the same par is rediculous, a man with no war experience or practical business experience. just an attorney who expects things to be handed to him. buck up all of you.
evan andersen
Barack Obama overcame a difficult childhood to reach the pinnacle of our education system, graduating Magna Cum Laude from Harvard and President of the Harvard Law Review. Since then he has been a public servant all of his adult life and has done nothing but help other people and unlike most has been successful at it.
The Clintons are running a filthy and despicable campaign with smearmails, push-polling and public attacks on Obama’s character. They twist and distort his record and when he tries to unravel their distortion, they pounce on him for not giving a simple answer. They have pulled Obama down into the mud with them and they seem to be enjoying it. God help us all.
What if…at this stage in the campaign…if we found out that Barack Obama was accused of harassing just one young lady…of exposing himself in a Columbia hotel or groping a lady in the Illinois Legislature. What if one young intern had alleged a longstanding affair. Would he have a chance? Of course not….he’d be laughed off the ballot. But, we closely listen to a man who – once he achieved the most powerful position in the world – was so preoccupied with women (over his job) that he got entangled into the biggest sexual scandal the White House has ever seen? So, we listen to him???????? Hasn’t the content of Barack’s character shown itself to be far, far, far superior to the Clintons?
It is amazing SC was not much interest to anyone until now because there is a African American running for president and now the black is important.Was the black vote not important in the last primary, where there was low turn out for African Americans. Is SC being used and played just because of race? Where will SC be in the minds of the candidates after Saturday? When Obama came to speak at William Brice along with Oprah most people there were not there for Obama and some actual admitted that on camera. This election should not be about race or gender but since the media has put it out there many have grab hold and running with it. On MLK everyone talked about the great works Martin Luther King did but when we vote for a candidate just because of the color of their skin we doing the same thing Dr. King fought so hard against. When I hear African Americans discussing the candidates the conversation is 80% of what they heard in the media and 10% from people. We need to exercise our right to vote in a responsible manner not running off emotions, there was too much African American blood shed. I do hope the NAACP and other African American organizations in SC put a strong effort to encourage African Americans to vote when it is time for state elections and local elections. I wonder how mnay African Americans know who was elected to their school board? Sometimes before we try to change a nation we need to try in our own backyard.
To understand what the Clintons are trying to do to Obama all you have to do is harken back to the words of Justice Thomas. ” All this is is a high tech lynchin of an uppity black.” Blacks are suppose to support the party not try and run it.
it is entriguing that we look back to our former presidents and try and compare them. there is not much really in trying to do this as events have shaped their sucessess. I think evan andersen is right in all of his assumptions. i think evan andersen should run for president because you never know what new occurances will happen and how evan andersen could help.
audrey
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