Today’s Obama rally in the Meadowlands included:

- basketball and Senate hero, Bill Bradley

- one of our time’s finest artists, Robert De Niro

- the energetic Senator Ted Kennedy

- the trill of seeing Barack Obama’s stump speech in live.

But the rally was about what really matters: the American citizen. Thousands who found time on short notice to meet in the swamps of Jersey, a place with no mass transit and lots of construction that limited the parking.

Today on All Things Considered National Public Radio continued their series of interviews with likely voters after each debate. These features show the value of paying attention to focus groups instead of becoming totally enamored with polling data. Today’s report was on a group of Republican voters in Bedford New Hampshire and their reactions to last night’s debate. This group of what NPR termed as mostly “business people and fiscal conservative” was fairly undecided in who they would be voting for in little more than an month. They liked the way Huckabee and McCain performed. Some were critical of Romney and of Giuliani’s need to always have the last word, seeing it as “not presidential.”

I just did my daily check of The Huffington Post and thought I might have mistakenly clicked on The Onion. First was the headline "Jesse Jackson: Edwards Is Only Dem Candidate Not Ignoring African Americans." Below that was Rove: "Congress Pushed Bush to War in Iraq Prematurely." Now I know that Edwards deserves props for raising important issues but to ignore how one of our candidates has consistenlty talked about growing up as a minority, about being a community organizer in our much ignored inner-cities, and what we need to all do to help all of our citizen is absurd. Oh, it is Jesse. Well that explains that. Mr. "I want and will get attention." But to explain Rove? It still must be the page for The Onion. I still have this hanging in my office: http://www.theonion.com/...

Paul Krugman's New York Times column today is about the end of the K Street-Republican Machine. At the end he gives strong warning that a Democrat in the White House does not necessarily mean the end of lobbyist’s power in our nation's capitol. It does not take much effort to see which candidate is most likely to perpetuate lobbyists influence on our government.

Read the column, no longer behind the wall. Krugman’s last two paragraphs might help you begin to understand why someone like me, who has been coming to Daily Kos for over four years because I saw it as a progressive Democratic site, is amazed that there are people here on Kos who support the current front-runner for the Democratic nomination for President.

http://www.nytimes.com/...

For over 25 years the American news media has by and large treated presidential campaigns as horse races. Nightline did it again tonight. Saying Obama is "losing traction" and Clinton is solidifying her lead. They compared it to past campaigns (Bill Bradley, Howard Dean) and said it looks to be the same again. Of course they ended the report by saying it is "still too early." So then why do the report?

Why did I bother to watch? Well, I was still excited by a great Daily Show and could not get to sleep.

The New York Times has an interesting video analysis of Obama addressing the "experience" issue. They compare his argument from this past February to the one he made on the stump this week. You can see that he has become a much better stump speaker but you can also see that his argument is more nuanced. Props should be given to the NY Times for doing a bit more than horse race reporting.
http://www.nytimes.com/ and go to the Video link.

For the first time since Bill Clinton and Al Gore did it in 1992 a presidential candidate is on the cover of GQ. As someone with little interest in fashion (just ask my wife) I didn't think this was a big deal. I guess it does because it reinforces Obama's image as a stylish politician. But for me it was the substance of the article. It is a very interesting read. The reporter, Ryan Lizza, has been following Obama for a long time and has some interesting analysis. He explores how different this campaign is and what Obama is trying to do to politics. I suggest you read the entire thing at http://men.style.com/...  but here is an interesting excerpt after the break

For me "Crunch Time" when our nation was deciding one of the most important issues a nation can ever deal with. "Crunch Time" was the September 23, 2002 when Al Gore made his courageous and forcefull speech to the Commonwealth Club of California. http://www.gwu.edu/...  Crunch time was when the former govenor of Vermont demanded that our party stand up to a president who was going to start a war against a nation that did not attack us. Crunch time was when a state senator in Illinois looking to run for US senator was willing to speak up and protest the coming war www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhpKmQCCwB8  

Finally, "Crunch Time" was February 15, 2003 http://en.wikipedia.org/...   More on my "Crunch Time"

Yesterday Bergman and today Antonioni. Beautiful artists in the most important art form of the last 100 years.

I had a letter published in today's Star Ledger. It is New Jersey's largest circulation newspaper. The letter was in response to one of their columnists who continues to repeat the "Obama not experienced enough" meme. Letter and link after the break:

I just heard one of the truely great Americans on NPR: John Lewis.  They played part of his speech from the floor of the House where he asked, "How many more Americans need to die for this war? Not one more!"

Representative Lewis, like many of us, tried to stop this war before it started. He failed but he did not give up. Bless John Lewis.

If you are looking for a book to read this summer try Lewis' autobiography Walking With the Wind. A wonderful read. He has lived American history.

Arianna Huffington has very good post about Senator Clinton on the Today Show yesterday. Her point is that Clinton is trying to rewrite history concerning the differences between Obama and herself. What struck me was the video running behind Senator Clinton as she spoke. It is children in a classroom. I have been outraged by the almost seven years of Bush II/Rove backgrounds that we see whenever the boy king is on the stage. You know, "Building a Stonger America," "Creating Jobs," War=Peace," (wait that was that great book I read in high school.) But this takes the cake. Children in school! A video! No more years of this!

See for yourself: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...

If you've seen the news you know that Gen. David Petraeus said that Iraq will require “an enormous commitment” over time by the United States. This is insanity. We are bankrupting our nation.  Many of us warned that this war was a disaster. We called and emailed our representatives. We marched. We held vigils. I did all of these things. Now I say get out or bring back the draft. If this Administration, the Republicans, and the media refuse to see the truth they we must demand the truth from them. The ONLY chance they have to "win" is to, as Jon Stewart said the other evening, send in 350,000 troops. That is a war. That is the only chance they have. They must be held to account. If they don't send in the troops THEY have lost the war. Senator Reid was only telling the truth.

She goes from a column about John Edward's haircut (the latest Rethug and media non-story) to today's column on the the best poltical wife outside of Elizabeth Edwards. Michelle Obama, one of the most impressive women I have read about recently, is turned into an emasculating wife. Enough said. No reason for anyone to read the column. Just a sad example of the work of Ms. Dowd

The only thing that makes me feel good about this is the Dowd column from about two months ago where Obama said this is not a game, that peoples lives are at stake. One of the many reasons I love Senator Obama.

John Lennon was assassinated by a man who wanted to be forever associated with that wonderful artist. That is why I never speak that person's name. That is why I turn off the television whenever I hear his name. No murderer should ever be given the prize that he is looking for. That is what is so upsetting about decisions by those who control and work in the media over these past 24 hours. It is an absolute disgrace that this very disturbed and evil young man is getting his wish. All I can do is speak out and turn the channel. I hope you do the same.

Friedman drives me crazy because sometimes he is so dead on correct on a subject while other times he is deadly wrong. I have just about given up on him over the last five years for his trust in a man and an administration that many of us knew could never be trusted. But I also know that Friedman can be right, such as he was in 2001 and as he is in some of his analysis in Wednesday's column.

A number of years ago Oprah had a discussion about race on her show. She made a profound observation about whites when she said, “I don’t need white people to get “It.” I just need white people to admit that there is an “It” to get.” As a white man who has been in an interracial marriage for over 28 years, who has two bi-racial children, who has very close African American friends, and who has been working at a HBCU for almost a year, I will never get “It.” I will never know what it is like to have the majority of my fellow Americans look at me and first see race. I will never know what it is like to know that my not so distant relatives were treated as property. When a white celebrity commits a rape or murder or a white politician gets caught taking a bribe I will never have to experience the fact of that person being seen first as a white person, a white person who has a relationship with all the other people of his race. This list could go on and on.

My main criticisms of Maureen Dowd are that she sees politics as both a game and an opportunity show how clever she is. No matter how important the issue or election, the essential thing is to be witty. This prevented her from viewing the 2000 election for what it was: vital contest between an intelligent and experienced leader and the most intellectually incurious person to ever run for our highest office.

So I found the following exchange (after the break) between Senator Obama’s and Ms. Dowd utterly refreshing. (Excerted from this past Saturday's New York Times.)