Ground Game Indiana

Ground Game has officially arrived in Indiana as Senator Clinton claimed another battleground win in Pennsylvania after victories in Ohio and Florida.

Senator Obama has struck the first blow with his post-partisan approach to politics. The postcard below showed up in the mailboxes of Indiana Democrats today.

A trained political eye might see the clear departure from "old politics" that many full of hope and eager for change find so refreshing. At least there is an American flag. It's not even on fire.

Also, we received a visit at our door this evening from two Obama supporters. They seemed like a nice couple, probably from the baby boomer generation. I would have taken some time to get the Obama pitch, first hand, but our family was in the middle of dinner. I indicated that there were no Democratic primary voters in our household, wished them luck, and got back to my Kung Pao chicken.

It was clear we had been "targeted" as registered voters. They did not knock on every door, instead they got back in the car and drove several houses down. In Indiana, you cannot register to vote on election day, but if you registered in advance (and bring a photo ID), you can select a Republican, Democrat, or school board ballot, regardless of any previous party affiliation.

Our visitors also asked specifically for my wife, even though I answered the door. Perhaps, since Indiana requires photo identification and pre-registration for primary participation, the Obama camp is having to reach out to unusual places. Could they be targeting Republican women since their turnout playbook cannot be used in Indiana?

Does the Obama camp see white women as a vulnerable group? For the first time, there is a white woman that can realistically run this place, yet perhaps the most influential figure among white American women, Oprah -- is telling them to support Barack.

The Limousine Liberal

“It’s not surprising that they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment. . . .” -- Barack Obama, April 6, 2008

When speaking to rich liberals in San Francisco, Obama is deeply condescending of people of faith who reside in the heartland, even suggesting these are the same types who are intolerant of people who are not like them. The Doctrinaire Liberal does not hold a single moderate or conservative policy position and now demonstrates that he is a Limousine cultural liberal, too.

Rural working folks aggravate liberals. Rural folks love their country, their communities, and their neighbors. They are self-reliant and are more likely to turn to their churches than their government. They don't view their situation as a problem for someone in Washington to solve.

As Kenny Chesney sings, "Some say it's a backward place, Narrow minds on a narrow way, I make it a point to say, That that's where I come from."

J. Williams on Obama

National Public Radio's Juan Williams is a liberal with integrity. I do not agree with him on much policy, but he loves his country and calls them as he sees them. He knows personal responsibility will yield greater outcomes than social responsibility. Below is a good bit of his recent op-ed on Obama.

"Last March in Selma, Ala., Mr. Obama appeared on the verge of breaking away from the merchants of black grievance and victimization. At a commemoration of the 1965 Selma-to-Montgomery march for voting rights, he spoke in a King-like voice. He focused on traditions of black sacrifice, idealism and the need for taking personal responsibility for building strong black families and communities. He said black people should never "deny that its gotten better," even as the movement goes on to improve schools and provide good health care for all Americans. He then challenged black America, by saying that "government alone can't solve all those problems . . . it is not enough just to ask what the government can do for us -- it's important for us to ask what we can do for ourselves.""

"Mr. Obama added that better education for black students begins with black parents visiting their children's teachers, as well as turning off the television so children can focus on homework. He expressed alarm over the lack of appreciation for education in the black community: "I don't know who taught them that reading and writing and conjugating your verbs were something white. We've got to get over that mentality." King, he added later, believed that black America has to first "transform ourselves in order to transform the world.""

"But as his campaign made headway with black voters, Mr. Obama no longer spoke about the responsibility and the power of black America to appeal to the conscience and highest ideals of the nation. He no longer asks black people to let go of the grievance culture to transcend racial arguments and transform the world."

"He has stopped all mention of government's inability to create strong black families, while the black community accepts a 70% out-of-wedlock birth rate. Half of black and Hispanic children drop out of high school, but he no longer touches on the need for parents to convey a love of learning to their children. There is no mention in his speeches of the history of expensive but ineffective government programs that encourage dependency. He fails to point out the failures of too many poverty programs, given the 25% poverty rate in black America."

"And he chooses not to confront the poisonous "thug life" culture in rap music that glorifies drug use and crime."

"Instead the senator, in a full political pander, is busy excusing Rev. Wright's racial attacks as the right of the Rev.-Wright generation of black Americans to define the nation's future by their past. He stretches compassion to the breaking point by equating his white grandmother's private concerns about black men on the street with Rev. Wright's public stirring of racial division.
And he wasted time in his Philadelphia speech on race by saying he can't "disown" Rev. Wright any more than he could "disown the black community." No one has asked him to disown Rev. Wright. Only in a later appearance on "The View" television show did he say that he would have left the church if Rev. Wright had not retired and not acknowledged his offensive language."

"As the nation tries to recall the meaning of Martin Luther King today, Mr. Obama's campaign has become a mirror reflecting where we are on race 40 years after the assassination. Mr. Obama's success has moved forward the story of American race relations; King would have been thrilled with his political triumphs."

"But when Barack Obama, arguably the best of this generation of black or white leaders, finds it easy to sit in Rev. Wright's pews and nod along with wacky and bitterly divisive racial rhetoric, it does call his judgment into question. And it reveals a continuing crisis in racial leadership."

"What would Jesus do? There is no question he would have left that church."

The Doctrinaire Liberal

While the nonpartisan National Journal found Barack Obama to be the Senate's most liberal member in 2007, Obama deflects his liberal labeling as "old politics".

In an op-ed in today's Wall Street Journal Peter Wehner notes that, "Mr. Obama's effort to present himself as a post-ideological figure is an effort to avoid an important national debate."

Americans will soon learn that Obama's economic policy proposes higher income taxes, higher Social Security taxes and higher corporate taxes -- even though the US already has the world's second highest corporate tax rate, and is losing jobs because of it. He seeks domestic spending increases and more layers of government regulation. His health care plan would greatly expand the government's role.

Presumably his first act to "restore America's image in the world" would be to null and void an existing treaty with our neighbors, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which he has railed against on the campaign trail. Next, he would abandon our allies in Iraq.

He stands against the Supreme Court's decision to uphold a partial birth abortion ban, and wants to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act. He was on the 22 side of a 78-22 Senate vote to approve John Roberts for the Supreme Court. This is one of the Senate's most partisan members.

Post-idealogue, or not, Barack Obama is a doctinaire liberal.