Hoops, High Hopes & Bush's Lost Honor

Yesterday, in the auspicious Iowa town with the screaming name of Clinton, presidential candidate Barack Obama declared the time to leave Iraq is NOW. Senator Barack Obama touted his judgment in declaring Iraq a dumb war while those with far more Washington "experience" gave this president permission to screw up and the keys to drain the American treasury. No doubt, that is a stunning lack of judgment represented by most of the Democratic candidates running for president. Barack stated unequivocally while standing straight and tall in front of American flags, there are no good options left. America should withdraw a brigade a month to have the US out of Iraq by next summer.

Tonight, The Decider Commander Guy goes on television to shamelessly beg for more time to have the military stay in Iraq where they have nothing to do with solving Iraq's political crisis. Bush's lame proposal is like having your gardener do your brain surgery. Vice President Cheney and Secretary of State Condi Rice need to be stationed in Iraq with her legion of diplomatic corps (along with a really big trunk for all her shoes and slippers) to effect the necessary diplomacy changes. Cheney is the shallow person who groped and held fast to the deplorable lie that Iraq had something to do with 9/11. For that alone, he should go to Iraq to help fix the mess he started with lies. Before Bush even goes on air tonight, the bad news belying everything his handpicked polished parroting general said, was proved wrong again just this morning. America's best ally in Al Anbar, where they made a peace without American military might, was just blown up: (Photo courtesy New York Times)

The assassination appeared timed to send a message to Sunni Arab tribesmen who work with the Americans and with the Shiite-led Iraqi government that they will suffer a similar fate if they oppose the extremists. At the moment, the American military is pushing similar efforts in other provinces to turn Sunni Arab tribes against Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia.

The assassination was seemed squarely aimed at undercutting the American government’s effort this week to spotlight the gains in Anbar. President Bush had been expected to mention the Anbar tribes and the drop in violence in the province in his speech tonight.

"The attack’s timing was critical, it came now to try to undermine the report of General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker," said Sadiq al-Rikabi, the political adviser to Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki.

Meanwhile, Barack generated a tremendous amount of buzz with his direct and forceful foreign policy speech. He is picking up outside the beltway endorsements. A few from inside the beltway are stunning, Ted Sorenson, JFK confidante, and Zbig, Kissinger's nemesis, National Security Adviser from the Carter administration and mentor of Madeline Albright. Last weekend, Oprah Winfrey opened her home/castle/fortress and others generously opened their Gucci wallets and Prada purses to the tune of $3,000,000 USD. The other presidential frontrunner, ahem, in national polling is giving back $850,000 of tainted bundled money from her felonious fundraiser, Norman Hsu. The end of the quarter is coming and Barack is forging ahead with money, grassroots support and most importantly on pragmatic policy showing he is the premier candidate with proven sound judgment. It was a direct hit on Hillary who still has not apologized for her disastrous Iraq war vote on October 11, 2002 after the most experienced senator, Robert Byrd, gave one of the senatorial oratories of the angels and the ages on why this was plain wrong and constitutionally bereft.

Keeping Barack focused on what is most important is Michelle. She ensures that other like minded people are there to provide support as Barack engages formidable foes for the nomination, especially family.
Michelle Obama has a way to assist her candidate husband with the power of a coach at a moment's notice. The coach is Michelle's older brother, former professional basketball player and now head coach for the prestigious Brown University, Craig Robinson. Read the entire link it is an excellent column.

Remember, this was Michelle's slender boyfriend, a lawyer at the time, who played hoops with an Ivy League Player of the Year and former professional basketball player.

"I respected that in Barack," said Michelle Obama, who followed Robinson to Princeton and then went to Harvard Law School. "Craig's opinion was important, and we're a sports family at heart. We grew up in gymnasiums and baseball fields, generally watching Craig play. Craig has always said you measure the character by what type of sportsman they are, and it was good to hear directly from my brother that he was solid and he was real and he was confident, confident but not arrogant, and a team player, something that you could sense on the court."

Robinson didn't play Obama one-on-one. That likely would not have been fair to Obama, and Robinson said that "wouldn't be good for the family." But what kind of player was and is the Democratic senator from Illinois?

The Audacity of Barack is to take on the Washington establishment. His hope is to stand strong against the prevailing gale forces of the status quo to become President of the United States of America.