From Politico:

After driving a hard bargain, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is now taking credit for pulling President Bush's "chestnuts out of the fire" in winning House approval of a landmark home mortgage bill expected to clear Congress this weekend.

"We pulled the president's chestnuts out of the fire," Pelosi told Politico. "Without the Democratic votes, he would have had no bill."

In Februay of 1990 Barack Obama  was elected president of the Harvard Law Review (HLW). He was 27 and his selection as the first African American to preside over the the most prestigious legal review in the United States brought him to national attention.

Here is how the N.Y.Times reported the event:

The Harvard Law Review, generally considered the most prestigious in the country, elected the first black president in its 104-year history today. The job is considered the highest student position at Harvard Law School.

A story in Politico about commenters on News websites including DKos and HuffPo doesn't seem to have a point of view about us. Are we rabblerousers who bring about the harrassment of innocent media trolls?

When Erick Erickson, editor in chief of the conservative Web site RedState.com, wrote a post that called Cindy Sheehan a "left-wing media whore," he expected angry feedback.

He didn’t, though, expect commenters at Daily Kos to post his contact information, including his work phone number. Site moderators removed his information, but not before Erickson received a number of ominous phone calls and e-mail messages, including one from a writer who threatened to "rape my wife and unborn child." He placed a call to the FBI in response, and nothing came of the threats.

"That was first time anything like that happened to me," he says, "and I was really taken aback, but now it’s almost run of the mill."

The headline: "Obama tour staged for political pop"

Or, "EXTREE, EXTREE, OBAMA RUNNING FOR PREZ!"

JERUSALEM — Barack Obama doesn’t travel light.

Halfway around the world, the Obama campaign machine appears as sprawling and seamless as it is on its home turf. As the presumptive Democratic nominee tours five countries in five days, he brings an entourage that would make a pop star envious.

From the saturated media coverage to the one-on-one meetings with heads of state, the trip already had a White House feel. The scope of the traveling staff simply adds to an aura of a president-in-waiting. On Tuesday, aides attempted to invoke White House rules and traditions by requiring reporters to withhold the names of senior advisers who brief the press. But they were reminded twice by reporters that they were not in the White House and that Obama was not the president.

An article today by Ben Smith, Obama Asserts His Americanness, tries to make the case that a too rapturous reception in Europe could hurt Obama politically in the US general election. I strongly disagree and decided to post my response. As I read down the comments, I was surprised by the number of wingnut verbiage, so if you have a chance to post over there from time to time, it might balance the comments a little...not that Obamans weren't there too.

Here was my response:

I've heard the wingnut chatterati recite this meme before...popularity in Europe could hurt Obama.

I disagree and think this is a misreading of most of the American public. We like a rock star. We like being popular abroad. We enjoyed Clinton's popularity and it never hurt him at all...and I don't think it will hurt Obama either.

To the contrary, I think it will help him a lot with independents and reinforce the choice for Democrats.

The one exception to this prognosis is the 27% of people who still support Bush (the Republican partisan base). They are often Europe haters for what they see the region's of socialism, universal health care and general anti-americanism. (Plus they take way too many vacation days.)

There appears to be some concern regarding Obama's movement and straegy throughout his trip overseas.  No worries.  The Obama Campaign is showing the world that the imperialistic, cowboy regime of the Bush Administration will end when Barack Obama becomes President of the United States.

Politico provided a partial Larry King interview of Obama.

Updated w/video

The MSM is once again wringing its hands, asking how can Obama introduce himself to the American population because 12% still believe he is a Muslim.  The talking heads then describe Obama’s failure to connect and explain who he is.  As Ben Smith pointed out, this is a part of a much larger problem in the society.  Americans believe stupid things.  It is not Obama’s problem – it is our problem.

Excerpts from three Politico articles

1. Denver businesses stiffed by DNC

However, an e-mail survey by PoliticsWest.com, The Denver Post's political website, reveals only a handful of companies included on the list that have gotten work because of it and many with complaints, ranging from poor organization to lack of communication

Some vendors wonder whether the majority of work is going to large or out-of-state companies.

It's difficult to tell because the DNCC won't disclose where its business is going. However, the DNCC did contract with New York firm Global TransAction Communications for translation services.

Local translation firm Enlaso Corp. of Boulder has not received any calls, despite many attempts to contact convention organizers.

Posted at Politico yesterday, Ben Smith pushes a piece arguing that the current media cycle doesn't benefit... wait for it.... JOHN MCCAIN.

Seriously.  I keep it on my RSS feed b/c I like to check out what other people who have the internet can find on the internet and then retell it to me in hopefully a different enough manner that I might be somewhat compelled to assume that I will get legitimate information perhaps a standard deviation percentage more of the time than i might get, say, typing random words into the google search bar.  Bu seriously.  Crazy tangents aside, I am really uncomfortable just reading through the comment section of Politico.  Even the registered users go waaaaaay off the deep end.  And I'm not just talking about rambling idiot obscure diarists.  I mean people sit there all day every day and literally spew the most vile... look I don't want to even get into it.  But these people are, what? so miserable and they just want everyone else to feel shitty as well?  Total hope-kills .... total.

    Politico's Charles Mathsian and Amy Parnes have come out with their list of five top places Obama and Clinton should campaign together.  I would like to add ten more.

Ben Smith, from Politico is not one of my favoirte people on the blogosphere, but he does have Obama's first General Election Ad available.

Ben Smith on Politico

More Under the Jump

Politico released a list of former Clinton supporters who are now backing McCain - and what a list it is. If I felt sure about Obama's chances before reading this list I must say I am deeply worried about them now.

So I open up my daily email from Mike Allen of Politico, about his Politico Playbook, and read the following:

The Hill -- GOP MEMBERS NOT PUBLICLY BACKING OR ENDORSING McCAIN: Sen. Chuck Hagel (Neb.), Sen. Jeff Sessions (Ala.), Rep. John Doolittle (Calif.), Rep. Randy Forbes (Va.), Rep. Wayne Gilchrest (Md.), Rep. Virgil Goode (Va.), Rep. Walter Jones (N.C.), Rep. Tim Murphy (Pa.), Rep. Ron Paul (Texas), Rep. John Peterson (Pa.), Rep. Ted Poe (Texas), Rep. Todd Tiahrt (Kan.), Rep. Dave Weldon (Fla.), Rep. Frank Wolf (Va.).

The Hill -- GOP MEMBERS WHO WOULD NOT COMMENT: Sen. John Barrasso (Wyo.), Sen. Larry Craig (Idaho), Rep. Rob Bishop (Utah), Rep. Terry Everett (Ala.), Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen (N.J.), Rep. Elton Gallegly (Calif.), Rep. David Hobson (Ohio), Rep. Timothy Johnson (Ill.), Rep. Doug Lamborn (Colo.), Rep. Buck McKeon (Calif.), Rep. John Mica (Fla.), Rep. Gary Miller (Calif.), Rep. Jerry Moran (Kan.), Rep. Sue Myrick (N.C.), Rep. Mark Souder (Ind.), Rep. Greg Walden (Ore.), Rep. Don Young (Alaska).

And against this, we are worried about Joe Lieberman (as if he is a Democrat, right?), and Dan Boren (who will vote for Obama and not endorse him?).

Follow me below the fold for a few thoughts reading those two lists inspired, at least in my warped mind.

The contrast between McCain's green screen anti-inspirational speech and Obama's impassioned victory celebration has reached an amazing consensus, even to the point where Fox News noticed.  I've been thinking a lot about the moment where Obama and McCain stand side by side and present their case, and how that moment will portray as stark a contrast as possible.  And now the republicans have realized that moment is their only chance (*snicker*).  The story on the front page of The Politico presents us with the question on Republican's minds "The topic: Is there a way John McCain can win the presidency without giving another speech?"

After watching John McCain blather on last night with that lime-green jello backdrop, it was obvious to see the stark contrasts that will be on display this summer during the scheduled debates. During his speech in New Orleans, I had to wipe the sleep out of my eyes and take some Dramamine to quell the queesiness of watching his head turn back and forth as he played teleprompter ping pong.

I thought to myself, "wow...Barrack will own McCain this debate season." Well, this morning, that "season" may become a bit longer.

In a telling analysis of what transpired between Hillary's transparent demands this evening for a spot on the VP ticket, Politico's Roger Simon argues that Obama's first test will be to make a decision about Hillary. The article is titled  Obama's first test: Handling Hillary.  Simon explains within that Hillary's hardline stance is one that will force Obama to push back on her, and not concede to her demands.