First off, I have to admit that I loath Mark Halperin. That said, the insufferable twit often times gets the goods on Obama's moves a few days prior to the actual. For instance, just before Edwards endorsed Obama, a day or two prior, he had on the site a photo of John with a question about him linking him to Obama. It's clear that Halperin gets some heavy hints from inside the Obama campaign which leads to his putting up posts like today's headline
Republicans for Obama
An organized effort is underway to get some big-name Republicans to come out for the Land of Lincolner.
Maybe some of them will even speak at the Democratic convention in Denver.
Many are long-time friends of John McCain; click here to find out why they might cross the aisle to vote for Obama.
The image of who is on the 'hook' doesn't have any major surprises.
One would assume Chuck Hagel wouldn't have gone to Iraq and subjected himself to rumors of being on Obama's short list had he not been likely at some point to endorse Obama.
Additionally, Colin Powell has often times been quoted as having some admiration and affection for Obama, his policies and the statement that his candidacy is in regards to the progress of race in America.
Lastly, Brent Scowcroft has also had press recently tying him to Obama.
Brent Scowcroft, the national security adviser to Presidents Gerald Ford and George H.W. Bush, said on Monday that he agrees with the position, stated mainly by Sen. Barack Obama, that the U.S. would benefit from having direct talks with the leaders of its most distrusted adversaries.
"Absolutely," said Scowcroft, when asked by The Huffington Post whether he thought the next president should meet with the likes of Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. "It's hard to make things better if you don't talk."
Scowcroft, a former Air Force general who is widely considered to be one of the preeminent foreign policy minds in the United States, was appearing at an event with Henry Kissinger at Georgetown University. His take on U.S. diplomatic outreach comes as Obama's position -- to meet with our enemies even without preconditions -- has gotten the Illinois Democrat routinely criticized as naive and inexperienced from his Democratic and Republican rivals. Scowcroft declined, when asked, to directly assess the foreign policy platform of any of the presidential candidates. But he briefly outlined what he thought was the best steps forward in Iraq.
I applaud this move; I think it'll create a nice segway into the eventual Veep announcement with good filler in the coming weeks as Obama receives high level bipartisan support.
Of course, McCain will roll out ol' Joe again to try and sure up the perception, but bagging, on record and video, Powell, Hagel and Scowcroft will be quite a boost for Obama and the Obamican potential leading into the Convention.
