Pathetic

I'm sorry, but if the Clinton machine has so far presented itself able to squander huge leads with massive lack of preparation and a distrustful management style, it creates huge cognitive dissonance with their proffering of "experience." In fact, one has to wonder if "Ready to Lead from Day One" actually applies to her opponent instead of her:

Supporters of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton are worried that convoluted delegate rules in Texas could water down the impact of strong support for her among Hispanic voters there, creating a new obstacle for her in the must-win presidential primary contest.

Several top Clinton strategists and fundraisers became alarmed after learning of the state's unusual provisions during a closed-door strategy meeting this month, according to one person who attended.

What Clinton aides discovered is that in certain targeted districts, such as Democratic state Sen. Juan Hinojosa's heavily Hispanic Senate district in the Rio Grande Valley, Clinton could win an overwhelming majority of votes but gain only a small edge in delegates. At the same time, a win in the more urban districts in Dallas and Houston -- where Sen. Barack Obama expects to receive significant support -- could yield three or four times as many delegates.

"What it means is, she could win the popular vote and still lose the race for delegates," Hinojosa said yesterday. "This system does not necessarily represent the opinions of the population, and that is a serious problem."

At this point she's become the radical choice, the "all show and no horse" candidate, the one who stakes her last day before the Wisconsin Primary on a rather spurious charge of plagiarism:



Once again, he's like rubber and she's just glue:



Goddamn if his campaign is right there with the rebound before the news cycle is half over, and he hits her so gently in his speech, it ends up playing more like the new black political heavyweight brotherhood than stealing from anyone.

More like a number that Patrick and Obama both played in concert. Some may like the original, I happen to prefer the cover. Obama got more of an edge; he's in a real fight back moment. I even linked to it in a previous post.

Whereas Hillary Clinton just seems to be copying, entirely unoriginal but with the lack of scruples to try and appropriate her opponent's message -- change, fired up, ready to go...to Texas.

Y'see, this isn't exactly news how the Tx primary works, per publius:

While they were busy “discovering” the rules, however, the Obama campaign had people on the ground in Texas explaining the system, organizing precincts, and making Powerpoints. I know because I went to one of these meetings a week ago. I should have invited Mark Penn I suppose. (ed. Maybe foresight is an obsolete macrotrend.)

In this respect, Texas is simply a microcosm of the larger campaign dynamics. In fact, if the Clinton campaign were a corporation, the shareholders would have pretty good grounds for a derivative suit for Texas alone.

One starts to think, why not just go back to New York with Rudy Giuliani.

Leadership isn't a resume, and it isn't just a set of positions or a ton of connections. Leadership is in a state of transition and improvement, and leadership matters more than any other single factor in electing a President of the United States of America.

Even honesty and integrity are not automatically leadership unless they are harnessed by a clear eye, a strong plan and a forceful execution.

It's plenty easy to argue that Obama will have his unpleasant surprises in his first year of office, maybe even ups and downs for all four. But for all her lofty plans, how would anyone expect her to put them into action successfully? After she botched the health care initiative -- similarly with a management style of Nixonian arrogances and secrecy.

Leadership is something everybody innately understands. At this moment Obama is, by any empirical standard, the number one political organizer in America. If you're looking for reality-based leadership throughout this campaign season, there's nobody else even in Barack Obama's league.

Let's hope a majority of voters in Wisconsin, Hawaii, Ohio, Rhode Island, Texas, Vermont, Wyoming, Mississippi, Pennsylvania, Guam, Indiana, North Carolina, West Virginia, Kentucky, Oregon, Montana, South Dakota and Puerto Rico agree.