I have been reading a book by William Ury called The Power of a Positive No: Save the Deal, Save the Relationship–and Still Say No. I do not know what Ury’s politics are, so please note that this post is not about his politic position, but rather it is about mine.

Ury writes in his book about a guy named Chris who, in the midst of making a business deal that everyone was thrilled about, he came across information that it was a bad deal. Chris did not want to dampen everyone’s enthusiasm, so he kept quiet. Ury writes,

“We all want to be liked and accepted. No one wants to look like the bad guy. That is what Chris was afraid would happen if he brought up the uncomfortable facts. Everyone’s excitement would turn to anger against him, or so he feared. So he proceeded to to OK a deal that he and others later came to greatly regret.”

Ury also concludes that “[t]he price of saying Yes when we should be saying No is higher than ever.”

This sums up in a nutshell what I think about Barack Obama’s candidacy. There has been a media drumbeat to go along. MSNBO has tried to convince people that Obama is more liked than he is. Even when Hillary Clinton was exceeding Obama by about 500,000 votes in the primaries beginning from Ohio onwards, the media was telling us that he was “winning” as a “juggernaut” and was soaring in popularity, ignoring the realities of West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, and so on. Now that Clinton is out of the race, the Democratic Party is pretending she wasn’t even there.

They do not intend for Clinton to play any part in the convention as a “candidate.” They are short on their funding for the convention and have even spoken publicly about whether it is necessary to have one. This is unimaginable! But they have also moved the DNC to Chicago, a move that had to planned well in advance of any official win by Obama for it to be accomplished so quickly. Clearly, the party had Obama’s ascendancy in mind for a very long time.

Obama is apparently thinking about vice presidential candidates who are either ultra conservative or just as inexperienced as he is. He is pandering to evangelicals and plans a religious theme at the convention, if it’s held. He is purging GLBT supporters from his campaign ranks; they are no longer necessary and might drive off the evangelical Christians.

He is counting on women and gay people to vote Democratic because, he claims, we have no choice. Only he will protect Roe v. Wade. Indeed, Roe has become the stick more than the carrot.

So we who vote, who have gone to the voting booth for years conscientiously and tried not “waste” our vote by voting Green or for some other third party candidate are being told to get in line and do it one more time. And this time, we must say NO.

As Ury points out, on either side of a positive NO are two Yesses. The first Yes is to oneself. I say Yes to what I want. I say NO to the other person or entity. Then I say Yes to the relationship. So here it is:

I cannot in good conscience vote for a man with totalitarian and narcissistic tendencies, who has no experience being an executive or even holding a full time job for very long, to be president of the United States. I must say yes to my conscience. I must say NO to Barack Obama and the Democratic Party leadership that wants to elevate him to some sort of demigod status within the Party. And I must say no, because I want to say Yes to American values, to what used to be Democratic Party values. If there is any chance at all to retrieve them, I must say NO to Obama.

There is a movement afoot, not just among “angry women” who supported Hillary Clinton, that also wants to say NO DEAL. They call themselves PUMAs. They are not crazy people. Some of them will vote for McCain, some for no one at all for POTUS. I am in the latter group. I am not throwing away my vote. By going to the polls to vote downticket, I am telling the DNC in the loudest voice I can, I will not accept this coup. I will not goosestep for this candidate who lacks any serious qualifications for the office of the Presidency.

Obama keeps making it clearer and clearer that he is unfit for the job, from selecting people he has to throw under the bus continuously to showing complete ignorance of history and geography,  but the DNC will not back away from their investment now. They do not want Hillary Clinton. They do not want Bill Clinton, the only Democrat since FDR to hold more than one elected term as president! This amazes me. Somehow the “Kennedy mystique” holds greater power than the success of the one person who managed to actually serve two terms as President. The first one since 1945. And he is persona non grata.

If the Democratic Party no longer values FDR’s commitment to all classes, to the working people especially, then it is no longer my party. Obama is not my candidate. I have the power of a positive NO and I am exercising it. Don’t be afraid to exercise your own power.

Democrats are almost evenly divided between Sen. Obama and Sen. Clinton, and yet the media would have us believe Obama is a “juggernaut.” Now the DNC expects us to take lying down a clear fix in Obama’s favor. Who ran the rules committee–the Chicago machine?

Any Democrat ought to be outraged by the way the Michigan delegates were allocated. Seating 50% of delegates is within the rules. That was done correctly. But to give Obama the benefit of every uncommitted vote was stretching it–to give him the benefit of exit polls is outrageous!!!  Exit polls are media-manufactured. Their worth is only as good as the media conducting them, and we have seen how off they have been.

I never considered Bush an elected president of the United States, when he got the fix from the Supreme Court. If Obama thinks this fix will make him a legitimate nominee, he is wrong. He should reject the MI delegates “given” to him at Clinton’s expense.

He’s ready to reject his pastor, his church, anything else–but that’s all to become president. In the quest for the nomination, clearly anything goes.

Hillary Clinton has worked hard for every delegate she has earned.

I am disgusted with the Rules Committee and the DNC. They can have their loser candidate.

I thought someone ought to point this out, since all the major newspapers seem to be placing it in the next to last paragraph of their paeans to Obama. Hillary blew out Kentucky last night, just like she did West Virginia!

Obamaphiles will say, “So what? She can’t win. He has more pledged delegates.” Indeed. The DNC appears to be opting for a fatal decision that I can’t quite grasp–to lose in November so that it does not have to have Hillary Clinton as its nominee.

This seems absurd. Back when a Clinton-Obama ticket was probably still possible, it clearly would have been magic. The strengths that Obama brings to the table (that people seem to like him) would have offset his weaknesses (he is unprepared, he doesn’t prepare or get his facts straight, he looks incredibly tired and he’s only 46, whereas she looks rested and she’s 60, etc.) and her strengths, such as winning all the big states, would have landed a Dem in the White House.

Now, we have quite a bizarre scenario. It’s a bit like the electoral college business which can produce counter results. This DNC delegate allocation is biting the party in the ass. It seems one can win caucuses in red states that are unwinnable in a general election and still become the nominee–but only with party help. Or one can win all the big electoral states and still become the nominee–but only with party help. Both Obama and Clinton need the party honchos and honcha.

I am not sure the bigger problem will be solved. FDR’s old coalition is breaking apart. The Republicans are also not that strong. Having robbed the country blind, the neo-con extremists seem to have bailed, and I don’t even think Republicans are sure they want McCain, unless he runs against Obama. Oddly, for as much as they hated Hillary Clinton and made it their mission to destroy her, I think they are beginning to regret it.  While I don’t believe there is any chance Obama could win the presidency, never say never. And I think that idea absolutely freaks out the Republicans who have helped get him to where he is.

Democrats have never truly appreciated the Clintons. I know I didn’t always. I did think Bill held up incredibly well during that ridiculous impeachment farce; the stress would have killed me. But that resiliency on his part should have told the DNC something about how to play their games.

The future of our country is at stake. It is nearly as grave as when FDR took office. We are facing difficult economic times and war.  It’s not the time for a novice. Hillary must be the nominee or BUST!

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I got tagged by Rigg earlier. I think this means I must tag others, so:

Cantueso, who is brilliant, ebulliant and witty

TheGreatGeno, who is an Obamaphile with a brain and a worthy man to spar with

The Confluence, for Hillary Lovers Only

Valentine Bonnaire, simply wonderful

and last but not least

The Clintonista. What can I say. Hardcore Clintonite!

 Rigg has now cleared this up for me, so…

The title of my memoir is: Performs beyond wildest expectations, then Nothing…

OK that’s more like a headline, but I can’t see a book emerging out of my life.

Cantueso, I fixed my error.

I have been under the weather for three days. I see Obama is ready to run off to Cuba and Iran as soon as they just name him president. While the embargo on Cuba is definitely stupid, from an international law point of view (we trade with China and it has more political prisoners than Cuba), I would rather see a president saying how she is going to tackle the oil and real crisis and the war in the first hundred days before worrying Cuba. But that’s just me.

I have been trying to figure out how it is that one can legitimately declare oneself a winner without actually winning. Obama is prepared to do that tonight in Iowa because he is clearly too impatient to wait until June 3, let alone August, and yet every Democratic nominee in recent history has had to wait until the convention. Suddenly, when running against Hillary Clinton, that isn’t necessary.

Obama puzzles me, genuinely. I watched The American Experience last night, the second of two on FDR. It was made ages ago, clearly, and the people praising FDR talked about how he offered hope and change, and certainly one can see how those words might have been powerful in 1932 with the Great Depression in full swing. But FDR had served in the federal government, been governor of New York; he’d been accumulating experience for years before running for president. He was a charismatic leader, but one with a track record.

Obama’s a new breed alright, sort of like when Reagan got rid of the gold standard and the US dollar was backed by nothing but power. Obama is backed by Kennedy, Kerry, et al. Add Byrd. He is not, contrary to his assertions, universally backed by voters. Many, many voters still back Hillary Clinton. The question is whether he and his powerbackers can afford to sneer at those voters.

To some extent they can. Not all Clinton voters are offended by the sexism or are even aware of things like NBC boycotts and movements to send one’s new “Independent” voter registrations to Howard Dean and the DNC. There are probably far more Clinton supporters who will support Obama if he is the nominee than who will not.

But as I was watching the program about FDR I was quite taken with the “coalition” he built. It’s rather sad to see it breaking down now, because it is FDR who was the great uniter, and Obama who will be the great divider. And it is precisely when he became divisive that he became the “presumptive nominee” in the press and in his own mind.

It was not until he began to uphold and even engage in the sexism that was directed against Clinton that he got the boyz behind him. He sold out.

There is a large number of people now disaffected from the Democratic Party who will desert it completely if Obama is the nominee, at least in terms of the presidential race. And many of them are women, but not all of them. And the deserters, the one’s protesting, are not deserting on racial grounds. There are others who will not vote for Obama because of his race, which is deplorable, but the ones he deliberately alienated to get power are leaving because of sexism.

Indeed, one might even thank Obama for that if it reinvigorates feminism, although I am not sure that will be the long term outcome.

Whether Obama ultimately prevails in the nomination or not remains to be seen. But one thing is certain. He became victorious when he realized an old truth: that male privilege will trump a woman of any color any day.

Fun Fact

States won by Hillary Clinton (to date):
300 electoral votes

States won by Barack Obama (to date):
217 electoral votes

(Read full article here).

Yahoo Headline from the Wall Street Journal today: Hillary to Boring to be President. Dammit, why didn’t I see that? Of course she is too boring. Bill was not boring back in the day, but there hasn’t been one boyfriend or girlfriend, one indicted crony, or one crazy minister. No early coke habit to make he seem cool. Even Michelle Obama is more interesting than Bill has been lately.

Her endorsments include some of the most boring people on the planet, while Obama has stars like Tom Hanks and Bruce Springsteen. He even has an Obamagirl, but there is no Hillboy. I mean, how is Ed Rendell going to hold up to a girl in a thong!

So as I was tossing back a bottle of very fine scotch last night, it came to me that I was old and stodgy. Scotch, not vodka, for crying out loud. Vodka is the sexy drink. Isn’t there one named for Obama? Absoluama or something?

OK, here is typical Hillary endorsement: President of Northern Cheyenne Tribe in Montana Endorses Hillary Clinton for President. Now that’s pretty cool, an American Indian. But wait, Indians live in poverty and just thinking about their lives is a downer.

But look: a wave of artists as disparate as The Grateful Dead, Will.i.am, OK Go and members of Pearl Jam are rallying support for Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama.” Billboard.com

So although I am now officially independent and divorced from the Democratic Party, I am beginning to see why Clinton cannot become president. Who wants to hear about policy? Elizabeth Edwards came out and said Hillary Clinton’s health care policy was better than Barack Obama’s. But John endorsed Obama because he knows those policies don’t mean snot.

So here are some of Hillary’s Endorsements:

Congressman Ciro Rodriguez Endorses Hillary Clinton For President  

Former West Virginia Governor Hulett Smith Endorses Hillary Clinton for President

North Carolina Governor Mike Easley Endorses Hillary for President

Liberty City Democratic Club Endorses Hillary Clinton

California Rep. Maxine Waters Endorses Clinton

Actor Jack Nicholson Endorses Hillary Clinton for President (OK, he’s a biggie)

Former Navajo Chairman and First President of the Navajo Nation Peterson Zah Endorses Hillary Clinton for President (see, depressing again…)

I mean there are hundreds of them, all like this. Go to her website: http://www.hillaryclinton.com/news/endorsements/ Miss Indiana stands out like a sore thumb.

Now compare these to Obama’s and I am sure you will readily agree he is The One:

I am going to have to think about this.

I may have been just a little too quick to start helping Obama pick his cabinet when it appears that the MSM’s ”presumptive nominee” just got trounced badly, by a bigger margin than he ever beat his opponent. One more swing state for her! 62%-26% according to the LA Times. Wow! 

Now, we all know the trick about “I didn’t really try, so it’s no big deal that I didn’t do so well…” My students say this all the time when they write bad papers or do poorly on tests. My question to him, why didn’t you try? Do you not think West Virginia voters are important, or are you getting complacent? Are you afraid of confrontation? Afraid of appearing weak? Is this the going to be the tortoise and the hare, Senator Obama?

So back to my original mission:

 State: Colin Powell. OK, he really messed up by joining the GWB administration, but he saw his mistake and got out. He still has dignity, though, and this would be a bi-partisan appointment without taking in an ideologue.

Treasury: Still thinking…make suggestions

Attorney General: Connecticut Attorney General Blumenthal. This guy is amazing! Saving either Walter Dellinger or Larry Tribe for the US Supreme Court.

Defense: Still thinking…make suggestions.

Interior: Chief Wilma Mankiller. This is not a joke. It’s about time a well-respected Native American chief took the helm of this department which has a self-reported “culture of fear” that needs undoing. Its corruption is notorious, especially in the Bureau of Indian Affairs. I don’t know whether the chief would take it, but it would be great to have her there.

Housing and Urban Development: John Edwards has led the way with his anti-poverty platform and could do a lot of good in this position. If she does create a cabinet post on poverty, then obviously Edwards would get that spot, and it would be a good call.

Transportation: Jackie Speier is one of those people who has extraordinary life experiences. Surviving gunshot wounds in a fact-finding mission to Jonestown, Speier has worked her way up in bi-partisan positions and earned a lot respect. She has experience in California with Caltrain.

Energy: Carol Browner, served the EPA under Bill Clinton for 2 terms and is well respected. She deserves this upgrade.

Education: Congressman Ciro Rodriguez has experience in education and mental health. He’d be a great pick for this post or health and human services, but I put him in education, where I think he’d really shine.

Veterans Affairs: Charles Rangel, a decorated veteran and congressman from Harlem. He has a controversial position about bringing back the draft, but it’s basically an anti-war and equality measure. He certainly cares about veterans issues.

Homeland Security: General Wesley Clark here. Sound policies. Of course, it wouldn’t upset me too much if we simply did away with this rather Fascist-sounding department altogether, in which case, Clark could be national security advisor.

 Unlike Obama, who seems to think he could get former presidents and vice presidents to serve under him, Clinton would show more respect. I think she’d take Gore’s advice on whom to appoint to energy and the EPA, which would be prudent. But she wouldn’t try to get him to take a post.

One another post I will deal with Agriculture, Commerce, Labor and Health and Human Services.

Now that I have helped Obama pick his cabinet, I would like to help him with other problems he is going to face in his First Hundred Days. He needs the right press secretary and there are a lot of gay guys or guys on the down low vying for that job: Chris Matthews, Keith Olbermann, Andrew Sullivan. I would recommend that you do not pick one of them, no matter how great their adulation has been. I know you like adulation, but hear me out. As a gay person, I know whereof I speak. You want Beyonce. You want to turn heads. I am all on board with this hope and change theme now, and I hope that you’ll keep Beyonce in mind. With one of those ear-devices, you can have a smart old geezer like Cokie Roberts giving her all the right words to say.

Your personal secretary. You have to be careful here, because both men and women go for you, and with that trans-sexual appeal (not transsexual, OK) and a wife and kids, you need to pick wisely here. So I suggest Rob Lowe. Definitely hetero, well known from TV, clearly able to do this job and is need of one. Also, too old to cause any scandals with Beyonce.

Alexrod is clearly your Rove. He’s a genius and you have to keep him around, but you need to keep him out of media-view so you don’t get accused of having him as your “brain” like people were always saying about Bush and Rove. I think he should be the butler.

I know the VEEP is on your mind, and I have given some real thought to that, now that we have the butler position filled. See, Bill Clinton and Al Gore are just not the kind of guys who are going to work for you. I know this is hard to accept, that former presidents and Nobel laureates are not eager to serve you, but get a grip. And Bill Richardson, I know he wants that job, but that’s all the more reason not to give it to him. He will still love you, trust me. You have to give that position to someone who will be beholden to you for it. Someone who wants it bad, but is not a loser. But doesn’t overshadow you in any way. I know there is no one like that, so excuse me for suggesting it. I am thinking, Harry Reid.

Now, you are going to say, this campaign is all about change and hope and youth and creativity and you want me to have this old coot as my VP? Remember, VPs are in the background. He helps you with old people, where you don’t do as well, and he helps you with the western rural white voters (oh, yeah, those people again, but you need them, man). The kids won’t care. Then you appeal to the Hillary voters like me by saying this gives Hillary a chance to be the majority leader of the Senate—but then you make sure it doesn’t happen by getting Reid to rig it so that it’s Joe Biden. Everyone likes Joe Biden.

What do you think of my strategy so far? I am going to keep working on this for you.

Now that the Obama presidency is all but inevitable, he needs to get a head start picking his cabinet. I am not speculating on the Vice Presidential position yet, but Bill Richardson, I would not hold my breath. It won’t be Hillary Clinton.

Here are my bets for the cabinet:

Secretary of State: Fareed Zakaria (Madeleine Albright is just too much like Hillary, even though Hillary is no Madeleine Albright.)

Zakaria was the managing editor of Foreign Affairs, the widely-circulated journal of international politics and economics. He is the author of several books, including The Future of Freedom, which was a New York Times bestseller and has been translated into 20 languages. His new book, The Post American World, is being published in May 2008.

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Energy: He’ll ask Al Gore, because Obama is just arrogant enough to think a former Vice President of the United States and Nobel Laureate will want to work for him. But in the end, he’ll save us all money and just let us use the Internet Energy Expert at www.plantservices.com/voices/energy_expert.html

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Agriculture: Shawn Krull, 35, is a fifth-generation family farmer who asked Obama for an assurance that if he and his dad and his brother buy 10,000 hogs, Obama won’t pass any new regulations on them. This is to make sure there is a bi-partisan cabinet member and Krull has voted for Republicans in the past. http://www.suntimes.com/news/politics/obama/927567,CST-NWS-campweb02.article

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Labor: Obama Girl (Amber Lee Ettinger) the #1 Hottest Woman on the Internet. Check us out at our new home: This is to stave off any fear that Obama is a Marxist and reaffirm that he is instead a Sexist.

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Interior: Jan Galanti, of Red Bank, NJ. She saved 11 kids from a bear attack or something and appeared on the front page of the New York Times the same day as Obama did. He needs to have a woman in the cabinet and Jan is just the kind of outdoorsy gal who can handle Interior but not get in cat fights with Labor Secretary Amber Lee Ettinger.

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Housing and Urban Development: Tony Rezko, who has a lot of experience with slum dwelling and real estate transactions. Need we elaborate? http://rezkowatch.blogspot.com

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Health and Human Services: Dr. Quentin Young, Obama’s very own doctor. ‘Nuff said.

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Defense: Sam Nunn, Former Georgia senator, who toyed with the concept of a non-partisan run for president last year, has come down on the side of Barack Obama in the Democratic race for president. The former senator, considered one of the nation’s preeminent experts on U.S. defense, met with Obama’s foreign policy team on April 18, 2008. http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/shared-blogs/ajc/politicalinsider/entries/2008/04/18/sam_nunn_lines_up_behind_barac.html

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Treasury: Tom Hanks, a really likable actor who likes Barack Obama, can have this easy post. All he has to do is sign newly minted money. There will be a new Obama bazillion bill which will be used to pay off the national debt.

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Attorney General: Bob Bauer, Obama’s chief counsel and blogger. Obama is saving Prof. Larry Tribe for the US Supreme Court.

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Homeland Security: Louis Farrakhan, leader, Nation of Islam (he is not a Muslim!). Let’s face it, this guy is seriously tough. I don’t think we need to discuss this further.

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Veterans Affairs: John McCain. Well, he’s a veteran. Maybe the only one Obama knows.

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Commerce: Pingpong entrepreneur Robert Blackwell, Jr. He has experience getting grants from the State of Illinois and obviously knows how to make a buck investing in Chinese-type things.

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Transportation: Motorcyclist Timothy Emerson, 41, of Iowa Falls, who was involved in a crash with a campaign van carrying Michelle Obama. He was cited, but this way, he won’t sue. This is how they do it in Chicago. You gotta problem? www.swamppolitics.com/news/politics/ blog/2007/10/motorcyclist_in_michelle_obama

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Education: William Ayers, Professor, University of Illinois-Chicago Circle
Department of Curriculum & Instruction

Ayers, W.C., Bernadine Dohrn, Jeff Jones (2006), eds. Sing A Battle Song: The Revolutionary Poetry, Statements, and Communiques of the Weather Underground 1970-74. New York: Seven Stories Press.

EDUCATION
1987 - Ed.D, Columbia University, Curriculum & Instruction
1987 - M.Ed, Teachers College, Columbia University, Early Childhood Education
1984 - M.Ed, Bank Street College, Early Childhood Education
1968 - B.A., University of Michigan, American Studies

See www.billayers.org.

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Please feel free to contribute your thoughts on the cabinet post nominations or suggest people for necessary government positions like Postmaster General and Surgeon General and National Security Advisor. Obviously this is just the rudimentary stage, and whether these go through depends on lot on how much power Harry Reid retains in the Senate if Obama is elected in November, 2008. Can he get a Democratic Senate? I think Republicans will have no problem with Sam Nunn, but we aren’t sure about the others. I hear a lot of Republicans are psyched by the Obamagirl.

The highly coveted Religious Advisor Position remains open.

It still hurts, this separation from my past and the realization that my political home is no longer my home. It pains me that in the year the DNC is having a primary contest between a white woman and a black man is the year I feel my party no longer has any use for me. I feel sad, but I also feel I did the right thing. And the people in the DNC who are happy to see me go can think I am a racist running dog, anti-choice, Republican, etc. but I am none of those things. I am very liberal, very pro-choice, and not a racist. I have no party home, because I can’t join the Republicans. No, I am a Democrat, pretty through and through, but my party went another way.  I always wondered why moderate Republicans didn’t quit when they saw their party becoming ruled by extremists. Now I know. It hurts to do it. I wouldn’t change my religion for anything, but a political party when it ceases to represent the principles I hold dear can’t claim my loyalty.

Poll Analysis: Clinton Maintains Her Lead Over McCain

Clinton	McCain
75.8% probability of winning	22.4% probability of winning
Mean of 279 electoral votes	Mean of 259 electoral votes

On Saturday, Sen. Hillary Clinton had a 78.5% chance of beating Sen. John McCain in a general election. With three new polls weighing in today, not much has changed.

After 10,000 simulated elections, Clinton wins 7,575 times (plus she gets the 188 ties), and McCain wins 2,237 times. Clinton now has a 77.6% (75.75% + 1.88%) probability of beating McCain in a general election—one held now. McCain has a 22.4% probability of winning.

On a similar map indicating Obama’s chances, he had only a 10.8% probability with a 239 electoral mean.

Dr. Howard Dean, Chairperson

Democratic National Committee

430 Capitol St. SE

Washington, D.C. 20003

Dear Chairman Dean:

Today I am enclosing a copy of my voter registration change from Democrat to Independent. To do so saddens me tremendously, as I have been a Democrat for over 30 years. I was one of the many who supported you to become chair of the DNC, because in 2000 I believed the Democratic Party left Al Gore in the lurch, a legitimately elected president who would never take office. I saw it as spineless and without conviction. I expected you to change all that.

Instead, I find myself in 2008 increasingly alienated from the party, because the DNC seems not to like that I support Hillary Rodham Clinton.

I know that Senator Clinton has called for party unity, and I know she is a true Democrat. But it is also clear to me that the DNC does not care about the core values I associate with being a Democrat. I want the candidate who is:

• truly for universal health care, not care just for children (parents need to be healthy too)
• unabashedly and unequivocally pro-choice (not accepting endorsement from anti-choice senators)
• putting Civil Rights for all people as a priority, including GLBTI people
• getting rid of No Child Left Behind because it hurts education
• advocating a forward looking environmental policy
• planning the fastest way out of Iraq while winning and finishing the war in Afganistan
• knowledgeable about foreign policy and not waiting to be educated about it by “experts”
• ready to put “dissenters” in her cabinet and get the best advice possible
• respectful of women, women’s rights, human rights, the working class no matter what ethnic group comprises it
• standing on the principle of letting votes count, not merely advocating following the rules: seat Michigan and Florida!
• taking privatization of Social Security off the table
• planning a means for curbing crime that doesn’t wind up putting more African Americans and other minorities in jail or building more prisons (yes, Clinton, not Obama)
• intelligent about economic policies, with multiple levels of understanding of what will work in the short term, midterm and long term
• going to reinstate habeas corpus
• going to appoint liberal justices to the Supreme Court
• showing that she can take any mud slung at her, without showing weakness; and taking responsibility for successes and failures (the buck stops here!)

Enclosed is a projected electoral map if Senator Obama wins the nomination. He cannot win the General Election in November, in my opinion. He will be a popular, but losing candidate like George McGovern in 1972. On the enclosed projected map, the electoral votes for Sen. Obama are probably too high, because he did not win any of the big states that the analyst is awarding him, but I am giving him the benefit of the doubt.

We all know that the contest between Senators Clinton and Obama will come down to the automatic delegates (superdelegates). I am taking this action today to impress on the DNC the need to work with the automatic delegates to ensure that Senator Clinton is the Democratic Party’s nominee for president in the 2008 election.

A hard look at the facts shows that this is the only road to reclaiming the White House, restoring our country to a place of respect in the world and ensuring that Democratic Party values are once again reflected in domestic policy and on the Supreme Court.

Yours sincerely,