I’d like your help. Please.

February 9, 2008 in Obama

I’d like to compile a list of links to the best analytical endorsements for Obama and Hillary. Here’s what I have in mind when I say analytical: Hilzoy’s incredibly substantive post on why she’s voting for Obama. And again, I’m curious to see endorsements for both candidates. Come to think of it, I’d like to read the most interesting endorsements for any of the candidates who have been or still are in the race, Democrats or Republicans. I guess I’m just weird like that.

Does that sound worthwhile to you? If so, please comment with links.

58 comments

February 9, 2008 at 11:49 am

urbino

It’s an interesting project. I fear I won’t be much help, though. The only thing I can think of is Andrew Sullivan’s Obama article, which is not at all analytical, at least in a policy sense. I don’t think I’ve seen a Hilzoy-equivalent endorsement of Clinton. Actually, I’m not sure I’ve read a blog endorsement of her, at all. The liberal blogs seem to be breaking heavily for Obama — or maybe it’s just the blogs I read.

I would guess Taylor Marsh probably posted some kind of Clinton endorsement, at least.

February 9, 2008 at 1:19 pm

blueollie

This is not a blog article, but it is an interesting take:

February 9, 2008 at 1:40 pm

CharleyCarp

This what you have in mind?

February 9, 2008 at 2:57 pm

Lazy Day… « blueollie

[…] Ok, but what about the case for Obama? A history professor is collecting people’s cases for their favorite Democratic candidate. […]

February 9, 2008 at 3:55 pm

Kári Tulinius

An analysis of the differing foreign policies and foreign policy teams of Obama and Clinton by Stephen Zunes, who, according to his wikipedia page, “is an international relations scholar specializing in the Middle East and a leading critic of U.S. foreign policy.” He comes out on the side of Obama.

February 9, 2008 at 4:05 pm

Kári Tulinius

Oops, this is the original of the article by Stephen Zunes. I hadn’t noticed before that it was a reprint.

February 9, 2008 at 4:09 pm

bitchphd

This isn’t analytical, really, and I’m certainly not saying it’s the best thing out there, but it was easy for me to find: http://bitchphd.blogspot.com/2007/12/why-i-love-hillary-clinton.html

February 9, 2008 at 4:36 pm

ari

No, B, that was what I wanted. But I wanted to let you put it up. If you see what I’m saying. And thanks to everyone else. Keep ’em coming.

February 9, 2008 at 4:40 pm

bitchphd

You were testing me to see how self-promoting I really am.

Cool. I also wrote you a post over at my place sending folks over to contribute their own favorites.

February 9, 2008 at 4:44 pm

Witt

An Obama endorsement from the Get Your War On guy that talks about Obama’s position on <a href=”http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-rees/clinton-obama-and-clust_b_84811.html”cluster bombs.

Another endorsement that focuses on Obama’s support for the under-discussed issue of open systems and public access to government data.

February 9, 2008 at 4:56 pm

bitchphd

Oh, good one, Witt.

February 9, 2008 at 4:59 pm

ari

No, the point is to bring in the volk. If I just put up a bunch of endorsements that I know of, the volk won’t have a chance to speak. And this site is about democracy. And freedom of expression

Okay, full disclosure? I wrote the post while walking out the door with my older boy. We were going to farmer’s market. And every week, if we get there too late, the German woman who vends soft pretzels sells out of ’em. And I love soft pretzels. So this site is about democracy and freedom of expression. But mostly pretzels.

February 9, 2008 at 5:16 pm

Colin

a few for the Obama column

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080218/hayes

http://lessig.org/blog/2008/02/20_minutes_or_so_on_why_i_am_4.html

February 9, 2008 at 5:21 pm

ari

Thanks, Witt and Colin, those are great. It would be really nice to have something for Hillary. I know that the blogonets aren’t really her peeps, but still. There must be a Hilzoy-type post endorsing HRC, right? Which isn’t to say that I don’t want more for Obama. And also for McCainabee: Straight Talkin’ ’bout Rodent Recipes.

February 9, 2008 at 5:23 pm

bitchphd

Hey, enjoy the pretzels. I woke up last night at 2 am to the sound of someone puttering in the bathroom. Further sounds suggested that it was probably PK.

“What are you doing up?” I asked.

“Mama, I threw up in my bed and I’m completely gross….” this distressed voice calls out.

We were going to go to LA for the new year dragon parade today, too. Sigh.

Oh, and whether or not this piece counts as “analytical” is going to depend very much on the person reading it, but I think it says a lot about Clinton’s appeal to a lot of people: http://www.womensmediacenter.com/ex/020108.html

February 9, 2008 at 5:25 pm

Witt

Soft pretzels! The staff of life. I should dig out my recipe.

I am suspicious of West Coast soft prezels, though. Actually anything outside of Philadelphia.

(my other post must be stuck in moderation because of all the links, right?)

February 9, 2008 at 5:29 pm

Witt

Here’s a pretty thoughtful Clinton endorsement from a guy in Rochester, NY. Having visited Rochester semi-recently, I’m sympathetic to the perspective of folks in a dying/resprouting industrial city.

February 9, 2008 at 5:43 pm

ari

We don’t moderate comments, Witt. Not that you need me to tell you that. Heck, just look around. Also, did I mention that the woman is German? The Germans are a pretzelicous people. So you and your Philadelphia nationalism can step off. And B, I’m so sorry about PK. The two Kelman boys are finally both fever-free (knocking wood, throwing salt over shoulder, slaughtering fattened calf). It’s a big relief.

February 9, 2008 at 5:46 pm

Witt

Your point about the Germans is well-taken. In the interests of comity, I will ignore your swipe at my city of choice.

But something happened to my post. I tried it twice. It has three links to a Boston Globe special series on the candidates’ positions on executive power.

I don’t know. I’m fuzzy-headed from the flu. Maybe I screwed it up somehow. It’s in the comments at B’s anyway.

February 9, 2008 at 5:48 pm

bitchphd

Soft pretzels are bleah, I’m sorry.

The weird thing is that PK actually seems fine today. So who knows what it was. But I wasn’t gonna stick him in the car, since he tends towards occasional carsickness anyway.

February 9, 2008 at 6:04 pm

andrew

Sometimes wordpress catches comments with too many links even if you have moderation turned off.

February 9, 2008 at 6:27 pm

urbino

Sometimes it (or something) catches comments with just one link in them, too. It’s happened to me before, Witt, so don’t blame your altered state.

February 9, 2008 at 6:32 pm

bitchphd

No, it’s totally because the blog doesn’t want Witt’s cooties.

February 9, 2008 at 6:36 pm

andrew

WordPress once banned my comments from my own blog. I had to go in and edit the comments to say “sp/am” instead of the actual word before it would post them.

February 9, 2008 at 6:38 pm

urbino

I once shot a man, just for snoring.

February 9, 2008 at 8:09 pm

David Carlton

The piece that finally persuaded me to touch the screen for Obama rather than Clinton was Jon Chait’s piece “Obama Nation” in the February 13 TNR. As a lifelong southern liberal who knows something of what the Clintons went through in their southern liberal days, I thought his characterization of their experience and the lessons it taught them was spot-on and sympathetic. I think he’s also right that it leaves them ill-suited to lead the party and the country forward, and that Obama, who lacks that grim baggage, has the potential to play Joshua.

February 9, 2008 at 8:25 pm

ari

Yes, but does Obama snore? If so, please keep him away from Urbino. Also, here’s the Chait piece. And thanks, David, for the comment and for dropping by.

February 9, 2008 at 9:09 pm

bitchphd

Cahit piece is interesting, but arguably he’s mistaken in his conclusion–the progressive democratic era arrived, it’s just that between Nader and election fraud, it was hijacked.

February 9, 2008 at 10:30 pm

Colin

Well we found this http://www.mydd.com/story/2008/2/5/122613/4251 during the epic bitchphd-tornadoes thread. And there would also be Paul Krugman’s recent output, which makes a vigorous case for Clinton’s health plan.

And I would think that anyone who was so minded could put together a serious argument about her larger social-policy vision and advocacy on education, children, and like issues.

Has anyone tried to sort out their foreign policy visions?

February 9, 2008 at 11:28 pm

ari

Megan is a hippie. And she wrote this about Obama.

And then there’s this for Clinton, an endorsement from Robin Morgan. And also this, Erica Jong for Hillary. Both of those are from the comments on B’s blog. And while we’re at it, I suppose I should add this, Gloria Steinem’s pro-HRC Times op-ed from the eve of the New Hampshire primary. Also, because I was tooling around B’s site, there’s this post, which suggests that the endorsement of NY NOW might not be that helpful for Camp Clinton.

February 9, 2008 at 11:35 pm

Vance Maverick

Mighty subtle links there, Ari.

February 9, 2008 at 11:39 pm

ari

I have to post the comment and then go add the links through the back door. Because I’m bad at html. There. You made me say it (sniff, sniff). I hope you feel good about yourself. Bully.

February 10, 2008 at 12:09 am

Colin

In which case you want Jezebel’s riposte: http://jezebel.com/354462/dear-robin-morgan-how-about-kthanxbai-to-all-that
though we are perhaps now not entirely in the realm of the analytical.
I haveta say that the awesomeness of the original “Goodbye to All That” depended on the fact that Morgan really knew what she was talking about.

February 10, 2008 at 12:49 am

Vance Maverick

I see, Ari. We outsiders have to enter our <a href=”http://www.w3.org/TR/html401/”>links</a> by hand, but you two have it easy.

February 10, 2008 at 9:37 am

Megan

I guess since Bitch did some shameless self-promotion I can get away with doing the same. I spent the weekend before Super Tuesday pouring over Clinton’s and Obama’s websites and voting records and whatnot and this is what I came up with.

February 10, 2008 at 11:56 am

BEW

Here’s three Clinton endorsements

http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/blogs/wolcott/2008/02/so-spurn-me-i-v.html

http://nycweboy.typepad.com/my_weblog/2008/02/the-hillary-cli.html#more

http://www.grahamad.com/blog/2008/02/04/feelings/#more-774

February 10, 2008 at 12:42 pm

For Clinton

http://www.democraticcentral.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=1495
http://www.democraticcentral.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=1464
http://www.democraticcentral.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=1454

February 10, 2008 at 12:57 pm

ari

Thanks to BEW and w2.

February 10, 2008 at 1:01 pm

bitchphd

How could I forget? This list, in response to folks saying that they didn’t think there were *any* reasons to vote for her, like, at all, other than, you know just because she’s a woman.

Arg.

February 10, 2008 at 1:19 pm

kenandbelly

For substantive posts for Hillary, I suggest Roxie’s World.

Roxie officially endorsed Hillary here:
http://roxies-world.blogspot.com/2007/10/funny-girls-for-hillary.html

I also recommend clicking around in her “Hillary Clinton” tags.

Happy reading!

February 10, 2008 at 4:06 pm

the psycho therapist

Though I might appear moronic having posted this at Bitch’s site (not reading her missive fully or I would’ve known to send links here, duh), try this one for Clinton:

http://www.womensmediacenter.com…/ex/ 020108.html

Yum.

February 10, 2008 at 6:26 pm

urbino

This, via Sullivan, is an interesting almost-endorsement of Obama by Colin Powell:

http://amyproctor.squarespace.com/blog/2008/2/9/colin-powell-to-back-obama.html

I’m not sure Powell endorsing Obama would have any measurable political effect on anything, since he’s pretty much persona non grata in his own party, anyway, and presumably wouldn’t have much pull among Dems. Still, it’d be interesting.

February 10, 2008 at 8:14 pm

bitchphd

Powell’s endorsement can only be a negative. If he likes Obama, he should shut up.

February 10, 2008 at 8:28 pm

ari

Really, B? A Powell endorsement, I think, would be a huge general election positive. For now, though, it would probably be best if he were quiet. As he seems to realize. All of that said, I just can’t imagine someone like Powell coming out and endorsing Obama if he’s running against former-PoW John McCain. But who know? Everything up is down this year. Or so it seems.

February 10, 2008 at 8:34 pm

bitchphd

I’m just bitter.

I actually do think that among the chattering classes, Powell is no longer respected.

February 10, 2008 at 8:43 pm

ari

Given that I chatter and have class, I’d have to agree, I don’t respect him anymore. Powell’s just one among many reasonably decent people who chose to throw their reputations on the bonfire of the Bush presidency. I hope the blaze at least kept him warm.

February 10, 2008 at 9:07 pm

urbino

I agree with Ari, except for the part where he agrees with B.

I think the chattering classes — the Beltway insiders, at least — still hold Powell in high regard. They seem to see him as a more statesman-like McCain. Nevertheless, while it might move the Broders and Evan Thomases, I still don’t see what a Powell endorsement would accomplish in the real world for a Dem candidate. (A Powell endorsement of a GOP candidate, OTOH, might get some moderate-conservative Dem voters to give that candidate a second look; maybe enough to matter in a state like MO. However, I don’t think Powell will endorse any Republican this time.)

On second thought, I might see a way it could help Obama, specifically: it might lend him more foreign policy heft, at least in some circles.

February 10, 2008 at 9:44 pm

MathPostdoc

Baratunde Thurston has written some blogs about why he supports Obama and why he doesn’t support Clinton. In order that they appeared, I think:

http://baratunde.com/blog/archives/2007/11/why_i_dont_support_clinton_-_part_1_-_abandoning_friends_and_principles.html
http://baratunde.com/blog/archives/2007/11/why_i_dont_support_clinton_-_part_2_-_no_war_for_polls.html
http://baratunde.com/blog/archives/2007/11/why_i_dont_support_clinton_-_part_3_of_3_-_two_clintons_too_many.html

http://baratunde.com/blog/archives/2008/01/why_i_support_barack_obama.html
http://baratunde.com/blog/archives/2008/02/an_important_reminder_of_why_i_support_obama.html

February 10, 2008 at 10:21 pm

ari

Thanks for the links MathPostdoc. And Urbino, that last is a good point. I hadn’t really considered the Obama-is-foreign-policy-neophyte angle, and how a Powell endorsement might help.

February 11, 2008 at 11:34 am

Redstar

I see someone above linked to one of my endorsements. This post at my site has links to a bunch of HRC endorsements.

http://www.grahamad.com/blog/2008/02/07/busting-out-all-over/

February 11, 2008 at 9:37 pm

worth a read
http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=the_democrats_choice_manager_or_visionary

February 11, 2008 at 9:44 pm

ari

Thanks Redstar and K, both for the links and for visiting our site.

February 11, 2008 at 11:36 pm

Desider

Well these may be too cute for some and the site’s paid for by Hillary, but some of the testimonials at thehillaryiknow.com are rather interesting.

February 12, 2008 at 11:04 am

Kay

Here’s the best posting I’ve read about Obama, Clinton & McCain’s voting records and positions on the arts and the NEA. It’s posted on a dance website but it’s not dance-specific.

http://blog.danceruniverse.com/blog/story/2008/2/6/14235/48024

February 12, 2008 at 11:18 am

ari

Awesome. Thanks, Kay and Desider.

February 14, 2008 at 6:29 pm

Ian

An interesting endorsement of Hillary:
http://jonswift.blogspot.com/2008/02/can-john-mccain-be-stopped.html

February 15, 2008 at 3:08 pm

Paula

prObama, kinda.

Actually, these articles analyzes his potential based on how he’s mobilizing his supporters.

http://www.alternet.org/election08/76596/?page=entire