Tuesdays with Paulie 1/23/07

Obama Endorses Daley
National media misses the obvious

Did you know that Chicago has an election next month? Mayor Daley is coming up for re-election and his two opponents are getting key labor endorsements, but not the backing of national media darling Senator Barack Obama. The future Presidential candidate publicly endorsed Mayor Daley at a press conference Monday. The question that nobody except your brilliant blogger is asking is the endorsement of Daley more beneficial to the Mayor or in the best political interest of Obama?

Obama has been on an anti-corruption campaign since last year's election season. In Illinois he retracted an endorsement of then Illinois Treasurer candidate Alexi Giannoulias after it was revealed that he and his family banking business had been involved in suspicious dealings. Obama admitting making a "mistake" regarding his land purchase deal with indicted political fundraiser Antoin "Tony" Rezko. So why would Obama endorse a mayor who's administration is under multiple federal investigations and has already been found guilty on previous indictments?

The reason is very simple...Bill Daley. Obama has retained the assistance of the Mayor's brother, who is a former Secretary of Commerce in the Clinton administration and Chairman of Al Gore's 2000 Presidential campaign. Daley knows intricate details about the Clinton's and would be a very valuable asset in mounting a campaign against Hillary Clinton. Daley knows the inner workings of running a national political campaign and has the national contacts to quickly get set up during a primary season, which may become a greater factor since countless states are talking about making their primaries earlier in 2008.

Regardless of the junior senator from Illinois sincerity of his endorsement, it is a good political move. Both Bill and Richard are great allies to have in a Democratic Primary, which right now has a field growing larger than Ted Kennedy's bar tab.


They will kill us at home

Like millions of Americans who have supported the war in Iraq since the beginning, I am very angry at the incompetence the Bush administration has demonstrated in combating the insurgence. It is important to know that the media purposely portrays the situation in Iraq to be much worse than it truly is. However, you cannot argue with the fact that over 3,000 American troops have made the ultimate sacrifice and sectarian violence continues with no end in sight.

Just as important is the reality that most Americans do not want to accept and that is if we do not fight them in Baghdad, we will surely fight them on the streets of New York and Chicago. ABC news is reporting that documents captured by coalition forces reveal plans by Al Qaeda in Iraq to infiltrate the United States by using student visas to orchestrate a new attack on American soil.

This news report by a source that is not exactly a friend to the Bush administration cannot be ignored and must serve as a reminder that Islamic extremists still intend to murder as many Americans as they possibly can. We have become complacent as a nation and taking for granted the fact that we have not been attacked since 9/11. The current administration deserves great credit for our continued safety. However, they still have not secured our borders and last year alone nearly a half million non-Mexican illegals crossed our border. Who are they? Where are they? Common sense dictates that even if only one- tenth of 1% of these individuals are planning harm to the United States, that means 500 people are planning to kill large amounts of Americans. It only took 19 to take down the World Trade Center

Bill and Hillary Enter Presidential Race

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson and New York Senator Hillary Clinton have announced their formation of exploratory committees for President of the United States. If you would of asked the so-called experts last month if these presumed candidates would of announced so early in 2007, the answer would of been no. However, what has changed is the early announcement of Senator Barack Obama, who immediately started sweeping up headlines getting enormous press coverage. Clinton more than Richardson had to stop the Illinois senator's free ride of exposure from the national media. Hillary's announcement changes the discussion from being focused on Obama to being centered on her vs. the media golden boy, with everyone else as second and third tier candidates.

With all that said, Bill Richardson is a fascinating candidate. He brings excellent credentials as a successful governor and to an extent diplomat. He is also Hispanic, which gives him great appeal to the fastest growing voting block in America. Richardson does bring some baggage, which I will not mention due to it being of a personal nature and meaningless to a Presidential campaign. If he does become a serious contender all of it will come out. As Democrats go, Richardson is one of the good guys.

Paulie