Campaign (sp)in-fighting

by Stormchaser John

I woke up this morning with a headache, downed two extra-strength aspirin and was finally able to open my eyes enough to read and write and listen to the telly and hear all about do-overs and Mark Penn and Harold Ickes:

Penn had no real people of his own on the inside and chafed whenever Solis Doyle or Ickes got involved in his sphere. At one point, he and Ickes, who have been battling each other within the Clinton orbit for a dozen years, lost their tempers during a conference call, according to two participants.

"[Expletive] you!" Ickes shouted.

"[Expletive] you!" Penn replied.

"[Expletive] you!" Ickes shouted again.

The full Washington Post article (entitled: "Even in Victory, Clinton Team is Battling").

There's a comment in the article about how the Clintons have encouraged the in-fighting. Whether that's true or not, it does raise the question whether they'd be the ones who could be focused and dispassionate enough to answer that 3AM call correctly.

One of Clinton's favorite books is "Team of Rivals," Doris Kearns Goodwin's account of Abraham Lincoln's Cabinet, and she assembled her own team of advisers knowing their mutual enmity in the belief that good ideas come from vigorous discussion. But while many campaigns are beset by backbiting and power struggles, dozens of interviews indicate that the internal problems endured by the Clinton team have been especially corrosive.

Mark Penn vs. David Axelrod and Joe Trippi (3:40 in):

I look at Senator Obama's campaign staff and see unity, competence and I ask: then why did he lose those three states on Tuesday?

I look at the numbers and find that their claims of math (an 'un-sexy' argument, to be sure, but, hey, I like math) are accurate -- Senator Clinton's net delegate gain was negligible.

Here's a Newsweek article that helps to explain.

I heard from a friend that a memo from the Obama campaign a month ago accurately predicted the March 4th outcomes (nearly to the vote). They were not taken by surprise in the results. What they did not foresee: Saturday Night Live taking sides by displaying a cartoon that ties Senator Obama to Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, when neither have endorsed him. Not as obvious as the support for Senator Clinton that forced the media to fall back on their heels and do everything they could to show they were not for Senator Obama the day before a crucial primary.

That's the very same SNL that is now using Senator Clinton's "It is Saturday Night!" clip on their promos for next Saturday's show.

But, then, the numbers came in as Senator Obama's team had predicted. So, how off-guard were they? Here's another question: How bad will things get with McCain vs. Obama? McCain vs. Clinton? It may be a good idea, whichever one becomes the candidate, that they have the opportunity to toughen up before facing the Republicans without Senator Clinton's choice to go 'nuclear' in her negativity, which is alienating Democrate and Senator Obama's campaign, whilst they did see the 'kitchen sink' coming, which did not seem to know how to position their candidate in the midst of it.

Does he rise above? Does he attack? Somewhere between? Let surrogates do the work?

David Axelrod will need to figure that out.

Senator Clinton's road-trip down the low-road was, for me, one of the most disheartening experiences of the campaign thus far. I want to like her, I want to support her if she becomes the candidate. I'm having trouble imagining how enthusiastically I will do that if she continues with more of the same.

And those those emails calling Senator Obama a Muslim... His (correct) response: It was an insult to both his religion and to Muslims by implying there was something wrong in being Muslim. And Senator Clinton's response when she strategically paused when asked if Senator Obama was Muslim ('as far as I know'...).

A president and the accompanying staff should be calm in crisis. A president (and accompany staff) should be able to look down the road and anticipate outcomes. A president and accompanying staff should not make me cringe when I listen to them.

Smoke-filled rooms must not decide the will of the people. Pressure put on the more popular candidate to throw in the towel (or become VP), because the less popular candidate has more power in Washington must not be the order of the day. Racial and religious smears have no place in the founding father's experiment. Nor does opposition research that outweighs the needs of the people, where political cronyism decides who gets access. Where obvious ploys make it seem like Orwell is vying for the West Wing (not just the Justice Department...)

I have a headache.

Three Years Ago Today

by Stormchaser John

Three years ago today, in what scientists refer to as the Great Sumatra-Andaman earthquake, the resultant tsunami caused more than 225,000 deaths in eleven countries along the shores of the Indian Ocean.

The 2004 tsunami has since been estimated as the ninth worst natural disaster in modern history, which deserves (at least) 225,000 moments of silence and reflection.

For the people of Java, Indonesia, however, which has again been hit by rising waters, the monsoon rains that have impacted their region on the tsunami's third anniversary don't leave time for reflection as they run from landslides that are forcing thousands from their homes:

At least 80 people have been killed or are reported missing after floods triggered landslides in the central Java region of Indonesia. Local officials say they fear the death toll could rise. Thousands have been forced to seek shelter after their homes were buried or washed away. Landslides and floods are regular in Indonesia and many blame deforestation.

Also devastating, but receiving less notice was Cyclone Sidr in Bangladesh last November. The reason it received less notice? The Bangladeshi Government acted responsibly and evacuated their citizens. But >3000 people still died and a great part of their coastal region was wiped out in a harbinger of damage that rising sea levels may cause in the future...

This was because Cyclone Sidr was supposed to have been just another strong cyclone in cyclone season in a low lying country that had been devastated by cyclones in the past. But it wasn't like those other cyclones. This was a cyclone that sped up as it approached the shore, resulting in a storm surge that emulated a tsunami; which raises the question: What new kind of weather events will climate change bring in the future?

Bangladesh gives us a prescient view:

As I walked into Rajashwer village in southern Bangladesh, the only sign of human habitation was tarpaulins strung up along the river bank. The heart of the village looked as though it had been through a tumble dryer. Possessions were knotted into the branches of fallen trees, corrugated metal roofs and wooden walls were scattered and smashed beyond repair.

The last time I saw such scenes was three years ago, in the aftermath of the 2004 Indian ocean tsunami. Accounts of survivors from Cyclone Sidr bear striking similarity to those of the tsunami survivors.

Searching amongst the debris in Rajashwer village was an older man, sifting though a pile of twisted metal roofing. Kanchan Ali Khan, 70, spent the night of November 15, 2007 clinging to a tree, having been swept up by a tidal surge of water that was 15 feet (4.5 meters) high.

A fifteen foot storm surge from a cyclone on a sea level coastal region. It was not caused by an underwater earthquake, but another kind of earthquake. The kind that we have to ask if we'll see more of, especially those who live in coastal areas at or near sea level with unstable storm seasons over warming waters.

Like Bangladesh. It was the Bangladeshi Government's efforts that kept the death tool low. They deserve a great deal of credit for that. The situation for the people since then? Dire, though help has been arriving (the U.S. sent naval vessels with aid and helicopters to deliver to blocked inland regions).

For the '04 tsunami victims, much has been done, more is needed. Three years on, progress has been made in Indonesia, though those who lost loved ones (and there were so many) must still be reeling from the shock of the Boxer Day disaster.

In Sri Lanka, also devastated by the tsunami, the fighting between the rebels and the government has resumed.

And the villagers in Thailand who found that their homes that were washed away by the waves were replaced, in some cases, by new hotels and developments...

Which means the cliché, the more things change the more they stay the same, will not change.