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I'm going on vacation in a few days, and will be gone until the night before the primary, so this will be one of the last Obama updates in a while.
Biggest news is that the official Obama headquarters had their grand opening on Saturday, and over 2,000 people showed up to sign up and volunteer. I was down there on Wednesday and then on Saturday, and it was amazing how enthusiastic everyone was. I added some photos from Saturday morning, and if anyone reading this is from Austin, feel free to drop by the office at any time, they're open from 9am to 9pm everyday until the primary, and they're located at 8th and Congress.
Things are also looking pretty good for Obama, he's leading in Wisconsin, tied in Texas, and for the first time is leading in national polling. Just look at the steep uptick in support. And Democrats abroad seem to really like him, which in a global connected world like ours, is always important.
Once again, the more people learn about him, the more likely they are to support him. It's just a matter of looking past the "Well Clinton was good during the 90's and I don't disagree with her now" and seeing that there is actually a better candidate out there.
But if you need some more reasons, here's an interesting list. Oh and this one about cluster bombs and political calculation.
There is also the electability angle, which was one of my main concerns with Hillary being the nominee in the first place. I have no problems with her really, but I think she hurts the Democrat's chances in the general. And this article shows that very well based on polling data. Obama wins by +9 in Oregon versus McCain, while Hillary loses by 3 when put up against McCain.
And while I keep hammering on how the "lack of substance" argument is shown to be completely wrong with just a little bit of research, here is yet another example of that, with the chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, who is intricately familiar with the national budget, saying that he was more than comfortable with Mr. Obama’s grasp of substance.
I've also made a webpage explaining the whole Texas primary and caucus confusion, sprinkled with information on voting in Austin. This news article explains the Texas caucus pretty well though.
So the 24 hour news cycle always needs to create some news so people will continue watching, and the latest example of this starts with Obama refuting Clinton's claim that words don't matter. This of course ignores the point I keep hammering that she is presenting a false choice by saying you have to be either good at policy or good at words. Or ignoring the years of experience that Obama has. Or that inspiring people to get behind your policies, and getting independents, moderates, and even Republicans behind you helps get your ideas passed.
So Obama pointed out all the cases where words did matter. The Hillary campaign then tries to make a mountain out of a molehill by replying that Obama's close friend and ally, Deval Patrick, used that same line of argument back in a 2006 Massachusetts's governor's race, and implying he stole Patrick's lines. Completely ignoring that, well, Patrick himself had suggested that Obama use his lines about the power of words and that he "applaud [Obama] responding in just the way he did." And that well, every politician, including Hillary, re-uses concepts. Obama even said himself these aren't the important things, both Hillary and McCain have used "his" "Fired Up and Ready to Go" line, but he realizes it's stupid to argue over things like that. So the change Obama talks about? This is an example of the kind of stupid petty stuff that a whole day is spent yammering on about instead of actually talking important things.
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