Moses Kagan's Aurora Borealis

Great article, even better headline:

"Obama Overseas! In Presidential Mode! Back Home, It's McCain in a Golf Cart."

Labels: McCain, Obama

Mark my words:

Obama is going to give at least one speech in Europe that is much more pro-American than people are expecting. He is going to publicly give the Europeans, particularly the French, a hard time about not fulfilling their responsibilities in Afghanistan.

Why am I so sure? Two reasons: First, Obama has a history of telling groups what they don't want to hear. Want examples? He has repeatedly excoriated black males (as a group) in front of black audiences for not being sufficiently involved with their children. He also swatted down the Clinton / McCain Fuel Tax Holiday Idiocy.

Second, the media is waiting to pounce on anything that Obama does overseas that could be construed as talking down to Americans (like the infamous "bitter" talk in San Francisco). What better way to swing things the other way than to give the Euros a (deserved) tongue-lashing for not pulling their weight?

Labels: Europe, Obama, speech

Corn-based ethanol is a boondoggle. We ought to be importing Brazilian sugar-cane ethanol.

However, my man Obama is in bed with the ethanol lobby. He offers the same nonsensical arguments in favor of "energy independence" that every other politician uses to justify inane, market distorting policies.

For the millionth time on this blog: energy is essentially fungible. You can buy it on world markets. The key is to use less of it, not worry about where you're buying it from.

Of course, no politician is perfect. I just hope that Obama recognizes this nonsense for what it is, pandering to improve his election chances, rather than actually believing that corn ethanol is a good idea. In other words, I hope Obama's being craven instead of stupid.

Labels: ethanol, Obama, oil

If you're like me, it's easy for you to find reasons to avoid parting with money. I had been thinking about giving to Obama's campaign for a long time, but I never got my act together to do it. Anyway, I finally did.

I feel a little ashamed that I let a whole bunch of people with less money than me fund this amazing campaign during the early days when Obama was unlikely to be the nominee. Now he is the nominee and I finally gave and it feels great. You should, too: barackobama.com.

Labels: contribution, Obama

Further to my post about the Clinton campaign's dirty tricks: Here is the Kerrey apology, ensuring that "Obama is Muslim" stays in the news one more day.

Labels: Clinton, Hillary, Obama