Georgia, Russia and Kosovo

War between Russia and Georgia, and an illicit romance between John Edwards and a woman who served on his campaign staff when he ran for president are dominating the headlines and dinner table conversation.

First, the war. Responding to Russian provocations, Georgia and its president, Mikheil Saakashvilli, unwisely began to fight, which was just what Russia was hoping for. Two of Georgia's provinces,  South Ossetia and Abkhazia, are seeking independence and are being encouraged by Russia and its prime minister, Vladimir Putin. Putin is incensed that Georgia, a state that was formerly part of the Soviet Union, is not only a good friend of the United States -- it provided 2,500 troops to assist us in Iraq, the largest contingent after Great Britain -- it is also seeking to become part of NATO.

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Obama's mistake

Last week, I wrote of the recent successes of Senator Barack Obama -- his trip abroad to Iraq and Europe and his reception in Germany where 200,000 people came to hear him speak and cheer him. I compared Obama with Julius Caesar, evoking Caesar's boast of "Veni, Vidi, Vici."

But Caesar also made his share of mistakes. This week, I'm writing about a gaffe by Senator Obama, in which he appeared to be playing what has come to be known as "the race card."

On August 1st The New York Times summed up the situation: "Senator John McCain's campaign accused Senator Barack Obama on Thursday of playing 'the race card,' citing his remarks that Republicans would try to scare voters by pointing out that he 'doesn't look like all those other presidents on the dollar bills.'" The Times went on to state, "The exchange injected racial politics front and center into the general election campaign for the first time, after it became a subtext in the primary between Mr. Obama and Senator Hillary Clinton."

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Afraid of a fair fight

When opponents want to bring down a political candidate - as many Democrats and Republicans would like to do with Hillary Clinton - they examine every word he/she utters, knowing there is always the possibility of finding a quote that will embarrass the candidate and add fuel to the fire.

Many Obama supporters and other political operatives want Hillary to drop out of the Democratic primaries so that Senator Obama can be anointed the Democratic candidate who will face the Republican, John McCain, in November.

During an interview with the editorial board of the Sioux Falls Argus Leader newspaper in South Dakota, Hillary discussed the calls for her to drop out of the race. She said, "My husband did not wrap up the nomination in 1992 until he won the California primary somewhere in the middle of June, right? We all remember Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in June in California. I don’t understand it."

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Two types of failure

I am dumbfounded that there has been no drop in Barack Obama's standing in the polls following revelations that he sat in Rev. Jeremiah Wright's church for 20 years and did nothing, publicly or privately, to voice disagreement with Wright's hate speech. Indeed, Obama's poll numbers are going up. The most recent CNN national poll shows Obama with 50 percent and Hillary with 40 percent of likely Democratic voters.

One reason for the up tick in Obama's popularity may be that Hillary Clinton has had to explain her out-and-out falsehood of having been under sniper fire years ago in Bosnia. Her account of landing in Bosnia amidst sniper fire was totally demolished by a video clip taken at the time and now flashed all over tv showing her strolling across the tarmac with Chelsea to receive flowers and kisses from a waiting child.

On Hillary, Rudy and the economy

Hillary Clinton's victory in Nevada was especially important and unexpected. Nevada is a caucus state, meaning that it does not have a secret ballot. Voting is up front with all to see how you are voting. The Culinary Workers' Union, which is one of the most successful and aggressive unions in the country, endorsed Barack Obama.
 
Those standing up for Hillary at the Nevada caucuses were pledging their vote in public, taking on the union leadership and risking their good standing with the organization. Nevertheless, the workers did it and Hillary in a three-way race won not merely a plurality, but a majority (50.71 percent). Now it's on to South Carolina, an even more difficult race. Fifty percent of South Carolina voters are African-Americans, who until recently, were overwhelmingly for Hillary, notwithstanding that Obama is an African-American candidate with a record of achievement - not as good as Hillary's, in my opinion due to lack of experience.

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