memeorandum: “Obama is Essentially Right” (Matthew Yglesias)

12:30 PM ET, April 30, 2008

Top Items:

All aboard the Jive Talk Express — My syndicated column today deconstructs Barack Obama's pitiful performance yesterday. Try as he might, he simply cannot disown the un-disownable preacher of hate. That press conference yesterday renders the Philadelphia speech from March null and void.

Discussion: Althouse and Dr. Melissa Clouthier

Digby / Hullabaloo:

Betrayal — I have frankly been a little bit confused by the reaction to Reverend Wright's recent comments around the sphere and even here on this blog. I thought most people in the Netroots were big Obama supporters and yet they defend Reverend Wright, which I find rather surprising considering what he did.

Discussion: Salon, TalkLeft, Corrente and Crooks and Liars

New York Times:
Mr. Obama and Rev. Wright

Discussion: Hot Air, goodCRIMETHINK and AMERICAblog

Thomas L. Friedman / New York Times:

Dumb as We Wanna Be — It is great to see that we finally have some national unity on energy policy. Unfortunately, the unifying idea is so ridiculous, so unworthy of the people aspiring to lead our nation, it takes your breath away. Hillary Clinton has decided to line up with John McCain …

Discussion: The Daily Dish, The New Republic, The Carpetbagger Report, The Mahablog, Daimnation! and DownWithTyranny!

Scarecrow / Firedoglake:
Tom Friedman Returns, and He's Right About Gas-Tax Holiday

Discussion: Los Angeles Times and The Huffington Post

MSNBC:

April 27: Howard Dean, political roundtable — MR. TIM RUSSERT: Our issues this Sunday: — SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D-NY): I have received more votes by the people who have voted than anybody else. — SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D-IL): If we've won the most delegates from the voters …

Discussion: Hot Air, The Caucus, FactCheck.org, The Carpetbagger Report, Redstate, QandO, Flopping Aces, Brendan Nyhan and Political Punch

Jonathan Martin / The Politico:

GOP gives Clinton the silent treatment — Hillary Clinton's decisive Pennsylvania primary win last week may have reinvigorated her campaign, but you wouldn't know it from listening to the Republican party. — The National Republican Congressional Committee has purchased $500,000 in anti-Barack …

Discussion: NY Daily News, Donklephant and Real Clear Politics

Jed / The Jed Report:
Superdelegates to blame for enabling destructive campaign

Discussion: AMERICAblog

The Politico:

Obama may win Hill superdelegate fight — Capitol Hill insiders say the battle for congressional superdelegates is over, and one Senate supporter of Barack Obama is hinting strongly that he has prevailed over Hillary Rodham Clinton. — While more than 80 Democrats in the House and Senate …

Discussion: Associated Press, The Page, Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog, Booman Tribune, Taegan Goddard's …, The Caucus, The Washington Independent, Donklephant and Spin Cycle

Noam Scheiber / The New Republic:

Why'd Obama Join Trinity in the First Place? — The question is worth revisiting now that his ex-pastor is threatening his entire campaign. — I've heard two basic theories since the Wright tapes first surfaced in March. The first is cynical: Obama was a black politician in Chicago …

Discussion: TalkLeft, protein wisdom, The Garlic, QandO, Slog and Top of the Ticket

Byron York / The Corner:
Why the Wright Problem Won't Go Away

Discussion: National Review and The Washington Independent

New York Times:
Taking Sharp Tone, Obama Breaks With Ex-Pastor

Discussion: TownHall Blog, Washington Post, The Swamp, Wall Street Journal, Boston Globe, The Confluence, Scared Monkeys, MSNBC, Brilliant at Breakfast, Connecting.the.Dots, Reason Magazine, The Page, The Washington Independent, TalkLeft and JustOneMinute

Karl Rove / Wall Street Journal:

Getting to Know John McCain — It came to me while I was having dinner with Doris Day. No, not that Doris Day. The Doris Day who is married to Col. Bud Day, Congressional Medal of Honor recipient, fighter pilot, Vietnam POW and roommate of John McCain at the Hanoi Hilton.

Discussion: TownHall Blog, Don Surber, Betsy's Page and The Page

Fredric U. Dicker / New York Post:

REV-ENGE IS SWEET FOR ‘BETRAYED’ PASTOR — ALBANY - The Rev. Jeremiah Wright would be happy to see Barack Obama's presidential campaign derailed because the pastor is fuming that his former congregant has “betrayed” their 20-year relationship, — The Post has learned.

Discussion: Wake up America, JammieWearingFool and Spin Cycle

Jeannine Aversa / Associated Press:

Economy grows by only 0.6 percent in first quarter — Economy limps ahead at a 0.6 percent pace in first quarter, better pace than expected — WASHINGTON (AP) — The bruised economy limped through the first quarter, growing at just a 0.6 percent pace as housing and credit problems forced people and businesses alike to hunker down.

Discussion: Bloomberg, Donklephant, Political Machine, Don Surber, small dead animals and JammieWearingFool

Matthew Yglesias:

Trade-Offs — Here's Randy Scheunemann, John McCain's top foreign policy aide, talking about Georgia and U.S.-Russian relations and casually dropping tid-bits of his bizarre theoretical approach. For example, here's his view of diplomacy: … That's right, he thinks the entire process …

Discussion: Attackerman

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty:
Georgia: ‘Most Important To Have Western Unity’ In Face Of Russian Moves

Discussion: Outside The Beltway

Floyd Abrams / Wall Street Journal:

Foreign Law and the First Amendment — Late in 1941, the U.S. Supreme Court issued an opinion which, for the first time in our history, starkly distinguished American protection of speech from that of England. — Two union members had been convicted of assaulting nonunion truck drivers.

Discussion: The Corner, Atlas Shrugs, Outside The Beltway and The Volokh Conspiracy

Glenn Greenwald / Salon:

Brian Williams' “response” to the military analyst story — It has now been more than ten days since the New York Times exposed the Pentagon's domestic propaganda program involving retired generals and, still, not a single major news network has even mentioned the story to their viewers …

Discussion: UT Documents, MSNBC and The Smirking Chimp

John M. Murtagh / NY Daily News:

Be Our Guest: Obama pal is an enemy, too — During the April 16 debate between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, moderator George Stephanopoulos brought up “a gentleman named William Ayers,” who “was part of the Weather Underground in the 1970s. They bombed the Pentagon, the Capitol and other buildings.

Discussion: The Campaign Spot and Media Blog

Benjamin J. Romano / Seattle Times:

Microsoft device helps police pluck evidence from cyberscene of crime — Microsoft has developed a small plug-in device that investigators can use to quickly extract forensic data from computers that may have been used in crimes. — The COFEE, which stands for Computer Online Forensic Evidence Extractor …

Discussion: Digg and Engadget