memeorandum: Obama's Pander Pivot (Danielle Pletka/Weekly Standard)

10:10 AM ET, June 4, 2008

Top Items:

She's Still Here! — He thought a little thing like winning would stop her? — Oh, Bambi. — Whoever said that after denial comes acceptance hadn't met the Clintons. — If Hillary could not have an acceptance speech, she wasn't going to have acceptance.

Discussion: Jules Crittenden, New York Post, NY Daily News, LewRockwell.com Blog, Althouse, Don Surber and Vox Popoli

Roger Simon / The Politico:

Obama's first test: Handling Hillary — Barack Obama would like to remind you of something: He won and she didn't. It's about him now and not her. He has made history, and she is history. — Not that Hillary Clinton admitted to any of that in her nonconcession concession speech Tuesday night …

Discussion: TalkLeft, Top of the Ticket, The Caucus, New York Times, Commentary and TIME.com

Adam Nagourney / New York Times:

Next on Agenda Is Clinton's Role — Senator Barack Obama heads into the general election with obvious advantages: He is a Democratic candidate running in a sour atmosphere for Republicans, in a contest where voters are hungry for change and coming out of a campaign in which he filled arena after arena with supporters.

Discussion: MSNBC, ABCNEWS, Politics Nation, Washington Post, Comments from Left Field, QandO, The Caucus, AMERICAblog and Political Radar

Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:
SEN. CLINTON'S SPEECH

Discussion: democracyarsenal.org and Balloon Juice

Michael Crowley / The Stump:
In the Clinton Bunker — How fitting that, on the night Barack …

Discussion: marbury

Newsweek:
Clinton Kabuki — How Hillary is playing the veep game

Discussion: Associated Press and MSNBC

Greg Veis / The Plank:
Former Clinton Speechwriter on Obama's Speech

Discussion: The Hill's Blog Briefing Room, The Corner, New York Magazine, NY Daily News, Marc Ambinder and MyDD

CNN:
Republicans begin to highlight Clinton's criticism of Obama

Discussion: The Swamp, No More Mister Nice Blog, Newshoggers.com, TalkLeft, Comments from Left Field, Spin Cycle, Wake up America and Drudge Report

Aaron Timms / Sydney Morning Herald: Out of the gutter, into the White House

Gerard Baker / Times of London:
Can Obama make American dream come true?

Discussion: Outside The Beltway

Associated Press:

Text of Obama's speech Tuesday … Text of Democrat Barack Obama's prepared remarks for a rally on Tuesday in St. Paul, Minn., as released by his campaign: — Tonight, after 54 hard-fought contests, our primary season has finally come to an end. — Sixteen months have passed since …

Discussion: Power Line, Althouse, Crooks and Liars, Agence France Presse, The Moderate Voice, Philly.com, Slog and Lonewacko

Spiegel Online:

‘We Have Done Terrible Damage’ — Should Barack Obama win in November, many think that Republican Senator — and Bush critic — Chuck Hagel could become part of his cabinet. SPIEGEL spoke with him about the current administration's mistakes and the disarray in his own party.

Discussion: The Washington Independent and JammieWearingFool

Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:

FRIGHTENINGLY SAD — Here at TPM HQ we're watching John McCain's prebuttal to Sen. Obama's speech tonight. — And, man, I'm curious to hear what other people think, but I really feel like he would have served himself much better by just going to ground for the evening.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, The Hill's Blog Briefing Room, Jon Swift, Brendan Nyhan, Comments from Left Field, TBogg and RADAMISTO

Noam Scheiber / The Stump:

That Outrageous, Delusional Clinton Speech — I'm sure plenty of people had strong reactions to that speech Hillary just gave. For my money, the two most outragerous sentiments expressed were (and this is from my rough contemporaneous notes): — 1.) “What does Hillary want? ...

Discussion: Fox News, The Daily Dish and BlueOregon

Associated Press:
Text of Clinton's speech Tuesday

Discussion: MyDD, The Carpetbagger Report, New York Times, Hot Air, BBC and The RBC

Matthew Yglesias:

Clinton's Speech — I probably shouldn't write any more about this woman and her staff. Suffice it to say that I've found her behavior over the past couple of months to be utterly unconscionable and this speech is no different. I think if I were to try to express how I really feel …

Discussion: Sister Toldjah, The Opinionator, Brendan Nyhan, Lawyers, Guns and Money and PoliGazette

Michael Tomasky / Guardian Unlimited:

No shame, no gain — US elections 2008: On a night when Obama made history, Clinton's reaction was dangerously abrasive and selfish — The lead story tonight - my “lede,” as we spell it here - should have been about the remarkable fact that a black man has been nominated by a major party …

Jackie Calmes / Wall Street Journal:

Clinton's Road to Second Place — WASHINGTON — Sen. Hillary Clinton, once positioned to be Democrats'"inevitable nominee," won't be. On Tuesday, Sen. Barack Obama won enough delegates to claim the party's presidential nomination. — Inside the Clinton campaign and out, the finger-pointing has begun.

Discussion: Bloomberg, Los Angeles Times and Real Clear Politics

Nedra Pickler / Associated Press:
From Greek mythology, Obama learned a lesson

Discussion: JammieWearingFool

Chris Cillizza / The Fix:
What Went Wrong for Clinton?

Discussion: The Trail

Sam Stein / The Huffington Post:

Pelosi, Reid, Dean To Go Public: Democrats Need To Endorse — In the absence of a concession speech from Sen. Hillary Clinton on Tuesday night, top figures in the Democratic Party are set to go public, urging all uncommitted officials to declare their presidential affiliations.

Discussion: culturekitchen, AMERICAblog and TalkLeft

Mark Silva / The Swamp:
Democrats calling all superdelegates in

Discussion: Ben Smith's Blogs and The Crypt's Blogs

Kos / Daily Kos:
State of the race: 6/3 — No matter the blatherings …

Discussion: Don Surber, The Daily Dish and Wonkette

Andrew Sullivan / The Daily Dish:

The Clintons Threaten — The speech tonight was a remarkable one for a candidate who has lost the nomination, though not remarkable for a Clinton. It was an assertion that she had won the nomination and a refusal to concede anything to her opponent. Classless, graceless, shameless, relentless.

Discussion: protein wisdom, Liberal Values, Political Machine, Newshoggers.com, The Anonymous Liberal and The Reaction

Danielle Pletka / Weekly Standard:

Obama's Pander Pivot — Today he becomes a hawk on Iran. — TODAY, SENATOR BARACK OBAMA will speak before the annual conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), where he will execute a maneuver likely to become familiar to the American people in the months ahead: the pander pivot.

Discussion: Hot Air and Redstate

SteveK / TVNewser:

“Russert Has Spent 20 Years Building Credibility. All Of A Sudden He's Taking Questions From [A] Daily Kos Blogger?” — Tonight may be the last of the primaries, but the discussion of the cable news coverage will no doubt continue for months to come. MSNBC has bore the brunt of much of the criticism …

Discussion: NewsBusters.org and YID With LID

Wall Street Journal:

Ed McMahon May Lose Beverly Hills Home — Ed McMahon, the longtime sidekick to television star Johnny Carson, faces the possible loss of his Beverly Hills home to a foreclosure action initiated by a unit of Countrywide Financial Corp. — Howard Bragman, a spokesman for Mr. McMahon …

Discussion: michellemalkin.com, L.A. Land and TMZ.com