Days Thirty-One and Thirty-Two, April 26

So yet again I've allowed my work and social life (or glaring lack thereof) to interfere with my daily posting on the blog, and missed putting up a post yesterday. To be honest, with the way my favorite candidate was starting to wage war with the Hillary camp towards the deadline in the Pennsylvania primary the last couple weeks, the situation was getting a little grim. When you turn on the news (or Google or Youtube) and are confronted with the guy who's fighting against politics as usual trying to poison the well of his opponent, it makes a task like this one considerably more difficult to believe in. Hope was getting a little harder to come by.

That's the primary reason why I'm so impressed by this post by Alec MacGillis. His blog, The Trail, follows a similar schedule and content outline as this one (although his writing is admittedly much less subjective, and more widely read than mine), and in this afternoon's post, he addressed the very same trends that has been disturbing Obamaphiles around the country. I know I'm not the only one who was counting on Obama to clean up his campaign's act after we fell short of victory in Pennsylvania last week, and MacGillis is proving that he's already doing just that. By highlighting the policy and philosophical differences between himself and John McCain, and subsequently lightening up on Hillary, Obama is regaining his cred with those who already support him, while giving him renewed appeal to the presently unaffiliated. Speaking at a town hall meeting in Anderson, Indiana last week, Obama told his audience, "If you watched the last few weeks of campaign, you'd think all politics is about is negative ads and bickering and arguing and gaffes and sideline issues. There's no serious discussion about how we're actually going to bring jobs back to Anderson, that's not what's being debated. That's the politics we've gotten used to over the last 20 years, and I'm tired of that politics because it doesn't solve problems."

This newly rejuvenated 'good guy' quotient in Obama couldn't come at a better time, either. With the Indiana primary just ten days away, and economic factors like gas prices and food rations looming large in headlines around the country, the time for slinging mud with/at Senator Clinton is over. And as MacGillis' investigation seems to suggest, Obama realizes this, and is already washing his hands for a cleaner campaign in Indiana and North Carolina. It seems like a new trend could be ready to come around in Obama's campaign machine, where instead of just inundating his speeches and interviews with the 'hope/change/repeat' rhetoric, he can really take time to elaborate on his core issues. The time is ripe for this shift in gears, as more and more Americans are refusing to buy hype (or hope) alone as a reason to vote Obama this November. And if he plays his cards right, one of the stances that could pan out big for Obama is his economic platforms.

This week, as gas prices rose to a record high three times, one of the most hotly-debated issues of the summer (and the election, if prices continue to rise) will undoubtedly be fuel prices. Yesterday it took nearly fifty dollars to fill up my fourteen gallon gas tank, a new record. A scary proposition, and one that the vast majority of Americans share, and are equally nervous about as gas prices refuse to relent. Americans want answers for both the short- and long-term about how we'll solve the fuel problems this country faces, and will continue to face in coming years. In a speech in Indianapolis yesterday, Barack talked straight about why gas prices are rising steeply today, as a result of decades of political inactivity in the nation's capitol. "Unless we're willing to challenge the broken system in Washington, and stop letting lobbyists use their clout to get their way, nothing else is gonna change. And the reason I'm running for President is to challenge that system," Obama said. He also gave a straightforward and compelling series of solutions to the fuel crisis, focusing on reforming the way Congress and the oil industry do business together. By implementing a 'windfall profit' tax on gas companies while assisting middle-class Americans with taxes paid on gas, Obama outlined his short-term plan to assist working citizens combat the price of gas. In the wider scheme of things, Obama maintained his stance that change "won't happen overnight", but that we need to rethink energy factors like fuel sources, our consumption of it, and raising our fuel and emissions standards. This comes at a time where Obama is actually being put in the political crosshairs for similarly-realistic comments on the futility of eliminating the gas tax this summer (more on that in tomorrow's post). In the meantime, here's a video of that speech in Indianapolis:

Day Fourteen, April 8

Right now, anyone who has their eyes on Obama is keeping at least one eye out for what will be happening in the Pennsylvania primary on April 22. Two weeks from today, one of the largest remaining political contests the Democratic party has yet to wage will play its part in determining which Senator is going to be on the ballot in November. A month ago, the situation was looking rather grim for Obama in the aptly-named Keystone State, but as countless publications are reporting today, the Illinois Senator has done much to turn his own ship around.

In order to kick off today's post I chose this article, posted today on Forbes.com. Starting out by reminding us just how far ahead Senator Clinton was a month ago (17 points in a poll back in March!), blogger Paul M. Murdock demonstrates just how hard Obama has worked to gain a fighting chance in Pennsylvania. With latest polls showing Hillary ahead by a mere 6 percentage points, Obama is on the tail of the margin-of-error victory that could give him the majority of delegates up for grabs. Considering that he's been outspending his rival's campaign by a count of three-to-one, perhaps this updraft of undecided voters is less surprising after all.

The most inspiring thing about this charge that Obama has mounted in Pennsylvania is the fact that he's managed to do it mostly by recruiting from the type of voters that Hillary has previously been able to keep in her pocket in this race. By reaching out to the white, middle- and working-class vote, Obama is showing the people of Pennsylvania that he not only sympathizes with a state hit especially hard by the recession, but he is willing to fight for them. In a campaign that has placed the importance of no state above any other, making this sort of a comeback is no small feat. Obama's message of economic reform and affordable health care is no more appealing than in Pennslyvania.

In the long run, I think that this month will play a major role in making the economy one of Obama's core issues, which will undoubtedly work out in his favor (and more importantly, it's just what America needs). If the Obama campaign can bring the economy to the forefront of the debates this fall (or if the Federal Reserve does it for him), this will give him a huge edge on McCain, who is holding little more than military experience and his promise to stay the course in Iraq as his trump cards. In a quote from an editorial in last Friday's Boston Globe, Obama emphasized the economic crisis, saying, "there's some very concrete issues that have to be dealt with in terms of disparities in healthcare, or income or joblessness, legacies of the past. So we don't want to paper those issues over." Click here to read the entirety of that editorial, by author Derrick B. Jackson.

Days Eleven and Twelve, April 5

My best friend from high school was in town over the weekend, so I missed a day on the blog. In the interest of pressing on, and tipping one shot of hope per day into this blog's swelling gullet, I'll be posting two items today to make up for lost time.

Yesterday being April 4, the 40th anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., I decided it would be fitting to include a post that did honor to the progression this country has shown since the death of Dr. King. Instead of resorting to a cheap attempt to parallel King's legacy with the still-growing fire of Obama's presidential campaign, I've instead decided to play to the subtler issues at hand, just as Obama himself did at a speech honoring the late doctor yesterday in Ft. Wayne, Indiana (a CNN article written about all three presidential candidate's responses to the anniversary is located read here). Instead of focusing primarily on how civil rights activists like Dr. King paved the way for Obama's political career, and his run for the presidency, Obama aimed his speech at our still-existing need for workers' rights and economic justice. Barack referred to Dr. King as a "modern day Moses" who fought for fairness not just for his fellow African Americans, but for all American citizens, and highlighted the need for economic stability and citizens' unity that looms over the United States today. Later on in the oratory, quoting Martin Luther King's late wife, Corretta, Barack tells his listeners how "it was never about me, it was never about Martin. It's about God's will, and God's plan for us." This touching speech can be viewed here on Youtube.

For my second item posted today, I'd like to post an article posted yesterday in the op=ed section Boston Globe. Author Tripp Jones, a (former) Hillary supporter, composed the article to call for unity inside the Democratic Party, and insist that fellow Clintonites recognize Obama as the eventual Party Nominee and give him their support now. Instead of simply selling out his faith in Hillary, Jones is admirable enough to call for . Tripp writes who currently support Hillary and "continue to believe that she would be an excellent president can play an important part in moving our nation forward by supporting Obama. We can spread the word that he offers the right leadership for these challenging times." That article, which is available for easy-forwarding to your favorite Hillary holster, can be read here.