Samantha Power, an advisor in the Obama campaign, has resigned from her position after calling Senator Clinton a “monster” in a Scottish newspaper.
Oh, big whoop. As if Hill hasn’t heard that before.
To the cheers of “Yes she can,” Hillary Clinton just completed her Ohio victory speech. She also won the state of Rhode Island today, while Obama won Vermont. The two victories are the first her campaign has seen in quite some time and it has been said that if she did not win Texas and Ohio she would need to drop out of the race. The Texas race is currently too close to call.
Clinton’s speech consisted of thank-yous to everyone to the state of Ohio, her family, and Senator Obama “who has brought so much to this race” and ended with a message of hope for America. She read a letter from a contributor who wrote, “My two daughters are two and four. We chant an cheer for you at every speech we see. I want them to know anything is possible.” Clinton said, “Tonight I say to them keep on watching together; we’re going to make history.” She finished her speech by talking about her dreams for America, her desire to “turn hope into reality” and offer solutions to America’s problems.
Yes we will.
Earlier this evening, Clinton and Obama engaged in a critical Texas debate that could mark Clinton’s last stand. After losing eleven straight primaries, (including the Democrats abroad) if Clinton does not win Texas it will likely be time for her campaign to start considering defeat. While Obama was using rhetoric that played to his current lead and discussing what he would do when he was elected, Clinton ended her speech by saying that she would be fine no matter what happened with the campaign, but that we needed to focus on the everyday struggles of Americans in worse situations.
The substantive policy clashes within the debate came over how the candidates would approach Cuba, the differences in their healthcare policies and their abilities to serve as Commander-in-Chief, particularly in light of the current Iraq war. The debate took a negative tone when Clinton remarked that Obama’s use of speech lines that weren’t his own wasn’t “change you can believe in, that’s change you can Xerox,” but ended on a friendly note after Clinton remarked that she was honored to be debating with him.
The political analysts seem to largely agree that the debate was basically an even contest, which reflects the polling on the candidates in the state of Texas.
These student reactions were collected throughout the day by Student Life reporters at the Alberto Gonzales event, both inside after Mr. Gonzales finished speaking and outside among the protesters.
Ben Guthorn, sophomore, president of College Democrats
Generally speaking, what is your overall opinion of Alberto Gonzales’ speech?
Generally speaking I think he tried to instill the students here at Wash. U. with a particular message about service, and I do think that’s a good message to be instilling with young people, about serving our country, however I do believe he made a few irregular comparisons and he kept on bringing up something, the Constitution for example, as justifying it, serving it graciously and respectfully and trying to do the best he could to respect the documents that hold this country together, and I find that very hypocritical to his actions; his words were quite different than what he’s done in the past. I think that you’re not going to get up on a podium and make fun of yourself. He did say that they have made mistakes, but I do believe that some of the comments he made were not necessarily truthful, and/or in positive light to what his actions actually were.
Was Gonzales’ speech worth the more than $30,000 that SU spent for him?
I don’t think his speech was worth $30,000, I don’t think any part of the experience was worth $30,000. The only the thing gained from Alberto Gonzales coming here other than us being out 30 K that could be spent putting toward worthwhile speakers, speakers respected by universities and basically the general campus, I think the dialogue promoted on campus is worth something. I don’t know if it’s $30,000, but it is worth something.
Do you feel he addressed the alleged waterboarding and torture of Guantanamo prisoners adequately?
Quite frankly, no. I think, again, that you wouldn’t want to step on your own toes and I think that he was trying to protect his previous actions having to do with the torture memos and things that he signed up for. I think that yes he could have addressed more honestly and more openly, frankly, he doesn’t have his position anymore, but I think he’s trying to protect hiimself from legal prosecution in dealing with certain things. Frankly, if you’re going to speak, then speak to us honestly; don’t shuffle around the question, which is, I think, what he did on numerous occasions tonight.
Is there anything else you’d like to add?
I’d encourage the Wash. U. community, if you don’t like how SU spends its money, to get on SU and make sure you vote in SU elections, because that’s where all the money came from. It wasn’t the administration, it was students acting in what they thought was best for our University. And I think that, clearly, protesters here today echoed the fact that it wasn’t what best for our University at that time. They should attend meetings. If they want to see change, they should get involved. Either by joining SU or by joining any group on campus, think change.
Andrew Kline, junior
“I respect his story, coming from his background, and that’s what he was here to talk about. The protesters should respect other people’s right to listen. There’s a time to protest, rather than interrupt him during his speech.”
Jake Laperruque, sophomore
“I thought his speech was hypocritical in that he said we needed to defend freedom, liberties, and everything America represents, when some things he did while serving in the administration were in opposition to that.”
Brett Burman, protester
Basically we are going to give him his chance to talk. We want to let him know that there are a lot of people in the St. Louis community who disagree with him.
Live blogging was not available tonight because of security restrictions. We should have student reactions to post shortly. Thanks for checking.
Photos by Sam Guzik
Several students protesting Former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales’ appearance on campus later today began their protest early, wearing orange jumpsuits to class. The jumpsuits are meant as an allusion to the American military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba where enemy combatants in the war on terror are held. Coincidentally, the protesters pictured here include several members of the College Democrats executive board and were attending the class “Cracks in the Republic: Protest and Discontent from 1950-1975.”
According to a poll of members of the social networking website OpenVote, an overwhelming majority of the users are against today’s speech of Former Attorney General Gonzales. Of 542 votes that have been cast in that poll, a full 70 percent say that the University should not be paying Gonzales $30,000 to speak on campus.
OpenVote is a website started by two Dartmouth graduate students that recently began functioning at Washington University’s campus. The poll results represent the opinions of the site’s members, not the campus as a whole.
Student Life reporters will be all over campus on Tuesday as protesters and supporters react to Former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales’ speech. We will be live blogging from the event and a small group discussion with Mr. Gonzales beforehand, as well as posting student reactions and pictures. Check back throughout the day for updated news.
McCain claims that Obama has pledged to use public financing for the nearing general election, saying, “…he signed a piece of paper.” Obama has yet to give a definite response. This campaign has certainly moved quickly and far ahead of its time. Is Obama the Democratic nominee already?
The Service Employees International Union - comprising of 1.9 million members - has given Obama its much anticipated endorsement. Read about why this is important in ‘The Caucus.”
If you’re still an old faithful to Hillary Clinton, here’s another “Caucus” discussion that will make you wince. The New York Senator is supposedly guilty of running a distasteful negative ad campaign against Senator Obama in Wisconsin.
“Bill Clinton Scolds Wisconsin” is the title of the piece. Note: this is not a good start. Is the Clinton campaign becoming slightly desperate? The former President appeared on the campus of the University of Wisconsin-Madison yesterday to criticize Obama supporters of going for the “exciting and new” while discounting those “involved in the struggle before now.”
And finally… to relieve some stress from following the presidential campaigns in our own country, let’s shift focus for awhile to France, where the private life of its President Nicolas Sarkozy has been made into the butt of all jokes. Sarkozy’s ratings are at an all time low, and was not helped by his marriage to model-turned-songstress Carla Bruni on Feb. 2. IFOP polls showed that only 4 percent of the French believe the marriage has improved Sarkozy’s image, whereas 31 percent…feel the exact opposite.
Hilary Clinton has removed her longtime campaign manager Patti Solis Doyle in reaction to a slump after her Super Tuesday victories.
After months of tight competition on the Democratic side for President, many are beginning to wonder the outcome of a Hilary-Obama stalemate. The answer lies not in the voters, but the superdelegates, Washington insiders who may determine the race at the party’s Convention in August. This will become a more intriguing story if neither of the candidates pull ahead in the upcoming primaries.
Playing off the the pro-Obama “Yes We Can” video, an L.A.-based comedy group launched a spoof about John McCain’s call for a little something other than change.
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| Album: | Head on the Door |
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