For a change, I will refrain from expressing my personal opinion on the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling on the District of Columbia’s ban on hand guns, and I will especially refrain from “characterizing“–glorifying or demonizing– the Supreme Court justices for the way they voted.
On the latter–and as an aside–it has been fascinating to observe the diverging reactions by some to the flurry of decisions rendered by the Court in recent days–some of them on very emotional issues, such as on the death penalty for child rapists, on habeas corpus for enemy combatants, and on gun control. I am referring to the cable and radio talk show hosts and other pundits who one day applaud the Court’s decision as the next best thing since sliced bread, and sanctify the judges, and the next day deplore the decision and vilify the judges as tyrants or “vermin-wearing-black-robes” –sometimes referring to the very same swing judge or judges.
But back to the D.C “gun control” decision. As we know, on Thursday the U.S. Supreme Court decided that the Second Amendment protects an individual’s right to own a gun for personal use and overturned the District‘s 32-year old ban on handguns, the strictest gun control law in our country ( And, again, the Court was either glorified or vilified). What struck me about this effort seeking to give D.C. residents the right to keep and bear arms is how little, if any, has been said or written about an even more important right: the right to vote.
Now, I am well aware that the landmark Supreme Court decision, one that ostensibly applies the Second Amendment to residents of the District of Columbia, will have a tremendous effect on gun control laws far beyond the District. It would be nice, however, if the same people, organizations (such as the NRA) and politicians (such as Dick Cheney) who have worked so hard to give District residents the right to keep and bear arms, would work just as zealously to give these same Americans a far more fundamental right: the right to elect a voting representative in Congress..
Setting aside the national ramifications of the gun control issue and ruling, it seems to me that some are of the opinion that D.C residents are sufficiently responsible to own and use firearms, but not responsible or deserving enough to vote for a real representative in Congress.
February 13th, 2008 By JOE GANDELMAN, Editor-In-Chief
NOTE: This is a special Potomac Primaries edition of our famous Around The Sphere link-fest: it gives you reaction to weblogs of many different viewpoints on yesterday’s primaries and the political scene. Links and quotes do not necessarily represent the viewpoint of TMV or its co-writers.
REACTION TO THE VICTORIES OF DEMOCRAT BARACK OBAMA AND REPUBLICAN JOHN MCCAIN IN THE VIRGINIA, MARYLAND AND WASHINGTON D.C. PRIMARIES:
The people in nearly 40 states have spoken and most Democrats prefer the junior senator from Illinois and more Republicans prefer McCain over the Huckster.
And 7 months out, Obama looks to be a lock in the general election.
The best the Huckster could do was lose by “only” 9 points in Virginia. McCain had majorities in all 3 states. We can talk about conservatives vs. RINOs all we want but the truth is the party does not belong only to those who pretend to speak for Ronald Reagan. A photo op with Nancy might make it clear that his name on some bad legislation aside, McCain is a conservative and has been since before Goldwater.
Obama’s campaign need not worry about superdelegates. They are like the Electoral College and will obey the will of the people of their states. They will side with him before Hillary departs this race. And Florida and Michigan will get full delegations.
I was feeling sorry for Hillary Clinton just now, when I saw the expression on her face as she waited to go onstage in El Paso. This process is so grueling. And the rejection, when it comes is so personal, in a way “normal” people never experience. Even a performer as professional as she couldn’t conceal the bone-tired, beaten-over look on her face.
But now, fifteen-plus minutes into a dreary recitation of policy-points that will do nothing to satisfy those who want her to say what her campaign is for, I am feeling less sorry. She has not had the grace to mention Barack Obama’s name, nor his existence or success…. This is not classy and does not help.
Huckabee hasn’t won more than 45% in any state, and he didn’t get to 45% in Virginia last night, either. Virginia’s winner-take-all primary was his last hope of affecting McCain’s trajectory in any meaningful way, and he lost by nine — as I had predicted earlier in the day.
McCain has already started shifting his focus to the general election. He offered nothing but kindness to Huckabee, but began challenging Barack Obama. Expect to hear McCain repeatedly dismiss Obama’s platitudes on “hope” and get him into a debate on specific policies. Obama will lose that fight, but if he doesn’t engage McCain, he’ll look like an empty suit. McCain has a lot more time to focus on Obama than the reverse, and he can do some damage to Obama’s momentum among independents while Obama tries to finish off Hillary Clinton.
Obama’s got everything going for him right now, including momentum. There’s only one thing he doesn’t have and that’s more scrutiny. Yet…Superdelegates will now come into play, but there’s also Michigan and Florida. Somebody in charge better get a firm grip, because these forces could collide….Tough going ahead for Clinton, but also for Obama as well, only for different reasons. The gloves will come off, if only subtly and more pointedly. Clinton is left with no other choice. As for Obama, he’s now going to have to tread on territory where he’s weakest. Defining himself. Better to do it now before the Republicans do it for him.
McCain now stands just under 350 delegates short of clinching the nomination, and he’ll get it by March 4th….Not only did Barack Obama sweep the Potomac Primary, he did so decisively and, in Virginia, beat Clinton in almost every demographic category. That would seem to bode well for states like Ohio and Pennsylvania. More importantly, he’s ahead in the delegate count and, as Howard Fineman argued last night on MSNBC, there’s almost no way that Hillary can win based on the pledged delegates alone
Questions For The Future
As we head into the third act of this campaign, this seems to be what people will be talking about
1. How will the DNC handle the fact that Michigan and Florida were stripped of their delegates?
2. Will the Democratic superdelegates go against the popular vote?
3. Who’s in the running for McCain’s Veep?
4. Will there be a big third-party run?
Senator Barack Obama appears to have won the “Potomac Primary” - Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C. Delegates will be delivered proportionately to both Obama and Senator Hillary Clinton. Squabbles over the role and use of superdelegates continue. And Ohio, Texas and Pennsylvania are now being called the firewall for Clinton that other states with votes long since counted didn’t turn out to be.
One of the reasons abusive relationships are so difficult to leave and end for good is that both parties often prefer the familiar dysfunction to the unknown of a healthy relationship.
The way in which some people describe the Clintons’ hypnotic control over the electorate might be said to parallel that familiar dysfunction. And the suggestions made by Obama of how he believes government should function and leaders should rule sound healthy.
Voters need to decide, just as a person leaving an abusive relationship must, whether they are ready to trade in the familiar but not so functional for the unknown but hopefully healthy. And this is no small judgment to make, since treatment for addiction of any type rarely succeeds at more than a 35% rate.
Do you buy this analogy? If not, why not? And if so, which do you think the voters will choose: the familiar, or the unknown?
February 12th, 2008 By JOE GANDELMAN, Editor-In-Chief
NBC has projected that Arizona Senator John McCain will be the winner of the Virginia and Maryland primaries — and has just projected he will win in Washington D.C. as well, virtually assuring what was already assured: that he will be his party’s 2008 Presidential nominee.
But McCain got good news — and bad news.
The good news is that exit polls shows that a large portion of Republicans — a chunk of conservative voters who don’t go along with conservative talk show hosts and that increasingly vanishing species called “moderate Republicans” — are willing to accept him. The bad news is that a hard-core group of conservatives, most typified by conservative media establishment types such as top radio talk show hosts, continue to reject him.
Despite strong opposition from many conservative voters in Virginia’s GOP primary Tuesday, three-quarters of Republican voters surveyed said they would be satisfied with John McCain as the party’s standard-bearer in November.
