Dem Campaign Chatter 8-8-2008

George Wenschhof

Today, Obama is in route to Honolulu, Hawaii - it is vacation time with the family for the next nine days. He indicated he was looking forward to spending time with 80+ year old grandmother and I believe his sister resides in Hawaii as well. Read more here.

--------------------

Let the games begin! - Olympics, that is - President Bush is in Beijing, China for the opening ceremonies. Many felt his absence would have sent a stronger signal to China who has a terrible record in regard to human rights, lack of adequate environmental measures in the country, and who recently announced Internet access would be banned during the Olympic games. Read more here.

--------------------

U.S. and Iraq close to agreement on U.S. troop withdraw schedule - In what amounts to be one of the biggest flip-flops of the Bush administration, agreement is near to have all U.S. combat troops out of Iraq by 2011. Perhaps driven by the election nearing in November, a timetable for withdrawal is almost certain. Part of the agreement will include withdraw of combat troops from Iraq cities by June 2009.

The McCain campaign and Republicans will claim their surge strategy worked and a withdraw agreement will be in place prior to the elections. Read more here. Mogtada al-Sadr, a Shiite cleric leader, also announces he will disarm his militia if the U.S. begins troop withdrawal. Read more here.

--------------------

Another international crisis erupts - the country of Georgia invades South Ossetia and Russia responds by sending tanks and warplanes. Russia Prime Minister Viadimir Putin says Georgia started it and Russia is responding. The U.S. has been supporting the republic of Georgia. Keep an eye on this for it could escalate into a even more nasty situation. Read more here.

--------------------

First draft of Democratic National Convention Platform is out - the first draft is with the committee members and amendments will follow before the final platform is presented at the convention for ratification by the delegates. TheAtlantic.com has some of the highlights as well as a link to the entire document. You can read it here.

Does not appear to have anything earth shattering; support of a woman's right to choose, a immigration position similar to what was first proposed by McCain and failed passage, fatherhood issues, concern as to Iran developing nuclear weapons..... We will all have to read the entire draft to see what else has been mentioned.

--------------------

Former President Bill Clinton to speak Wednesday night at Democratic Convention - will Clinton and Clinton overshadow Obama and his VP pick? Doubtful, but Hillary is up first on Tuesday night, followed by husband Bill on Wednesday night. After Bill Clinton, the VP pick is scheduled to speak on Wednesday. Thursday night, it is Denver Bronco's "Mile High Stadium" and Obama's acceptance speech. Too much of the Clintons? maybe, but "unity" is the theme of the Democratic leadership, whether it is true or not. Read more here.

--------------------

White House continues to battle subpoenas - After a federal district Judge rejected the claim of executive privilege, the White House has requested a stay on the ruling until an appeal is heard. All of this a result of the firings of 9 U.S attorneys and congress wanting to know if the White House was involved. Congress subpoenaed former Chief of Staff Joshua Bolten and former counsel Harriet Miers. Read more here. Stay tuned.