James Forsyth is former political editor of The Spectator.
Michelle Obama played it safe tonight. Gone was the sassy campaigner I remember seeing in Iowa and South Carolina. The aim of the speech was to introduce Michelle Obama to the public and to dispel the idea of her as an angry, divisive figure. On that score, it worked. Michelle Obama sounded both humble and
Tonight’s message is going to be all about Obama and the economy. The Democrats want to paint Obama as a tribune of the middle class and as a member of it; they want to reduce the sense of otherness about him, what Mark Penn called his ‘lack of American roots.’ This is a crucial task,
The Democrats want to achieve five things this week here in Denver: 1). Unify the party 2). Persuade voters that Obama is ready to be president 3). Tie McCain to Bush 4). Hone an economic message 5). Show swing voters that Obama is ‘one of us’ There is, therefore, intense irritation that this morning the
Alasdair Palmer has a piece that is well worth reading in the Sunday Telegraph about the leaked MI5 report on what turns people into terrorists. Here’ the key section of his argument: “It conspicuously fails to mention the potential terrorist’s most obvious “vulnerability”: adherence to an extremist form of radical Islamism. It stresses that “far
John Rentoul reveals that The Independent on Sunday’s latest poll, conducted by ComRes, shows another 21 point Tory lead. The Tories are on 46, Labour on 25 and the Lib Dems 16. Interestingly, among likely voters 38 percent think of themselves as generally speaking Conservatives, 30 percent Labour and 14 percent Lib Dems implying that
In a peacetime election, Barack Obama’s selection of Joe Biden would make perfect sense. Biden is a national security heavyweight and his presence on the ticket would reassure voters than an Obama administration would be up to speed on foreign policy rather as Cheney did for Bush in 2000. But with America still engaged in
Has Obama just blinked? His selection of Joe Biden, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, as a running mate appears to be a recognition that he needs someone with national security experience on the ticket. This provides an opening for the McCain campaign. It also complicates Obama’s argument that national security is all
If there is a Labour leadership election, the candidates are going to need slogans and in an actual contest they’ll need something that draws a contrast. (With no opponent, Brown could run under the banner, ‘Gordon Brown for Britain.’) Thinking about what slogans, the various possible candidates might use does give you an idea of
It all kicks off after McCain gives the worst possible answer to the question of how many houses he and his wife own: “I think — I’ll have my staff get to you”. (Video of Obama’s ad and McCain’s response after the jump) For a lot of candidates, this would be an election ending blunder.
Time Magazine: One of the biggest moments in the campaign is going to be your announcement of a Vice President. What is that decision going to tell voters about you? Barack Obama: Hopefully, the same thing that my campaign has told the American people about me. That I think through big decisions, I get a
The 24 point lead the Tories have in this month’s Ipsos/Mori political monitor is their largest since the survey began after the 1979 election. The 48 percent they scored is the highest they have ever been in opposition and their best performance since January 1988 when they were at 50 percent—their highest ever score. By
After David Miliband wrote his infamous Guardian article, the Brownites had two options. Either they could welcome it as important contribution to the debate and try and laugh off the idea that it was the beginning of a leadership challenge or they could go on the attack, painting Miliband as disloyal and try to force
The Conservatives have jumped on the confusion in the government’s foreign policy revealed by Nick Brown’s outburst on Comment is Freee (see Fraser’s post), with William Hague asking the Prime Minister to clarify who speaks for the government on foreign policy—the Foreign Secretary or the Deputy Chief Whip? Gordon Brown has to get a grip.
This’ll set tongues wagging: Hillary Clinton’s younger brother met with Carly Fiorina, the chair of the Republican party’s Victory 2008 committee, at a private gathering in Pennsylvania. The event was hosted by the national director of the Citizens for McCain coalition. In the grand scheme of things this isn’t that important, but it re-injects the
Reihan Salam, a Spectator contributor, has a good piece at The Atlantic. In it, he conducts a thought experiment that is worth reflecting on: “It’s worth wondering what might have happened had Musharraf taken a different path. During a landmark speech in January 2002, Musharraf essentially declared war on the Islamic extremists who’d been hollowing
The Daily Mail flags up this bizarre response from Downing Street to the petition calling for Jeremy Clarkson to be made PM. At the risk of sounding like an old curmudgeon, is this really an appropriate use of taxpayers’ money?
The final phase of preparing the country for Prime Minister Cameron is under way. Having decontaminated the brand and marched ahead of Labour in the polls, the Tories are now introducing the country to Statesman Cameron. Politics abhors a vacuum. So with Gordon Brown hunkered down planning his autumn ‘relaunch’ and David Miliband practising looking
There is still buzz that the McCain campaign is seeing if the Republican Party can be reconciled to a pro-choice running mate. It seems unlikely that they would carry on doing this if they weren’t actually thinking seriously about having one, even if they don’t pick one there is a risk that the mere talk of it alienates social
From The Washington Post this morning: Russian armored vehicles moved eastward from the town to a point about 30 miles from the capital, Tbilisi, and plowed aside Georgian police vehicles at a checkpoint.
