Chicago Daily Observer

Why didn’t someone tell us sooner that we could free ourselves from the clutches of Cook County?

Yes, it’s legally possible, but practically impossible, for suburban townships to secede from the county and its oppressive taxes, bloated payrolls, insider dealings and pathetic leadership. Still, it might be worth the effort. After all, if you can’t beat them, leave them.

Several Palatine government officials, pushed to the limit by the county’s recent sales tax increase, which may send shoppers scooting across the county line into adjacent Lake County, are discussing secession as something more than a stunt. Lost business and lost sales tax revenues are the price that the village and its businesses may pay for Cook County’s budgetary dereliction and other mischief.

One of the pillars of Obama’s home church, Trinity United Church of Christ, is “economic parity.” On the website, Trinity claims that God is not pleased with “America’s economic mal-distribution.” Among all of controversial comments by Jeremiah Wright the idea of massive wealth redistribution is the most alarming. The code language “economic parity” and references to “mal-distribution” is nothing more than channeling the twisted economic views of Karl Marx. Black liberation theologians have explicitly stated a preference for Marxism as an ethical framework for the black church because Marxist thought is predicated on a system of oppressor class (whites) versus victim ... Read More...

Illinois Sen. Barack Obama went after the “We’re not paying enough taxes to the government” vote today during a television interview in New York.

First, he said the Bush tax cuts ought to die. He likes that top marginal rate of 39%. Although the non-partisan National Journal recently declared him the most liberal of the 100 senators, Obama denied being a “wild-eyed liberal,” which wasn’t what the Journal called him, but it sounds good on TV where everything moves by so quickly.

Maria Bartiromo on CNBC‘s “Closing Bell” asked, “Who should pay more and who should pay less?” Predictably, the politician chose to talk about who would benefit from his higher tax plan, not who would get socked the hardest. But from his answers it sounds like the “wealthy” in his mind are those making more than $75,000.

Now here’s my plan:

The Michigan and Florida delegations will be seated at the convention and Barack Obama wins the nomination. It’s all settled a month or more before the Democratic National convention in August.

Everybody’s happy except the Clintons. (You’re extra happy if you revel in a bit of schadenfreude over the Clintons.)

How do we reach this happy conclusion? A deal is likely to be struck with the superdelegates, who will in good conscience be following the will of da peepul.

I will outline the contours of the deal, but first let me take a moment to defend the concept of superdelegates.

There will be a total of 4,049 delegates to the convention who will vote to nominate the next Democratic candidate. Of these, 3,253 will have been elected in the caucuses and primaries that began in Iowa and end in Puerto Rico in June. The latter were ... Read More...

Plans for Al Gore to take the Democratic presidential nomination as the saviour of a bitterly divided party are being actively discussed by senior figures and aides to the former vice-president.

The bloody civil war between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama has left many Democrats convinced that neither can deliver a knockout blow to the other and that both have been so damaged that they risk losing November’s election to the Republican nominee, John McCain.

Former Vice President Al Gore speaks at a news conference: Senior Democrats mull Al Gore’s nomination
Former aides to Al Gore now believe he could emerge as a compromise candidate

Former Gore aides now believe he could emerge as a compromise candidate acceptable to both camps at the party’s convention in Denver during the last week of August.

Obama’s concerns:

“Three major doubts have been raised,” he said. The first is whether in today’s political environment—with its emphasis on media and money—a grass-roots movement can even be created. Will people still answer the call of participatory politics?

“Second,” Obama said, “many believe that the country is too racially polarized to build the kind of multiracial coalitions necessary to bring about massive economic change.

“Third, is it possible for those of us working through the Democratic Party to figure out ways to use the political process to create jobs for our communities?”

From an interview with the Chicago Reader in 1995 as he first sought the Illinois State Senate seat. Read the entirety of “What Makes Obama Run?”