Skip to content

Obama Talks About Clinton and Sanders

There is an interesting interview in Politico with Barack Obama from a week before the Iowa caucuses, talking about the 2016 election and what he thinks about Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders:

Bernie came in with the luxury of being a complete long shot and just letting loose. I think Hillary came in with the both privilege — and burden — of being perceived as the front-runner. … You’re always looking at the bright, shiny object that people haven’t seen before — that’s a disadvantage to her.

And what he thinks of Donald Trump and the Republican party:

You think about it: When I ran against John McCain, John McCain and I had real differences, sharp differences, but John McCain didn’t deny climate science. John McCain didn’t call for banning Muslims from the United States. … [The] Republican vision has moved not just to the right, but has moved to a place that is unrecognizable.

It’s a good article, well worth a read.

Share

Late Night Political Humor

“This morning, Twitter went down for almost three hours. It wasn’t good — in fact, I heard Donald Trump actually had to FAX his insults to people.” – Jimmy Fallon

“Donald Trump continues to lead in the polls, but he recently said that if he loses the election, he’d go back to building skyscrapers. When asked where he’d build them, he said, ‘Right in front of the White House.'” – Jimmy Fallon

“While speaking at an evangelical university, Donald Trump praised the Bible, saying ‘There’s nothing like it.’ Of course, Trump changed his mind the minute he found out the book is full of Middle Easterners.” – Conan O’Brien

“Today, Donald Trump got the endorsement of Sarah Palin. When he heard, John McCain said, ‘Well, then you’re all set.'” – Conan O’Brien

“Sarah Palin appeared in Iowa today to endorse Donald Trump for president. Though I think she just likes him because ‘Trump’ sounds like a name she would give one of her kids — Bristol, Willow, Track, and Trump.” – Seth Meyers

“Remember when Obama appeared on the NBC reality show ‘Running Wild’ with survivalist Bear Grylls? This had to be the first time a U.S. president ever appeared on TV with a man who regularly drinks his own urine.” – James Corden

“People were shocked that during the show, Obama actually ate fish that had been gnawed on by a bear. That’s nothing. Chris Christie once ate half a ham straight out of a Dumpster.” – James Corden

“At a recent town hall meeting, Chris Christie admitted that he’s got a little bit of a crush on Adele. Which explains Adele’s new song: ‘Hell-no’.” – Jimmy Fallon

“There was another Democratic debate over the weekend. The candidates discussed the big issues like healthcare and global warming. But, of course, the media focused on the most important issue: Bernie Sanders gives a mean stink-eye.” – James Corden

“Fun fact: Bernie makes that same face when the waiter at Canter’s Deli brings him the wrong soup.” – James Corden

“In a new interview with Time Magazine, Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders said that he’s never worn a tuxedo in his life. When asked what he got married in, Bernie said, ‘1879’.” – Jimmy Fallon

“According to a recent poll, Hillary Clinton has a better chance than Bernie Sanders at beating Donald Trump. While Martin O’Malley still has a good chance of beating traffic.” – Seth Meyers

“Today, a top LGBT organization officially endorsed Hillary Clinton. Upon hearing this, Bill Clinton said, ‘You had me at L.'” – Conan O’Brien

“The president of the United States, Barack Obama, seems to have totally checked out recently. It’s like Obama has total senioritis. If you want proof of this, he’s started signing every bill in Congress with: ‘Have a great summer. Stay cool. Barack.'” – James Corden

“Obama even appeared on Jerry Seinfeld’s show, ‘Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee.’ How about less ‘comedians in cars getting coffee’ and more ‘presidents in the White House getting legislation passed through both houses of Congress.'” – James Corden

Share

Can you see the difference?

Matt Bors
© Matt Bors

How hypocritical is it that many of the same people who take up arms against the government are also screaming to kick out the Mexicans, deport the Muslims, and want the right to kill anyone who threatens them. To me, it is an old story — people want laws, police, prisons, and punishment, but only for other people they don’t like, not for themselves. You can’t have it both ways.

And now, the few people who are left occupying the Malheur bird sanctuary claim that they weren’t instigators, they just came along for the heck of it, and the feds should let them leave without any arrests of other repercussions for their actions. I think it is too late for that. If it was a bunch of Mexicans, Muslims, or Blacks occupying a federal building, I’m sure these same people would be only too happy to serve their own form of vigilante justice against them.

We are either a nation of laws, or we aren’t.

Since 9/11, more Americans have been killed by right-wing terrorists than by Muslim terrorists. If we want to deport dangerous terrorists, why don’t we start with the right-wing-nuts?

Share

Late Night Political Humor

“While speaking at an evangelical university, Donald Trump misquoted the Bible, saying ‘two Corinthians’ instead of ‘Second Corinthians.’ And, several times, instead of saying ‘God’ he said ‘Donald Trump’.” – Conan O’Brien

“Today is Martin Luther King Day. And Donald Trump saw his shadow this morning so that means six more weeks of racism.” – Seth Meyers

“At last week’s Republican debate, Ted Cruz accused Donald Trump of having ‘New York values’. Trump said that’s ridiculous, then, overcharged Cruz for a bagel.” – Conan O’Brien

“South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham on Friday endorsed Jeb Bush for president. Though I imagine getting an endorsement from Lindsey Graham is about as helpful as being backed up in a bar fight by Lindsey Graham.” – Seth Meyers

“Last night from Charleston, South Carolina was the Democratic presidential debate between Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, and an unidentified man on the side — I’m told his name is Martin O’Malley.” – Jimmy Kimmel

“Last night Martin O’Malley looked like the kid forced to choose between his parents at a divorce hearing.” – Jimmy Kimmel

“During last night’s debate, Hillary Clinton said her husband would serve as her ‘kitchen table’ advisor. Meanwhile, Bernie Sanders said his wife would serve as his ‘hand rails in the bathroom’ advisor.” – Conan O’Brien

“During last night’s Democratic debate, Bernie Sanders got the most speaking time. As well as the most speaking volume. Bernie Sanders talks like he always has a bad connection.” – Seth Meyers

“In a sense the debate was a victory for Bernie Sanders. He made it through the whole thing without dying.” – Jimmy Kimmel

Share

Election News or Mis-information?

Tom Tomorrow
© Tom Tomorrow

Ok, I need to clear up some misinformation that I’ve been seeing in almost all of the media. The media keeps reporting the popular vote totals from the Iowa caucuses. Based on the popular vote, they keep calling the results for Clinton and Sanders a “dead heat”. There is just one problem: the popular vote totals do not determine the primary results. It is the delegate counts that count.

So what if Hillary Clinton got 49.8% of the vote and Bernie Sanders got 49.6%? That does sound awfully close. But Sanders won big in just a few districts (districts with large populations of young people, like university towns). As a result, Clinton actually got 28 delegates, while Sanders got 21 (2 delegates were “uncommitted”). That means that Clinton got 55% of the delegates and Sanders got 41%. That doesn’t sound quite so close, does it?

How did that happen? Within a district, you only need to get 51% of the vote in order to get that delegate. If Sanders got 100% of the vote in a college town, he would still only get one delegate.

It works the same way in the national election, where most states are “winner take all”. It is a weird system, but it is the one we currently have and it is too late to change the rules for this election (although I really think we should change the rules).

But it gets worse. Because the Democratic party has “superdelegates”, Clinton currently leads Sanders by 384 delegates to 29. And that is not close at all.

Up next is the New Hampshire primary, where Sanders (from Vermont) is very popular. But New Hampshire only has 32 delegates total. So Sanders could win every single delegate from New Hampshire (an unlikely complete blowout), and it will make little difference. After that are states like Nevada and South Carolina, where Clinton is favored.

Now, having said all that, I do want Sanders to keep getting lots of votes. Why? Because as long as he is still in the primary race, he will highlight the differences between the Democrats and the Republicans, and he will push Clinton to the left. Both of those things are very important. Right now, Clinton’s biggest problem is how she can avoid alienating Sanders’ followers and turn them into Clinton voters in the general election.

UPDATE: By the way, I’m not just picking on Sanders and the Democrats. The same thing happened on the GOP side. The media keeps calling it an upset win for Cruz, with Trump second, and Rubio third. Again, that is based on the popular vote. But the delegate count tells a slightly different story. Ted Cruz did get the most delegates, he got eight. Donald Trump got seven delegates, just one less than Cruz. And Marco Rubio also got seven delegates, the same as Trump. So where are the headlines talking about a tie between Trump and Rubio?

Share

Late Night Political Humor

“The Republican candidates held another debate in South Carolina, and it went on about half-hour longer than expected. Which isn’t bad, considering Trump’s campaign has gone on half a year longer than expected.” – Jimmy Fallon

“Donald Trump has been endorsed by a whites-only group. In response, Trump said, ‘I’m proud to be the official candidate of the U.S. Ski Team.'” – Conan O’Brien

“Donald Trump tried bringing up polls that showed him winning, and the crowd actually started to boo. Trump was like, ‘See, even ghosts love me.'” – Jimmy Fallon

“Donald Trump said this week that his high poll numbers in Massachusetts are due to his support from Patriots’ quarterback Tom Brady. Man, what is it with Tom Brady and deflated leather balls?” – Seth Meyers

“I read that there are actually four stars in the universe named after Donald Trump. You believe that? A burning ball of hot air has stars named after him.” – Jimmy Fallon

“Jeb Bush has released a new ad showing clips of mean things Donald Trump has said on the campaign trail. He also released his new campaign slogan ‘I’m telling!'” – Seth Meyers

“We have former secretary of state and Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton on the show tonight. Backstage she told me she’s a huge fan of the show and I was like, ‘I know, I read it in your emails.'” – Jimmy Fallon

“A new poll shows that in the last month, Hillary Clinton’s lead in Iowa has shrunk from 9 percent to 2 percent. Meanwhile, her fake smile has grown 200 percent.” – Seth Meyers

“President Vladimir Putin said that Russia has invented the world’s most effective drug to fight Ebola. Yeah. When asked if he tested it on rats, Putin said, ‘You could call them that. Sure, yeah, yeah. They’re rats.'” – Jimmy Fallon

Share

Good Results!

I think the results from the Iowa caucuses are the best outcome our country could have hoped for. For both parties, there was no clear winner. Ironically, this means completely opposite things for the two parties.

On the Republican side, Ted Cruz pulled a surprise upset over Donald Trump, but Cruz is the evangelical candidate in a state that loves evangelicals (in 2012 Santorum won, in 2008 it was Huckabee). This means that the Republican candidates will continue to attack each other, as they have been doing with gusto for the last few weeks.

On the Democratic side, there was a virtual tie between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders. But unlike in the GOP, this means that the two candidates will get closer together. Clinton cannot ignore Sanders and his unabashed progressive policies, so she will move back to the center.

An early coronation of Clinton would have been bad for the country, not to mention Clinton’s chances in the general election. If her only competition was from the right, she would have triangulated that way. But as the New Yorker put it “for Clinton to unite her party and galvanize it for what could be a tough fight in the fall, she needs to find some way to appeal to younger voters, who have fastened onto Sanders’s anti-establishment message.” Attacking their candidate (or his policies) won’t work, and she knows it.

And lastly, it is hilarious looking at the response from the pundits today, who are all over the map. The New York Times claims that a virtual tie for Clinton is a win for her campaign. While NBC is claiming that it is a loss. The takeaway from all this is that if nothing else, you can’t believe the pundits (even me!), polls mean almost nothing (even the entrance polls to the caucuses showed Trump with a significant lead), and that politics in America has changed, and will continue to change.

Share

Building Bridges

Today, Barack Obama will visit an Islamic mosque on US soil, his first visit to an American mosque, and second of any sitting president. Presidents rarely visit houses of worship, except for their personal worship.

It will be interesting to see the reaction. After all, 29% of Americans think he is a Muslim pretending to be a Christian. Among Republicans, the number is 45%. And most of the Republican presidential candidates have been falling over each other with anti-Muslim rhetoric.

President Bush visited a mosque in DC, six days after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, where he declared “Islam is peace”.

Share

Late Night Political Humor

“President Obama gave his final State of the Union address last night. He started by saying he would give a shorter speech, which seemed to get the most applause of the night.” – Jimmy Fallon

“President Obama gave his final State of the Union address last night. It was the president’s shortest State of the Union address, clocking in at 58:49. Mine would have been however long it takes to say, ‘You’re on your own, suckers.'” – Jimmy Kimmel

“During his speech, President Obama criticized companies for not being loyal enough to their employees. Yeah, employees would agree, but they were busy buying Powerball tickets so they could quit their job.” – Jimmy Fallon

“If you’re a Republican you don’t want to get caught agreeing with anything Obama says because it could ruin your political career, so you have to sit there and make a face like you’re witnessing your family getting eaten by coyotes through the whole thing.” – Jimmy Kimmel

“Kim Davis, the county clerk who refused the same-sex marriage licenses, was also at the State of the Union address. She was sporting her meanest scowl and her fullest mullet for the event. She said she was there to encourage all Christians — she even wore Joseph’s amazing Technicolor dream coat.” – Jimmy Kimmel

“President Obama said last night that he treated his last State of the Union address just like his first, because he’s ‘just as hungry’. Probably because he’s only been allowed to eat kale for the last seven years.” – Seth Meyers

“Obama saying he’s going to keep it short is like Donald Trump saying, ‘Enough about me’.” – Jimmy Fallon

“While commenting on the State of the Union, Donald Trump said President Obama is ‘living in a fantasy land.’ Donald Trump then went to sleep in his solid gold bed with his supermodel wife.” – Conan O’Brien

“Donald Trump has been endorsed by one of the country’s most prominent hate groups — his ex-wives.” – Conan O’Brien

“New polls found that Bernie Sanders is now ahead of Hillary Clinton among Democrats in both Iowa and New Hampshire. And even Hillary’s lead in national polls is dwindling. I don’t want to say Hillary is upset, but this morning she was spotted shouting into a volcano, ‘You said we had a deal!'” – Jimmy Fallon

“Bernie’s really picking up some momentum. In fact yesterday, he received an endorsement from the progressive website MoveOn.org. As opposed to, Jeb Bush, who was just endorsed by the website ‘No, seriously. MoveOn.org!'” – Jimmy Fallon

Share

Caucus or Caca

Jack Ohman
© Jack Ohman

Tonight is the Iowa caucus. No matter what the results, will it mean anything? Iowa is notoriously bad at predicting the outcome of the primaries, let alone the general election.

But we will all be watching anyway.

Share

Late Night Political Humor

“Tonight, President Obama gave his final State of the Union address, and a lot of people said it had a more optimistic tone. That’s right, instead of seeing the glass half-empty, Obama sees the presidency seven-eighths OVER.” – Jimmy Fallon

“Tonight before a joint session of Congress, President Obama delivered his seventh and final State of the Union address. In this one he tried to focus on the positive. For example, he’s positive nothing he proposes will get done over the next year.” – Jimmy Kimmel

“In the lead-up to tonight’s State of the Union address, House Speaker Paul Ryan accused President Obama of plotting to set verbal traps for Republicans. Responded Obama, ‘Losersayswhat?'” – Seth Meyers

“Republicans control both houses so it’s going to be very difficult for the president to pass any new legislation. The only bill more unpopular than a bill from President Obama right now is a Bill Cosby.” – Jimmy Kimmel

“The New York Times is describing President Obama’s State of the Union as ‘a balance of terror and reality’. Which, coincidentally, is also the motto of Match.com.” – Conan O’Brien

“The White House joined Snapchat yesterday. It’s a great platform for the White House, because moments after you make a promise, it magically disappears.” – Jimmy Fallon

“President Obama tonight delivered his final State of the Union address. Now, we tape this show early, but I’m guessing he was interrupted dozens of times by applause and twice when Hillary Clinton tried to tag in.” – Seth Meyers

“Hillary Clinton said she went to Donald Trump’s wedding but didn’t give him a gift. Trump said, ‘Just for that, you’re not coming to my next three weddings.'” – Conan O’Brien

“Tonight was Paul Ryan’s first State of the Union as speaker of the House. But get this, Ben Carson recently said that several Republican congressmen actually tried to recruit HIM for the job. Of course then they’d have to call him ‘whisperer of the House.'” – Jimmy Fallon

“Marco Rubio’s campaign said that it expects to lose the first four states in the primary elections, but thinks he can win the nomination anyway. Which is sort of like not getting a rose on ‘The Bachelor’, and being like, ‘Call me!'” – Jimmy Fallon

“The other Republican candidates keep attacking Marco Rubio implying he’s a child. However, Rubio has hit back against these charges, threatening repeatedly to ‘tell Mom’.” – Conan O’Brien

“It’s been nearly two weeks since members of an anti-government militia took over a federal bird sanctuary in Oregon in order to protest the government’s control of federal lands. The members of the militia are heavily armed with AR-15s, AK-47s, and other lethal weaponry one would expect to find on a bunch of dudes guarding some cockatoos.” – James Corden

“Ammon Bundy, the leader of the militia, has compared his occupation of the wildlife refuge to that of Rosa Parks. And I think we all remember when Rosa Parks got on a public bus, sat down, then whipped out an AK-47 and threatened to kill anyone who made her change seats.” – James Corden

“The militia are short on supplies, and have released a wish list of items they hope people will donate to their cause. You have to see this list. These guys did not plan ahead. They’re asking for four aprons, ice scrapers, candles, throw rugs. It’s like a wedding registry for the most boring couple you know.” – James Corden

“There is only one thing they say they needed badly on this list — eggs. They need eggs badly, at a bird sanctuary.” – James Corden

“Ben & Jerry’s ice cream wants to make a flavor inspired by Bernie Sanders. Whatever flavor it winds up being, we know Bernie will hate it for being too rich.” – Jimmy Fallon

“As you all know, Sean Penn recently interviewed El Chapo. Not to be outdone, Keanu Reeves now wants to interview El Niño.” – Conan O’Brien

Share

Start-up Politician

Matt Bors
© Matt Bors

As a political blogger who has started several (tech) companies, I have to admit that this comic is right on. Starting a war and starting a company are eerily similar.

Share

Late Night Political Humor

“Donald Trump is on the show tonight, and I’m not saying security is tight, but the Secret Service just built a giant wall around the building — we had to pay for it!” – Jimmy Fallon

“During a Donald Trump rally yesterday, a man was kicked out for yelling, ‘This is boring.’ The man then went to a Jeb Bush rally and realized he owed Trump an apology.” – Conan O’Brien

“Republican candidates aired a dozen new TV ads last week, even though recent data has shown that TV ads are mostly ineffective. Chris Christie was like, ‘If TV ads aren’t effective, why do I keep going to Wendy’s for their Gouda Bacon Cheeseburger, here ONLY for a limited time?'” – Jimmy Fallon

“The truth is that the odds of you winning [the lottery] are 290 million to 1. That means are you about as likely to win the Powerball as you are to ever hear the words ‘President Jeb Bush.'” – James Corden

“Over the weekend, Bernie Sanders said that if he’s elected, he plans to spend $1 trillion to fight unemployment. When asked what they would do with that kind of money, unemployed people said, ‘Retire!'” – Jimmy Fallon

“The White House revealed over the weekend that President Obama privately met with Bernie Sanders. And when she heard this, Hillary Clinton fake-smiled so hard, her ears touched in the back.” – Seth Meyers

“Tomorrow night is Obama’s last big event, the State of the Union. And this year, the president’s speech is going to be what his aides are calling ‘non-traditional.’ So I assume it’s maybe barefoot, on the beach, everyone’s in linen, rolled cuffs, and instead of a State of the Union cake, maybe cupcakes.” – Stephen Colbert

“Dennis Hof, the owner of Nevada’s famous Bunny Ranch Brothel, has announced he will run for Senate in 2016. Even though the only experience he has with politicians is telling them to ‘come back soon!'” – Seth Meyers

“On Friday, Joaquin ‘El Chapo’ Guzman was finally captured by Mexican authorities, six months after tunneling out of prison for the second time. It’s good they put him on a helicopter. Once it’s airborne, it makes the tunneling a little more hazardous.” – Stephen Colbert

“Mexican officials revealed Sunday that fugitive drug lord El Chapo nearly escaped by using a secret doorway hidden behind a mirror. Which would have made it hard to capture him since Mexico has no extradition agreement with Narnia.” – Seth Meyers

“A day after he was caught, it came out that Mexican drug lord El Chapo actually sat down for an interview with Sean Penn while he was on the run. In the interview, El Chapo described himself as ‘a person who’s not looking for problems in any way.’ You know, except for that whole ‘Mexican drug lord’ thing. ‘I’m just a humble drug lord! I chop up my enemies one leg at a time, just like anybody else.'” – Jimmy Fallon

“El Chapo is the Mexican drug kingpin who was recaptured on Friday. He has been in hiding since he escaped from a maximum security prison in July and somehow wound up doing an interview with Sean Penn. Apparently he was hoping to get a movie made about his life. What a great plot twist, adding Sean Penn. I mean, the thing is writing itself. I wonder who Sean will get to play Sean in the movie.” – Jimmy Kimmel

“El Chapo is back in the same prison he escaped from six months ago but they revoked his tunnel privileges this time. The plan is they’re hoping to extradite him to the United States so he can be tried by a jury of his customers.” – Jimmy Kimmel

Share

Open Primary Season!

Tom Tomorrow
© Tom Tomorrow

As we enter both primary season and awards season, the entertainment industry should give some awards to the political parties and the news media. Like, “most creative use of reality”, and individual awards to Trump for “best leading role in a situation comedy” and the rest of the Republican candidates for “best supporting actors”. While Trump wins the “most attractive to cranky old white men”, Sanders walks away with “best cranky old white man”. For her part, Clinton could win the “most conservative campaigner with liberal policies” award. Cruz easily wins the “most popular candidate that nobody likes” award, and Carson should get the “best campaign led by someone who slept through most of it” award (the “Reagan” award).

Go ahead, gentle viewers. Nominate the candidates for the awards they deserve. I’ll see you in the comments.

Share

Justice for Obama?

A common question of presidential candidates is what kind of Supreme Court justice they would appoint. But at a campaign event in Iowa on Tuesday, someone asked Hillary Clinton if she would consider nominating President Obama to the Supreme Court.

Laughing in delight, Clinton replied “Wow, what a great idea. Nobody has ever suggested that to me. Wow. I love that. Wow. He may have a few other things to do, but I tell you, that’s a great idea.”

I love that idea too. As Electoral Vote points out, there is precedence for this. President William Howard Taft was nominated and confirmed by a vote of 60–4. And even though there are no job requirements to be a Supreme Court justice, Obama is well qualified as a lawyer who is well versed on the constitution. Plus Obama is relatively young, so he would be on the court for a while. And it would be difficult for the Republicans to block his nomination. What are they going to do, ask for more information about him?

Besides, it is a great campaign idea for Clinton, as it would help mobilize the black vote, and would make her (potential) presidency doubly historic.

Share