Quotes From Around Yon Blogosphere

Go down and talk to the black community in South Carolina. I know what they'll tell you. They have experienced so much institutionalized racism in their lives that they simply couldn't imagine that a black man could win the nomination, let alone the general election. Therefore, they were inclined to support Hillary Clinton. The Clintons, after all, have a very good and long lasting relationship with the black community, especially in places like South Carolina. There was a lot of good will and trust built up . . . But that all changed once they saw Obama knock the living crap out of the vaunted and feared Clinton Machine. It's going to totally evaporate when Obama clubs the Clintons by double digits on Tuesday. In fact, Obama's momentum will be so strong after New Hampshire that there will be very strong peer pressure in the black community in South Carolina for everyone to band together behind Obama.

Does this make them sheeple? Or does it mean that Obama has passed a test, a hurdle, and allowed people to let down their guard and dream?

People are flocking to Obama, not because they saw him on television dressed in garlands and basking in victory. They're flocking to him because he has answered their doubts. You think he isn't tough enough to win? Tell it to Hillary Clinton and her team. They got hit so hard they don't even know what state they're campaigning in anymore.

-- BOOMAN

I raised a glass to Obama for defeating Hillary in Iowa, but it is time for everyone to sober up and stop pretending that drippy and meaningless optimism constitutes the path to good government . . .

One question to ask yourself about Obama is this: if he were white, would I ever support him? Presumably many of his current supporters would, since they are also on board with his very progressive politics, but how broad a base of support do you suppose he would have? Would it actually be good for the country and for black candidates in the future if the first black candidate to contest for national office were so far removed from Middle America as Obama certainly is?

-- DANIEL LARISON

Politics is not rocket science. You have one party led by a deeply unpopular, unapologetic right-wing ideologue whom its presidential candidates nevertheless decided to embrace. You have another party that has spent most of the past quarter-century undergoing the painful but necessary process of taming its own ideological excesses and tacking to the center. As a result, it now boasts appealing, mainstream candidates with pragmatic policy proposals for addressing real problems. What, exactly, did people think was going to happen?

-- JOSH PATASHNIK

Given all the inane media blather the last 36 hours or so, I'm stunned that nobody -- and the inanest of them all, Chris Matthews, would be a prime candidate -- offered the theory that more women in the Iowa caucuses voted for Barack Obama than Hillary Clinton because Obama is "a hottie."

When I was growing up, I always heard two theories about why John F. Kennedy won that close election with Richard Nixon in 1960 -- either 1) dead voters in Chicago or 2) women, even Republicans, voted for JFK in droves because of his good looks. I have no idea if either is true, but I'm surprised people haven't made the same connection for Obama's apparent way with the lady voters.

Do I think women voted for Obama because he's good-looking? Not exactly. But I do think, stating the obvious, that voters wanted change, and that's associated with youth and vitality, and so swimsuit pictures don't hurt.

-- WILL BUNCH

Jon Stewart has described the media’s style of pack journalism many times with the same analogy: 8-year-olds playing soccer. As Stewart describes it, there’s a weird clump of legs, all moving in the same direction. Suddenly the kids see a ball rolling, and the weird clump converges on it in an awkward, graceless, and rather amusing fashion.

As Stewart sees it, reporters are the kids and news stories are the ball.

-- STEVE BENEN

[B]laming Edwards for Sarkisyan's death goes over the top. Sarkisyan died of disease, not from the actions of any politicians. While Edwards' exploitation of Sarkisyan has hardly been admirable, it goes way beyond the pale for Hillary or her campaign to blame Edwards for her death. It reflects a certain desperation on Hillary's team. Certainly, if Hillary wanted to point out the exaggeration of claiming an achievement that never was, as she explained later today, she and her campaign should have just done that rather than blaming Edwards for Sarkisyan's death.

-- ED MORRISSEY

If America is not ready for a woman to be our head of state, that means we are less modern than Great Britain.

If America is not ready for a woman to be our head of state, we are less progressive than Israel.

If America is not ready for a woman to be our head of state, that means we are more sexist than India, an ancient culture where it is still perfectly acceptable to light your wife or daughter on fire.

If America is not ready for a woman to be our head of state, that puts us behind Pakistan and Sri Lanka and Argentina, Bolivia, Germany, Yugoslavia, Haiti, Ireland, Bangladesh, France, Poland, Canada, Bulgaria, Liberia, Ecuador, New Zealand, Norway, Latvia, Panama, Finland, San Marino, the Philippines, Indonesia, South Korea, Serbia, Peru, Austria, the Ukraine, and Mongolia. Among others.

For that matter, if America is not ready for a woman to be our head of state, we are behind ancient Egypt.

Is that the nation I live in? I sure as hell hope not.

-- BRIDGET MAGNUS

Obama should thank Bush in his prayers. Without him, America wouldn't be seeking a uniter - or even a redeemer. A man capable of bringing together men and women (one third of women voted for him and not her), Blacks and Whites, Blue (Democrats) and Red (Republicans). A man who pardons the original sin of the slave and who holds up a mirror to America in which she is beautiful, multi-racial and pragmatic. A man who will heal the gaping wound of the Iraq War and restore America's image in the world.

-- ISABELLE DURIEZ

The big winners [in Iowa] were Joe Biden, Chris Dodd and Bill Richardson. They were able to secure the cabinet posts they were running for if a Democrat wins the election by not making enemies of the front-runners. Biden and Dodd ran nearly flawless campaigns and got out before they did any damage to their future prospects. It remains to be seen if Richardson can get out before he damages himself but as long as he doesn't say very much in the next few weeks, he should be fine.

-- JON SWIFT

Cartoon by Pat Oliphant/Universal Press Syndicate