Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Your Morning News 6.17.08
Posted by Josh in Barack Obama, China, Election 2008, Golf, Gore, john mccain, Polls, Tiger Woods
You know it is a slow news day when the Washington Post leads off with a story about their new poll. Sure, it is the first Post-ABC poll since Obama secured the nomination, but you could have written about the US Open or something. The poll shows Obama with a 49%-45% lead among voters, but it is always important to remember that polls do nothing but capture a snapshot in time. If people bring it up at work, here are three factoids that you can cite to sound smart:
- Only 8 out of 10 Democrats support Obama for President – a quarter of those who said they favored Clinton over Obama for the nomination currently prefer McCain for the general election.
- 57 percent said McCain would continue to lead the country as Bush has and 38 percent said he would chart a new course. Compare that to the fact that 84% of the respondents said that the country is on the wrong track and you have a serious problem for McCain.
I doubt this actually changes anyone’s mind about anything, but Al Gore officially endorsed Obama last night. He did so using a 90-minute Powerpoint presentation that is expected to net him another Peace Prize. Some political observers are questioning whether he will be that active in campaigning for Obama since it became evident 20 minutes into his endorsement that he was just reusing his presentation from An Inconvenient Truth with the words “Climate Change” replaced by “John McCain.”
China has begun to lecture the United States on the status of our economy, a change from the glory days of us telling everyone how to live their lives. The Chinese economy, while growing at a massive rate, is mostly fueled by lead paint covered toys and misery.
That was some OUTSTANDING golf yesterday. Tiger Woods, in his first tournament back after having massive knee surgery, won the US Open in 91 holes. Tiger, the #1 ranked golfer in the world, finished the tournament tied with Rocco Mediate, ranked #158. There was an 18-hole playoff (that is why your office was so quite) and at the end of it the two were tied again. The tournament went to sudden death where Tiger won after Mediate missed a par putt on the Seventh hole. I was completely in the tank for the congenial and middle-aged Mediate, who played the best round of his golf of his life.