Abandon Ship

Former Clinton loyalists are signaling that a loss by Hillary Clinton on Tuesday will bring a lot of pressure on her to fold and walk away from the primaries. Oh, they couch it in general terms, but they obviously mean Hillary.

AKRON, Ohio (AFP) - Hillary Clinton's camp vowed Sunday she will resist calls to abandon the White House trail after pivotal nominating contests in Ohio and Texas, where rival Barack Obama hopes to land a knockout.

Several key Obama allies, and so far unaffiliated former 2008 candidate Bill Richardson had suggested the former first lady should consider folding her campaign if she fails to win the landslides she needs on Tuesday.

"D Day is Tuesday. We have to have a positive campaign after Tuesday," said Richardson, warning that a prolonged Obama-Clinton joust could damage the party and offer a boost to likely Republican nominee Senator John McCain.

"Whoever has the most delegates after Tuesday, a clear lead, should be in my judgment the nominee."

While her campaign has said they will fight on, the reality is that money will essentially vanish for the campaign in the wake of a loss. Obama is trying for the kill in Texas and Ohio - and the poll trends are pointing in his favor. I certainly don't feel any sympathy for Clinton, who has proved to be a singularly inept campaigner. But still, it has to be even more bitter for her that she is getting trounced by a neophyte. 

Ricin Case Update

The FBI is searching a house and a storage unit in Utah as part of the Las Vegas ricin case. There still is no word on what exactly is going on with all this, but authorities continue to insist that the entire affair is not terrorism related.

The search of the home and units at a self-storage facility outside Salt Lake City was expected to be a long, tedious process as agents operated carefully at sites where they could find the dangerous substance, FBI spokesman Juan Becerra said.

No results of the ongoing searches were announced at a press conference Sunday morning, but FBI Special Agent Timothy Fuhrman said, "There is no indication of any terrorist act or activity."

Roger Von Bergendorff, the focus of the investigation, had lived in the Riverton house for more than a year before moving to Las Vegas, Nevada, about a year ago, said Tammy Ewell, who lives across the street.

"He just barely got by in life. He'd just barely make it," Ewell said Saturday of the 57-year-old Von Bergendorff.

He lived there with his cousin Thomas Tholen and his wife, said Ewell, who described the couple as close friends.

Officials secured Tholen's home, but did not immediately search it because they were awaiting court approval for a warrant, Becerra said later Saturday.

Von Bergendorff is described as a loner. Again, there is no legitimate reason for him to be in possession of the ricin in the first place. This one is getting more murky as details emerge, not less. 

Chavez Threatening Colombia

(T)Hugo Chavez has moved ten battalions of his army to the Colombian border. His intentions are not clear, but the volume of his rhetoric indicates that he may be willing to go to war allied with the criminals and drug traffickers of the Colombian FARC group.

CARACAS, Venezuela - President Hugo Chavez on Sunday ordered thousands of troops to the border with Colombia after Colombia's military killed a top rebel leader.

Chavez told his defense minister: "Move 10 battalions for me to the border with Colombia, immediately." He also ordered the Venezuelan Embassy in Colombia closed and said all embassy personnel would be withdrawn.

The announcements by Venezuela's leftist leader pushed relations to their tensest point of his nine-year presidency, and Chavez warned that Colombia could spark a war in South America.

He called the U.S.-allied government in Bogota "a terrorist state" and labeled President Alvaro Uribe "a criminal."

The leftist leader warned that Colombia’s slaying of rebel spokesman Raul Reyes could spark a war.

“It wasn’t any combat. It was a cowardly murder, all of it coldly calculated,” Chavez said.

“We pay tribute to a true revolutionary, who was Raul Reyes,” Chavez said, recalling that he had met rebel in Brazil in 1995 and calling him a “good revolutionary.” 

Well, only if you subscribe to a certain definition of good revolutionary, being a dead one. Reyes was accused of expanding FARC's drug trafficking as well as of the murder of hundreds of people who opposed FARC. Regardless, I sincerely hope Chavez is not crazy enough to cross that border. If he does, the US will have to intervene - and will have a perfect justification to do so in Chavez's invasion. If the Congress wants to send a clear message to Venezuela that they will support Colombia and considers it an ally, they should pass the free trade agreement with Colombia. It may help avert a war.

Thin Résumé

David Ignatius points out that Barack Obama, the Great Left Hope, has a pretty darn thin résumé when it comes to actually accomplishing the bi-partisan changes he promises. When Ignatius looked into Obama's history he found only one really major character trait: ambition.

This is the real "where's the beef?" question about Obama, and it still doesn't have a good answer. He gives a great speech, and he promises that he can heal the terrible partisan divisions that have enfeebled American politics over the past decade. And this is a message of hope that the country clearly wants to hear.

But can he do it? The record is mixed, but it's fair to say that Obama has not shown much willingness to take risks or make enemies to try to restore a working center in Washington. Clinton, for all her reputation as a divisive figure, has a much stronger record of bipartisan achievement. And the likely Republican nominee, John McCain, has a better record still.

Obama's argument is that he can mobilize a new coalition that will embrace his proclamation that "yes, we can" break out of the straitjacket. But for voters to feel confident that he can achieve this transformation should he become president, they would need evidence that he has fought and won similar battles in the past. The record here, to put it mildly, is thin.

What I hear from politicians who have worked with Obama, both in Illinois state politics and here in Washington, gives me pause. They describe someone with an extraordinary ability to work across racial lines, but not someone who has earned any profiles in courage for standing up to special interests or divisive party activists. Indeed, the trait people remember best about Obama, in addition to his intellect, is his ambition.

Obama worked on some bipartisan issues, such as a state version of the earned-income tax credit, after he was elected to the Illinois Senate in 1996. But he also gained a reputation for skipping tough votes. The most famous example was a key gun-control vote that he missed in December 1999 because he was vacationing in Hawaii. The Chicago Tribune blasted him and several other vote-skippers as "gutless." One Chicago pol says that "the myth developed that when there was a tough vote, he was gone."

Instead of bipartisan bridge building, Obama has been essentially running for president since he arrived in Washington. Instead of healing relations with allies, he is openly dismissing them and promising to embrace enemies. Ignatius is very concerned that there simply is no proven history of Obama being able to deliver on any of his lofty promises.

The SNL Gambit

Well, now we know why Hillary Clinton didn't show up for a flight to Ohio with her campaign. She was on her way to New York to perform the next step in her uber-tippity-top secret Saturday Night Live strategy. She appeared on the show last night.

LANCASTER, Ohio —Hillary Rodham Clinton dropped off the campaign trail Saturday to make a guest appearance on “Saturday Night Live,” reveling in a skit that lampooned the news media as biased toward Barack Obama and poking a little fun her 11 straight losses to Mr. Obama.

Probably her best line came when Amy Poehler, who portrays her on “SNL,” asked her how things were going.

“Oh, the campaign is going very, very well,” Mrs. Clinton said in a syrupy tone. Then, with mock suspicion, she continued: “Why, what have you heard?”

Oh for the good old days of the Bass-o-matic. 

The Dissatisfaction Market Society

There's road rage, there are people who talk loudly on their cell phones, there the people who scream at airline ticket agents because their flight is delayed by bad weather. All signs of a serious and growing problem . Narcissism is on the rise - and it is making people miserable.

Broad pronouncement of the week: We are entitled brats.

For immediate proof, turn on the television. Locate a reality show on Bravo or MTV. The "Real Housewives of Orange County" and their real children are halfway through a marathon of placating and whining. "The Hills" and "Newport Harbor" are stocked with people who expect to be treated with a disproportionate amount of respect, lest they erupt in a raging meltdown.

We watch these shows in horror, with a judgmental eye on their cast members, but how different are we from them? In real life, we want what we want and we want it now. No delay. No aggravation. No hassle, pain-free, our way, right away. We're a highly technical society in a land of plenty. We place a premium on efficiency and convenience. Tiny annoyances and inconveniences foul our moods and affect our behaviors. Why? And how can we get past these trivialities?

Consider this paradox: Things are becoming more instantaneous in an era when delays are rampant and increasing. There are faster flights and cars but more people in airplanes and on the roads.

What has happened, even though companies are improving service, is that "customer expectations are continuing to rise," says Roger Nunley, managing director of the Customer Care Institute in Atlanta. This can be attributed to "consumers doing business online, where they get instant gratification and quick turnarounds. That's quickly becoming the standard expectation." 

It's actually worth reading the entire piece. There has been a fair amount of research into this sort of thing - and it really is getting worse. People are becoming absolutely miserable as a result. There are actually a few tips given toward the end of the article that are rather interesting. This one should make you think:

It comes down to perspective and expectations. Do you want empty highways, no lines, a promotion and limousine conveyance to your birthday party? Fine. But don't expect them. Focus on your reliable car, your good health, your job stability or the fact that you're in a position to celebrate a birthday at all.

"When you're feeling this sense of deprivation or entitlement, try to take the longer view," McCullough urges. "Ask yourself, 'Is it really true — empirically true — that you are entitled to something?' In most cases, people say no."

Try to stop feeding your inner brat for a while. You'll find yourself happier.