The unique perspective and provocative opinions of Joe O’Neill
Dem Notes
The welcome reality from the Ohio vote that rejected attempts to weaken voters’ voices and further erode a woman’s right to choose: Abortion remains a highly motivating issue for voters.
Speaking of motivating, President Biden needs to make more headway and drum up more support from young voters, voters of color and women. The pressure is on for VP KamalaHarris, who’s better at fund-raising than popularity, to make a high-profile difference on the hustings.
And head’s up for Gavin Newsom and his challenge to debate Ron DiSastrous. A lot of political tea leaves to read. Is he doing what a good surrogate does in defending Biden against a would-be opponent? Is he running a shadow 2024 campaign? Or is he positioning himself for 2028? Just ask VP Harris.
Joe Manchin an Independent? What else is new for the swing-vote-enamored West Virginia Demopublican.
No diplomatic concessions. Proper response to North Korea over the soldier who defected: “Keep him.”
“I don’t know for a fact what happened, but I’m not surprised.”—President Biden, on the plane crash that killed Russian mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin, who had led a brief armed rebellion against the Russian military.
The U.S. has had the fastest recovery from the pandemic recession among the Group of Seven industrialized Western economies. That won’t be mentioned in Iowa.
Reminder: Not a single Republican voted for the Inflation Recovery Act, the one Nikki Haley called a “communist manifesto.”
Reminder: The unemployment rate is 3.5 percent. A record 13 million jobs have been added during Biden’s first term.
How did Nikki Haley alter the GOP candidates’ pledge to “Beat President Biden”? She wrote in “Beat President Harris”—to keep an octogenarian incumbent in partisan context.
The White House is prepping for an impeachment inquiry in the fall. That means, alas, Kevin McCarthy and Hunter Biden will dominate some news cycles.
“Apportionment … has been either deliberately rigged or shamefully ignored so as to deny the cities and their voters that full and proportionate voice in government to which they are entitled.” That was John F. Kennedy back in 1958.
No, it’s not a reset of Obama policy, but it was encouraging to see that the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services is reopening its Havana office.
Remember “No drama Obama”? Seems like ancient history.