I’m fasting this week, not food or TV or beer or even the computer. I’m abstaining from work on one of my websites. I’ve got a site that most of you reading this already know about, PolFeeds. It syndicates news from Congress, the President, and the Presidential Campaigns, and with the election heating up, I’ve been working hard to promote the site.

I’ve got a lot of sweat equity in this thing. I’ve spent tens if not hundreds of hours building and growing it.  In other words, it is important to me, but I realized that for the past week it has been consuming my life, taking me away from time with God. So I need to put it down for a while, to refocus.  I’ll still be blogging.  And I’ve got some other projects that I need to work on, but as difficult as it is (especially now when the opportunity for growth is so great), I’ve got to let this one go for a few days so that it doesn’t become my God.

---

Watch This:

Now Read This: Sen. Stevens Indicted On 7 Corruption Counts

Apparently, she’s not proud of the endorsement.

Hat tip: TPM Election Central

---

Having grown up in a Republican family, I was never a huge fan of Bill and Hillary Clinton.  Having since become a Democrat, I had come to like them quite a bit more.  I’ve been an Obama supporter from the beginning but didn’t have anything against Hillary Clinton as president.  However, by the end of the primary season, I was fed up with both Clintons.  It seemed they were willing to tear the Democratic Party apart in an effort to get Hillary elected, even after the delegate math made it virtually impossible (not impossible in the most literal sense but rather something of an absurdity).

That said, I was impressed with Hillary Clinton’s speech last night.  As I tweeted before hearing any of the pundits’ analysis, Hillary gave the speech that Obama needed her to give.  However, I was probably even more impressed with Bill’s speech tonight.  While he didn’t really stick to his assigned topic, national security/foreign policy, he wove together concerns about the economy and foreign policy into a speech that recognized both the things about Obama that make him particularly suited to be President and the more general policy positions that he holds that will be good for Americans.

Perhaps most impressive was the way in which he characterized John McCain.  The Democratic strategy has been to try to tie McCain to George W. Bush by saying that his policies will lead to a “third Bush term.”  The idea of course being that Bush is so unpopular that if McCain is seen as just like Bush, then Americans won’t elect him.  However, this is a difficult claim to make because of McCain is known for his tendency to break from his party.  (I believe this was once but is no longer true of McCain, but that’s another discussion.)

In contrast, Bill Clinton simply recognized McCain’s status as a maverick; he embraced it.  But what he did next was genius.  He essentially said that yes, McCain is a maverick and does break with the Republican Party but that on the two most important issues of this election, restoring America’s leadership in the world and the American economy, he is just like every other Republican.  Put in the context of Clinton’s speech, which was about these two issues, he made a very persuasive argument.

In short, I was impressed with both Bill Clinton’s policy discussion and his critique of John McCain.  Combined with his strong statements of support for Barack Obama, this was exactly the speech that Barack Obama and the Democratic Party needed.

Watch an excerpt, hopefully the rest to come soon:

---

Moments ago Hillary Clinton, while announcing the votes of the New York delegation, moved to suspend the rules of the Democratic National Convention and declare Barack Obama the Democratic Presidential nominee by acclamation, thus suspending the roll call vote. At an inflection point in this election when the Democratic party could either unite in an effort to win the presidency or divide and likely lose, Hillary Clinton rose to the occasion to unite the Democratic Party.

---

A couple of days ago John McCain released an ad which states that Hillary Clinton is not Obama’s running mate because she spoke hard truths about Obama.

The ad is beyond absurd.  McCain is essentially invoking Hillary Clinton’s expertise in judging character and competency.  For years conservatives have blasted Hillary Clinton.  At one McCain campaign event, a supporter calls Hillary a b****, and McCain simply laughs about it.  McCain once chided Senator Clinton for supporting a museum dedicated to Woodstock.  Until now he seemed to have no great respect for Mrs. Clinton, but when it suits him he treats her like an expert on Obama’s qualifications to be President and thinks she should be his Vice Presidential nominee.  It is patently absurd that Hillary Clinton went from the person that the right loved to hate to an expert on character, judgment and experience and the best Democratic candidate for the Vice Presidency.

As for the real reasons that Hillary was not picked as Obama’s VP, I can imagine that there were a two big ones: her unwillingness to conceed defeat in the primary when she was obviously beaten and Bill Clinton.  Senator Joe Biden, who Obama picked to be his running mate, said some things about Obama that weren’t exactly flattering (not personal attacks, but not great either).  Senator Obama is willing to have people around him who hold different viewpoints.  In fact, when he first entered the Senate he gathered together advisors from across the political spectrum.  Once again, this ad is absurd.

---

[Update] The official announcement is here: http://polfeeds.com/item/Message-from-Barack-The-Next-Vice-President

News has recently leaked that Barack Obama has selected Senator Joe Biden (D-DE) as his Vice Presidential running mate.  I find this to be an incredibly interesting choice.

At age 29, Senator Biden was the youngest person ever elected to the U.S. Senate.  He turned 30 (the Constitutionally mandated minimum age for a U.S. Senator) between his election and his swearing in.  His birthday being on November 20th, it would be very difficult for anyone younger to ever be elected to the Senate.

He has run for the Democratic Presidential nomination on a few occasions (most recently during this cycle) and is known to be quite verbose, having occasionally gotten himself into trouble as a result.  However, as of late he has shown more restraint when speaking, famously answering simply “Yes” when asked if he would be able to exercise said verbal restraint as President.  On a related note, Biden got himself into hot water early last year when he made comments about Senator Obama that some believed to be racist.  I’m not going to get too far into that, except to say that I believe the comments were mostly innocent but that they do belie an unfortunate stereotype of African-Americans.  Senator Biden meant no ill-will, but nonetheless, he chose his words poorly and in doing so exposed some all too common assumptions about Black Americans.  Of course, at least part of this can probably be chalked up to Biden’s natural tendency to misspeak.

Moving away from the trivia, Senator Biden brings a wealth of foreign policy experience to the ticket.  He is widely recognized as a foreign policy expert, having been Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.  While his selection may help allay some fears about Senator Obama’s perceived lack of experience, he brings no state/regional electoral advantage, and his long tenure in the Senate may undermine Senator Obama’s message of change.  That said, I think it more likely that the powerful message and presence that Obama brings will make up for this.

As for my opinion, well, I like Senator Biden.  He’s smart, and he knows the issues.  He’s not perfect, and I’m not sure he’s the greatest choice politically.  However, he is more than qualified for the job.  While I’m sure political considerations came into account when selecting a running mate and I may be underestimating his political value, this is very possibly one time when a candidate’s quality and qualification trumped political consideration.  Kudos to Senator Obama for choosing someone who can fill his shoes should the unfortunate need ever arise.

---

If you know me, you’ve probably heard me rave about one of DC’s newest restaurants, Good Stuff Eatery.  It was started by Spike, a contestant on Bravo’s Top Chef.  I’m a huge fan (of Good Stuff, not Top Chef), and I started a blog dedicated to reviewing their amazing burgers.  My goal is to review all of them (except the veggie one).  So, in a move that is very uncharacteristic for me, I’ve had a different burger each time I’ve gone (except that one time I just picked up a root beer).  I usually find something I like and stick with it.

If you haven’t been to Good Stuff yet, you really do need to get yourself down to 3rd and Penn SE and check it out.  I especially recommend the Spike’s 5 Napkin, but if a breakfast sandwich on your burger isn’t your style, then visit http://goodstufflove.com to check out some of their other options.  You can also read my friend Jessica’s review of Good Stuff.  (See, I’m not the only one who likes it.)

---

Last night we had a bachelor party for my friend Devin.  Devin has always been one for goofy fun, so we kicked off the evening by going out to a field and playing a game of whiffleball (complete with ghost runners), but instead of a whiffleball and bat, we had a Louisville slugger and a mini-soccer ball.  We ended up with four teams and basically made up the rules as we went along.  Since I’ve got a fractured arm, I kicked a kickball instead of batting.

We were like a bunch of kids out there, amusing ourselves with nothing but a couple of toys and a game that had changing rules.  For a little while the concerns of adulthood went out the window, and we just had fun playing.

[Update] Ok, apparently I didn’t proof this one closely enough, so I had to fix a couple of grammar/style issues (twice).  I was being too child-like when writing this one.

---

I just arrived in Chicago about an hour and a half ago, and I’ve got to take off at 5:45 for Minnesota to go to a friend’s wedding, so I’ve got to make this quick.  Devin is one of my best friends from college, and I’m looking forward to seeing him get married.  I’m also excited to be back with my theology debating buddies and some of my old crew.  I’ve got a bunch of great content lined up for the blog when I get back to DC next week (and there just might be a sneak preview before that), so stay tuned.

---

One of my goals for the next year is to start blogging more.  I’ve decided that one of my life goals is to write a book, and if I’m going to do that, I need to practice writing.  Lots of things come to me that I want to write about, but usually I either forget about them or I sit down to write and stop writing halfway through.  I think of something great to say, but when I put fingers to keyboard I lose my steam.  Or I realize that I need to develop my thoughts further.  As I’ve mentioned before, writing takes me a long time because I am very meticulous about it, but I’m hoping that with practice I will get not only better but faster as well.

I’m thinking of a goal of one substantive (as in lengthy and well thought out) post per week, but that may be more than I can do.  So let’s leave it for now at one post (kinda like this one) a week, with one substantive post per month.

---