The Daily Strike-5/27/09-Fundraisers and Nominees

Good evening and welcome to the Daily Strike. The day after the Supreme Court nomination is not as interesting as the day of. It was a very slow day in politics. Still, we'll give you an entry.

SOTOMAYOR: As the Sotomayor nomination settled in, activists on both sides have geared up for a battle. Interest groups on the left have already come up with Internet and TV ads touting her experience, intellect and background. Meanwhile, conservatives continue to lob some pretty wacky charges. For instance, the increasingly insane Newt Gingrich (former House Speaker, believe it or not) called Sotomayor a "Latina woman racist" for suggesting that judges would reach a better conclusion on civil rights issues because of the "richness" of their experience. Gingrich's shtick really bothers me. For one, he is completely distorting the quote, and creates a conclusion that Sotomayor simply doesn't reach. Furthermore, it always baffles me that people like Gingrich try to find equivalency between a white man saying that he makes decisions based on race and a Latina woman saying the same thing. American history didn't evaporate because we elected a black President. The last few generations of African Americans and Hispanics, despite enormous racial progress, have still faced barriers that your average white guy could never properly understand. For example, people the age of Sotomayor's parents couldn't get federal housing loans because of their race. They thus couldn't build up the same sort of financial nest egg that allowed many of our parents to send us to the best pre-schools, move us to the best suburbs, and send us to the best colleges. The Gingriches of the world will never understand that. Despite the advances of the last 40 years, it will be a long time before people of different races (and women) will not be able to say that they've had to face unique challenges.

FUNDRAISERS: The only other major event on the political radar today is a major fundraiser President Obama will attend in Los Angeles on behalf of the DNC. This Beverly Hills fundraiser will feature the usual crowd of actors, singers and producers. I really don't get why Democrats have to hold these fundraisers. You're letting the Republican attack ads write themselves.

"President Obama spends a glitzy night out with Hollywood liberals."

Yes, we've won elections recently, and these attacks have largely fallen on deaf ears. But this comes off as pretty out of touch.

One special guest at the event tonight will be the newest Democrat, Senator Arlen Specter (PA). Specter, as of today, has a new challenger. Democratic Representative Joe Sestak announced that he will challenge Specter the Defector from the left in next year's primary. I'm very pleased with this decision. If nothing else, it will force Specter to cater his votes to the Democratic primary electorate. Could this help us pass the Employee Free Choice Act or health reform?

The President earlier today held an event in Nevada touting the progress of the stimulus package, which has now been law for 100 days. The President claims that 150,000 have been saved or created by the package. So far, only about 10 percent of the appropriated money has been spent. Thus, it's hard to get an accurate measure of the results. The administration has been slow giving out the money because they want to make sure it isn't being wasted or abused. I'm sympathetic to those concerns, but as we approach double digit unemployment, it may be better to get money out as quickly as possible, especially on infrastructure products that create jobs.

That's it for today. See you tomorrow!