Monday Roundup: 32.5

It is hard for me to believe that Barack Obama has name ID problems, but such is the case, according to the Washington Times. That's okay, though — it is apparently not hurting his fundraising efforts. He raised $32.5 million this last quarter, and that will help with problems like name ID.

It appears that Obama did in fact outraise Hillary Clinton, and the commentary on what that means has already begun. Obama's campaign is pushing the idea that voters are getting tired of Hillary, and are carrying the same feelings about her they essentially would carry about an incumbent. About a month ago I expected people to get tired of Obama due to pure burnout, but the money says that may not end up being the case. Not yet, anyways. I fall back to my default line that it is too early to know anything other than, hey, did you see how much money Obama raised? Only 75% of you know who he is!

Clinton is undaunted, though — she is unleashing Bill across Iowa this week. There are occasional concerns about the former President outshining the potential new one on the trail, so there's probably careful consideration that he won't be doing this sort of thing all the time. You can't use a fire hose to water your lawn, and you probably can't have Bill on the trail every day.

The story about Republicans losing ground among Hispanics has legs, and the aftermath of the immigration bill is illustrating that it may have created more problems for their team than it was ever going to solve. Stories like that of the border fence aren't helping, but this story is a little different. Environmentalists are apparently also concerned about what the fence's impact may be. In this space I have said before that I haven't seen a real breakdown of what the fence will do the flora and fauna, or as in this case, to a wildlife preserve.

Also down south, A&M has lost permission to do research on infectious diseases due to some unfortunate accidental infections last year. The infections were bad news, and how they were handled is probably worse news.

If you catch the drift of what it means for an author to compare Bush to Neville Chamberlain, this article is for you. I want to read the book mentioned by the author now, after reading that Bush idolizes Churchill. It's funny how people see themselves.

Neville Chamberlain never quite had the opportunity to throw executive privilege out there as an excuse for ignoring Congressional subpoenas, and Bush is in the middle of doing just that, as you well know. Senator Patrick Leahy made the Sunday talk shows a little more interesting when he said that Congress means to get what they want, even if it means pursuing legal action. "Contempt of Congress" is a complicated phrase, with many implications.

While we're at it, we may as well talk about Russia, and how Bush is trying to fix up the relations between us and them by meeting with Russian President (and Bond supervillain) Vladimir Putin. There is lots of focus on the Middle East these days — and rightly so — but China and Russia are more important than many people realize. I know Bush doesn't have much else going for him, but someone, somewhere, recognizes that Russia is a friend we need. I'm willing to bet her name rhymes with Condoleezza Rice.