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May 13, 2013

Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo: Why the giving of the document that would permanently change the world could only be done in desolation

David G. Savage: Church-state, literally? Supreme Court weighing public school graduation in a church

Emily Alpert: Recession dragged down birth rates for less-educated women
Morgan Housel: The deep downside of home ownership

Peter Teffer: Will Dutch police soon be stalking cybercriminals on your computer?

Heidi McIndoo, M.S., R.D.: Meatless 'meat' can have its own set of problems

The Kosher Gourmet by Diane Rossen Worthington: Celebrate! This must-try appetizer is delicate yet has depth of flavor: Corn-Leek Cakes with Caviar, Smoked Salmon and Creme Fraiche

May 10, 2013

Rabbi Berel Wein: Be all that you should be

Caroline B. Glick: The dirty little secret about Israel's Arabs

Mona Charen: Hawking's Moral Calculus: The man and the movement he embraces
Morgan Housel: The biggest retirement myth ever told

Sandi Doughton: Eyes may provide new insight into brain problems

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom : The Great Gatsby's Jewish Ties; Jews in the "Time 100 list" List; People's Most Beautiful Women

The Kosher Gourmet by Linda Gassenheimer: A sweet-hot meal: Pear salsa spices up salmon

May 8, 2013

Peter Ford: Why China is welcoming both Israel's Netanyahu and Palestinians' Abbas

Warren Richey: Obama administration quietly backs out of appeal over new contraceptive mandate

Fred Weir: At Kerry-Putin meeting, US-Russia relations thaw --- a tad
Amanda Paulson: Study reveals sad truths about community colleges

Harvard Health Letters: Evidence weak that zinc, echinacea are beneficial

The Kosher Gourmet by Leela Cyd Ross : Almost too pretty to eat, this colorful salad with Sicilian inspiration will tickle the taste buds and delight your visual sensibility

May 6, 2013

Edmund Sanders and Patrick J. McDonnell: Think Israel's objective in Syria is to weaken Assad or embolden the rebels? Think again

Brian Bennett: Israeli airstrikes may show weakness in Syrian defense

Michael Ollove: Millions of ex-felons, parolees and those on probation are about to be entitled to tax-payer paid health coverage
Karen Kaplan: Most men can skip PSA test for prostate cancer, urologists say

Kimberly Lankford: How to track down a lost life insurance policy

Dream of Mars exploration achievable, experts say

The Kosher Gourmet by Susan M. Selasky: EGGPLANT WRAPS are an easy, sumptuous and scrumptious meal

May 3, 2013

Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo: Human Courage and the Unavoidable, Disturbing Text

Steven Emerson: Attorney General Fights CAIR in Court, Lauds it in Public

Mediterranean diet helps beat dementia: study
Harvard Health Letters: When to be screened for a hearing problem

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom : Iron Man's Jewish Connections; Marc Maron's New TV Show; Martin Landau Grows Up with Israel; Shalom, Allan Arbus

The Kosher Gourmet by Diane Rossen Worthington: A sweet surprise for Mother's Day dessert

May 1, 2013

Jonathan Rosenblum: An Improbable Journey to Orthodoxy

Jonathan Tobin: Blame Obama, Not Israel for Syria Push

Kids, kittens the Same? With employee perks at struggling Internet pioneer Yahoo! it's hard to tell
Halena M. Gazelka, M.D.: Mayo Clinic Medical Edge: What you need to know about implanted pain relief devices

Sandy Kleffman: Artificial kidney offers hope to patients tethered to a dialysis machine

Jessica Shugart: When it comes to math, MRIs may be better than IQs

The Kosher Gourmet by Mario Batali: The celebrated chef on how high-maintenance ASPARAGUS RISOTTO need not be

April 29, 2013

Roy Gutman: Poland's new Jewish museum celebrates life, doesn't revisit Holocaust

Mark Clayton: Terrorism in America: Is US missing a chance to learn from failed plots?

Kim Murphy: Boston Bomber's 'Svengali' Revealed
Morgan Housel: He's rich, smart and old: Listen to him

Thomas Salinas, D.D.S.: Mayo Clinic Medical Edge: The safety of amalgam fillings

Harvard Health Letters: Tomatoes and stroke protection

Pete Spotts: Tiny satellites + cellphones = cheaper 'eyes in the sky' for NASA

The Kosher Gourmet by Diane Rossen Worthington: Swing into spring with lemon cream pie

April 26, 2013

Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski: The world is a mirror

Caroline B. Glick: Time to confront Obama

Clifford D. May: Defense in the Age of Jihadist Terrorism
Kimberly Lankford: New strategies ease pain of paying for long-term care insurance

Howard LeWine, M.D.: Ask the Harvard Experts: Too much ibuprofen?

Sharon Palmer, R.D.: How to feel your best -- with plenty of energy, a healthy weight and optimal mental and physical function -- without driving yourself batty

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom: Jewish Major Leaguers, 2013; New Movies and Comedy Show; Shalom, 'Lumpy' (Leave it to Beaver)

The Kosher Gourmet by Emily Ho : A bright and cheerful salad to herald the warmer months ahead

April 24, 2013

Steven Emerson: Boston Bomber Exposes Islamist Secret

Morgan Housel Admit it: No one has any idea what's going on
Harvard Health Letters: Can you get headaches from headache medication?

Kerri-Ann Jennings, M.S., R.D.: How to easily get more Omega-3s in your diet

Melissa Healy: Pot in a pill: All the pain relief without the smoke

The Kosher Gourmet by Susan Russo: Chipotle Chili Butternut Squash Soup is bold, zesty, hot

April 22, 2013

Ken Dilanian: Counterterrorism's future is unclear

US man departing country arrested on terror charges
Barbara Williams: An unorthodox but growing treatment in a 9-year-old's battle against cancer

P.J. Skerrett, M.D.: How to recognize a good whole grain product

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom: Teen actor Jonah Bobo in New Flick: Hunky James Wolk on Mad Men; Erich Segal's Daughter Writes Prize-Winning Jewish Novel

The Kosher Gourmet by Diane Rossen Worthington: 'Noodles,' Asian style is a carb sub, sure. But they are also amazingly delicious and colorful

April 19, 2013

Rabbi Yonason Goldson: When violence seems the only answer

Caroline B. Glick: Why Obama's visit to Israel had no impact on public opinion or government policy

Morgan Housel: Gold collapse: The start of something big?
Harvard Health Letters: Can you die of a broken heart?

Pete Spotts: Livable super-Earths? Two candidates among Kepler's latest finds

Nora Schultz: Oxytocin helps beat booze cravings

The Kosher Gourmet by Carole Kotkin: Middle Eastern cuisine meets Italian delicious with this lentil and eggplant pastitsio

April 17, 2013

Shira Rubin: Too much of a good thing? 'Palestinians' realize downside of foreign aid boom

Geoffrey Mohan: Can computers decode dreams? Researchers take a first step

Morgan Housel: BAD NEWS: EVERYONE IS RIGHT!
Brierley Wright, M.S., R.D.: 6 heart-healthy eating tips help cut saturated fat but not taste

Michael Craig Miller, M.D.: Ask the Harvard Experts: Told your child has sensory processing disorder? Seek a second opinion

The Kosher Gourmet by Diane Rossen Worthington: Corn and Curry Add Zing to Chilled Soup

April 15, 2013

Rabbi Yonason Goldson: The Death of Education?

Kristen Chick: Egyptian Christians respond with harsh words to attack -- rocks, Molotov cocktails, and gunfire -- against main cathedral

Marcy Darnovsky and Karuna Jaggar: High Court to decide if you should own your DNA
Howard LaFranchi: US bracing for more Russian blowback after taking action against 18 more human rights violators

Kristin Ohlson : The loneliest fight

The Kosher Gourmet by Dana Velden: A tasty, rich dish that hints at spring's arrival while still anchored in a favorite winter staple


Jewish World Review June 12, 2008 / 9 Sivan 5768

He sank Hillary's campaign. No, not Bill

By Dick Morris & Eileen Mc Gann


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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | In a New York Times op-ed piece on June 8, Hillary Clinton's former strategist Mark Penn blamed his candidate's humiliating defeat on the failure of the campaign's fundraising and budgeting operations. It's hard to understand how a campaign that raised $200 million could seriously be described as falling short financially. Penn is definitely looking in the wrong direction. He should look in the mirror instead.


There was only one major reason that Hillary lost: Her message of experience and inevitability, devised by Penn, was fatally flawed. To make things worse, on Penn's advice, she stayed with the foolish strategy long after she and everyone around her should have realized its inherent weakness.


In our 2004 book, Rewriting History, my wife Eileen McGann and I discussed Hillary's proclivity for placing unwavering faith in her guru du jour. During her healthcare debacle, she followed Ira Magaziner's unworkable doctrinaire approach for far too long; on the Armed Services Committee, she admiringly adhered to the opinions of charismatic but hawkish generals in backing the war in Iraq. And in her own campaign, she clung to Mark Penn's disastrous strategy, dooming her historic presidential campaign. By the time that she finally kicked him downstairs, it was too late.


The reasons that led to the basic decision of the Penn-led strategy team to stress Hillary's experience and readiness to "hit the ground running on day one" were:


  • It bolstered Hillary's résumé and inoculated her against charges that she was just running on Bill's record;

  • it reassured people about her qualifications for the general election and assuaged anxieties about a female president;

  • but, most of all, it laid down the predicate for an attack, down the road, on Obama's own lack of experience.


Penn appears to have loved Obama's inexperience negative so much that he decided to base Hillary's entire campaign on setting it up. But while Penn's strategy might have been effective in a general election, where voters value experience, it made no sense in a Democratic primary, where voters want change. That, after all, is why they are Democrats in the first place. But Penn himself had little experience in Democratic primaries and little tolerance for listening to others who did.


Because of Penn's blunder, Hillary essentially surrendered the mantra of change to Obama, giving him the high ground in a Democratic primary. And, by stressing experience, Penn laid his candidate open to the devastating recitation of the dynastic alternation of Bush-Clinton-Bush-Clinton. When he failed to advise his candidate to forgo lobbyist campaign contributions, to say nothing of staffing her campaign with corporate lobbyists (like Penn), he further permitted Obama to stake out his anti-Washington candidacy.


More than anything Obama did himself, Penn was instrumental in letting Hillary's opponent co-opt the ground of change and opposition to Washington politics-as-usual, an incurable misstep in a Democratic primary.


But Penn also missed the serious danger of stressing Hillary's experience: She didn't have that much. So much of her claimed record was appropriated from Bill that she quickly invited skepticism for claiming Bill's achievements as her own. And her new assertions contradicted her and Bill's carefully documented memoirs. From her embellished role in the Irish peace process, to the passage of the Children's Health Insurance Program, to welfare reform, to the balanced budget and, finally, to her visit to Bosnia amid "sniper" fire, Hillary's "experience" invited derision and disbelief. The release of her White House schedules further undermined her exaggerated claims when they proved that she spent most of her time as first lady at schools and teas and not in any decision-making role.


By the time the die had essentially been cast in Iowa, Penn tried to help Hillary pivot her insider Washington image to "experience at creating change," but the dichotomy had already been set in stone — Obama for change; Hillary for experience. It was too late.


Penn's next colossal mistake was failing to understand the party rules and their implications for delegate selection and fundraising. In the past, nominations in both parties have historically been determined by a knockout primary after which the winner could claim the nomination, forcing the opponent to pull out. In 1988, Dukakis beat Gore in Illinois. In 1992, Clinton beat Tsongas on Super Tuesday, largely in the South. A winner-take-all knockout strategy was still possible in the Republican primary, but the 2008 Democratic contests were almost all based on proportional representation, often by congressional district, where even a large win did little to pile up a significant margin in delegates.


Not understanding the rules, Penn encouraged — or at least allowed — the delusion to grip the Hillary campaign that Super Tuesday would end it all. Several observers even quoted him as saying that Hillary would win 390 delegates by winning California. (In fact, she emerged with a margin of only 40 delegates from the Golden State.) He needed to make his candidate understand that once she lost Iowa, she was in for a 50-state battle that would stretch out all the way to June with no quick win on either side. This blindness to the rules of the game cost Hillary the nomination


In the past, knockouts took place because the loser could no longer raise money. But Obama realized that the only way for him to survive the inevitable early defeats was to base his fundraising on the Internet, as Howard Dean — guided by pioneer Joe Trippi — had done. He knew that Internet money didn't dry up. Defeat had no impact.


These small donors were true believers who believed it was OK to lose, just not to compromise. With the click of a mouse, they would send in another $50.


But the Clinton campaign continued to focus on big donor funding. The campaign used the Internet too little and too late. Indeed, Hillary spent most of the money she had raised for her Senate reelection campaign of 2006 building a direct-mail list!


So after the knockout didn't happen on Super Tuesday, Obama chugged on merrily, racking up victory after victory in the February primaries and caucuses, while Hillary's camp was suddenly caught flat-footed without sufficient funding for the caucuses. It wasn't an inability to raise money that doomed Hillary — it was a failure to allocate the money over the entire primary season. When Obama picked himself up after losing California and went on to battle in Louisiana, Washington state, Wisconsin, Virginia, Mississippi and Maryland, Hillary's camp must have been appalled. But Penn, as the strategist, should have seen the impossibility of a California knockout and prepared the campaign for the long Russian winter ahead of them.


Bill Clinton came close to the mark when he called the advice Hillary had been given "malpractice." It wasn't Bill's out-of-school comments or Hillary's style or sexism that lost this race. It was Penn's bad advice.

Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.


JWR contributor Dick Morris is author, most recently, of "Fleeced: How Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, Media Mockery of Terrorist Threats, Liberals Who Want to Kill Talk Radio, the Do-Nothing Congress, Companies ... Are Scamming Us ... and What to Do About It". (Click HERE to purchase. Sales help fund JWR.) Comment by clicking here.



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