Listen to 7 Days Guest Host David Bender, Arianna Huffington, Ron Reagan and our headliner Senator Richard Durbin.
As a key backer of his Illinois colleague, Barack Obama, Durbin talks about the state of the Democratic presidential race heading into Tuesday's contests in Wisconsin and Hawaii, the questions raised by Bill Clinton about Obama's opposition to the war. and Durbin also speaks about his efforts to bring about a major (and long overdue) reform of the electoral process by instituting a system of public funding for all congressional campaigns. In the second half of the program, David, Arianna and Ron analyze whether or not "O" truly has the "Big Mo" or if the race will go all the way to the convention in Denver. And in a lively discussion, the panelists talk about John McCain's most recent waffle in the pursuit of right-wing support -- this time on his signature issue of the use of torture by the United States government.
Here's Senator Durbin on his contretemps with Bill Clinton last month on the question of how long Barack Obama has really been opposed to the war in Iraq:
DURBIN: "Man, I remember that vote like it was yesterday. It's one of those votes in October of 2002 that you'll remember for a lifetime. 23 of us voted against that order in the floor. We didn't even have a majority of the Democratic caucus voting against that order. It wasn't easy, it was painful. It was a popular vote to vote with the president and those of us that didn't knew that there was a risk involved. At the same time Barack Obama was outspoken back here in Illinois. On the record against the war. Publicly making statements. There was no doubt where he would have been had he been asked to cast that same vote in the Senate. So, when Bill Clinton used that unfortunate phrase, "fairytale," about Senator Obama's position on the war I really think he went too far and I said as much. I respect him. I think in retrospect he wished he could have phrased it a different way. I tried to correct the record and make it clear that from the very start [that] Senator Obama was opposed."
Senator Durbin (along with Senators Specter, Obama and Feingold) has introduced S-936, "The Fair Elections Now Act," to bring about the full public funding of congressional campaigns. Here's why:
DURBIN: "I think any fair analysis of the public view of congress is going to raise a question about the way we finance our campaigns. Currently, house members and senators spend too many waking moments on the telephone begging for money from special interest groups and the wealthiest people in America."
Arianna addresses the issue of Obamamentum and sees it as an objective fact, after last Tuesday's sweeping victories in Virginia, Maryland and DC:
HUFFINGTON: "Well yes it is happening. It's really a matter of fact rather than opinion. What is amazing is how he's been peeling off segment of the population after segment of the population. So, the momentum that we saw leading up to Super Tuesday is continuing.
Ron cautions that it may be a tad premature for the Obama campaign to take a victory lap, given that Wisconsin, Texas, Ohio and Pennsylvania have yet to be counted:
REAGAN: "I don't think we are quite ready for the balloon drop just yet for Barack Obama. This is not quite over and if Hillary Clinton manages to win (Texas and Ohio) in a fairly convincing manner she's not dropping out before the convention. There's no way. At that point I think you have a delegate fight that's going to happen at the convention and if she wins Texas and Ohio, I think some of the super delegates who are now going with the Obama momentum might freeze in their tracks. They might say wait a minute maybe we were a little too early here."
I think Senator Clinton her lost a lot of momentum, after that ill advised comment by Bill Clinton.
It reminded poeple how divisive his administration doing his years as President.