OBAMARAMA

In what has become a ridiculous and inexplicable pattern, The Politico’s Mike Allen has penned yet another gratuitous and insubstantial attack piece on Sen. Obama and cloaked it in the guise of “political journalism.”

Titled “Rookie Mistakes Plague Obama,” the article documents exactly zero instances of what could reasonably be classified as rookie mistakes, opting instead to harp on the sort of unimpressive minutiae that could be found in any campaign.

It opens breathlessly by suggesting that Sen. Obama is disingenuous when he condemns the practice of having lobbyists write legislation, since he once voted for and (gasp!) publicized his support of a Senate energy bill. But nowhere does Allen provide evidence that the bill was written by energy lobbyists, something he would need to do to support his implied charge of hypocrisy.

Nor does Allen note that the bipartisan bill included substantial funding for alternative fuel development, did not open the Arctic to drilling (as the House version did), and addressed “the concerns of Democrats and environmentalists that more needs to be done to conserve energy and develop cleaner energy alternatives,” according to an actual newspaper, The Washington Post.

In other words, while by no means a perfect bill, it was completely in keeping with Sen. Obama’s position and principles.

Next, Allen accuses Sen. Obama of cribbing lines he uses in his stump speech from John Edwards, including Sen. Obama’s call for “a new kind of politics.” Apparently John Edwards has patented the phrase, along with hope, optimism, and the promise of a better day. And still nothing from Allen about how this qualifies as a “rookie mistake” — especially since it is among Sen. Obama’s biggest applause lines.

Allen’s next target is a favorite of those on the right: Sen. Obama’s autobiography, Dreams from My Father. The short version: After looking for a couple of weeks, reporters have not been able to verify beyond a shadow of a doubt that every event recounted happened in exactly the way described in the book. The “rookie mistake”: nowhere to be seen.

Finally, Allen pulls out the big guns:

“There was something stirring across the country because of what happened in Selma, Ala.,” [Sen. Obama] said, “because some folks are willing to march across a bridge. So they got together and Barack Obama Jr. was born. So don’t tell me I don’t have a claim on Selma, Ala. Don’t tell me I’m not coming home to Selma, Ala.”

Obama was born in 1961, and the Selma march occurred four years later, in 1965.

Brilliant deduction, gumshoe. I can’t tell you how helpful it is to have you parse this figurative rhetorical flourish for us. Should Sen. Obama ever suggest that something really gets his goat, we can sleep easy knowing you are here to demonstrate that in fact Sen. Obama has never owned a goat (though his grandfather was a goatherder…or was he?!).

It’s worth noting, as we have done here previously, that Mike Allen has written exclusively negative articles about Sen. Obama ever since he was turned down for an interview with the senator on February 1. This piece is no exception, and smacks of the same unprofessional bitterness as all the others. Maybe that’s why it reads less like news and more like the diary entry of a middle schooler who didn’t get to sit with the cool kids at lunch.