John Edwards Endorses Obama As Hillary Appears More Delusional

It's about time John Edwards did his part to stop Akasha, a/k/a Hillary Clinton from continuing her farcical campaign and destroying the Democratic Party in the process. As Dana Millbank pointed out in a Washington Post column this morning, Hillary is increasingly looking like some demented charatcter who cannot and will not grasp reality. Her delusionsal behavior is most definitely NOT what one would want of one seeking to hold a position that could launch World War III. First, here are some highlights from the Washington Post on Edwards' endorsement today:

*

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. -- To thunderous applause, former Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards endorsed Sen. Barack Obama tonight, calling him a leader who can unite the country, end the Iraq war and restore a sense of fairness to the economy. "The reason I am here tonight," Edwards declared, "is the voters have made their choice and so have I."

*

In a spirited speech that sounded in parts like a eulogy for Clinton's candidacy, Edwards praised Clinton's tenacity and said she is "made of steel." But he emphasized that the Democrats must get behind Obama. "When this nomination battle is over, and it will be over soon, brothers and sisters," Edwards said, "we must come together as Democrats and in the fall stand up for what matters in America and make America what it needs to be."
*

Friends said Edwards told Obama of his decision on Tuesday night, as Clinton was thumping Obama by 41 points in the West Virginia primary, propelled by the kind of white working class voters at the heart of Edwards's candidacy. Indeed, he received seven percent of the West Virginia vote. The endorsement came on a day when Obama intensified his efforts to connect with such voters. Edwards was the third of Obama's rivals to endorse him, following Sen. Christopher Dodd (Conn.) and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson.

*

As for Millbank's column, entitled "This Is an Ex-Candidate," while somewhat brutal, highlights the fact that Hillary seems hellbent on refusing to accept the fact that she CANNOT win and in the process make herself into a laugh-stock. The longer she refuses to give up, the more ridiculous she will appear. Here are highlights from Millank's column:

*

It's Day 7 of the Clinton Campaign Death Watch -- a full week since the official arbiter of the Democratic primary, Tim Russert, declared the campaign over and Barack Obama the nominee. Hillary Clinton's advisers continue to insist that the candidate's prospects are very much alive, but the press isn't buying it. Exhibit A: There are two press buses waiting at the hotel here for Clinton's trip to her victory rally in West Virginia, but the entire press contingent doesn't quite fill one. It isn't until the entourage arrives at Dulles Airport that Clinton aides learn that the second bus is still idling, empty, at the hotel. If there is importance in the results of the primary in West Virginia, the press corps isn't letting on.

*

A steep descent brings Clinton's plane to Charleston's hilltop airport. After an appropriate wait, she steps from the plane and pretends to wave to a crowd of supporters; in fact, she is waving to 10 photographers underneath the airplane's wing. She pretends to spot an old friend in the crowd, points and gives another wave; in fact, she is waving at an aide she had been talking with on the plane minutes earlier.

*

A week ago, Clinton won the Indiana primary by two percentage points -- and the media decreed that she had lost. Now she's trouncing Obama by double digits in West Virginia -- and nobody seems to care. This, no doubt, has something to do with the fact that she is trailing Obama in the popular vote, states won, pledged delegates and, now, superdelegates. Even Clinton loyalist James Carville calls Obama the likely nominee. . . . And the crowd -- now up to 500, all but about 10 of them white -- is rapturous as Clinton rebukes the "pundits and the naysayers."

A Widening Credit Squeeze?

Both Newsweek (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20201030/site/newsweek/)and MSNBC (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20151564/site/newsweek/) have stories today about the growing fallout from the expanding sub-prime mortgage melt down and possible related coming attractions. On the mortgage front, the Federal Reserve and other regulators have done an abysmal job at controlling the growing web of damage as reviewed by Daniel Gross:

If the containment policy of the Cold War worked as well as this subprime-mess containment policy, we'd all be speaking Russian and living on collective farms. So far, the subprime catastrophe has been "contained" to the growing list of subprime lenders that have failed. And to some pretty big hedge funds in New York, Boston, and Australia that traded the toxic junk produced by the subprime lenders. And to the investment banks that managed some of those hedge funds and lent money to them. And to some nonsubprime lenders, the biggest of which, Countrywide Financial, last month reported declining earnings because of rising defaults. And to smaller nonsubprime lenders like American Home Mortgage, which just five weeks after assuring investors it would stabilize, filed for Chapter 11 this morning. And to the more than 6,000 laid-off American Home Mortgage workers, who, before last week, were utterly insulated from the ravages of the subprime market. And to a German bank. And to the career of Warren Spector, the former heir apparent at Bear Stearns. And to publicly held homebuilders—downscale ones like Beazer, and upscale ones like WCI Communities, the builder of "amenity rich" condos whose board in April dismissed a $22-per-share takeover offer as inadequate. Now the stock trades at about $6.60.

The fallout, as it usually does, may now be starting to move into credit card rates and other credit segments which could put further pressure on already strapped homeowners and consumers:

That raises an important question: is Cap One’s rate increase the start of a widening credit squeeze? If so, it would be a direct result of the home-mortgage crunch, currently roiling financial markets worldwide. “We’re not in the same world as we were five or six months ago,” says Keith Leggett, senior economist at the American Bankers Association. “There is a growing risk aversion among market participants.”

As home prices across the United States have stagnated or fallen and consumers have tapped out the equity in their homes, banks have gotten more cautious about lending and have tightened their standards for new mortgages and home-equity loans. As a result, more Americans are shifting debt onto credit cards. This week, the Federal Reserve said non-real estate consumer-credit usage rose at about twice the rate than economists had predicted for June. And revolving credit usage (which includes credit-card debt) was up by 8.7 percent at an annual rate for the month. That boost helped bring total consumer credit, both revolving and not revolving (like auto loans), to a record $2.459 trillion.

Meanwhile, continued concerns about a credit crunch in the stock markets may be putting pressure on credit-card companies to tighten standards and raise rates. (Wall Street fell sharply again on Thursday after a French bank said it was freezing three funds that invested in U.S. subprime mortgages because it was unable to properly value their assets.) The market “has changed the psychology of the situation,” says Smith. “Now they’re saying, ‘Oh my gosh, we’re going to get into the same trouble these mortgage companies are getting into, we’d better tighten standards too’.” He predicts that evidence of tightening—and a resulting increase in consumer interest rates—could show up as soon as next week, when the Federal Reserve releases its quarterly survey of loan officers.

I truly hope my fears are wrong, but I suspect not based on what I am seeing in the real estate market even here in Norfolk which is usually somewhat insulated by the huge military presence which tends to create a steady flow of people moving into and out of the area. Currently, it is largely the real estate investor clients who are fueling the current sales that are occurring. To be candid, I and business partners are working to focus on and establish an in depth network of service for investors who will be able to pick up attractive properties as foreclosures increase and the number of lender owned repossessed properties increase.

Other suggest that Hillary Clinton likewise realizes that the negative economic fall out will be huge: http://www.eyeon08.com/2007/08/08/why-is-hillary-talking-about-housing/. If the bottom drops out between now and November 2008, this could be a huge political issue.