The Note: Diplomacy and Disunity

 

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To win, he's going to have to be different. "Clinton's potential route to the White House was one that Democrats have followed successfully before. For Obama to win, he probably will need to blaze new paths," writes National Journal's Ron Brownstein."That doesn't mean he can't, or won't, do exactly that. It just means that in a year that Democrats might have been tempted to play it safe, they have opted for a candidate who could transform American politics -- or leave his party second-guessing itself for ages."

Some wounds cannot be healed: "Hillary Clinton has lost the nomination, but some of her most ardent female backers seem unwilling to accept it," Michelle Goldberg writes in The New Republic. "This conviction, that sexism cost Clinton the nomination, is likely to be one of the more toxic legacies of this primary season. It is leaving her supporters feeling not just disappointed but victimized, many convinced that Obama's win is illegitimate."

Also on Obama -- this is called a walk-back: "Facing criticism from Palestinians, Sen. Barack Obama acknowledged yesterday that the status of Jerusalem will need to be negotiated in future peace talks, amending a statement earlier in the week that the city 'must remain undivided,' " Glenn Kessler writes in The Washington Post.

Or is it? "Asked for comment, the Obama campaign put a reporter in immediate contact with Rep. Robert Wexler, D-Fla. -- an Orthodox Jew, a strong supporter of Israel and Obama's point man on many of these issues -- who told ABC News, 'that is not backtracking,' " ABC's Jake Tapper reports.

New RNC site:MeetBarackObama.com.

McCain:

The New York Times' new ace Charlie Savage has a scoop that will fire up the blogs -- and add to the portrait Democrats are trying to paint of the presumptive Republican nominee: "A top adviser to Senator John McCain says Mr. McCain believes that President Bush's program of wiretapping without warrants was lawful, a position that appears to bring him into closer alignment with the sweeping theories of executive authority pushed by the Bush administration legal team."

"Although a spokesman for Mr. McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, denied that the senator's views on surveillance and executive power had shifted, legal specialists said the letter contrasted with statements Mr. McCain previously made about the limits of presidential power," Savage writes. "In an interview about his views on the limits of executive power with The Boston Globe six months ago, Mr. McCain strongly suggested that if he became the next commander in chief, he would consider himself obligated to obey a statute restricting what he did in national security matters."

McCain, R-Ariz., tells ABC's Charlie Gibson that he feels like the underdog: "I'm surprised, frankly, to see the polls as close as they are, given our brand problems in the Republican Party. I'm pleased where we are," he said. "We're going to be in kind of a presidential campaign where the independents, Reagan Democrats, would be the reason why I win."

Does everyone have an opinion on an Obama-Clinton team? "Obviously it would be a formidable ticket,"McCain said.