Guy LeCharles Gonzalez

Photo by Damon Winter/NYT (h/t Good)

Pictures are very often worth much more than 1,000 words, and something about this one, as the rumors of Clinton being on the verge of becoming Obama’s Secretary of State appear to be true, is oddly reassuring.

Despite all the heated rhetoric of the primary season, I share Sullivan’s slightly cynical take on it:

The differences between Clinton and Obama were always exaggerated; and we need all the talent we can get. I defer to no one in Clinton Derangement Syndrome, which is why I believe it’s good for them to have their hands full and to be kept under surveillance.

I didn’t like the idea of her as President (or Vice President), as much because of the question of Bill as her own deficiencies as a leader — which in some ways are directly related to each other — but I kind of like the idea of her and Obama becoming the new faces of the US abroad. It’s a powerful symbolic combination for a country that purports to be dedicated to the idea of all “men” being created equal.

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“And I got my middle name from somebody who obviously didn’t think I’d ever run for President.”

I just got around to watching Obama’s speech at the Al Smith Dinner the other night and it’s funny as hell, taking shots at McCain, Clinton, Schumer, Bloomberg, Giuliani, Wall Street and, most importantly, himself, showing a sense of humor that has rarely been on display during the campaign or in the majority of SNL’s political skits.

Funny how he can admit that he “screwed up” by ditching Letterman’s show last month to save the economy talk to Katie Couric and make an appearance at a Bill Clinton event, but when Dave presses him on his and Palin’s “pals around with terrorists” nonsense, he sticks to the same B.S. line about Ayers and their nefarious connection to ACORN.

Loser.

Again, Keith Olbermann cuts to the chase:

You actually used the word “assassination” in a time when there is a fear, unspoken but vivid and terrible, that our again-troubled land and fractured political landscape might target a black man running for president.

Or a white man.

Or a white woman!

You actually used those words, in this America, Senator, while running against an African-American against whom the death threats started the moment he declared his campaign?

Just another sleep deprivation-induced gaffe — and this from the woman who claims to be ready for that 3am phone call? — or Freudian slip?

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