A Speech Communications NB will never, ever, be able to write...

It its constant quest to instill every single New Brunswicker with the mantra of self-sufficiency/transformational change/status quo is not an option, a rather pedestrian provincial budget has just been tabled, and it includes a hefty increase in funds for the government's provincial communications agency.

Leaving aside the merits of communications professionals (I too was once a spin doctor - ed.), it certainly would be nice if a New Brunswick political figure could speak honestly about the pressing issues of the day, without resorting to focus-grouped talking points.

On a totally different plane, Barack Obama has just given the speech of his life, speaking in Philly about the question of race in the United States. Historians will be digesting every syllable of the prepared text for years - long after this fellow leaves the Oval Office.

And like all wonderful political addresses, this one was prepared without much input from communications professionals (in fact, a number of Obama's campaign staff did not want him to give it). Yet Barack's speech is now dominating the American news cycle. In contrast, the provincial budget has produced barely a murmur.

It's a shame that lesson hasn't been picked up by anyone here in New Brunswick - spending all the money in the world on press releases doesn't change much if you don't have anything significant to say.

Scene from American Democracy

Amount of TV time directed toward Democratic caucus in Calais, ME: O minutes

Number of voting caucus members: 51 persons

Number of write-in ballots: 2 ballots

Final Score: Barack Obama 27, Hillary Clinton 26

Thank you, Iowa....

Mega-pundit Mark Halperin has just declared Barack Obama as the likely next President of the United States.

For the record, this blog called it a few months ago.

It's a slam dunk (in my humble opinion)

In Points of Departure, Dalton Camp argued that one of the reasons why Pierre Trudeau was able to defeat poor old Joe Clark was because of the constant game of courtship between the mass media and PET.

Well, if this New Yorker article is any indication, Barack Obama will in all likelihood win the 2008 Democratic nomination. No other candidate in recent memory has produced such gushing media tributes this early - and no, the 2003 Howard Dean phenomenon doesn't count, since most news clippings were more about Dean supporters (or the Dean web community) than Howard Dean.

My prediction? Barry Hussein Obama will lead the Democratic ticket in 08. Hillary just can't sell the same amount of high-brow magazines.