Gore Endorses Obama

Sayeth the party elder who was respectful enough to both candidates to withhold his endorsement until it didn't look as though it was an effort to push one out and also now looks like an unqualified and genuine endorsement for the one who's still in:

A few hours from now I will step on stage in Detroit, Michigan to announce my support for Senator Barack Obama. From now through Election Day, I intend to do whatever I can to make sure he is elected President of the United States.

Over the next four years, we are going to face many difficult challenges -- including bringing our troops home from Iraq, fixing our economy, and solving the climate crisis. Barack Obama is clearly the candidate best able to solve these problems and bring change to America.

What that doesn't do: Shit all over Hillary Clinton. What it does do: Praise Barack Obama. And shit all over John McCain. As well it should. Because he's a belligerent, no-knowing, lobbied-up asshole who needs to be kept as far away from the White House as possible. But I digress.

In related news, Obama has hired former Clinton campaign manager Patti Solis Doyle as "the chief of staff to the vice presidential candidate—whoever he (or she) will be." That strikes me as a weird hiring move, only because it seems as though whoever the veep candidate is would want to bring on her/his own chief of staff, but evidently Obama wants to bring Solis Doyle into the campaign (presumably both because she's talented and because she's a prominent Latina) and "most of the major roles in Mr. Obama's campaign are filled."

Additionally, the Obama campaign has hired John Kerry's 2004 communications director, Stephanie Cutter, as Michelle Obama's chief of staff. Cutter will fill a key position, as she will be "lead[ing] a war room to fight attacks against Mrs. Obama." Big job, unfortunately.