On Valentine's Day eve, I want to share some love and give pithy advice to both Barack Obama and John McCain. And that is the subject of this evening's "Talking Points Memo."
Let's start with Senator McCain. Your victory speech last night was a bit flat, sir, because you weren't specific enough. It will not be enough to tell the folks that Barack Obama lacks experience because everybody knows that. Instead, Senator, you have to explain why your problem-solving abilities are stronger than Obama's.
Remember, President Bush the elder used the inexperienced card against Bill Clinton in '92. Didn't work. Also, Senator Obama has an easy reply to the experience issue. The Bush administration had experience and now we have crazy oil prices and a weak government in Baghdad.
So my "Memo," Senator McCain, to you is for you to select a few vexing issues and tell the folks exactly how you would solve them.
Now on to Senator Obama. After six months, I believe most Americans understand that hope is good.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA: Some people will tell you that I've got my head in the clouds, that I am still offering false hopes, that I need a reality check, that I'm a hope-monger. But you know, it's true. My own story tells me that in the United States of America, there has never been anything false about hope.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
Got it. Faith and charity are good, too. We love hope, faith, charity, all that. But that doesn't wipe out the Taliban inside Pakistan or pay for a trillion-dollar entitlement: universal health care.
As with Senator McCain, the folks want specific solutions to difficult problems. How will illegal immigration be dealt with? What happens if Iran threatens Saudi Arabia after you pull American troops out of Iraq? That kind of thing.
Now call me crazy, but I'd like a president to put forth a health care package that includes me not being blown up by Muslim killers currently hiding in Pakistan. File that under preventive medicine.
So the advice "Talking Points" is giving, the love we are sharing, if you will, is the same for both Obama and McCain. Get real on tough issues. Get solutions that will benefit the entire country. With the primary season winding down, rhetoric should be replaced by creative solution.
Happy Valentine's Day to all the candidates. Here's hoping you take the advice.
And that's "The Memo."
Pinheads & Patriots
Superstar director Steven Spielberg has quit advising the Chinese government about the upcoming Olympics over Darfur. The Hollywood mogul says China still does business with the evil Sudanese government and doesn't pressure those villains to stop the genocide in Darfur.
What Spielberg says is true. So he is a patriot.
On the pinhead side, the president of William & Mary College is out. Gene Nichol, who removed the famous Wren Cross from the college chapel and allowed controversial sex shows on campus, will not have his contract renewed.
You may remember, we caught up with Nichol and asked him about those sex shows.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
"FACTOR" PRODUCER: It was the sex worker party where they had the prostitutes and sex toys and the hookers, and they were offering sexual favors to the students and that kind of stuff.
GENE NICHOL, FORMER WILLIAM & MARY COLLEGE PRESIDENT: For us to censor that program, to stop it from taking place on the campus, to bar it from our facilities, we were informed by counsel would violate the First Amendment.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
Bull. Definitely a pinhead.
— You can catch Bill O'Reilly's "Talking Points Memo" and "Pinheads and Patriots" weeknights at 8 and 11 p.m. ET on the FOX News Channel and any time on foxnews.com/oreilly. Send your comments to: oreilly@foxnews.com
Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox