Wow. Just re-read my 1/20/09 posts for the first time in months.
I still believe that the country voted for transformation. Harder to gauge: whether destructive/dishonest political rhetoric will completely undo the hope, and replace it with ill-informed cynicism.
I still see Obama as the guy I voted for; he's mostly behaved the way I thought he would. I have deep concerns in the areas of civil liberties, accountability, and adherence to the rule of law; but he's been practical, cautious, and wise in most areas thus far.
Mostly, I worry about wasted opportunity, whether wasted by congress or the people or the man himself. But it's only been 7 months, after all, so I cannot say I am disappointed.
Showing posts with label Barack Obama. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Barack Obama. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Today
Just got home from gathering with friends, a re-watching and champagne, and food. And we all sang, and joked, and the most cynical of friends celebrated hope.
I'm watching Barack and Michelle enter parties and say words and look wonderful. (While I love writing and saying President Obama, I still feel a closeness and an inclination to call him Barack)
When I picked the boy up from school today, he told me about watching the inauguration. And the reason that the schools watched it is clear: this country elected and inaugurated our first black person to our highest office. This represents a closure of wounds, an opening of opportunities, a flowering of inspiration.
Is there anyone who was not moved to tears watching black residents of DC crying and celebrating today? Say to yourself "I don't discriminate". Say to yourself "I am not to blame for slavery or Jim Crow". Whatever you say does not matter. The fact is that in our nation's capital, an entire population has been disenfranchised and mostly invisible- right up to today.
That matters.
But there is more. Today is even bigger thank that.
Today is also the end of the Bush presidency, and everyone should be able to agree, an historic one. This has been a radical presidency, an administration that has not flinched from formulating new arguments, enabling the power of the White House to take steps that were momentous departures from much of what we have seen in our history, and in our system of law.
In his speech today, Barack drew a clear line, he ended it. It was not merely a rebuke- it was in eery sense of the word a place to end and start anew.
That's not even all of it, though. The election of Barack Obama is the result of what I believe is a tectonic shift in American politics. The "villagers" in Washington didn't understand it, maybe they still don't . Barack is the candidate who understood it, who grasped it, who chose to lead a changed people.
He said today that the time has come to set aside childish things, that tired dogmas of the past were done. That the questions posed by the men at our pulpits- is government too big? or too small?- meant nothing anymore, that the question is, what works?
I've been listening all month to pundits wondering if he's a liberal or a moderate, a hawk or a dove, if the "liberal base" would be angered by his pragmatism. And the thing is, they have no idea what all this means, what I really think we have voted for.
We have voted for human dignity and common purpose. We have voted for optimism, not idealism. We have voted for strength, and we have voted for an open table.
We have voted to be competent and practical, but more, we have voted to be one, in this country and with the world.
There are no labels that fit exactly what we have voted for, but our founding documents can speak to it.
So today we started anew, and we have a chance to make significant change in the world. We gotta do it together, and I believe we have a president who wants to lead us.
We shall see, we shall see. Today feels really good, though.
I'm watching Barack and Michelle enter parties and say words and look wonderful. (While I love writing and saying President Obama, I still feel a closeness and an inclination to call him Barack)
When I picked the boy up from school today, he told me about watching the inauguration. And the reason that the schools watched it is clear: this country elected and inaugurated our first black person to our highest office. This represents a closure of wounds, an opening of opportunities, a flowering of inspiration.
Is there anyone who was not moved to tears watching black residents of DC crying and celebrating today? Say to yourself "I don't discriminate". Say to yourself "I am not to blame for slavery or Jim Crow". Whatever you say does not matter. The fact is that in our nation's capital, an entire population has been disenfranchised and mostly invisible- right up to today.
That matters.
But there is more. Today is even bigger thank that.
Today is also the end of the Bush presidency, and everyone should be able to agree, an historic one. This has been a radical presidency, an administration that has not flinched from formulating new arguments, enabling the power of the White House to take steps that were momentous departures from much of what we have seen in our history, and in our system of law.
In his speech today, Barack drew a clear line, he ended it. It was not merely a rebuke- it was in eery sense of the word a place to end and start anew.
That's not even all of it, though. The election of Barack Obama is the result of what I believe is a tectonic shift in American politics. The "villagers" in Washington didn't understand it, maybe they still don't . Barack is the candidate who understood it, who grasped it, who chose to lead a changed people.
He said today that the time has come to set aside childish things, that tired dogmas of the past were done. That the questions posed by the men at our pulpits- is government too big? or too small?- meant nothing anymore, that the question is, what works?
I've been listening all month to pundits wondering if he's a liberal or a moderate, a hawk or a dove, if the "liberal base" would be angered by his pragmatism. And the thing is, they have no idea what all this means, what I really think we have voted for.
We have voted for human dignity and common purpose. We have voted for optimism, not idealism. We have voted for strength, and we have voted for an open table.
We have voted to be competent and practical, but more, we have voted to be one, in this country and with the world.
There are no labels that fit exactly what we have voted for, but our founding documents can speak to it.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,
That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.
So today we started anew, and we have a chance to make significant change in the world. We gotta do it together, and I believe we have a president who wants to lead us.
We shall see, we shall see. Today feels really good, though.
01.20.09
High clouds scattered across blue sky in lovely Thousand Oaks. The air feels clear, not dry as it has been. Watching the former presidents enter the inaugural seating, and really want to remember this. All of it.
My hope: that we are witnessing the return of competency. That the new administration will continue to welcome all voices to the table, while guiding according to solid principle. That the American people hold on to this upswelling of hope and commitment and the desire to work hard and move forward together. That this election is evidence of a paradigm shift in American politics- a shift that was evident throughout the campaign, but Washington insiders did not understand.
Moving vans in front of the WH on the teevee at the moment. President Clinton and his wife, the Secretary of State, have entered. Waiting for President Bush, followed by our President Elect.
What a day.
Update: 8:29
Love to see the mall so full. Love to see residents of DC out and celebrating. Can't imagine what it must feel like.
Update: 8:32
It would really suck to be George W Bush today. He has to go to a party where they're celebrating his departure.
8:39
First glimpse of the man. He looks appropriately somber and perhaps a bit whelmed.
He's just entered, and the tears are starting.
8:46
Di Fi welcoming the croud. "our work is not yet finished, but future generations will mark this morning... the dream that was echoed from the steps of the Lincoln memorial finally (something) the walls of the White House"
Here comes Warren.
While I appreciate the points he is trying to hit, this is actually a fairly uninspiring prayer. I have high standards for prophetic speech.
8:53
'RETHA!
8:59
Vice President Biden
9:03
Mister President
Amen.
My hope: that we are witnessing the return of competency. That the new administration will continue to welcome all voices to the table, while guiding according to solid principle. That the American people hold on to this upswelling of hope and commitment and the desire to work hard and move forward together. That this election is evidence of a paradigm shift in American politics- a shift that was evident throughout the campaign, but Washington insiders did not understand.
Moving vans in front of the WH on the teevee at the moment. President Clinton and his wife, the Secretary of State, have entered. Waiting for President Bush, followed by our President Elect.
What a day.
Update: 8:29
Love to see the mall so full. Love to see residents of DC out and celebrating. Can't imagine what it must feel like.
Update: 8:32
It would really suck to be George W Bush today. He has to go to a party where they're celebrating his departure.
8:39
First glimpse of the man. He looks appropriately somber and perhaps a bit whelmed.
He's just entered, and the tears are starting.
8:46
Di Fi welcoming the croud. "our work is not yet finished, but future generations will mark this morning... the dream that was echoed from the steps of the Lincoln memorial finally (something) the walls of the White House"
Here comes Warren.
While I appreciate the points he is trying to hit, this is actually a fairly uninspiring prayer. I have high standards for prophetic speech.
8:53
'RETHA!
8:59
Vice President Biden
9:03
Tis a gift to be simple9:05
'Tis a gift to be free
'Tis a gift to come down
Where we ought to be
And when we find ourselves
In that place just right
We will be in the valley
Of Love and delight.
When the true simplicity
Is gained
To bow and to bend
We shall not be ashamed
To turn and to turn it will
Be our delight
'Till by turning and turning we
Come 'round right.
Mister President
Amen.
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
My New Year's wish: surprise me
Over a month of no blogging! I think the reason is simple: nothing shocking has happened, and I am waiting for the new era to begin.
Sure, things have happened that are worthy of comment, but my capacity for shock and outrage and snark are seriously depleted.
I mean, really: is it surprising in the least that a candidate for the GOP chairmanship would send out an offensive "parody" disk to republicans around the country this season? We really don't need any more ammunition in the You Pasty Old White Boys Don't Get It And You Never Will argument, and yet, they just keep delivering. Also not shocking: the possibility that this stupid, stupid move will actually enhance his chances for the seat.
Oh but never fear, rank-and-file, your intellectual leadership has a plan! And it includes Twitter! Because Twitter and Republican are two proper nouns I'd like to see forever linked.
Bush, meanwhile, pardons a man whose father's campaign donations might effectively kill congressional republicans Eric Holder/ Marc Rich outrage machine. So then he decides to take the pardon away, within days of issuing it. Was anyone honestly taken aback by this? Has the Bush administration ever properly vetted anyone?
Congressional republicans are demanding "transparency" and there's talk of them shutting down the president-elect's stimulus/recovery plans if they don't pass GOP muster. They want "fiscal responsibility" again. Of course they do. Whatever.
Also, turns out that OSHA hasn't actually been in the business of occupational safety and health for about... 7 years. Question for the 10% of American workers who're injured on the job each year: does it surprise you that your government's chief concern has been not bugging your employer? Thought not.
Then there's the coal ash spill in Tennessee: turns out that no matter how "clean" your coal operation is, the ash still contains toxic levels of arsenic, lead, barium, chromium, and manganese; tens of thousand of pounds per year. Also turns out that the TVA asserted for days after the spill that the sludge was not toxic. Shocking, shocking shocking. Not.
And the situation in Gaza is terrifying, Bush is in Crawford riding his bike, and Condi isn't on a plane yet. Although, even if she got herself over to Riyadh or something, I don't know how much leverage she has left. And all it leaves me with is a sad sense of deja vu. It's been a long time.
So I'm waiting for a new year, and some new stories to open. A whole new cast f characters who maybe won't be so goddamn predictable and obvious and stupid.
(I had an hour or so of dismay over the Rick Warren thing, but ultimately I realize that the man I voted for reaches out in just this way, compromises in just this way, recognizing that the people who admire Warren and didn't vote for Obama and supported prop 8 need a president, too. Note to Barack, though: it'd be swell if you invited Rev. William Sinkford to the White House before his term is up this summer. Just sayin'.)
I'm waiting patiently for New Years Eve champagne, and then I'll be waiting in a cozy wash of ahhhhhh for January 20, 2009. After which I am certain there'll be lots to get worked up about, and hopefully a few surprises.
Sure, things have happened that are worthy of comment, but my capacity for shock and outrage and snark are seriously depleted.
I mean, really: is it surprising in the least that a candidate for the GOP chairmanship would send out an offensive "parody" disk to republicans around the country this season? We really don't need any more ammunition in the You Pasty Old White Boys Don't Get It And You Never Will argument, and yet, they just keep delivering. Also not shocking: the possibility that this stupid, stupid move will actually enhance his chances for the seat.
Oh but never fear, rank-and-file, your intellectual leadership has a plan! And it includes Twitter! Because Twitter and Republican are two proper nouns I'd like to see forever linked.
Bush, meanwhile, pardons a man whose father's campaign donations might effectively kill congressional republicans Eric Holder/ Marc Rich outrage machine. So then he decides to take the pardon away, within days of issuing it. Was anyone honestly taken aback by this? Has the Bush administration ever properly vetted anyone?
Congressional republicans are demanding "transparency" and there's talk of them shutting down the president-elect's stimulus/recovery plans if they don't pass GOP muster. They want "fiscal responsibility" again. Of course they do. Whatever.
Also, turns out that OSHA hasn't actually been in the business of occupational safety and health for about... 7 years. Question for the 10% of American workers who're injured on the job each year: does it surprise you that your government's chief concern has been not bugging your employer? Thought not.
Then there's the coal ash spill in Tennessee: turns out that no matter how "clean" your coal operation is, the ash still contains toxic levels of arsenic, lead, barium, chromium, and manganese; tens of thousand of pounds per year. Also turns out that the TVA asserted for days after the spill that the sludge was not toxic. Shocking, shocking shocking. Not.
And the situation in Gaza is terrifying, Bush is in Crawford riding his bike, and Condi isn't on a plane yet. Although, even if she got herself over to Riyadh or something, I don't know how much leverage she has left. And all it leaves me with is a sad sense of deja vu. It's been a long time.
So I'm waiting for a new year, and some new stories to open. A whole new cast f characters who maybe won't be so goddamn predictable and obvious and stupid.
(I had an hour or so of dismay over the Rick Warren thing, but ultimately I realize that the man I voted for reaches out in just this way, compromises in just this way, recognizing that the people who admire Warren and didn't vote for Obama and supported prop 8 need a president, too. Note to Barack, though: it'd be swell if you invited Rev. William Sinkford to the White House before his term is up this summer. Just sayin'.)
I'm waiting patiently for New Years Eve champagne, and then I'll be waiting in a cozy wash of ahhhhhh for January 20, 2009. After which I am certain there'll be lots to get worked up about, and hopefully a few surprises.
Tuesday, November 04, 2008
President Barack Hussein Obama
In 2004, I saw him speak and knew he would be our first African American President. And I am so proud of my country tonight- there are really no words.
I haven't blogged in weeks, I don't know why. Tonight, as I heard him speak again, I heard what I knew I would hear on the day we elected this man.
He said to the people "whose votes I did not earn, I hear you." He will never pretend you do not exist. He will never stand before you and say, "I earned political capital, and I'm going to spend it."
He said to all of us, this is our moment to move- not to stop and rest, this is not the achievement. The work will be pulling our country back together and putting it back on track, and all of us need to work toward that. All of us have to put our shoulders to the wheel.
This day- this is the promise. It remains our task to fulfill it.
And now that I have dried my tears of joy and started looking at California returns, I have to lament that at this moment, Prop 8 seems to be winning.
On the day that we stood up for inclusion and honesty and progress, we may have also written segregation into the California constitution.
I suppose numbers can still change. And I am staying up, for the recently married woman that I worked outside polls with today. I am keeping my fingers crossed and hope alive. But I fear we may have done a really bad thing in this state.
More tomorrow.
I haven't blogged in weeks, I don't know why. Tonight, as I heard him speak again, I heard what I knew I would hear on the day we elected this man.
He said to the people "whose votes I did not earn, I hear you." He will never pretend you do not exist. He will never stand before you and say, "I earned political capital, and I'm going to spend it."
He said to all of us, this is our moment to move- not to stop and rest, this is not the achievement. The work will be pulling our country back together and putting it back on track, and all of us need to work toward that. All of us have to put our shoulders to the wheel.
This day- this is the promise. It remains our task to fulfill it.
And now that I have dried my tears of joy and started looking at California returns, I have to lament that at this moment, Prop 8 seems to be winning.
On the day that we stood up for inclusion and honesty and progress, we may have also written segregation into the California constitution.
I suppose numbers can still change. And I am staying up, for the recently married woman that I worked outside polls with today. I am keeping my fingers crossed and hope alive. But I fear we may have done a really bad thing in this state.
More tomorrow.
Monday, September 22, 2008
Economists For Obama
I keep forgetting how much I love Economists For Obama.
You wanna know who either candidate's economic advisors are? Check here. You wanna know how their numbers really play out? Check here. You wanna know what your taxes would look like under Obama's plan?
Check Here.
You wanna know who either candidate's economic advisors are? Check here. You wanna know how their numbers really play out? Check here. You wanna know what your taxes would look like under Obama's plan?
Check Here.
Thursday, September 04, 2008
Barack on O'Reilly
on Iran: O'Reilly just interrupted repeatedly and then changed the subject.
on Iraq: "We have reduced the violence, but the Iraqi's still haven't taken responsibility." O'Reilly changes the subject.
on Afghanistan/ Pakistan: O'Reilly says no one will send ground troops into Pakistan. Obama says if Pakistan wants military support, the support needs to have strings attached. O'Reilly basically saying he's full of shit.
O'Reilly's stretching this out over several days next week. Probably because MSNBC is kicking his ratings ass.
Watching MSNBC earlier and O'Reilly now, it occurs to me again why so many of us go to John Stewart every night for the daily, sort of, round up. The rest of these guys don't know how to be respectful and tough at the same time. Their interview styles are either total asshole (O'Reilly) or talking points pipeline (Matthews and Gregory).
John alwaqys knows how to cut to the heart, while respecting his guests and even, seemingly, enjoying them. Well, except Doug Feith, but no one could stand Doug Feith, right?
on Iraq: "We have reduced the violence, but the Iraqi's still haven't taken responsibility." O'Reilly changes the subject.
on Afghanistan/ Pakistan: O'Reilly says no one will send ground troops into Pakistan. Obama says if Pakistan wants military support, the support needs to have strings attached. O'Reilly basically saying he's full of shit.
O'Reilly's stretching this out over several days next week. Probably because MSNBC is kicking his ratings ass.
Watching MSNBC earlier and O'Reilly now, it occurs to me again why so many of us go to John Stewart every night for the daily, sort of, round up. The rest of these guys don't know how to be respectful and tough at the same time. Their interview styles are either total asshole (O'Reilly) or talking points pipeline (Matthews and Gregory).
John alwaqys knows how to cut to the heart, while respecting his guests and even, seemingly, enjoying them. Well, except Doug Feith, but no one could stand Doug Feith, right?
OMG, this is actually funny
I'm watching O'Reilly and a blonde, um, journalist FREAK OUT over unfair and biased reporting in People or Us or whatever the magazine is that put Palin on the cover this week.
Now, I haven't read the article because, maverick that I am, I don't read celebrity mags for POLITICAL NEWS.
But O'Reilly and the blonde are incensed- outraged- over the unfair biased reporting therein.
"You don't just throw out incendiary remarks!"
This, from the folks who brought you the madrassa scandal, the "baby mama" shit, endless memes about Ayers, etc.
I almost believe I'm watching Colbert.
Barack up now.
Now, I haven't read the article because, maverick that I am, I don't read celebrity mags for POLITICAL NEWS.
But O'Reilly and the blonde are incensed- outraged- over the unfair biased reporting therein.
"You don't just throw out incendiary remarks!"
This, from the folks who brought you the madrassa scandal, the "baby mama" shit, endless memes about Ayers, etc.
I almost believe I'm watching Colbert.
Barack up now.
Who's more scary: the racist "base" or the guys at the top?
The other night at a barbecue, a man asked me, regarding Obama:
It is very likely true, as Dave Neiwert posits, that when Obama takes the office, there will be a far-right backlash, sort of the '90s on steroids. It is also possible that we will avoid another Oklahoma City, and that presidential security is strong enough to thwart assassination. After all: meth-heads plotting assassination last week were arrested before they could leave their hotel room.
But Neiwert has a frightening post today on those meth-heads: why, when the FBI wanted them charged with conspiracy to assassinate Senator Obama, the Rove appointed US attorney declined.
Amy Goodman was charged this week with Conspiracy to Commit Riot for the crime of stepping off the convention floor and into the street.
These men had a plan and the equipment to carry it out, the fed has weapons and testimony to convict with, and the US Attorney declined?
Do you really think he'll live through his first term?I answered first, I certainly hope so. Second, and more importantly, I don't think fear is a rational basis for making such a decision, so I don't contemplate that question very much.
It is very likely true, as Dave Neiwert posits, that when Obama takes the office, there will be a far-right backlash, sort of the '90s on steroids. It is also possible that we will avoid another Oklahoma City, and that presidential security is strong enough to thwart assassination. After all: meth-heads plotting assassination last week were arrested before they could leave their hotel room.
But Neiwert has a frightening post today on those meth-heads: why, when the FBI wanted them charged with conspiracy to assassinate Senator Obama, the Rove appointed US attorney declined.
Amy Goodman was charged this week with Conspiracy to Commit Riot for the crime of stepping off the convention floor and into the street.
These men had a plan and the equipment to carry it out, the fed has weapons and testimony to convict with, and the US Attorney declined?
Another funny thing: When a black man in prison sent a threatening letter containing baby powder to John McCain, Troy Eid brought down the full force of the law, complete with press conferences and public declarations that "We won't stand for threats of this kind in Colorado."I really don't know what else to say.
But when it’s a claque of white men with rifles, disguises, and all the accoutrement of a conspiracy – as well as open admissions to it – Troy Eid isn’t worried. After all, they just a bunch of harmless, tweakers, right? … Just like little Timmy McVeigh.
But then, when you’re a Karl Rove operative promoted to deliver justice the Republican way, as Troy Eid is, that’s the way the scales fall. As Marcy reported at the time, Eid in fact nearly didn't get the Colorado job because of concerns about "improper lobbying."
His failure to take this matter seriously is itself a serious matter. When law-enforcement officials let this stuff slip by, they send a dangerous message to other would-be plotters out there. And next time, they may in fact be more competent.
Thursday, August 28, 2008
I Have Become an Obamabot
I laughed at them. Silly cultists, drinking Kool-Aid, talking about The Savior, The Messiah, The One. I laughed at the slogans they chanted. Fired up. Hope and Change. Yes we can.
Bunch of nonsense.
I said I'd vote for him anyway. He's a Democrat, and we need one in the White House.
I said I'd vote for him anyway. McCain is worse, a continuation of eight disastrous years, and an assault on every single one of my personal and political values.
But this week, I stopped being just a Democrat who will vote for the party's nominee.
This week, I became an Obamabot.
I can't tell you the exact moment it happened.
I loved Michelle Obama's speech on Monday. She was stunningly beautiful and composed, but also warm and passionate. She spoke about her life, about her husband, about their beliefs and dreams that they want to share with the American people. With me.
When she said the words "18 million cracks," I cried. I couldn't help it. I'd wanted so much for Hillary Clinton to be the nominee and take back the White House and shatter the glass ceiling once and for all.
And there was Michelle Obama, who, with three simple words, not only acknowledged everything I felt, but said she felt the same way too. She wanted it too. She's a woman and a mother of two daughters, and she wants to smash that ceiling as much as I do.
And with those three words, she seemed to be promising that it will happen. Her husband will help us continue to shatter glass ceilings everywhere across America.
And I wept with joy and, yes, with hope.
But I don't know if that wasn't the moment I became an Obamabot.
Because then there was Tuesday. Oh, Tuesday.
When Hillary Clinton took the stage, was there any Democrat in America who would question why I and so many others supported her? She was glorious -- beautiful in a color few can wear, more passionate than she has ever been, gracious and sincere in her support of Obama, and clear in her message to all of us that we are Democrats, we are family, and we must work together to change this country.
And then she made me cry.
But I don't know if that was the moment.
Because then there was Wednesday.
And on Wednesday, for the first time in eight years, I felt like maybe the Democratic Party was listening to us after all. Because we didn't want another wimpy convention, where Democrats were too afraid to take on Republicans. We don't want to play nice. We don't want to bite our tongues.
We want to win.
And they heard us. Was there any Democrat in America who watched John Kerry's speech and didn't think that if that John Kerry had reported for duty four years ago, we'd be working for President Kerry's re-election right now?
And there were others. The video of military service men and women telling their stories, pleading with us to end this war, bring them home, stop their friends from dying.
And there was the former Republican who proudly proclaimed he was now a Democrat because he knows his former party no longer represents anything but old, tired ideas that don't work.
And I realized in that moment that we are not just united -- we are unanimous. We all want change -- not just Obama supporters, not just Democrats, but all of us.
And then they gave us Bill. Bubba. The Big Dog. Call him what you will -- that man made me so proud to be a Democrat. Again. Finally.
Bill reminded us of why we loved him. Why we believed in him. Why we stood by him, in spite of all of his, uh, imperfections.
I fell in love with Bill Clinton all over again last night. Is there any Democrat in America who can't say the same?
He passed the torch. The man from Hope endorsed the man who gives us hope, and he did it with his trademark charm and humor and wit.
It was 1992, and I was a freshman in high school, sitting in my parents' living room with all their friends, cheering at the television as we watched President Bush's failed administration fade into oblivion and the dawning of a new era, and we danced and we sang, "Don't stop thinking about tomorrow."
What a tremendous feeling to hear that song once again. As if we were given permission to look into the future once more, instead of having to be afraid of what tomorrow might bring. No more terrorist threat color wheel; no more duct tape. It's going to be okay. We can look forward to tomorrow again.
But I don't know if that was the moment.
Because then Joe Biden spoke. And I'm no fan of Joe Biden. I could write an essay on all the reasons I'm no fan. I could, but I won't.
Because last night, I made peace with Joe Biden. I forgave him for all the ways he has let me down. None of that matters now. He did the job he needed to do. He made the case to us -- to me -- for Barack Obama. He made the case against John McCain. And this time, when he made one of his infamous gaffes, it was the right kind. Because John McCain really is just more of George Bush.
But I don't think Joe Biden's speech was the moment for me.
Because then Barack Obama himself took the stage, and I felt my heart swell and my lungs tighten and tears sting my eyes, and I realized that I wanted nothing more than to see this man, and his family, in the White House. In my White House.
I was convinced. After nearly two years and endless debate with my family and friends and fellow Kossacks, after my shock and disappointment at seeing my dream candidate defeated, after swallowing my pride and hopes and trying my best to be supportive of our party's nominee, and after an incredible week of seeing the all-stars of our party make the case, again and again and again, that we desperately need Barack Obama, I am convinced.
And I am fired up.
And I believe in Hope and Change.
I get it now. I understand.
Yes We Can.
Yes We Can.
Yes We Can.
It is not just a slogan. It is not just a silly music video made by celebrities who are want to endorse the next hip thing.
It is our truth, as Democrats and as Americans.
Yes. We. Can.
So this, today, is my moment. This is the moment I went from being a good Democrat to a proud Obamabot. Because today, I am going to my local campaign headquarters to volunteer for Barack Obama. Because helping to elect him may be the most important thing I've done in my thirty years so far.
Because now, I believe.
Yes We Can.
Cross-posted at DailyKos
Bunch of nonsense.
I said I'd vote for him anyway. He's a Democrat, and we need one in the White House.
I said I'd vote for him anyway. McCain is worse, a continuation of eight disastrous years, and an assault on every single one of my personal and political values.
But this week, I stopped being just a Democrat who will vote for the party's nominee.
This week, I became an Obamabot.
I can't tell you the exact moment it happened.
I loved Michelle Obama's speech on Monday. She was stunningly beautiful and composed, but also warm and passionate. She spoke about her life, about her husband, about their beliefs and dreams that they want to share with the American people. With me.
When she said the words "18 million cracks," I cried. I couldn't help it. I'd wanted so much for Hillary Clinton to be the nominee and take back the White House and shatter the glass ceiling once and for all.
And there was Michelle Obama, who, with three simple words, not only acknowledged everything I felt, but said she felt the same way too. She wanted it too. She's a woman and a mother of two daughters, and she wants to smash that ceiling as much as I do.
And with those three words, she seemed to be promising that it will happen. Her husband will help us continue to shatter glass ceilings everywhere across America.
And I wept with joy and, yes, with hope.
But I don't know if that wasn't the moment I became an Obamabot.
Because then there was Tuesday. Oh, Tuesday.
When Hillary Clinton took the stage, was there any Democrat in America who would question why I and so many others supported her? She was glorious -- beautiful in a color few can wear, more passionate than she has ever been, gracious and sincere in her support of Obama, and clear in her message to all of us that we are Democrats, we are family, and we must work together to change this country.
And then she made me cry.
I'm a United States senator because in 1848 a group of courageous women and a few brave men gathered in Seneca Falls, New York, many traveling for days and nights -- (cheers, applause) -- to participate in the first convention on women's rights in our history.
And so dawned a struggle for the right to vote that would last 72 years, handed down by mother to daughter to granddaughter -- and a few sons and grandsons along the way.
These women and men looked into their daughters' eyes and imagined a fairer and freer world, and found the strength to fight. To rally. To picket. To endure ridicule and harassment, and brave violence and jail.
And after so many decades, 88 years ago on this very day, the 19th amendment giving women the right to vote became enshrined in our Constitution. (Cheers, applause.)
My mother was born before women could vote. My daughter got to vote for her mother for president. This is the story of America, of women and men who defy the odds and never give up.
But I don't know if that was the moment.
Because then there was Wednesday.
And on Wednesday, for the first time in eight years, I felt like maybe the Democratic Party was listening to us after all. Because we didn't want another wimpy convention, where Democrats were too afraid to take on Republicans. We don't want to play nice. We don't want to bite our tongues.
We want to win.
And they heard us. Was there any Democrat in America who watched John Kerry's speech and didn't think that if that John Kerry had reported for duty four years ago, we'd be working for President Kerry's re-election right now?
And there were others. The video of military service men and women telling their stories, pleading with us to end this war, bring them home, stop their friends from dying.
And there was the former Republican who proudly proclaimed he was now a Democrat because he knows his former party no longer represents anything but old, tired ideas that don't work.
And I realized in that moment that we are not just united -- we are unanimous. We all want change -- not just Obama supporters, not just Democrats, but all of us.
And then they gave us Bill. Bubba. The Big Dog. Call him what you will -- that man made me so proud to be a Democrat. Again. Finally.
Bill reminded us of why we loved him. Why we believed in him. Why we stood by him, in spite of all of his, uh, imperfections.
I fell in love with Bill Clinton all over again last night. Is there any Democrat in America who can't say the same?
He passed the torch. The man from Hope endorsed the man who gives us hope, and he did it with his trademark charm and humor and wit.
It was 1992, and I was a freshman in high school, sitting in my parents' living room with all their friends, cheering at the television as we watched President Bush's failed administration fade into oblivion and the dawning of a new era, and we danced and we sang, "Don't stop thinking about tomorrow."
What a tremendous feeling to hear that song once again. As if we were given permission to look into the future once more, instead of having to be afraid of what tomorrow might bring. No more terrorist threat color wheel; no more duct tape. It's going to be okay. We can look forward to tomorrow again.
But I don't know if that was the moment.
Because then Joe Biden spoke. And I'm no fan of Joe Biden. I could write an essay on all the reasons I'm no fan. I could, but I won't.
Because last night, I made peace with Joe Biden. I forgave him for all the ways he has let me down. None of that matters now. He did the job he needed to do. He made the case to us -- to me -- for Barack Obama. He made the case against John McCain. And this time, when he made one of his infamous gaffes, it was the right kind. Because John McCain really is just more of George Bush.
But I don't think Joe Biden's speech was the moment for me.
Because then Barack Obama himself took the stage, and I felt my heart swell and my lungs tighten and tears sting my eyes, and I realized that I wanted nothing more than to see this man, and his family, in the White House. In my White House.
I was convinced. After nearly two years and endless debate with my family and friends and fellow Kossacks, after my shock and disappointment at seeing my dream candidate defeated, after swallowing my pride and hopes and trying my best to be supportive of our party's nominee, and after an incredible week of seeing the all-stars of our party make the case, again and again and again, that we desperately need Barack Obama, I am convinced.
And I am fired up.
And I believe in Hope and Change.
I get it now. I understand.
Yes We Can.
Yes We Can.
Yes We Can.
It is not just a slogan. It is not just a silly music video made by celebrities who are want to endorse the next hip thing.
It is our truth, as Democrats and as Americans.
Yes. We. Can.
So this, today, is my moment. This is the moment I went from being a good Democrat to a proud Obamabot. Because today, I am going to my local campaign headquarters to volunteer for Barack Obama. Because helping to elect him may be the most important thing I've done in my thirty years so far.
Because now, I believe.
Yes We Can.
Cross-posted at DailyKos
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Three More Reasons I'm Voting For Obama
I didn't vote for him in the primary.
I didn't advocate for him in the blogosphere until he won the nomination.
But damn it, I'm fired up. I'm ready to go.
And I'm proud to be an Obama supporter. I'm proud to say you will hear no condemnation from me about Barack Obama between now and November. I am proud to aspire to be Obama's biggest cheerleader on DailyKos.
I've already given three reasons for supporting Obama.
Well, here are three more:
One: Michelle Obama. We need this woman to be our First Lady. Brilliant, beautiful, accomplished, inspiring -- and dare I say it, as good a speaker as her husband, if not better.
The role of First Lady is a critical one, or at least it can be, with the right First Lady.
This country's second First Lady, Abigail Adams, was credited with being a powerful influence on her husband and a voice for women in our young democracy:
Eleanor Roosevelt damn near ran her husband's presidency toward its end.
Jackie Kennedy brought grace, sophistication, and French food to America.
And Hillary...Hillary showed this country that behind every powerful man, you better believe there's an equally powerful woman helping him along the way.
We need Michelle Obama, and her beautiful daughters, to bring vitality and joy back into the White House and across America.
Two: Hope and Change. I have mocked Hope and Change. Empty rhetoric, pretty words.
But I was wrong.
After two days of the Democratic Convention, I understand that now. I'm becoming a believer. Some speakers have been better than others, but many have sought to lay out the clear choice in this election: the past or the future.
McCain offers the past. War, dependence on foreign oil, tax breaks for the rich. And fear. Lots of fear. Fear of the terrorists and the Russians and Iraq and Iran and black men and free women and gay marriage and science.
But Obama offers us the future. He offers us the chance to believe that we can do more and be better. I don't know if Obama can deliver all of the dreams he has dared us to dream. I'm a pessimist by nature. But I'd rather hope for a brilliant future than fear we are forever trapped in a dismal past.
Three: Hillary Clinton. I didn't need her speech last night. I was one of her strongest supporters, but when Obama wrapped up the nomination, I jumped on board.
But still...
Last night, Hillary spoke to me. She inspired me. She made me laugh. She made me cry.
She spoke about the Seneca Falls Convention, where our long struggle began. She quoted Harriet Tubman, one of my favorite women in history. She urged us to keep going, keep fighting, keep standing up, keep trying.
Because one day, we're not just going to put cracks in the ceiling. We're going to shatter that damned ceiling once and for all.
And President Obama is going to help us do it.
She articulated what she stands for, which is why I voted for her, and she said -- in the clearest and plainest of words -- that Obama shares her values. My values. And McCain does not. No way. No how. No McCain.
Hillary made me proud, last night. Proud to have supported her, and proud to be supporting Obama now. But most importantly, she made me proud to be a Democrat. And that's something I haven't felt in eight years.
Because we are the party of the future. We are the party that put 18 million cracks in the glass ceiling.
We are the party of hope and change.
These are my three simple reasons. I'm sure I'll think of more.
What are yours?
Cross-posted at DailyKos
I didn't advocate for him in the blogosphere until he won the nomination.
But damn it, I'm fired up. I'm ready to go.
And I'm proud to be an Obama supporter. I'm proud to say you will hear no condemnation from me about Barack Obama between now and November. I am proud to aspire to be Obama's biggest cheerleader on DailyKos.
I've already given three reasons for supporting Obama.
Well, here are three more:
One: Michelle Obama. We need this woman to be our First Lady. Brilliant, beautiful, accomplished, inspiring -- and dare I say it, as good a speaker as her husband, if not better.
The role of First Lady is a critical one, or at least it can be, with the right First Lady.
This country's second First Lady, Abigail Adams, was credited with being a powerful influence on her husband and a voice for women in our young democracy:
I long to hear that you have declared an independency. And, by the way, in the new code of laws which I suppose it will be necessary for you to make, I desire you would remember the ladies and be more generous and favorable to them than your ancestors.
Eleanor Roosevelt damn near ran her husband's presidency toward its end.
Jackie Kennedy brought grace, sophistication, and French food to America.
And Hillary...Hillary showed this country that behind every powerful man, you better believe there's an equally powerful woman helping him along the way.
We need Michelle Obama, and her beautiful daughters, to bring vitality and joy back into the White House and across America.
Two: Hope and Change. I have mocked Hope and Change. Empty rhetoric, pretty words.
But I was wrong.
After two days of the Democratic Convention, I understand that now. I'm becoming a believer. Some speakers have been better than others, but many have sought to lay out the clear choice in this election: the past or the future.
McCain offers the past. War, dependence on foreign oil, tax breaks for the rich. And fear. Lots of fear. Fear of the terrorists and the Russians and Iraq and Iran and black men and free women and gay marriage and science.
But Obama offers us the future. He offers us the chance to believe that we can do more and be better. I don't know if Obama can deliver all of the dreams he has dared us to dream. I'm a pessimist by nature. But I'd rather hope for a brilliant future than fear we are forever trapped in a dismal past.
Three: Hillary Clinton. I didn't need her speech last night. I was one of her strongest supporters, but when Obama wrapped up the nomination, I jumped on board.
But still...
Last night, Hillary spoke to me. She inspired me. She made me laugh. She made me cry.
She spoke about the Seneca Falls Convention, where our long struggle began. She quoted Harriet Tubman, one of my favorite women in history. She urged us to keep going, keep fighting, keep standing up, keep trying.
Because one day, we're not just going to put cracks in the ceiling. We're going to shatter that damned ceiling once and for all.
And President Obama is going to help us do it.
She articulated what she stands for, which is why I voted for her, and she said -- in the clearest and plainest of words -- that Obama shares her values. My values. And McCain does not. No way. No how. No McCain.
Hillary made me proud, last night. Proud to have supported her, and proud to be supporting Obama now. But most importantly, she made me proud to be a Democrat. And that's something I haven't felt in eight years.
Because we are the party of the future. We are the party that put 18 million cracks in the glass ceiling.
We are the party of hope and change.
These are my three simple reasons. I'm sure I'll think of more.
What are yours?
Cross-posted at DailyKos
Saturday, August 23, 2008
It's Biden
John Cole says:
He's a white male with a gazillion years in the senate, and a face and a name easily recognizable by much of the country. He's got foreign policy cred, and sort of a tough guy persona. And as the press is deeply concerned about "seriousness" -meaning things they hear and approve of at the right cocktail parties- Biden is likely a press-friendly choice. Over the years, they've probably been to a lot of the same cocktail parties and shared space on campaign buses and planes zooming off to serious foreign policy meetings.
Also, while he's not mac & cheese boring (Bayh), he's reassuring to people who can't handle the very radical idea of a black president and a woman VP- too much too soon! As much as we'd like to believe the country can handle it, there are an awful lot of nervous nellies out there, press and citizenry, for whom that idea would be just so frightening.
(Aside: I don't mean that I wouldn't have supported a "scary" choice. In many ways I think it might be a case if not now, when?)
I have watched too many senate hearings to love Biden. But I like him. And he can get mean- he should be great in the VP debates. And as for his tendency to say really amazingly stupid things: we're running against McCain here, a walking gaffe machine. I think that takes the heat off Biden somewhat.
BTW- The pick is probably gonna be Biden according to the media, who I rate as the person most likely of all the VP possibles to call Mitt Romney an asshole. Others are hoping for a casual “m____ f_____.” Either way, I call that a win.Megan Gogerty says:
The best thing about Biden, though? He's so articulate. And clean.I say Biden is a smart, if safe, choice. By "safe" I mean that he isn't the face of CHANGE, or anything so romantic and exciting as that.
He's a white male with a gazillion years in the senate, and a face and a name easily recognizable by much of the country. He's got foreign policy cred, and sort of a tough guy persona. And as the press is deeply concerned about "seriousness" -meaning things they hear and approve of at the right cocktail parties- Biden is likely a press-friendly choice. Over the years, they've probably been to a lot of the same cocktail parties and shared space on campaign buses and planes zooming off to serious foreign policy meetings.
Also, while he's not mac & cheese boring (Bayh), he's reassuring to people who can't handle the very radical idea of a black president and a woman VP- too much too soon! As much as we'd like to believe the country can handle it, there are an awful lot of nervous nellies out there, press and citizenry, for whom that idea would be just so frightening.
(Aside: I don't mean that I wouldn't have supported a "scary" choice. In many ways I think it might be a case if not now, when?)
I have watched too many senate hearings to love Biden. But I like him. And he can get mean- he should be great in the VP debates. And as for his tendency to say really amazingly stupid things: we're running against McCain here, a walking gaffe machine. I think that takes the heat off Biden somewhat.
Monday, August 18, 2008
Saddleback forum: my final word (I think)
After the previous post, I spent some time watching replay of the Obama segment, and spent some time on the phone with a pal who was unnerved by McCain's answers and outraged that the forum was held before such a friendly audience. I think, however, that the vent has to be, for Obama, a net positive, for the following reasons.
Obama was thoughtful and gave mostly clear, concise, answers. As congregants at Saddleback told Salon's Mike Madden yesterday, they came away having seen an authentic man, a principled man, a man that was worthy of respect and their attention, even if they weren't going to vote for him in the fall (after all, as one pointed out, they are the people who make $250k or more, and don't think they are wealthy, as they still "struggle" to keep all that they have acquired).
The Saddleback congregation wasn' the only audience, though. And if middle-of-the-road voters across the nation got to experience that same authenticity and thoughtfulness, how can that be a negative? In a campaign season where the biggest themes running against Obama seem to be his "elitism", his not really being"like us", the "who is he and why should we trust him?" theme, how can it be bad for him to have an extended open conversation in such a sensational forum?
There are segments of the voting population who will vote for John McCain no matter what happens: they are hard-line "pro-lifers", or reflexive anti-taxers, or so deeply partisan that John McCain could spend the rest of campaign season in a bunny suit handing out peeps and singing camp songs and he wouldn't lose their vote because he's a republican.
There are still the Tony Perkins and James Dobsons of the world, and their email lists of people like my mom who will always vote for whomever they label "conservative" enough in their version of "Judeo-Christian values". There are the audiences of Jerome Corsi and Rush Limbaugh and Mchael Savage and others who will absorb every lie they hear and presume that they now know everything there is to know about the Senator form Illinois.
And there are people who are either still devoted to President Bush, or completely in love with McCain's prisoner of war stories.
Obama will never, not in a million years, get a vote from these people.
But any chance he gets to reveal himself in an extended, authentic way before a national audience, any time he can spend which is not devoted to answering smears and misrepresentations, is a net positive. Because he's that good, that smart, that real.
Aside: memo to the McCain camp on the "Cone of Silence" :
It's not so much that anyone would question the honesty of "A John McCain, a former prisoner of war", it's that we question the deviousness and history of cheats and low blows by his campaign staff.
In other words, don't ask us to trust the integrity of the candidate when we know the campaign is run by Karl Rove and his accolytes.
Obama was thoughtful and gave mostly clear, concise, answers. As congregants at Saddleback told Salon's Mike Madden yesterday, they came away having seen an authentic man, a principled man, a man that was worthy of respect and their attention, even if they weren't going to vote for him in the fall (after all, as one pointed out, they are the people who make $250k or more, and don't think they are wealthy, as they still "struggle" to keep all that they have acquired).
The Saddleback congregation wasn' the only audience, though. And if middle-of-the-road voters across the nation got to experience that same authenticity and thoughtfulness, how can that be a negative? In a campaign season where the biggest themes running against Obama seem to be his "elitism", his not really being"like us", the "who is he and why should we trust him?" theme, how can it be bad for him to have an extended open conversation in such a sensational forum?
There are segments of the voting population who will vote for John McCain no matter what happens: they are hard-line "pro-lifers", or reflexive anti-taxers, or so deeply partisan that John McCain could spend the rest of campaign season in a bunny suit handing out peeps and singing camp songs and he wouldn't lose their vote because he's a republican.
There are still the Tony Perkins and James Dobsons of the world, and their email lists of people like my mom who will always vote for whomever they label "conservative" enough in their version of "Judeo-Christian values". There are the audiences of Jerome Corsi and Rush Limbaugh and Mchael Savage and others who will absorb every lie they hear and presume that they now know everything there is to know about the Senator form Illinois.
And there are people who are either still devoted to President Bush, or completely in love with McCain's prisoner of war stories.
Obama will never, not in a million years, get a vote from these people.
But any chance he gets to reveal himself in an extended, authentic way before a national audience, any time he can spend which is not devoted to answering smears and misrepresentations, is a net positive. Because he's that good, that smart, that real.
Aside: memo to the McCain camp on the "Cone of Silence" :
It's not so much that anyone would question the honesty of "A John McCain, a former prisoner of war", it's that we question the deviousness and history of cheats and low blows by his campaign staff.
In other words, don't ask us to trust the integrity of the candidate when we know the campaign is run by Karl Rove and his accolytes.
Saturday, August 16, 2008
Saddleback forum: initial impressions
I think the only problem I have with this forum taking place at a church is that it's only going to take place at a church. That is to say: this kind of forum, this "conversation", as Barack called it, should be taking place every day, in many venues, so that the electorate isn't making decisions based on a single talk radio show and a few campaign ads.
Yes, we'll have the official debates, but not enough of them. And the moderation may or may not be good.
The format: on the plus side, no "gotchas". Each asked the same question, not playing off one another.
On the downside: no follow-ups. For instance, when McCain talked about torture, he got to say that he was against it. No follow up on his capitulation to the president on this issue.
I was out all day, so missed most of Obama. Saw all of McCain.
Hated the "I don't want to raise taxes" speech. It was based on two false points.
1: The Republican canard that we will all magically get rich together. As my husband says, societies will always have ditch diggers, and this get rich together! fantasy never addresses them.
2: Did you know that the congress committed a few million dollars to some mammal paternity research thing? McCain made a good joke on this line ("I don't know if this was a legal issue"), but the truth, as any economist or budget analyst knows, is that eliminating these little earmarks alone will never solve our budget woes. McCain also knows that he's been as skilled as almost any of them at bringing home the bacon.
Hated the "choice and competition" bit on education. Build public education because it is for the public and the national good. Period.
I really believe that a lot of parents make the choice to keep their kids out of the public school system because they have been told, over and over again, that it won't serve them, and the only solution is home-schooling or vouchers.
Really did not like McCain's response on marriage equality, because saying people of same gender can make "legal arrangements" falsely suggests that these "legal arrangements" offer the same protections as a legal marriage. They do not even come close, and I am sure the Senator knows this.
Barack seemed comfortable and open during the portion I saw. Really appreciated the final answer, he'd tell Americans that great sacrifice may be required of our generation, and we should be up to the task, as our parents and grandparents were. Much more appealing to me than "My friends, we should all be rich."
Just by the way: on a very personal level, I really resented McCain's response to the wealth question. He spoke about people who've suddenly lost jobs, insurance, etc, and then said something about giving people hope. No, asshole. I have hope. I want an income and some upward mobility. Which I will continue to work toward, if you and your pals will stop wreaking havoc on the national economic playing field.
I don't like being lectured about rich people being unhappy by a man in $500 shoes while I'm sitting at home wondering about how I'll make enough money to keep paying my mortgage this year.
The CNN heads are going to do "analysis" now. Let's see how big the war hero worship can get.
Yes, we'll have the official debates, but not enough of them. And the moderation may or may not be good.
The format: on the plus side, no "gotchas". Each asked the same question, not playing off one another.
On the downside: no follow-ups. For instance, when McCain talked about torture, he got to say that he was against it. No follow up on his capitulation to the president on this issue.
I was out all day, so missed most of Obama. Saw all of McCain.
Hated the "I don't want to raise taxes" speech. It was based on two false points.
1: The Republican canard that we will all magically get rich together. As my husband says, societies will always have ditch diggers, and this get rich together! fantasy never addresses them.
2: Did you know that the congress committed a few million dollars to some mammal paternity research thing? McCain made a good joke on this line ("I don't know if this was a legal issue"), but the truth, as any economist or budget analyst knows, is that eliminating these little earmarks alone will never solve our budget woes. McCain also knows that he's been as skilled as almost any of them at bringing home the bacon.
Hated the "choice and competition" bit on education. Build public education because it is for the public and the national good. Period.
I really believe that a lot of parents make the choice to keep their kids out of the public school system because they have been told, over and over again, that it won't serve them, and the only solution is home-schooling or vouchers.
Really did not like McCain's response on marriage equality, because saying people of same gender can make "legal arrangements" falsely suggests that these "legal arrangements" offer the same protections as a legal marriage. They do not even come close, and I am sure the Senator knows this.
Barack seemed comfortable and open during the portion I saw. Really appreciated the final answer, he'd tell Americans that great sacrifice may be required of our generation, and we should be up to the task, as our parents and grandparents were. Much more appealing to me than "My friends, we should all be rich."
Just by the way: on a very personal level, I really resented McCain's response to the wealth question. He spoke about people who've suddenly lost jobs, insurance, etc, and then said something about giving people hope. No, asshole. I have hope. I want an income and some upward mobility. Which I will continue to work toward, if you and your pals will stop wreaking havoc on the national economic playing field.
I don't like being lectured about rich people being unhappy by a man in $500 shoes while I'm sitting at home wondering about how I'll make enough money to keep paying my mortgage this year.
The CNN heads are going to do "analysis" now. Let's see how big the war hero worship can get.
Friday, August 15, 2008
Experience, judgement
Salon has a new blog, Open Salon, and I'm becoming enamored of a poster named Leigh, who writes as a deep insider in the DC game. I want to draw attention to his post today.
Which goes back to my earlier (outsider) post on Wisdom. A president must listen, and then exercise sound judgement. According to contemporary accounts, the current president refuses new or more complex information than he has already based his decisions on, and either allows the information received through a very filtered single source (the VP's office) or directs the information be changed or created out of whole cloth to support his ideas (Suskind).
And then there comes the question of exercising judgment. Even in cases where he might have had the best information available, I think we can all agree that his judgments tended to result in either total failure (Katrina), opposite outcomes (democratically elected Hamas officoals in Palestine), or a prolonged mess of one step forward, two steps back (the rebuilding of civil society in Iraq and Afghanistan).
John McCain, despite his "maverick" reputation, has voted with Bush administration goals and proposals 95% of Bush's term. And this week, his response to the situation between Russia and Georgia has sounded painfully like our current president, if even more hawkish. Despite the fact that our recent diplomatic efforts in the region have really painted us into a corner and tied our hands in this conflict.
Should the cold war be heating up again, should we face a power over the next 8 years who's actually armed enough to cause us great harm, I want a JFK on that phone. A deep thinker as well as a pragmatist, who projected good will to the harshest of America's critic, who had some diplomatic credibility as well as the brain power to keep that button from being pushed, in the USSR or here in the states.
We don't truly know how either candidate would lead until the office tests them. But we can look at their tendancies in the time we've known them and make the best decision.
I'm voting for the guy who has demonstrated the ability to listen, to respond, to allow his plans to evolve and change as new information is made available.
In about fifteen years I was a skilled and experienced international lawyer for the US government. And even though it is illegal I learned the lobbying trade at the same time because the Executive Branch lobbies Congress every day. (It's called giving technical advice so as not offend the law.) (Despite eight years as President I'm sure "W" doesn't know that arm-twisting on Capitol Hill is a criminal offense for a government employee. But he lacks lots of experience.)
To the best of my knowledge no American President has interpreted treaties, negotiated in 80 countries, worked the delegates at the UN, seen Robert McNamara nude in the Pentagon swimming pool when he had to be briefed in a big hurry and manipulated Congress at the same time. Short of doing that no President has ever had serious experience in international affairs or national security affairs. People will tell you that Roosevelt was an Assistant Secretary of the Navy. By the time an issue got that high in the Navy Department it was already decided. FDR was not an expert in international affairs and national security until he was close to dying. One of our best Presidents succeeded him with no warning, Harry Truman. HST was a haberdasher in Missouri. When he became Vice President under Roosevelt he was given nothing to do and had no briefings of importance. But he had what Obama has, brains, judgement and personality.
[snip]
I want to mention one other thing. "Traveling Senators". They are set up by the State Department. Their appointments are arranged. The people they meet are pre-selected, they are made to feel important and given leather bound briefing books with all the "right" answers and they are taken shopping. Cocktail parties a plenty. They are duped. Except for a spontaneous greeting like the one Obama got in Berlin. Don't imagine the Bush State department helped set that one up for a Democrat.
[snip]
So where did McCain get his foreign affairs and national security experience? He didn't. He went to the movies. Thousands of witnesses paraded before the dais of his committee and carefully guarded the truth to ensure that McCain didn't know it. Sometimes he was given classified briefing books market Top Secret with a cover sheet bordered in red. But the contents of the briefing book only included information the executive branch wanted him to have. He was duped.
I could go on all day but you get the point. Washington is run, arranged and manipulated by the executive branch to dupe the dupeables. McCain was one of those. That's why he doesn't know the difference between Sunni and Shiite. Its hard to remember all those words when you only read five minutes a day. If he read much more he would have graduated higher than the bottom of his Annapolis Naval Academy class.
Obama has no more (or less experience) than McCain. But there is one big difference. He's smart as a whip (and being President of the Harvard Law Review attests to that. If you have that title in your resume today you can work anywhere in the country you want and fresh out of law school you'll be earning $165,000) and he isn't one of the dupeables. He is a quick learner. McCain thought he'd royally screw up his foreign trip and say the wrong word at the wrong time so he goaded him. Then he had to do everything possible to destroy a man who obviously slid right into the role of a wizened chief of state. When the Russians invaded Georgia McCain attacked viciously and immediately. Obama attacked mildly and cautiously. The experienced foreign policy expert would have done what Obama did. The temperamental foolish dupe would do what McCain did. He didn't even have time for his staff to brief him on the importance of Russia's help in settling that minor atomic bomb crisis in Iran before shooting off his mouth. But Obama was thinking. Always thinking. And Obama is a nice man or he knows how to present himself as a nice man. Either one is better than McCain who acts like a son of a bitch. And the media kisses his ass because he's a maverick.
[snip]
No matter what you hear, Presidents do occasionally get that 3:00 AM phone call. I can just hear Obama saying "Tell me more". I hear McCain saying, "Let's go get those fuckers".
Most of you are too young to have lived through the Cuban Missile Crisis with a President Kennedy and his brother Robert both of whom lacked McCain's so called experience. I am quite confident that if McCain had been President during the Cuban Missile Crisis I would be dead now, along with my wife and children and I can't imagine what the rest of the country would have been like. I am certain that Obama could be trusted to guide us through that nightmare. We really did believe we would all die the next day in a nuclear holocaust. Go back and read if you didn't live through it. But we slept better with a smart, personable man of good judgment than we would be entitled to sleep if John McCain were President.
Which goes back to my earlier (outsider) post on Wisdom. A president must listen, and then exercise sound judgement. According to contemporary accounts, the current president refuses new or more complex information than he has already based his decisions on, and either allows the information received through a very filtered single source (the VP's office) or directs the information be changed or created out of whole cloth to support his ideas (Suskind).
And then there comes the question of exercising judgment. Even in cases where he might have had the best information available, I think we can all agree that his judgments tended to result in either total failure (Katrina), opposite outcomes (democratically elected Hamas officoals in Palestine), or a prolonged mess of one step forward, two steps back (the rebuilding of civil society in Iraq and Afghanistan).
John McCain, despite his "maverick" reputation, has voted with Bush administration goals and proposals 95% of Bush's term. And this week, his response to the situation between Russia and Georgia has sounded painfully like our current president, if even more hawkish. Despite the fact that our recent diplomatic efforts in the region have really painted us into a corner and tied our hands in this conflict.
Should the cold war be heating up again, should we face a power over the next 8 years who's actually armed enough to cause us great harm, I want a JFK on that phone. A deep thinker as well as a pragmatist, who projected good will to the harshest of America's critic, who had some diplomatic credibility as well as the brain power to keep that button from being pushed, in the USSR or here in the states.
We don't truly know how either candidate would lead until the office tests them. But we can look at their tendancies in the time we've known them and make the best decision.
I'm voting for the guy who has demonstrated the ability to listen, to respond, to allow his plans to evolve and change as new information is made available.
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
This just in: we're it
The press and the blogs have been going a bit crazy over this Obama theme. We are the ones we've been waiting for. Or This is the moment. Or any variation thereof.
Messiah complex? No. It's a call to collective work, as one would know if one spent time within a place of liberal religion. It speaks to the entwined natures of freedom and responsibility. As Annie Dillard wrote,
The Right likes to remind us that Martin Luther King and most of the abolitionist movement were religious- yes, they were. But merely using labels like "Christian" or "Religious" doesn't explain the grounding of their movements. These and other progressive movements were inspired not by the death of Jesus or the infallibility of the Bible, but by the understanding that in this world, in this time, the only way society will reflect our deeper values is if we are willing to roll up our sleeves and make it happen.
When Obama speaks of the change we seek, and of this being our moment, he isn't talking in messianic terms. He isn't talking about partisan goals, or end moments, no culmination of anything. He's talking to the deeply felt yearning in each of us to see justice, to live our values, so that others may live. He's talking to the parts of us who've felt left out of the process, helpless, while the big cogs of government turn and our leaders give us answers that don't answer for anything.
He's saying, of course you can do this. You have to.
He's talking about personal responsibility. One wonders why that freaks the republicans out so much, as this has been their (empty) mantra for the last 40 years.
Dick Cheney said that conservation is a personal virtue that has no place in public policy. Barack Obama says that policy has got to broaden if we're going to achieve energy independence, and hey, by the way: are you doing everything you can to help out at your house?
Again, I have no idea why this freaks out the "personal responsibility" people.
And while the policies that will be pursued are, rightly, secular; the call reaches from within a liberal religious perspective, and attempts to speak to everyone, of whatever stripe.
It's not messianic. It's responsibility. So dear press corps and right-wing blogs: please get over your juvenile bullshit.
Messiah complex? No. It's a call to collective work, as one would know if one spent time within a place of liberal religion. It speaks to the entwined natures of freedom and responsibility. As Annie Dillard wrote,
Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord or who shall stand in his holy place? There is no one but us. There is no one to send, nor a clean hand, nor a pure heart on the face of the earth, nor in the earth, but only us, a generation comforting ourselves with the notion that we have come at an awkward time, that our innocent fathers are all dead� as if innocence had ever been�and our children busy and troubled, and we ourselves unfit, not yet ready, having each of us chosen wrongly, made a false start, failed, yielded to impulse and the tangled comfort of pleasures, and grown exhausted, unable to seek the thread, weak and involved. There is no one but us. There never has been.Liberal religion, honoring as it does the dignity and worth of each person, of each mind, calls us to do the necessary work, to see our values given life.
The Right likes to remind us that Martin Luther King and most of the abolitionist movement were religious- yes, they were. But merely using labels like "Christian" or "Religious" doesn't explain the grounding of their movements. These and other progressive movements were inspired not by the death of Jesus or the infallibility of the Bible, but by the understanding that in this world, in this time, the only way society will reflect our deeper values is if we are willing to roll up our sleeves and make it happen.
When Obama speaks of the change we seek, and of this being our moment, he isn't talking in messianic terms. He isn't talking about partisan goals, or end moments, no culmination of anything. He's talking to the deeply felt yearning in each of us to see justice, to live our values, so that others may live. He's talking to the parts of us who've felt left out of the process, helpless, while the big cogs of government turn and our leaders give us answers that don't answer for anything.
He's saying, of course you can do this. You have to.
He's talking about personal responsibility. One wonders why that freaks the republicans out so much, as this has been their (empty) mantra for the last 40 years.
Dick Cheney said that conservation is a personal virtue that has no place in public policy. Barack Obama says that policy has got to broaden if we're going to achieve energy independence, and hey, by the way: are you doing everything you can to help out at your house?
Again, I have no idea why this freaks out the "personal responsibility" people.
And while the policies that will be pursued are, rightly, secular; the call reaches from within a liberal religious perspective, and attempts to speak to everyone, of whatever stripe.
It's not messianic. It's responsibility. So dear press corps and right-wing blogs: please get over your juvenile bullshit.
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Obama and public financing
This outrage over Obama's decision not to take public money for the campaign is stupid. It depends on a superficial review of conditions and positions, and the media has been, as usual, mostly complicit in spreading the "politics as usual" meme.
Look. Obama said he wanted a campaign that was different, that was powered by the people, so to speak. That concentrated on ideas, that was strong enough to communicate ideas to the voters. All of the voters: not just those of us who consider ourselves politically aware (or political addicts).
Look: We have had a primary season that felt unprecedented. It went on for months, without any real force of inevitability, of coronation. I never felt that Rahm Emanuel and Terry McCauliffe were going to pick my candidate for me.
Look: We have a commitment from the DNC that no lobbyist money will be accepted for the campaign. No, of course that doesn't close the door entirely to "power" money, but it makes a huge statement, and does have a huge impact on who is driving this campaign, and who, ultimately, is owed attention.
And look: Obama said that the rise of the 527s was a bad thing, an unpredictable thing, and he wanted no part of it, but he definitely wanted to make sure he had the resources to fight back, should a swift-boat style group arise on the right this summer.
And look: our side's biggest 527 name, MoveOn, immediately shuttered its 527 in response. That is, MoveOn (I'm a member) immediately said, if the Senator doesn't want 527 involvement, we respect that, and we won't do it. Yes, there's still MoveOn PAC, which will raise money and organize action- not a bad thing. But 527 attacks are now off-limits.
What Obama has said is that he wants a change in the national dialogue this season. And he's making it happen.
That's what the public financing thing is about.
And look: I don't want to cannonize the man. I admire him and I was sure from the first time I heard him speak that he would one day be president, and I am sure that he will be a good one.
And I am sure that once he is in the White House, there will be a host of opportunities to hold his feet to the fire. He is a man, not an angel sent to fulfill each of our political prayers.
But he is a change, a fresh breeze, perhaps even an epiphany. Whether he's the right change is something for you to sort out on your own, of course.
Look. Obama said he wanted a campaign that was different, that was powered by the people, so to speak. That concentrated on ideas, that was strong enough to communicate ideas to the voters. All of the voters: not just those of us who consider ourselves politically aware (or political addicts).
Look: We have had a primary season that felt unprecedented. It went on for months, without any real force of inevitability, of coronation. I never felt that Rahm Emanuel and Terry McCauliffe were going to pick my candidate for me.
Look: We have a commitment from the DNC that no lobbyist money will be accepted for the campaign. No, of course that doesn't close the door entirely to "power" money, but it makes a huge statement, and does have a huge impact on who is driving this campaign, and who, ultimately, is owed attention.
And look: Obama said that the rise of the 527s was a bad thing, an unpredictable thing, and he wanted no part of it, but he definitely wanted to make sure he had the resources to fight back, should a swift-boat style group arise on the right this summer.
And look: our side's biggest 527 name, MoveOn, immediately shuttered its 527 in response. That is, MoveOn (I'm a member) immediately said, if the Senator doesn't want 527 involvement, we respect that, and we won't do it. Yes, there's still MoveOn PAC, which will raise money and organize action- not a bad thing. But 527 attacks are now off-limits.
What Obama has said is that he wants a change in the national dialogue this season. And he's making it happen.
That's what the public financing thing is about.
And look: I don't want to cannonize the man. I admire him and I was sure from the first time I heard him speak that he would one day be president, and I am sure that he will be a good one.
And I am sure that once he is in the White House, there will be a host of opportunities to hold his feet to the fire. He is a man, not an angel sent to fulfill each of our political prayers.
But he is a change, a fresh breeze, perhaps even an epiphany. Whether he's the right change is something for you to sort out on your own, of course.
Saturday, June 07, 2008
Party all the time
As we move toward the general election, the Democratic Party has to be the Party of ordinary Americans, not Washington lobbyists and special interests. So, as of this morning, if you're a federal lobbyist, or if you control political action committee donations, we won't be accepting your contribution.
This is an unprecedented move for a political party to make -- one that has sent shockwaves through Washington and has turned the debate on clean campaigns upside down. We've unilaterally agreed to shut lobbyists out of the process, and are we're relying on people just like you.
The last couple of election cycles, I've opted not to give money directly to the party, but to donate to specific candidates and causes. The major reason was that I didn't like the way the party always made what looked like top-down decisions.
Howard Dean has done a lot to change that. He ran a successful 50 state strategy two years ago, and this primary- long as it's been- has depended on voting, rather than coronation.
Dean and Obama are a good match, it seems to me. And I'm really pleased with this policy decision.
So this year, I'll donate to the DNC. I will also donate through John Cole's Act Blue page, because, as I've said before, I love Obama coffers growing through a Pajamas Media site.
Ballons-for-Obama here.
Suck on that, Terry Mcauliffe.
Monday, May 26, 2008
Whoa
So, will all of the candidates and everyone in the current admin denounce and renounce and whateverthehell else you're supposed to do to Fox News?
Friday, April 25, 2008
More armchair activism
I really like Ballon Juice. I really like it because John Cole's a smart guy, a conservative guy, who is a member of the Pajamas Media network, and who realized that his party had gone batshit crazy, and so he left it. Changed his voter registration and keeps writing for PJM, supporting our side now.
He set up an ActBlue page to support Obama, and if you've been considering sending Barrack a few bucks, do it through Balloon Juice, because I like the idea of Blue Money coming through a Pajamas Media site.
Balloons for Obama here.
He set up an ActBlue page to support Obama, and if you've been considering sending Barrack a few bucks, do it through Balloon Juice, because I like the idea of Blue Money coming through a Pajamas Media site.
Balloons for Obama here.
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