Hope isn’t a pipe dream; hope is now the Democratic Presidential Nominee
On June 04, 2008 in Election '08
By: Megan Donovan
Against enormous odds, Barack Obama ebbs that much closer to the Presidency. Putting political wrangling aside for a moment; this is a line, in a chapter of our story that we were all here for. What an unbelievably exhilarating and proud moment.
Last night was extraordinary;
and certainly not lacking political wrangling.
McCain was the first to be heard. His speech, as they usually are, was flaccid and awkward. After watching all the speeches last night, it is nearly impossible to imagine a McCain type of idiom going up against an electrifying powerhouse like Obama.
McCain allows for his baser self in minimizing Obama’s nomination by saying “the pundits” have “declared that Senator Obama will be my opponent“. McCain seems to mirror Clinton’s refusal to acknowledge Obama as the legitimate winner of a hard fought run for the nomination.
Next up is Hillary Clinton who has cocooned her speech in a bunker that blocked out all communication and broadcast devices. Defiantly and over chants of “Denver, Denver!”, Hillary Clinton says “I want the nearly 18 million Americans who voted for me to be respected, to be heard,” - clearly implying that unless she fights a fight that is over, they will not be heard by the Democratic nominee. Her speech, delivered beautifully, was a message to Obama that said what you want, I have. How true that is remains to be seen. The Hillary VP dynamic will be fascinating to watch. As the primary season closed, it was so telling to see side by side snapshots of how both of these groups of supporters have been managed. The mere mention of Obama by Hillary last night gave rise to boos and at least one audible “I won’t vote for Obama“. Obama, having never cultivated a Clinton bashing machine, lauded Clinton again and again to exuberant applause and cheers.
Back to the prospect of Hillary as Obama’s VP. Hillary supporters will be very tough to win over but we have to be forward looking here and ask ourselves - at the end of this general election, will Hillary supporters still be as ready and willing to help put McCain in the office? In a nation completely unwilling to repeat anything Bush’esque, will Clinton’s base really be willing to make that sacrifice? Will her female base really be willing to sign over their right to choice to a President McCain and his overt dedication to constructing a Supreme Court with the desire to overturn Roe -v- Wade? It’s more likely that the picture painted right now will be an entirely different canvas when those Americans have to actually punch the hole next to the name John McCain. If they just can’t force themselves to do that, they have the option of sitting out. Many of them will realize that taking a vote away from Obama is the same as giving one to McCain…and some wont.
This has to be balanced against the danger of a Clinton VP choice. At the top of that list is Obama brand destroyer. Obama supporters trust him. Read that statement again because sincere trust is a powerful thing to attain in today’s political climate. We wouldn’t see a mass exodus from Obama if he made this choice. Brand destruction will be the platform McCain and the RNC gleefully marries themselves to. It has already begun. Last night, just as Obama was clinching the nomination, the RNC posted a video on YouTube of Hillary Clinton’s dreadful mistake in claiming McCain is more suited to serve as president. One minute of video reminding everyone of Clinton’s unambiguous statement, “Senator McCain will bring a lifetime of experience to the campaign, I will bring a lifetime of experience and Senator Obama will bring a speech that he gave in 2002.“ And who can forget, “I think it is imperative that each of us be able to demonstrate we can cross the commander-in-chief threshold. And I believe I have done that. Certainly, Senator McCain has done that. And you will have to ask Senator Obama with respect to his candidacy.” An RNC official tells CNN to expect to see more. “We will use it repeatedly,” the official said. Unfortunately that is only one statement. Hillary Clinton has handed them a wealth of material.
We hear plenty of speculation and pontification on what Hillary Clinton wants. I submit we should immediately stop focusing on what Hillary Clinton wants. Her speech last night was over laden with presumption, ultimatum and dare I say narcissism. Her ego will be well fed by having run a historic campaign. Her insistence that we remain focused on her is tiresome at a time when the Democratic nominee and the party should be singularly focused on our campaign to win the White House.
Tags: Clinton, CNN, democratic nominee, DNC, election 08, general election, headlines, McCain, media, Obama, politics, presidency, primaries, primary season, RNC, white house, YouTube
What do we say?
On May 06, 2008 in Election '08
YES WE CAN
No TagsIn case you were wondering…
On April 30, 2008 in Blogosphere
Although remaining glued to the nomination process and all things political, I have been quite absent from the blog of late. I have missed it terribly but I have been kept busy and away in the best possible way. My daughter gave birth to my first Grandbaby and I cannot remember being this elated or this much in awe over anything. Well…since she came into my life.
Allow me to introduce you to Gavin…
He is absolutely fabulous, isn’t he?
I have plenty to spout off about to anyone who is listening. Maybe I will get on that tomorrow–after his nap–and before the bottle with Grandma bonding moment–and after the playtime on the floor with his favorite yellow, musical thinga-ma-bob–oh and definitely after his fascinated by ceiling fan time, I love watching him when he does that. Yes, tomorrow I think.
No TagsCause and Effect - A Cranky Liberal Rant.
On March 23, 2008 in Election '08
I tried to write this in a polite way, but screw that - aint happening. I’m pissed. I’m angry. I’m downright ready to go kick a Clinton in the crotch (either one - it doesn’t matter). Who the fuck do they think they are? When did it become OK for a candidate (or her horribly disappointing ex-president husband) to question the patriotism of a rival? Who the hell are they to start launching swift-boat attacks against Barack Obama?
Not sure what I mean? Oh well then allow me to enlighten you on how scummy that family is. Only a week or so after Hillary suggests that REPUBLICAN candidate John McCain would make a better Commander in Chief than Senator Obama (way to go Judas!) her husband, her slimy, philandering, piece of crap ex-president of a husband stood in front of a crowd in North Carolina and discussed a General Election night match up between John McCain and his wife (and yes his wife only!) said:
“I think it would be a great thing if we had an election year where you had two people who loved this country and were devoted to the interest of this country,†he said in Charlotte, N.C. “And people could actually ask themselves who is right on these issues, instead of all this other stuff that always seems to intrude itself on our politics.â€
So what are you saying Bill - that if the Democratic front-runner were to face off against John McCain we wouldn’t have two candidates who love this country? Wait that is EXACTLY what you are saying (and no you Hillary apologists out there, you can’t spin it. There is no other way to read that.). You’re saying that because you are know that right now you can play off white America’s sudden fear of Jeremiah Wrights sermons. You know that right now you can reinforce the suddenly shocking idea that Barack Obama is a black man.
You disgust me.
You disgust me because no matter how I read the content of your words, I cannot find a context in which it is not character assassination and race-baiting. It is Roveian in its brilliance. Question a man’s love for his country. Cast doubt on his patriotism. It worked to put a draft-dodging coke-head in the White House over a war hero, so certainly it will work to put a white woman there over a scary black man. Someone call Atticus Finch quick because I think Barack just got Tom Robinsoned.
Looks like Hillary is married to Bob Ewell. And if you don’t get any of those references go read a book. Honestly, if more people did maybe they wouldn’t fall for this shit.
And fall for it they will. The same way they fell for the 29 second clip of Jeremiah Wright screaming about Nagasaki, about Hiroshima and used it to condemn both him and Senator Obama. It doesn’t matter that the clip was classic content without context. It doesn’t matter that the whole clip is an interesting discussion that weaves the bible, Malcolm X and Edward Peck (former U.S. Chief of Mission in Iraq, former deputy director of the White House Task Force on Terrorism under the Reagan Administration and former U.S. Ambassador to a number of countries oh yeah and lily white.) together to remind people that ACTIONS have CONSEQUENCES. Nope that doesn’t matter at all. All that matters is a black man said something BAD about America.
Go grab the rope, it’s time to lynch us a candidate boys.
Personally, I think that any candidate that doesn’t get the idea that our actions have consequences isn’t fit to serve. I think any candidate who doesn’t understand that eventually all chickens come home to roost is too stupid to be president. That isn’t anti-American, it Pro-Common Sense. We’ve had 7+ years of an asshole who doesn’t get Cause and Effect, why are we not embracing a candidate who does?
Oh wait, because a man in a funny outfit and dark skin DARED to question American foreign policy while preaching a sermon. Not the candidate, his pastor, but hey this is America and that’s enough. Especially if your a black man living in the United States. And we wonder WHY Pastor Wright is so indignant about racial injustice?
I’m not accusing the Clinton campaign of releasing the bullshit, sliced and diced video. I’m not saying they are behind the racially motivated character assassination of Senator Obama, but they sure seem to be using it to their advantage. Anything to win seems to be there motto. Anything. No matter how false, despicable or disgusting it is.
Well Hillary, actions do have consequences. Cause does have effect. This just cost you my vote. Democrats better pray she doesn’t win the primary.
No TagsHillary Supporters Piss Me Off - The Cranky Liberal
On February 22, 2008 in Election '08
So my mother is really pissing me off.
Actually let’s broaden than a bit. My mother and other Hillary supporters are really pissing me off these days. Talk about a bunch of sore-losing cry babies. I swear to god it’s like someone stole their freaking binki’s and they are all throwing a hissy fit.
Whaaaaaa - Why is the media mean to Hillary?
Whaaaaaa - Why don’t people like her?
Whaaaaaa - Why don’t people understand what a disadvantage a rich, well educated white woman married to an ex-president is at versus a black man in America?
Whaaaaaa Whaaaaaa Whaaaaaa
I tell you I’m just about sick of their bitching and moaning. Every time I turn on talk radio, I hear some Clinton supporter saying how they just won’t vote for Obama in November. Even my mom said the same thing. What a load of horse-shit that it. Seriously, I’m no fan of Hillary, but if she somehow manages to cry herself into the candidacy then she has my vote. Why? Because I’m a democrat and I support the party. You don’t threaten to take your ball and go home like a bunch of spoiled, over-indulged little brats. Are you all retarded? You would rather have John “100 Years” McCain than a guy who is inline with Hillary on 99% of the issues (oh and who by the way can actually deliver the votes to boot?). What are you from the Lieberman wing of the party or something?
But why should I be surprised that her followers are acting like a bunch of pampered 4 year olds when she isn’t doing any better. Listen Mrs. Clinton knock it off about the plagiarism crap. No one other than you sycophants care about this. No one. It sounds desperate and dirty. Plus it’s just factually wrong. It’s not plagiarism if you friend let’s you use a phrase or two. That’s like saying when your speech writer writes a nice phrase it’s not plagiarism when you stand up in front of the crowd. Do you bother to credit them each time you stand up there? No of course you don’t. Does that mean your stealing their work or misleading us poor gullible Americans? You can’t have it both ways Hillary.
Ah yes but now we hit on the heart of the matter in this failing campaign. Mrs. Clinton seems to want to have it both ways when it suits her. She wants to be her own woman, but she is running on her husband’s experience. She wants her record to carry more weight than Mr. Obama’s, but doesn’t want Senator McCain’s experience to count in the same way (either experience counts or it doesn’t - which is it Hillary, I’m confused). She want’s to be all about “change” while assuring us she knows how to “get things done” in Washington. Last I looked that knowing hot to “get it done in Washington” was the antonym of change. She wants to be liked as a “nice person” and then stoops to petty, inaccurate personal attacks on a fellow Democrat. I think she thinks this is Burger King and she wants this election her way.
We should have expected this though. Honestly, for all of her talk about being battle tested, she’s the real rookie to campaign politics. Yeah her husband went through it, but that’s not the same. SHE has never been tested in a contest before. When she ran for Senator, the one guy who could beat her - Rudy Giuliani got cancer and bowed out. She coasted into off ice on the strength of her husband’s personality and the sympathy garnered by a stained blue dress. She didn’t win - she was ordained. Now that she has to actually go out and fight for votes we are seeing just how thin-skinned and unsavvy she is. Just like her supporters.
Sorry no one is going to hand you this election. You are not entitled to anything. No matter how smart you are, you don’t become President just because of your last name - at least if you’re a Democrat. It just doesn’t work like that. If you don’t like it, go cry to my mommy. She still likes you. Too bad I don’t.
Tags: Clinton, democrat, election 2008, Obama, politics
Coming Out As A Liberal Again
On February 12, 2008 in Politics
By:Â Mike Allen
Mike is a dear friend of mine whose opinions and thoughts I value a great deal. Mike shares thoughts on his journey back to liberalism.Â
It’s time to come out of the political closet and admit that I’m a liberal. I was coaxed into the land of conservatives by Bill Clinton’s overactive libido and the resulting scandal, rising crime rates, the dot.com bust, the fall of the Eastern Bloc, the rise of militant Islam, and 9/11.Â
Reaganomics seemed to work, until you realize that prior to Reagan’s election the USA was the world’s largest creditor and by the end of his term the world’s largest debtor nation. Newt Gingrich and the Republicans’ Contract With America seemed a sincere effort to streamline our national legislature, but while promising term limits and audits of Congress, the contract wasn’t worth the many reams on paper on which it was written, copied and distributed. Good propaganda, but apparently the victim of political expedience and preservation of power.
After 9/11 I, like many of my fellow countrymen and women, felt a strong desire to lash out at someone, anyone, who was even remotely connected to that horrible act. Watching those airliners fly into the Twin Towers, imagining the horror and anguish experienced by those on the planes and in the towers, I seethed with anger and righteous indignation. How DARE they attack us? Like many Americans, and certainly our elected representatives in both houses of Congress, I was ready, willing, and able to send troops into Afghanistan to oust the Taliban and search for the monster Bin Laden. I cheered Bush’s decision to invade Iraq and ensure that Saddam Hussein (So Damn Insane as we used to joke) didn’t develop WMD and possibly detonate a nuclear bomb shipped into New York or other US ports via container ships, spray bubonic plague or nerve gas over large metropolitan areas via airplanes, or whatever other ghastly scenario the talking heads on Fox predicted.
Â
Interestingly, one of the common traits of a fascist government is to create a national crisis, which only the strong and dedicated leadership of the party can address, if only given the power to do so. Can you say US Patriot Act? I knew you could! Veiled in the red white and blue imagery of those early patriots like Sam Adams and Paul Revere did we stop to notice that US PATRIOT was an acronym for Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism? I sure didn’t!! As the ACLU tells us,
“There are significant flaws in the Patriot Act, flaws that threaten your fundamental freedoms by giving the government the power to access your medical records, tax records, information about the books you buy or borrow without probable cause, and the power to break into your home and conduct secret searches without telling you…”
How much freedom did we give up for the false security of US PATRIOT? Is the USA any safer now than it was in 2001?
Another stop on my journey to the left was Bush II’s refusal to recognize that the American people spoke loud and clear in ‘06 that we are tired of the War in Iraq, disgusted with our elected representatives, and ready for serious change. Reichfuhrer Bush and his Vice Chancellor Dick Cheney chose to simply ignore that referendum and continue with the status quo. It is reminiscent of Watergate and Nixon’s hooligan cabinet’s complete disregard of the law in pursuit of continued power.
Hello??? Is anyone in Washington listening??
The final straw that broke my conservative back was viewing Why We Fight, Eugene Jarecki’s expose on the real motivations behind the War in Iraq, namely a secure source of oil (2nd largest reserves in the world, behind Saudi Arabia), a need for munitions, rations, supplies and so forth, benefiting those corporations that manufacture such things, and awareness that in the ‘new army’ support services like food preparation, sanitation and such were now handled by private contractors (can you say Halliburton? I knew you could).
Thinking back again to Watergate and the Nixon presidency, I recall that Nixon - a red hater and McCarthyite from the 1950s - grew so paranoid as a result of the huge anti-war protests in Washington D.C. that he approved the use of surreptitious ‘dirty tricks’ to disrupt the presidential campaigns of the leading Democrats in the 1972 election. Prior to Nixon’s resignation under the specter of impeachment he allowed illegal wire taps (now made legal by US PATRIOT if one is suspected of terrorist sympathies or happens to be from the Middle East), the spread of disinformation, and harassment of candidate’s families and campaign workers by agents of the administration. I recalled my anger and disgust with the revelations of the Watergate scandal and vowed to fight the good liberal fight.Â
It’s been said that as we age we tend to grow more conservative. We become vested in the status quo, we become ’stake holders’ and thus we turn away from liberal thinking. But, the world is changing folks, the conspicuous consumption that drives capitalism made a certain amount of sense when the world was large and resources seemed unlimited. But with resources dwindling and the population booming we should look for new ways of approaching matters of great import. We need fresh perspectives for approaching the multitude of issues facing our country and our world. “We’ve always done it this way,” should be just cause to abandon a particular way of doing things, given the state of the planet, the economy, the national spirit.Â
And so, I return to my liberal roots and listen carefully to the words of Barack Obama as he spreads a message of hope for change. I’ll be listening very carefully.
Tags: 9-11, ACLU, Barack Obama, Bin Laden, Bush, congress, conservative, corruption, democrat, liberal, news, Nixon, politics, President, Reagan, republican, Saddam Hussein, US Patriot Act, voting, war, watergate, White House
What Started With A Whisper
On February 07, 2008 in Call to Action
Black Eyed Peas’ will.i.am music video inspired by Barack Obama’s message of hope.
Celebrity-filled music videos have been used to support many social movements, from famine relief for Africa, to support for American farmers, to opposition to apartheid in South Africa.
But rarely have celebrities and musicians banded together to create new music in the heat of a presidential campaign.
The Black Eyed Peas’ frontman, songwriter and producer known as will.i.am, along with director and filmmaker Jesse Dylan, son of another socially active musician, Bob Dylan, released a new song Friday that attempts to do just that.
Tags: Barack Obama, Black Eyed Peas, Bob Dylan, inspiration, presidency, video, will.i.am, yes we can