compared to what

Thanks for Reading. Goodbye.

2009-05-01T17:28:00.002-04:00

I started this blog in January 2008 as a forum for my thoughts, mainly those relating to politics, and it soon evolved into a journal about the 2008 presidential election. Since the election in November, not only have I had little to say about politics, but I've become increasingly disengaged politically. I'm burnt out on politics. I'm much more focused on love, on beauty, on being happy right now.

So I'm signing off here for the last time. Thank you if you've spent any time here at all. I hope my words weren't a complete waste of your time.

Obama and the Weeds of Cynicism

2009-03-22T14:44:00.008-04:00

I am teaching about World War II right now and thus I’m meditating quite a bit on war generally. It’s quite apparent that war is merely a bubbling over of tensions that exist in society generally. We have a society that is still fundamentally based on greed and violence. Human beings are not given equal opportunity anywhere in the world. Not even close. There is a distinct minority of people who control most of the world’s resources, and thus in their hands, the fate of our society. The current economic crisis has exposed this problem. It will continue to in increasingly dramatic fashion.

The very basis of the American economy is conspicuous consumption. Once people stop conspicuously consuming, we are told that we need to start spending more, that we need to consume, even if it's with money that we do not have,or else no one will have a job. No one has any use to society in that instance according to capitalist values. Your value in a capitalist system is your labor, and if people aren’t buying shit, no one will need your labor. Unless, of course we all worked fewer hours. That's a topic for another day.

Why does a small percentage of humanity control so many resources? Why do we allow this situation to persist? The core belief is that our society is a meritocracy- that people are rich because they have earned that money.

By earning, I don’t mean the way that most of us earn- in the sense that if you or I don’t go to work tomorrow, we get fired. Earning is surviving. That doesn’t apply to people with wealth. They can just give their money to a big investment firm like Bear Sterns (whoops!) or AIG (yikes!) and make a fortune, right?

The foundation of this economic crisis is greed. A relatively small number of people wanted to get a big, fat piece of the cake and they sold the average worker down the river. The huge irony of it, of course, is that now they’re coming back to the average worker and stealing even more money because for them to fail would create an economic cataclysm.

Here’s the thing: the banks have already failed. When a bank needs the kind of money that Citi ($50 billion) or Bank of America ($45 billion) have received from the federal government, they’ve failed. There’s no private investor that’s going to step in and invest anything in those institutions. With investment clout comes control. We’re all getting fucked right now and it’s one of the most disappointing things that I have encountered in my life.

The Geithner plan, if Paul Krugman is correct in his assessment, is revolting. We, the American people, are buying a cool trillion dollars of toxic assets from banks that fucked up. We are saving the banks. How about we just save people. We could put a very adequate social safety net in place with the money we are handing to the banks.

I suppose it's true that what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.

This is not Change We Can Believe In. It’s not acceptable for the administration to take this tack. Obama needs to get rid of Geithner and Summers immediately, and get someone in there who is not looking at this situation through the skewed prism of Wall Street. Geithner, although he has not worked in the private sector, has learned from people in the private sector. He's drunk on their Kool-Aid. Summers is one of the Kool-Aid stirrers. For Obama to entrust his economic policy to those two is a huge mistake, and I'm hoping that he fixes it sooner rather than later.

The truth is that this is a moment when we get to see what the change we worked so hard for is going to amount to. My intuition right now is not telling me good things.

This Is Why I Am Not Catholic

2009-03-18T07:42:00.008-04:00

I was baptized Catholic. I took my first Communion. And that was pretty much it. I decided at some point around 12 years-old or so that I wasn't buying what the Church was selling. Christianity in general never really spoke to me, but Catholicism in particular was just so damn solemn.

I feel that I made the right decision in leaving those closeted homosexual pederasts behind, and this story serves to confirm it. The pope, you see, does not believe that the distribution of condoms is an appropriate answer to the spread of AIDS in Africa. His solution? "A responsible and moral attitude toward sex." In other words, the Catholic Church's attitude towards sex, which of course means that sex must take place within the context of marriage and for the purpose of procreation. No fun for you, lowly sinner.

The fact is that the Catholic Church does not care about people suffering and dying from AIDS in Africa. The Catholic Church simply wants to impose its dogma, which is really nothing more than institutionalized insanity. There is nothing intellectually serious about telling Africans to adopt a responsible and moral attitude toward sex. Those are the words of a man who has been ensconced in his bubble for so long that he no longer can logically and critically examine social dilemmas. The Catholic Church is obsolete. It, and its followers, have become nothing more than relics.

Leave It Up to Cheney to Get Me Pissed.

2009-03-15T20:44:00.003-04:00

Leave it up to The Prince of Darkness himself to stir up that righteous indignation that had been slumbering for so long.

So Tricky Dick Cheney, quite possibly the worst criminal who has ever occupied any executive-level position in the history of the United States, claims that President Obama's decisions to close Guantanamo, ban waterboarding, and figure out ways to prosecute terror suspects under some semblance of due process makes us all less safe. Not particularly surprising. What's more outrageous to me is that he feels the need to continue to assert that torturing suspects and denying them habeas corpus was done legally and "in accordance with our constitutional practices and principles." This is a guy who believes that the President of the United States is essentially a king, mind you.

And while you were busy watching the economy continue to melt down from Bush-Cheney economic policies, a democracy has evidently broken out in Iraq:

We’ve accomplished nearly everything we set out to do,” he said about Iraq. “Now, I don’t hear much talk about that, but the fact is, the violence level is down 90 percent. The number of casualties and Iraqis and Americans is significantly diminished. There’s been elections, a constitution. They’re about to have another presidential election here in the near future.

We have succeeded in creating in the heart of the Middle East a democratically governed Iraq, and that is a big deal, and it is, in fact, what we set out to do.

Ah, there go the WMDs down the memory hole. Getting rid of those (non-existent) weapons was actually what they originally set out to do.

And while violence has been down recently, anyone who looks seriously at the situation makes certain to comment on the fragility of this peace. It must also be acknowledged that tens of thousands (at least) of Iraqi civilians were killed as a result of the US invasion, and over 5 million refugees were created. Over four thousand soldiers have died, and tens of thousands have been maimed. We will have spent over $3 trillion on the Iraq disaster when all is said and done. The original cost estimate of the war: $60 billion.

Maybe it was just a coincidence that a couple of oil men sent the US military into what happens to be the most oil-rich region on the planet. Or perhaps it was the biggest con ever perpetuated against the American people. If we put Tricky Dick through a simulated drowning, maybe we could get some good, sound intelligence on that.

My Slumbering Indignation

2009-03-14T11:48:00.003-04:00

I haven't had a whole lot to say on this blog lately, and I just now realized precisely why: a complete lack of outrage and righteous indignation. While I don't agree 100% with everything the Obama Administration is doing, it's just hard to get fired up when our Democratic political leaders are doing a reasonably good job and Republicans continue to make total asses of themselves. I am thankful for the fact that I don't have anything to say here. It's a sign that we're finally on the right track.

While Republicans are bitching and complaining that President Obama's stimulus package is going to bankrupt the United States, the $1.2 trillion deficit projected for 2010 is only about 9% of a GDP of $13 trillion (a rough estimate of where that figure might end up). While that's a historically high number, it seems totally appropriate during a pronounced economic downturn for the federal government to step in to increase the level of spending in the economy. Voters endorsed this view on November 4. Real Clear Politics shows a 60% average approval rating for President Obama. The Democrats in Congress have a 43% approval rating, which looks bad until you see that congressional Republicans come in at 16%. The Democratic and Republican parties generally are at 55% and 29%, respectively.

And meanwhile, delusional conservatives like Fred Barnes are predicting that Democrats will lose seats in both the House and Senate in 2010. Seriously? That doesn't provoke outrage or righteous indignation. That just provokes me into laughing my ass off.

Celebrating the Economic Crisis

2009-03-09T19:01:00.003-04:00

In my readings over the past few days, I have repeatedly encountered the theme of the economic crisis as a good thing, as it is forcing people to reconsider the wisdom of an economic system built upon the absurd premise of unlimited growth. Thomas Friedman at the New York Times, and more obscure pieces at Yes! Magazine and Tikkun demonstrate the reasons that the current economic downturn provides the fertile ground needed for creating a new economic culture- one that serves both humanity and the ecosystems on which we depend for survival.

Socialism: As American as Apple Pie.

2009-03-01T19:40:00.003-05:00

While Republicans have resorted to labeling President Obama's budget "socialist," once again falling back on the fear-mongering that they depend on when they can't debate issues on their merits, what they don't seem to recognize is that America has embraced socialist initiatives for quite some time.

I would bet that most Americans like being able to dial 911 and have a government-paid police officer, paramedic, or firefighter show up at their door. Those Americans are socialists. Most Americans like the idea of having public schools. Those people are also socialists. Do you like laws that protect the quality of the air you breathe and the water you drink? You too, are in fact socialist.

One might object that the above are obvious examples of public goods, which are simply not provided efficiently by a market economy. I would respond with another question: what is being provided efficiently by the market right now? The market has failed us miserably. For the government to step in and to help people who have been absolutely screwed by predatory lenders, corrupt and/or moronic investment brokers, and most importantly, our American system of overproduce and overconsume, is not only appropriate, but is why people elected Barack Obama on November 4 instead of John McCain. Nothing Obama announced in his budget or in his address on Tuesday night is a surprise. A politician following through on campaign promises is a surprise, however, and a quite pleasant one at that.

Republicans don't realize who they're dealing with in Obama- he is going to destroy the remnants of their party over the course of the next eight years, which in the long run will actually be a good thing for them, because he will force them to enter the 21st century.

Wow.

2009-02-25T19:59:00.003-05:00

President Obama demonstrated last night why liberal Americans have a lot to be optimistic about right now, while Republicans should be shitting themselves. Obama is one of the most gifted politicians America has ever seen, and he knows that he's got a chance to put his stamp on history. He clearly sees a 21st century New Deal on the horizon. Last night's speech was the most unabashedly liberal I have ever seen Obama- and he did it in a brash, confident, almost defiant fashion, as if to say to Republicans, 'let's see you stop this locomotive.'

And who did the Republicans put in front of that locomotive but Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, the latest supposed savior for the Republican Party, for no apparent reason other than the fact that he's not white. "Like Obama, my parents came from far-off lands!" This is how desperate, and absolutely stupid, the GOP is right now- they're a party of old white guys, so they put Michael Steele in charge of the national party and put Jindal on prime time TV. And they're both blathering idiots. Steele was on "This Week" a few weeks ago and claimed that government jobs aren't real jobs, because they're temporary. I suppose they don't pay real money to pay mortgages on real houses, or put real food on the table, either. And then we had Jindal last night, who kept going back to an asinine "Americans can do anything!" refrain, while insinuating that monitoring volcanoes for impending eruption was an example of wasteful government spending. I'm sure he feels the National Weather Service is wasteful as well.

It's going to be hilarious over the next eight years to watch Republicans express their righteous indignation over the "socialism" that the Obama Administration and the Democratic Congress are enacting, while they reminisce over the days of the Contract With America. Last night represented yet another nail in the coffin of the modern Republican Party. They won't recognize that they're dead, though, until they're buried in the ground. In the meantime, I will immensely enjoy watching them dig their own grave.

I Might Be Wrong

2009-02-16T12:04:00.002-05:00

Well, I suppose my previous post exposed me as the fraud that I am. The stimulus bill got passed, in a form not overly divergent from the original version the Obama Administration wanted. Democrats came out of the process in good shape, as they appear to be the party that is at least attempting to take action on behalf of people who are getting slammed by the effects of this economic crisis. Republicans, on the other hand, look out of touch, obstinate, and intellectually bankrupt.

If you're interested in seeing a breakdown of where all that money is going, here is a good visual from the Washington Post that looks at the bill as it existed before the Senate and the conference committee got done with it. There are certain aspects of the bill that would not seem to provide much of a short-term benefit to the economy, such as the $3 billion that's going to "state and local law enforcement assistance," or Pell grants for college students. Education programs will certainly have a positive benefit in the long run, but their short term benefits are questionable. Overall, though, there's plenty of spending in the bill that should bring relief to millions of people and get some money flowing through the economy again, both of which would seem to be good things.

The Democrats: Fucking It Up Royally.

2009-02-09T16:59:00.004-05:00

So, let me get this straight:

The Democrats win the presidency and large majorities in both houses of Congress, swept into power by an electorate that clearly prefers the Democratic approach to economic recovery over that of the Republicans, i.e. more of the same trickle-down policy that helped to lead us into the downturn we're currently facing.

And despite this, the Democrats are the ones on the defensive?

This is not rocket science. Whoever is doing political strategy right now for the Democrats should be shot. The theme should be something as follows: "The Republican Party is the obstacle to change. They have no ideas of their own, so they have decided to become the party of 'no.' They want to continue the same Bush Administration policies that led us into this economic crisis to begin with. The Republicans are ignoring the will of the American people, who spoke loud and clear on November 4. We will not compromise on legislation that will help ease the impact of this economic crisis. We will not allow the Republicans to obstruct meaningful progress for the American people."

If every Democrat, from Obama to Reid to Pelosi on down the line repeated this type of attack, the Republicans would scurry like cockroaches when the lights get turned on. They are devoid of ideas, and they are reverting back to their old standby: the "Tax-and-Spend Democrat" attack.

This was entirely predictable. And yet the Democrats seem to be either unable or unwilling to refute it. The charade that's going on in Washington right now is repugnant, and a perfect example of the type of bullshit that's made most Americans so cynical about politics.

There have been a couple of really good pieces in the New York Times in the past couple of days, one by Frank Rich, and the other by Paul Krugman. They provide an excellent diagnosis of what the Democrats have done wrong in the first weeks of the Obama Administration. If they are interested at all in maintaining the momentum that they've built in the last two elections, they need to grow some backbone, stand up for some core principles, and be willing to attack when necessary. As Krugman makes clear, Obama wasn't elected to serve some vague notion of bipartisanship. He was elected to serve the American people. He would be wise to abandon his aspirations towards the former, and devote his full energies to the latter.

The Intellectual Dishonesty of the Right

2009-01-31T11:09:00.002-05:00

My dad occasionally sends me right-wing propaganda to provoke me into a response. He sent me this yesterday, and I sent him this in response:

The country made it through the Great Depression. It will make it through this.

Decrying the "magnitude" of the stimulus is ridiculous; if anything, the stimulus is too small. It's only worth roughly 6% of GDP. Comparing a stimulus bill to other nations' economies is meaningless. It has to be viewed in the context of the United States' economy, and being that the U.S. economy is huge, government spending is going to have to be pretty significant if it's going to be effective in getting money flowing through the system again.

So what if the stimulus is larger than defense spending? Defense spending in this country is out-of-control. The national debt began to explode in the 1980s when Reagan decided to cut taxes and proceed to borrow hundreds of billions of dollars for the military to "defeat" a Soviet Union that was already disintegrating by the time he came into office. Defense spending is the number one cause of the absurd fiscal state of our federal government.

In addition, the figure of $100K per worker is just total nonsense. The stimulus is not only about creating jobs; it's about raising wages for people who already have jobs as well. The per-capita tax burden figure of $10,700 is quite deceptive as well, because tax burden is not allocated on a per-capita basis. We have a progressive tax system in this country, as I'm sure you are quite aware of, not to mention unhappy about.

The article refers to the stimulus as an "experiment" in "activist" government. There's nothing experimental about it. It's basic Keynesian economics. I is disgusting that this country can spend trillions of dollars in far-off lands that just so happen to sit atop large reserves of oil "liberating" people who don't want to be liberated, but we can't take care of our own folks who are hurting.

The guy who wrote this article, Richard Ebeling, is a libertarian . Of course he's going to be opposed to government spending. He worships at the altar of the Free Market, which is actually less accountable to the people than government is. The government is ours. We own it. President Obama and the Democrats in Congress got elected because we the people wanted someone to do something about the economy. Well, they're doing it. And people like Ebeling are going to be pushed progressively further into the wilderness over the next few years, because their ideas are obselete. We're living in a period of transition. That always involves some pain. We're going to come out the other end of this alright, even if the country doesn't look too much like it did before, which could actually be a very good thing.

This is What Political Suicide Looks Like

2009-01-29T15:45:00.002-05:00

What I'm about to say has been said already by various observers, but I simply can't contain my astonishment at what happened yesterday in the House. It's mindblowing to me that not a single Republican backed the stimulus bill. Not a one.

The Republicans of this young Congress are pulling the political equivalent of a rope-a-dope, hoping, praying that the Democrats will overplay their hand, institute typical Democratic "big government" programs that will inevitably demonstrate the inefficiency and waste associated with any large-scale bureaucratic endeavor.

The problem for them is that the political climate in the country is not in their favor. Barack Obama got elected just over two months ago in a landslide; Democrats in Congress did extremely well themselves. If Republicans think that the Democratic tidalwave that swept the nation over the course of the past two years is going to abate any time soon, they are delusional.

While the Democrats' stimulus bill may very well not stimulate much of anything, Republicans will not be able to claim in 2010 that Democratic policies are the problem. Democratic policies did not create the economic situation the country is in; Republican policies did. While Americans have very short memories, they aren't that short.

Republicans are arguing right now for a continuation of Bush economics- the very same economics that put us in the hole we're in. A bill that included $275 billion in tax cuts, over a third of the $819 billion allocated, was not acceptable to Republicans. Why? It aids illegal immigrants! It will give money to ACORN! It includes money for (gasp!) condoms!

So the Republicans get their asses handed to them on November 4, and proceed to rebuild their party by...fearmongering? This is the best they can do?

Rank-and-file Democrats have already started to call for nixing the business tax cuts included in the stimulus bill, and they're correct to do so. For all of President Obama's calls for bipartisanship, his responsibility, and the congressional Democrats' responsibility, is to the American people, not to some absurd notion of bipartisanship. If Republicans are going to stand in the way of creating solutions to this economic crisis, they need to be cut out. They need to be portrayed as the obstructionists that they are. As of right now, Republicans are the party of 'no.' That position will only drive them further into the political wilderness.

For the Obama Lover in Your Life

2009-01-21T21:53:00.002-05:00

Ladies and...ladies, the Obama dildo:

Without a doubt, this is one of the weirdest things I have ever seen.

Obama's Inaugural Speech

2009-01-21T10:33:00.002-05:00

Given his reputation for being one of the most skilled wordsmiths in American politics, President Obama faced extraordinary expectations for his inaugural address yesterday. He met those expectations brilliantly. He gave a classic speech, one that served to remind Americans of the ideals and values that lie at the core of our identity as Americans. He made it clear that while the government he leads will do its part to address the struggles we face, the actions of working Americans from all walks of life will be the main determinant in how we emerge from our current set of crises.

This passage conveys one of the key themes of his speech, that of personal responsibility and the need for every American to do their part to lift the nation out of its doldrums:

In reaffirming the greatness of our nation, we understand that greatness is never a given. It must be earned. Our journey has never been one of shortcuts or settling for less. It has not been the path for the faint-hearted — for those who prefer leisure over work, or seek only the pleasures of riches and fame. Rather, it has been the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things — some celebrated but more often men and women obscure in their labor, who have carried us up the long, rugged path towards prosperity and freedom.

President Obama referred in a different part of the speech of the need to "set aside childish things," that "our time of standing pat, of protecting narrow interests and putting off unpleasant decisions — that time has surely passed." This implicitly lays out quite an ambitious goal: to move the United States from being a selfish, gluttonous, short-sighted nation to being a more generous, prudent, wise one. President Obama sees his position as a bully pulpit from which to encourage Americans to live in a more mindful, compassionate, intelligent way. While four or eight years is clearly not enough time to accomplish such a gargantuan task, any success he has in this respect will be immeasurably important to the long-term well-being of our country.

On a more pragmatic level, President Obama declared an end to the Reagan-era philosophy of 'government is the problem' when he said that "the question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works." One of the primary lessons that Americans will take from the Dubya years is that they have little tolerance for incompetent government. There are certain roles that the government must play if society is to function in the way we expect it to. Regulation of financial markets, for example, or providing timely and adequate assistance in the event of an emergency. The Obama Administration, if it does its job they way that I expect it to, will put the final nail in the coffin of the right's anti-government crusade.

Obama also drew a line in the sand regarding the pursuit of terrorists: "as for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals." In one of his first actions as president, Obama issued an order to suspend all terror-related prosecutions until May 20 so that his administration can review procedures for trying terror detainees as well as the specifics of individual cases. This morning, a military judge granted a delay in the trial of Canadian citizen Omar Khadr in response to this order, the first in what should be a flurry of such decisions. A return to the rule of law and due process will be one of the most pronounced breaks between the administrations of Bush and Obama.

Barack Obama's first speech as president stayed true to his tendency to speak of big ideas rather than policy specifics. He knows that the inaugural address presents an opportunity to remind Americans of who we are, and more importantly, who we aspire to be. He accomplished that with grace and style, and conveyed a sense that if we all do our part, it will once again be morning in America.

A New Beginning

2009-01-20T07:00:00.004-05:00

This is the first time that a president I worked to help get elected will be sworn in. It's so surreal, thinking back to the day that Barack Obama announced his candidacy and imagining what it would be like if he actually won. Almost an entire year passed between Obama's announcement and the Iowa caucuses. When he won Iowa, the possibility of a President Obama became real. New Hampshire presented a small setback. I volunteered in South Carolina on the day of that state's primary, and the joy of being part of a landslide victory cemented my commitment to helping Obama win not just the Democratic primary, but the general election as well. I gave money that I didn't have. I knocked on doors, made phone calls, and trained other volunteers. I even went to NASCAR and drag races to try to find supporters. By the time November rolled around, I was more than ready for the campaign season to be over. I was burnt-out. When Obama passed 270 electoral college votes the night of November 4, though, I can say with some certainty that it was the single happiest moment of my life. I jumped up and down, I yelled at the top of my lungs, and I cried. Anyone who did anything at all to help Obama win was part of history that night.

And so we're all part of history today. Inauguration Day is a symbol of renewal, and rarely has there been an inauguration as filled with hope and optimism as this one. This speaks to the greatness of Barack Obama: at a time of such great challenges, he inspires pride and confidence, and reminds us all that if we are going to make it through these difficult times, we will have to do it together, that we will all have to contribute to the task at hand. He's exactly the right person for the job, and I'm proud that in less than five hours, he's going to be President of the United States.

A Happy MLK Day

2009-01-19T00:56:00.006-05:00

What a day to be celebrating Martin Luther King Jr. Day- one day before the inauguration of our first black president. MLK Day for me is a time to reflect on what I've done in the course of the past year to work to better my community and society, and to commit to myself to do more in the coming year.

As I get older my awareness of just how short this life actually is becomes more acute. The urgency of working to create a better world becomes more pronounced.

This is a hopeful day. We have leadership at the highest levels of the federal government dedicated to working for justice and equality. The amount of progress that's possible in the next four to eight years is exhilarating to consider.

There are service projects going on all over the United States today, many of them coordinated by the same organizers who helped lift Barack Obama to the White House. You can go to www.usaservice.org to get involved.

The Potential of Barack Obama

2009-01-17T17:35:00.004-05:00

I felt awe listening to President-elect Obama's speech in Baltimore today. I'm dumbfounded by the fact that this man is going to be our president in a matter of days. It's a completely strange experience for me.

This is a great quote:

"While our problems may be new, what is required to overcome them is not," said the president-elect. "What is required is the same perseverance and idealism that our founders displayed. What is required is a new declaration of independence, not just in our nation, but in our own lives - from ideology and small thinking, prejudice and bigotry - an appeal not to our easy instincts but to our better angels."

That's poetic. He understands the American myth better than any modern politician, by a long shot. He possesses a masterful command of the ideals that lie at the core of what we strive to be as Americans. He speaks of post-partisanship not in a hypocritical, partisan way but in the way of saying: this government belongs to you, you get to decide what sort of country you want to live in. This quote was equally great:

Starting now, let's take up in our own lives the work of perfecting our union.
Let's build a government that is responsible to the people, and accept our own responsibilities as citizens to hold our government accountable.
Let's all of us do our part to rebuild this country.
Let's make sure this election is not the end of what we do to change America, but the beginning.
Join me in this effort. Join one another in this effort. And together, mindful of our proud history, hopeful for the future, let's seek a better world in our time.

He is actively encouraging people to take ownership of their government. That is a radical departure from the way that politics has been played for my entire adult life. What's ironic is that while conservatives may complain about Obama being a "machine politician" since he's from Chicago (seriously: this is the best that the right of 2009 can come up with), he's practically the polar opposite of a machine politician. While machine politics is all about the concentration of power, Obama is pushing for the dispersal of power.

As I said in my earlier post of the day, the way that Americans respond to this charge from Obama will be a key subtext of his presidency. He will do a good job regardless, but he is the first politician to actually create the possibility of meaningful change, because he's saying 'if you want to live in a fairer society, you need to create it. The government can help facilitate that, but you have to do your part, both individually and to hold the government accountable.' That's the essence of representative democracy.

Obama's announcement of Organizing for America today is yet another sign of the change this man is bringing to American politics. He's essentially taking this campaign organization and encouraging people to stay engaged in the process of shaping their government and holding it accountable.

What Obama has done here is genius. He's exposing the core of the Republicans' Big Lie: that government is separate from rather than an extention of the will of the people. There's a bit of the Constitutional law professor in Obama coming out there, I think, because it's really an idea that lies at the heart of the Constitution, and Obama loves him some Constitution. That's part of the myth, though. That all men are created equal. That we have a right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. He actually believes that. And he's asking us: do we?

The U.S. Congress: A Crumbled Pillar of a Broken System

2009-01-17T09:28:00.004-05:00

As I suggested yesterday, the U.S. Congress bears a good deal of the blame for the debacle of the Bush presidency. While the Founders clearly intended for the Congress to be, at the very least, coequal to the president, the modern Congress has willfully ceded power to the president in what amounts to a treacherous betrayal of the American people. While members of Congress pledge in their oath of office to support and defend the Constitution of the United States, they have, in fact, been complicit in its dismantling. While this problem has existed for far more than the past eight years, the presidency of George W. Bush presents an excellent case study in just how far our Constitutional system of checks and balances has declined.

It is notable that the House of Representatives is the only institution in the original Constitution directly elected by the people. It is the direct guardian of citizens' rights. In the Constitutional Convention of 1787, Roger Sherman of Connecticut remarked that the executive should be "nothing more than an institution for carrying the will of the Legislature into effect." While James Madison and others disagreed adamantly with this assertion, the final document that came out of Philadelphia gave Congress a clear advantage: it alone had the positive ability to create new laws. The executive, on the other hand, had only the negative power of the veto. In addition, the Constitution grants the Congress the power to declare war; in the Constitutional debates, delegates referred to the importance of the president having the power to "repel" sudden attacks against the United States. Clearly, however, the power to "make" (later changed to "declare") war was reserved to the Congress.

How has this worked out for the past eight years? Beginning with the government's response to the 9/11 attacks, to the invasion and occupation of Iraq, and finally to the Bush Administration's policies regarding the detention and interrogation of terrorism suspects as well as its wiretapping programs, we can see a woefully impotent legislative branch essentially stepping aside and allowing the president to pursue seemingly illegal policies with no concern whatsoever of being held accountable.

Following the 9/11 attacks, the infamous USA Patriot Act, a piece of legislation written by the Bush Administration, passed through the House 357-66. It cleared the Senate 98-1, the only opponent being Senator Russ Feingold of Wisconsin. The Patriot Act ended up laying the legal foundation for much of the Bush Administration's constitutionally questionable activities over the next several years. How did this happen? Representative John Conyers famously explained to Michael Moore in Farenheit 9/11 that "we don't read most of the bills we pass," hardly a comforting statement to anyone concerned about the overreach of government power. So what's the basis for voting yay or nay if it's not the content of the bill? In this case, the fear of being labeled unpatriotic played a central role, for what else could you be if you vote against the Patriot Act?

This same reptilian decision-making process seemed to apply one year later with the Iraq War Resolution, although there were significantly more Democrats who opposed this compared with the Patriot Act. Nonetheless, a bill granting the president a blank check to send our soldiers to war passed the House 297-133 and got through the Senate 77-23. Democrats voting for the bill included Senators Biden, Clinton, and Daschle, all of whom will play a prominent role in the incoming Obama administration. Senate majority leader Harry Reid, the losing presidential team of Kerry/Edwards, and Democratic Senate Campaign Committee chairman Chuck Schumer voted 'yay' on the resolution as well.

Of course, once the shit hit the fan in Iraq, these Democrats proceeded to decry the clusterfuck that President Bush had gotten us into. They went so far as to threaten to cut off funds for the occupation of Iraq, a threat emptier than the U.S. Treasury. Nevertheless, Clinton, Edwards, and Biden all took to the campaign trail in the 2008 presidential election decrying the debacle of Iraq despite being complicit in its occurring in the first place. Now, as Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton will have the responsibility of helping to undo the damage done to our diplomatic relations with the rest of the world as a result of Iraq. In this she is merely reaping what she helped to sow.

Meanwhile, since Democratic majorities came to power in 2006, much has been made of the Bush Administration's policies regarding torture and surveillance. Once again, the Democrats had a lot of hot air to offer, but little else. If violating the Constitution, domestic and international law does not warrant impeachment, what does? Of course, Democrats never seriously considered impeachment. A matter of days after the Democrats regained majorities in the House and Senate in the 2006 midterms, Nancy Pelosi took impeachment "off the table," apparently feeling that the political fallout from such an action would make those Democratic majorities short-lived. This very well may have been the case, but when Congress does not fulfill its responsibility to adequately oversee the executive branch, we veer towards dictatorship.

Part of me feels that this is alarmist, that the United States is not a dictatorship, as evidenced by the fact that Barack Obama is going to be inaugurated as the 44th President of the United States on Tuesday. While this is true, the Bush presidency exposed a pronounced lack of checks on executive power that should concern any engaged American citizen. The lack of engaged American citizens is at the very root of the problem, of course, and until citizens begin holding congressional representatives accountable, we can expect the situation to grow more dire with time. Fortunately, Barack Obama seems genuinely interested in increasing citizen participation in government. I think he'll attempt to utilize the resources of the federal government to strengthen democratic (with a small 'd') institutions; how we answer that call will be a crucial subtext to his presidency.

This Is The End...

2009-01-16T20:11:00.003-05:00

While George W. Bush will officially be president until noon on Tuesday, his presidency for all intents and purposes is over. We survived. Sure, he fucked up the government. He fucked up the economy. He fucked up countless soldiers and poor people and kids without health insurance and senior citizens and endangered species. He can't get all the credit, though. He had plenty of help from Congress, especially for the first six years of his presidency. That's a story that has more relevance for the future than all of the Bush Administration's incompetence, recklessness, and ideological extremism combined. I'll address that at a later time. Now, though, it's time to celebrate the end of the reign of King George. Cheers.

Israel Bombs United Nations Complex in Gaza; Blames Hamas

2009-01-15T09:26:00.004-05:00

The Israeli military bombed the headquarters of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency on Thursday, a move that Israeli defense minister Ehud Barak said was the fault of Hamas. "The UN has been in league with Hamas for decades," said Barak. "It's no coincidence that both Hamas and the Relief and Works Agency work to supply Palestinians with their basic human needs; to my mind, this clearly indicates that the Relief and Works Agency is a terrorist organization. They got what was coming to them."

Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert answered claims of the Israeli Defense Forces using disproportionate force in Gaza. "While it's true that we have killed over 1,000 Palestinians and injured over 4,000 in this campaign, we have lost 13 Israelis. Since 1 Israeli life is worth approximately 92.5 Palestinians lives, we feel that our approach has been perfectly legitimate."

When asked for comment, an anonymous Hamas fighter responded, "God is great! Death to Israel!" before throwing a rock at an Israeli tank.

The Return

2009-01-14T10:23:00.002-05:00

After a couple of months away from this here digital publication, I am refreshed and ready to pontificate to you, my miniscule readership.

The situation in Gaza has reignited my sense of righteous indignation. I believe that Israel has a right to exist; I believe that it has a responsibility to defend itself against attack. However, the means that it is utilizing to defend itself exposes the Israeli government's complete lack of consideration for the civilian population of Gaza. Aerial bombardment of a densely populated area inevitably ends in unnecessary civilian casualties. For Israel to claim that Hamas is using civilians as "human shields" while dispersing white phosphorus in densely populated areas robs them of all credibility. What the Israeli government is doing right now is morally abominable, and their actions are made even more repulsive by the fact that they are one of the most persecuted minority groups in the history of the world. They have now become the persecutors.

This is not to say that Hamas has no responsibility for the conflict. Firing rockets into Israel is an absurdly stupid way to pursue their stated goal, the elimination of the state of Israel. They've fired over 8,000 rockets into Israel over the course of the past five years. Number of casualties: less than 30. At what point does Hamas recognize that 1) Israel is going to exist; and 2) deliberately targeting civilians only intensifies the oppression that they are so passionately fighting against? If Palestinians want their own state, they have to recognize the counterproductivity of terrorism, and collectively work to stop it. Gandhi and King understood the importance of nonviolent resistance in drawing a contrast between oppressor and oppressed, in building public sympathy with and support for a social movement. A significant amount of the moral ambiguity of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is caused by the Palestinians' use of terrorism; they must recognize this and adopt a more patient, longer-term apporach in assuring a future for the Palestinian people.

Crisis as Opportunity

2008-11-26T22:22:00.007-05:00

This article at the Washington Post demonstrates one of the fundamental problems with our economic system: that it is dependent on conspicuous consumption.

The article starts off claiming that "the American consumer is scared stiff." Notice that the term "American consumer" is such a part of our psyche that we don't even think twice about what it means. We are so accustomed to thinking of ourselves as "consumers" because that is exactly what we are expected to be, and that is why newspapers exist- to provide advertising space for companies who will not only get to market their wares in said publication, but also have the newspaper actively promote a consumerist lifestyle so that companies feel more incentive to run more advertising.

So American consumers are not consuming, i.e. buying a bunch of shit that they don't need with money they don't have. And for this reason, our economy is fucked.

Think about that for a moment. In order for our economy to be "healthy," we need Americans buying shit they don't need with money they don't have. That's a healthy economic system.

Capitalism has a fundamental need to create desires that naturally would not exist. If people either a) no longer buy into a materialist conception of the good life, or b) they're scared shitless about being homeless in retirement and so they start hoarding their dough, we're all up the creek.

The fact that President Bush urged Americans to shop after 9/11 is not coincidental.

The problem is this: as long as people are buying a lot of shit, more of them get their basic needs met in the form of salary, health insurance, retirement accounts, etc. As soon as people stop buying shit they don't need, everyone is fucked. People are getting laid off right now by no fault of their own. They're just being dropped. They're expendable. They're some numbers on a balance sheet.

That's what our economic system makes of human beings: numbers on a balance sheet.

It's in an environment like this that economic conservatives are exposed as the frauds that they are. One of the Republican Party's key arguments is that poor people choose to be poor. Make that argument to the millions of people that don't have jobs right now. It's transparently asinine.

The purpose of an economic system is to distribute resources. It's our way of ensuring that people have a means of supporting themselves. One thing that economic conservatives tend to get right is that people need to earn their money in order to have an incentive to work. The key catch: there have to be jobs for them to do.

That's the whole idea behind President-elect Obama's plan to employ 2.5 million people and rebuild American infrastructure. He should go further. We need to get back to the New Deal idea that the government is the employer of last resort. While Republicans would cry "welfare!" it's far from any such thing. It's making sure that people have good jobs that allow them to make an honest living.

We have an opportunity right now to remake the way we approach providing for ourselves as a society. It's also an opportunity to send the economic rhetoric of the Republican Party to the grave.

Transitional Observations

2008-11-22T16:53:00.008-05:00

My break from obsessively following politics continues; as of right now, I plan on maintaining this until January 20.

As I have not dwelt in a cave for the past three weeks, however, I am aware that President-elect Obama has made some important selections to his cabinet, and while I'm not thrilled with everyone he's chosen, he's picking competent people who are generally pragmatic rather than ideological in their approach, which is a good thing considering the magnitude of the problems he's going to be inheriting. I've always been impressed with Obama's knack for surrounding himself with extraordinarily talented people. His administration is going to be an assemblage of some of the best minds in America. The first 100 days should be fun to watch.

The President-elect has already recorded a couple of YouTube addresses that he's evidently going to do on a weekly basis- a sort of fireside chat for the 21st century. These are a brilliant idea and an example of Obama's commitment to keeping Americans informed of what their government is doing to serve them.

Meanwhile, it's not much fun being George W. Bush these days:

Almost makes you feel sorry for him. Almost.

Life Beyond Politics

2008-11-15T09:52:00.004-05:00

The end of the election season has meant that I have reawakened to many of the other things that make life worth living- music, books, and films. I've been trying to immerse myself in these things as much as possible, if only to distract myself from the inevitable withdrawal I feel from the lack of poll-tracking, canvassing, and electoral pontificating there is to be done.

There is a lot of good new music to be listened to. My current obsessions include the Crystal Antlers' self-titled EP, the new Deerhunter album, Microcastle, and Department of Eagles' In Ear Park. If anyone wants to hear anything but is a) too poor or b) too thrifty to purchase any of the above, get a Pando account, shoot me an email, and I'll share it with you.

I read Charles Bukowski's Post Office last weekend. Bukowski's writing is so honest and primal and raw; some might call it base, and I can see how this might turn some people off. He conveys perfectly, though, the absurdity of bureaucracy, the spiritual drain of working life, and the sad quest for some pleasure to make all the suffering seem worthwhile. Viewed objectively, Bukowski's life was rather depressing; he was an unrepentant alcoholic, gambler, and womanizer who wrote books about drinking, gambling, and fucking. In his absolute lack of pretension, though, his work finds its charm.

I also saw Jonathan Demme's new film Rachel Getting Married last night, starring Anne Hathaway, Rosemarie Dewitt, and TV on the Radio vocalist Tunde Adebimpe. It was gut-wrenching. It's about the destruction and pain of addiction and the family turmoil that results from it. In the end, it's about acceptance and enjoying the gifts that this day has to offer. I don't recommend seeing this, however, if you don't like staring into the depths of despair- it will take you there, but it will be at least partially up to you to pull yourself out.

A Brave New World

2008-11-09T10:49:00.003-05:00

After nearly a week of pondering what occurred on Tuesday, I'm still astonished. Such a seismic shift has taken place in our national politics. Four years ago, progressive folk were mourning what we felt was a dreadful omen- the reelection of one of the worst presidents in the history of our nation.

And then President Bush began to enlighten the rest of the nation to what a minority of us recognized long before November 2, 2004. He set out dismantling his Republican Party piece by piece. His Social Security privatization scheme predictably ended up a disaster. Hurricane Katrina exposed just how criminally incompetent his administration truly was. The detainee abuse scandal exposed how criminally depraved his administration was. The NSA spying scandal exposed how criminally invasive his adminstration was. The occupation of Iraq demonstrated how criminally absurd his administration was. And the economic fallout from Bush's policies demonstrated that the Republican Party, in its current incarnation, is completely unfit to be placed in charge of our federal government.

The Republican Party as we've known it is dying. It is not dead- it will take several more election cycles before the party of George W. Bush and Tom Delay and Trent Lott has been completely buried. In the meantime, with even modest achievements in the next two years, Democrats will increase their majorities in Congress. They should have a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate by January 2011, which will increase their ability to get things done. It's reasonable to think that by the 2012 presidential election that Americans will have substantially improved access to health care, the economy will have started to recover from its current state, and our soldiers will be out of Iraq. More generally, Americans will have been reminded of what government looks like when it's being run competently, thus undermining the central argument of the Republican Party during the past 30 years- that government is hindrance to our lives rather than a protector and facilitator of opportunity. The Democratic Party has a chance to define itself after being defined by Republicans for three decades. The degree to which they take advantage of that opportunity will largely determine for how long they can extend their good electoral fortunes.

One of the Greatest Moments of My Life

2008-11-05T00:39:00.002-05:00

This is one of the greatest, happiest, most meaningful moments of my life. I have felt passionately about politics since late 2001...tonight is the culmination of that for me. America is not the same place that it was just two hours ago...it's been changed, irrevocably. We should all cherish this moment. We all had a stake in it. Thank everyone who put time, effort, and money into this. We've helped to define America for the next generation. Yes. We. Can.

Final Predictions

2008-11-03T16:08:00.004-05:00

NOTE: this was a saved draft from Monday that I didn't end up posting, but I'm pretty proud of it, so...

We're now about 14 hours or so away from the first polls opening, and 26 hours away from those same polls closing. A presidential campaign that has lasted 21 months has finally started to wind down.

Here's how I see things playing out tomorrow:

Obama will win with 364 electoral college votes. He'll take 53% of the popular vote, while McCain will take 46%, leaving the other 1% to Nader, Barr, and the like.

Democrats will finish with 58 Senate seats and 263 in the House. Kay Hagan will ride Obama's coattails and capture Liddy Dole's U.S. Senate seat.

And all will be right with the world.

The S-Bomb

2008-11-01T17:11:00.002-04:00

I walked up to a voter's house today while doing GOTV and she immediately said upon seeing my Obama button that "oh, we're not Obama people." "Oh, alright," I said, and turned to walk away, but she started to explain why she's not an "Obama person." "We are for life and we don't want socialism. We don't want a government telling us what doctor we can go to- I've been to France and I know how it works!" I said, "Well, actually, ma'am, you would be able to keep the doctor you have under Senator Obama's plan," to which she said that no, I was in fact wrong. At that point I started walking away because I was getting just a bit irritated. "See, you people only want to know one side of the story!" she said as I walked away. "No, I just don't want to listen to you say things that are blatantly false," I shot back.

It's just hard to understand the level of ignorance that McCain supporters so often exhibit. I'm all for intelligent disagreement on controversial issues. That's not what the McCain campaign is about, though, and it's not what the modern Republican Party is about. Republicans are about The Fear. That's all they've got. And it's shocking that it's still so effective on so many people.

What It Is

2008-10-28T20:34:00.004-04:00

It's hard to stay motivated when you know the rout is on. I'm doing GOTV this weekend, but it's not because I really believe it's going to make any difference. November 4 is going to be one of the biggest blowouts in the history of American politics. Barack Obama has run an excellent campaign, but his win will be attributed far more to the economy than anything else, and rightly so. If this election were to be decided on national security rather than the economy, McCain would be right in it, regardless of how incoherent his policies are or how inept his veep is. This is a change election, and the status quo right now happens to be Republican.

If Kay Hagan ends up winning North Carolina, it won't be because she ran a good campaign. It will be because the Republican brand has been so tarnished that anyone with a (D) next to their name is getting a look these days. Hagan has had close to no ground presence in the state. She opened her Durham office three weeks ago, and the "field organizer" that called to speak with me sounded like he had just stumbled out of a Phish concert. Nevertheless, she's neck-and-neck with Dole, and if she pulls it out, she'll have ridden the Democratic wave into the Senate. Any number of the Democratic candidates nationwide that win in traditionally red states should credit the same thing- that people are pissed off with how things are, and they want something different.

Therefore, any gains that we make on Tuesday will be fragile. If the economy is still fucked two years from now, and it likely will be, a lot of the momentum Democrats carried into this election will be gone. With a Democrat in the White House and huge majorities in the Congress, the Dems will be the party getting the blame for the mess. Americans, after all, have absurdly short memories.

Keep On Keepin On

2008-10-21T20:55:00.003-04:00

The prospects for a Democratic tidalwave on November 4 seem to be growing by the day. A 60-seat majority in the Senate isn't out of the question. Democrats may receive a true mandate in this election to reshape the policies of the federal government in a way not seen since the New Deal.

Regardless of what happens on Election Day, however, there's one thing I'm certain of: we need to stay engaged beyond this election. We need to hold our leaders accountable for the promises they've made on the campaign trail.

We cannot engage for a few months every four years and expect that our government is going to work for us. We need to consistently let our policymakers know that we are watching them, we need to communicate our views to them, and we need to demonstrate that if they do not put the well-being of middle-class Americans at the top of their priorities, they won't have their jobs for long.

If our Democratic senators and representatives don't do their jobs, they need to get challenged in the primaries in 2010 and beyond. If Barack Obama does not follow through on the promises that have motivated so many of us to knock on doors and make phone calls and give him our money, he will not have my support four years from now.

As Obama said in his acceptance speech in Denver, "this election has never been about me. It's about you." Indeed, it is about us. We're putting these leaders into power to serve us. It's up to each and every one of us to hold them to that task.

Unhinged

2008-10-19T10:40:00.002-04:00

Just some pro-American folks, doing their part to civilize our political discourse:

This is what the crackup of a major political party looks like.

You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet

2008-10-17T23:34:00.002-04:00

As we could expect, McCain and the Republicans have cranked up the fear factor even more the past couple of days. The really interesting thing about it is that it seems to be having the opposite of its intended effect. Let's do all we can to keep it that way.

Fascist Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann went on Chris Matthews tonight and suggested that the media investigate liberal members of Congress to determine how anti-American they are:

Go to the website of Bachmann's opponent, Elwyn Tinklenberg, and give him some money. You will be helping to beat back the forces of fascism in this great country of ours.

All She Wrote.

2008-10-15T21:42:00.003-04:00

Watching this debate tonight, I am absolutely convinced that Barack Obama will be the next President of the United States. Obama could go toe-to-toe with the most talented politicians on Earth. He obviously hasn't had to in this campaign. John McCain is an old, washed-up schmuck who has sold his soul to a Republican Party that's going the way of the Titanic. Even John Edwards, with all of his baggage, could possibly beat John McCain at this point. That's how ridiculous this guy is.

McCain has no credibility remaining. His claim that "the Obama campaign has spent more money on negative attack ads than any campaign in history" is transparently irrelevant; his campaign, for the past 10 days, has been running negative ads exclusively, focusing on Obama's supposed connections to terrorists. McCain's refusal to even acknowledge that supporters at his rallies have yelled threats at Obama demonstrates how delusional he is at this point.

At this point in the game, it's not about the issues. Everyone knows where these guys stand on the issues. Right now, it's about the intangibles. Empathy with voters. Poise. Ability to direct the debate. McCain has condescended all night to a man who is going to rout him on November 4. While McCain focused on attacking Obama all night, Obama stayed cool and redirected the debate back to the concerns of voters. This was a subtle but brilliant performance by Barack Obama. As I said before, though, it was wasted on an unworthy opponent; John McCain completed his own suicide tonight. I'll see y'all in Washington on January 20.

Obama Was "Training to Overthrow the United States Government"?!?!?

2008-10-13T13:28:00.004-04:00

Faux News has outdone itself with its "documentary" on Barack Obama entitled Obama and Friends: A History of Radicalism. If you have ever doubted that Fox is nothing more than a propaganda outlet for the Republican Party, you won't after you see this clip:

Notice that there is no evidence provided for any of Andy Martin's allegations in this piece. His are the rantings of a paranoid schizophrenic, who also happens to be a bigot. A reporter in the piece states that "there have been numerous reports" linking Obama with Louis Farrakhan. What reports? By whom? This entire segment is complete and total fiction. If any other news outlet pulled something like this, it would be considered outrageous. For Fox to do it, however, is just keeping with the status quo.

The LA Times ran an article on this here. TPM has more here; Obsidian Wings weighs in here.

Race Fans for Change

2008-10-12T07:45:00.007-04:00

I traveled to Charlotte yesterday to volunteer for a 527 that some friends are running called Race Fans for Change- that's race fans as in NASCAR fans, a group of whom I possessed limited knowledge but an abundance of stereotypes before yesterday. Some of those stereotypes were borne out by the day's events. Reality is always more complex than a preconceived notion could ever be, however, and yesterday was no different.

Jeff, the group's lead organizer, Veronica, a Hill staffer, and I got to the Lowes Motor Speedway at about 1 PM. I was pretty blown away by the scene- it was like redneck Woodstock. Tents and RVs and cars as far as the eye could see- 200,000 people were in attendance at this thing. There were vendors selling food, NASCAR schwag, and even a trailer with "Body Piercing" spray painted in hot pink on its side. We got to our tent, unloaded boxes of materials, and began handing stuff out. "Race Fans for Change- win a free t-shirt!" was one means of getting attention, which involved handing someone a scratch-off card with the two candidates' names and various issue positions on it. There was a code at the bottom of the card, and if they went to the website and entered the code along with their address, they would get a shirt in the mail. The other carrot was stickers- "Race Fans for Change- get a free sticker!" to which most people just walked by, others grabbed without stopping, and a few actually stopped to talk.

"What kind of change are you for?" was the most common query. "We're for an economy that works for the middle class" I would say. For most people that I talked to, that got me a slightly confused look and another query: "So are you for McCain or Obama?" "I'm not here to advocate for any particular candidate. I'm just here to educate people so that they make an informed decision when they vote."

A newspaper reporter came up to me and started grilling me on this point. "So you're talking to people about their economic self-interest," he said. "Aren't you here telling them what that self-interest is? And doesn't that imply that you are for one of the candidates?" "I'm not telling them what their self-interest is," I countered. They can look at the information and decide what they want to decide." As far as the implication that I supported Obama, I told him that he could draw his own conclusions on that. He started to piss me off, so I passed him off to Jeff.

My mood lifted significantly after I had drank a few beers brought by our friends and reinforcements Heather, Deb, Tina, and Britt; they had driven to Charlotte all the way from DC. A guy came up to our table and asked what kind of change we were for. I told him. He looked at the information we were passing out and saw that it was heavily biased towards Obama. He was visibly irritated at this. He said that he served in the Army and was voting for McCain because of McCain's experience as a POW, and a belief that McCain would "take better care of the troops." His evidence for this was that the military was neglected under Clinton, to which Heather replied, "we're not talking about Bill Clinton. Bill Clinton's not running for president." Our military friend couldn't respond to that, so he then asked "Is Barack Obama a US citizen?" That touched a nerve. "What do you mean?" I asked. "Can you prove that Barack Obama is a US citizen?" I was now getting pissed off, and I asked him in response if he would even be asking that question if his name weren't Barack Obama. "Well no, probably not," he said. He asked if I had a pen, and wrote down the name of a website, and said that "it's pretty far-right, but I'm pretty far right, so..."

Wanting to defuse the situation, I asked him if he had served abroad. "Afghanistan," he said. I thanked him for his service to our country and shook his hand. He said that one of the reasons that politics in America is so messed up is that our parents didn't talk about things, they avoided precisely these kinds of confrontations. I think that he was partially right, but discussions aren't useful unless there's some mutual recognition of fact. It is a fact that Barack Obama is a citizen of the United States. That's just not up for discussion. If you want to contest something that intelligent people can disagree on, great. If you want to buy into paranoid conspiracy theories, however, I just don't have time for that.

There were a couple of other conspiracy theories that I encountered over the course of the day. One was that the global financial crisis was engineered by elite bankers to create the circumstances under which the US, Canada, and Mexico could be integrated into an EU-like arrangement, with a currency called the "Amero." Another man repeated the well-refuted myth that the Pentagon wasn't hit by a plane on 9/11, but rather a missile. I never know what to say to people like this. "Yeah, I'll have to look into that," I say, and try to get them away from me as quickly as I can.

On the more positive side, there were Obama supporters in attendance at the race, and many grateful people walked up to all of our volunteers and said thank you. They appreciated the fact that we were standing strong in a sea of red. That aspect of what we were doing- going into "enemy territory" so-to-speak to persuade people to vote progressive, was satisfying. It served as a signal to the die-hard Republicans in attendance that the times they are a-changin'. The time of conservative hegemony is over. There are fewer and fewer bastions of Republicanism left. Yesterday, we started to break one more down.

Sunday Noose

2008-10-12T06:39:00.002-04:00

At the Washington Post this morning, the headline "Race Creeps Into the Campaign" acts as a warning that this is going to be another false attempt at "journalistic balance," i.e. it's both campaigns that are injecting race into the debate. The explanation by Anne Kornblut? John Lewis said yesterday that the McCain campaign is "sowing the seeds of hatred and division." So calling out the McCain campaign for blatant racism and bigotry is equivalent to provoking racism and bigotry to begin with? Over at the New York Times, meanwhile, Frank Rich gets it right and lays the blame squarely on McCain for his hateful attacks on Obama.

Meanwhile at the Times, there's a good overview of the Obama GOTV plan. And at the Post? A better overview of the Obama GOTV plan.

Why the Extreme Right's Paranoia Matters:

2008-10-10T22:58:00.004-04:00

This handbill was circulated in Dallas, Texas the day before President Kennedy was assassinated (click image to enlarge).

A Bloated, Stinking Corpse of a Campaign

2008-10-10T18:37:00.002-04:00

The McCain campaign is dead. You can see it decomposing at every rally at which John McCain refers to Barack Obama as "palling around with terrorists," a "far-left radical," or a "socialist." Now the radical right, including Faux News, is pushing the story that ACORN has been committing voter fraud by registering the deceased and people who don't exist. In other words, the Democrats are getting ready to steal the election. Just let that sink in for a minute.

This post at Daily Kos is right on point in describing what's happening right now. The far-right has had the White House for the past eight years; as long as they are the government, we're expected to "support the president." Now that they're about to lose control, they're wigging out. They can't believe it's happening. They can't believe that a n***** is about to become President of the United States. It's unfathomable to them.

Perhaps these lunatics are right. When Obama is elected, we will have to worry about more terrorism. Terrorism like this:

Bill Ayers in His Own Words

2008-10-09T22:03:00.002-04:00

From the horse's mouth: The Unrepentant Terrorist.

And another link from his site as well.

McCain's World of Sleaze @ TPM

2008-10-09T19:14:00.002-04:00

This compilation of the McCain campaign's lowest moments summarizes John McCain's descent into reptilian politics. We all knew this would happen. To see it in action is still sickening.

Enlightened Political Discourse Circa 2008

2008-10-09T14:40:00.002-04:00

I feel a bit ill after watching this:

And this:

Hate is only word to describe it. Forward this to everyone you know. Expose these people for the ignorant bigots that they are.

The Verdict

2008-10-07T23:57:00.004-04:00

McCain managed to get through the night without any references to Ayers or Wright, but his "that one" comment seems to be getting a lot of press nonetheless. Bottom line: McCain needed a stellar performance tonight. Instead, he came off as old, awkward, and just a bit creepy. When he was walking around the stage while Obama was answering questions he looked like an escapee from an elder care facility. Obama wasn't stellar, but he wasn't bad, either, and that's good enough to bring him several steps closer to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

Tonight's Debate

2008-10-07T07:22:00.003-04:00

I am very much looking forward to tonight's debate. John McCain has descended even further into the murk, and he suggested at a rally on Saturday that he was going to "take the gloves off" at tonight's debate. I really hope that he takes off those gloves.

As I stated in my post on Sunday, Obama is running away with this thing right now. If the election were held today, Obama could win something in the neighborhood of 375 electoral votes. For McCain to pull his grumpy old man routine tonight would put yet another nail into his coffin. McCain can't criticize Obama without coming off like an old bitter douchebag. His jabs will also give Obama yet another opportunity to demonstrate how calm, cool, and collected he is; no matter how outrageous McCain's charges may be, Obama won't get flustered. Finally, it will provide Obama with an opportunity to forcefully refute McCain's hypocrisy to his face. Obama's going to make McCain look absolutely foolish tonight.

Lookin' Good

2008-10-05T10:35:00.006-04:00

The numbers at this point in the race are looking extremely good, and now that the economy is the main focus, there's reason to believe that they'll only get better.

The polling averages, which I still think are missing a lot of Obama voters and fail to take into account the strength of Obama's GOTV operation, are trending significantly towards Obama. Look at these battleground states:

OH +3 Obama (with one poll showing +8 and another +7)
PA +10 Obama (Quinnipiac has Obama up 15)
MI +7 Obama (and McCain has pulled out here, of course)
WI +5 Obama (one of McCain's big target states)
VA +2.4 Obama (CNN/Time has Obama up 9)
NC +0.5 Obama
FL +3 Obama
CO +3 Obama
NM +7 Obama

That's beautiful.

In North Carolina, Obama will benefit from the fact that we have "One Stop Early Voting" here- people can vote between October 16 and November 1 even if they aren't registered already. They can register and vote at the same time during that two week period. That gives Obama's army of volunteers two full weeks to bombard his supporters with door knocks, telephone calls, and literature telling them to get out and vote. Having two weeks to vote will also increase the participation of people who usually aren't very reliable- notably young people and African-Americans. Obama has a very good shot at winning this state. He would be the first Democrat to do so since Jimmy Carter in 1976.

Let's do all we can between now and November 4 to close the deal, y'all.

McCain Ready to Go All Lies, All the Time

2008-10-04T08:58:00.003-04:00

According to the Washington Post this morning, the McCain campaign is going to "take the gloves off" for the final month of the campaign. That's not even including the ads that will be run by various 527 groups that will attempt to paint Obama as foreign, radical, Muslim, terrorist, and God knows what else.

This strategy will provide an opportunity for the Obama campaign and the Democratic Party to absolutely destroy the Republicans on November 4. Obama, because of his name and his racial background, will bring all of the Republican Party's vitriol out of the shadows. All of their hate will be on display. The Obama campaign, the Democratic Party, and Democrats at the grassroots level need to call out their hatred and lies directly and forcefully. The point needs to be made again and again that the policies of the Republican Party have left this country in shambles, and now that they're facing their reckoning, they're choosing to lie and slander and smear in order to hold onto power so that they can cause even more damage. Lies are literally all the Republicans have left. They can't make an honest case for their economic policies anymore. They can't make an honest case for their foreign policies. They can't honestly talk about providing health care for the 47 million people without it. They are a bankrupt party. They are on the verge of collapse. It's up to all of us to finish the job.

The Soft Bigotry of Low Expectations

2008-10-03T17:34:00.008-04:00

It seems that Sarah Palin cleared the horrifyingly low bar set for her in last night's debate. Upon watching a substantial portion of the debate, however, she still performed badly by any reasonable standard. She is simply not very bright. And as a sign seen in the background on Hardball said, "We tried stupid. It doesn't work."

Palin ignored questions that she didn't know the answer to and reverted back to one of the talking points that she's memorized over the past three weeks. And what the hell is up with her syntax? I mean, is this how everyone speaks in Alaska? We may have a new dialect of English on our hands. If you really want a challenge, just try diagramming one of her sentences.

The very fact that anyone could think that Palin put in a respectable performance last night speaks to how absolutely depraved our democracy has become. When a vice presidential candidate gets respect for reading off of notecards in a semi-coherent fashion, we are truly up the creek without a paddle.

Biden, meanwhile, did what he needed to do. He emphasized the middle class, he connected with the audience, especially when he talked about the tragic deaths of his wife and daughter, and he avoided coming off as condescending while at the same time forcefully refuting Palin's many lies. He certainly did no harm to Obama's candidacy, and I don't think it's a stretch to think that he added to voter confidence about the strength of the Democratic ticket.

Meanwhile, Gwen Ifill, the moderator, was absolutely terrible. She asked bad questions ('why is raising taxes on the rich not class warfare?'), she didn't follow up properly, and she allowed Palin to ignore her questions repeatedly. The McCain camp floated doubts about her objectivity before the debate, and they evidently got into her head. They're not good at much else, but the McCain folks can sure work the refs.

The Blind Debate Test

2008-10-03T00:57:00.002-04:00

I have only heard and seen a small portion of tonight's debate. The polls, however, speak for themselves:

CNN: 51-36 Biden
CBS: 46-21 Biden

That's a rout. Biden did well by any standard tonight. I'll write more once I actually see the entire debate.

blah blah blah

2008-10-02T20:37:00.003-04:00

I'm not watching the debate tonight. I have a Walkmen show to go to in Carrboro, which should be substantially more nourishing to my soul than watching Sarah Palin attempt to dig her way out of the hole of idiocy that she's created for herself in the past couple of weeks. Word is that she's going negative, which means that by the end of the night she might be not only a moron in the eyes of the public, but a mean-spirited one at that. Biden just needs to focus on the middle class when it comes to domestic issues, stay to the Obama line on foreign policy, and restrain himself on the snark, which he's got a knack for. If Palin avoids making any more than two or three major gaffes, the night will be something of a victory for her. She will not achieve even that.

In the meantime, here's some comic relief, not that you'll need any after watching the debate:

It's the Stupid Economy

2008-10-01T21:43:00.002-04:00

If it hasn't hit the fan yet, it's going to.

Federal debt- about $10 trillion

Amount of that debt held by foreign nations- $2.7 trillion

That amount divided by the number of US citizens: $32, 895

Current estimated unfunded obligations under Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, etc.- $59.1 trillion

2007 US GDP- $13.7 trillion

This year's deficit- $410 billion

Projected deficit for 2009: $482 billion

How many dollars short that leaves us of the $700 billion the Senate just approved to bail out greedy Wall St. firms that bought shady mortgages: $700 billion

Total revolving consumer debt in US- $2.6 trillion

That amount divided by the total US population- $8,500

Total military budget when cost of Iraq and Afghanistan, Dept. of Energy, and military-related spending in other agencies is factored in: $696 billion

Percentage of world military spending that accounts for: 48%

Percentage of the world's human population the United States accounts for: 5%

Amount the Bush Administration requested in its 2009 budget for weapons procurement and weapons-related research and development: $184 billion

Fastest growing area of federal discretionary spending 2000-2005: weapons procurement

Increase in dollar value of federal contracts to Halliburton between 2000 and 2005: 600%

The increase in value of Halliburton stock during that time: 3,281%

Worth of Dick Cheney's Halliburton stock options as of 2005: $8 million

God, I love Dick Cheney.

I Might Be Wrong (Again)

2008-09-30T17:08:00.002-04:00

So the Congress rejects the bailout bill, goes on vacation for two days for Rosh Hashhanah, and the Dow makes up well over half of its losses from yesterday. I'm going to refrain from making any predictions about the economy from here on out, because I have absolutely no understanding of what the hell is going on.

Two Words: Black Tuesday.

2008-09-29T16:30:00.002-04:00

Let me just say that if the representatives who voted against the bailout today thought they were saving their own asses by doing so, just wait until the markets open tomorrow. I'm thinking they just might have some second thoughts.

The massive meltdown that folks like Bernanke and Paulson briefed Congress about a couple of weeks back? Well, hold onto your seats, folks, because when the markets open tomorrow things are going to get very, very interesting.

I Might Be Wrong...

2008-09-27T21:28:00.004-04:00

Well, it seems that my first impressions of the debate were not in line with what the punditocracy concluded about it. And if you look at the responses of undecided voters to both candidates, it appears that Obama did quite well for himself last night. He showed people who haven't been paying very close attention that he is indeed presidential. It's a very strange thought for someone who's been admiring him for the past four years, but last night was the first time that many people have truly listened to Barack Obama. Now that folks are paying attention, this thing might just be over.

Sippin Debatorade

2008-09-26T20:59:00.003-04:00

This debate felt anticlimactic for me. What happened tonight is simply not going to swing too many undecided voters one way or another. If you are undecided at this stage of the game, you don't pay attention to politics, and you most likely don't understand most of the issues that the candidates discussed tonight. Therefore, a debate like this comes down to intangibles: how "presidential" each candidate seems. Neither candidate made any major gaffes, but neither candidate had any brilliant moments, either. And because of my low expectations for McCain coming in, I have to give him the victory.

McCain came across as much more knowledgeable and competent than I would have expected. He stayed on message, he emphasized his strengths and downplayed his weaknesses, and his jabs at Obama were often effective. His core talking point early in the debate was cutting spending, which may play well with many independents. He repeated the quote that he used in his acceptance speech, "Republicans came to Washington to change it and it changed them" as a way of acknowledging the shortcomings of his party over the last eight years. He hit repeatedly on earmarks, which make up less than 1% of the federal budget, but he linked them to corruption, which was a good move. I also liked McCain's point on getting rid of cost-plus contracts in the Pentagon. Because of his biography McCain can actually talk about cutting Pentagon waste, which absolutely needs to happen.

Obama did a good job of emphasizing the middle class and driving home the point that he would cut taxes for 95% of families, thereby "growing the economy from the bottom up." His bit of rhetoric regarding a spending freeze- using a hatchet when you need to use a scalpel- was good. His response to McCain's "I have a bracelet from a dead soldier" speech was great. He didn't let McCain wrap himself in the flag. He hit McCain on Kissinger's endorsement of talking without preconditions to Iran. I have to say that I don't understand McCain's premise that sitting across a table from Ahmadinejad would "legitimize" his anti-Israel remarks.

On the negative side, Obama needs to stop using "look" as a crutch. It comes off as condescending, and it's a signal that he's about to launch into some B.S. He also should have directly engaged McCain- I can't recall a single time that he did this effectively. It's a sign of a strength to look your opponent in the eye and tell them why they're wrong. It's presidential, and both candidates gave up an opportunity to communicate that quality to voters tonight.

So I'm pretty much underwhelmed, and it all comes down to expectations- overinflated ones for Obama, and ridiculously low ones for McCain. Bottom line: nothing much changes after tonight. It's time to get back out on the pavement.

The Crystal Ball

2008-09-26T16:38:00.003-04:00

When hardcore right-wing conservatives start referring to Sarah Palin as a "problem," something is seriously amiss. Palin's interview with Couric was so atrocious that even the Republican echo chamber has started to reverberate with condemnations of her. With that in mind, I make the following prediction: Palin will withdraw from the race, citing family considerations, by Wednesday of next week, if not before. McCain realizes what a huge mistake he made, and any Eagleton-like fallout will be less damaging to his candidacy than keeping her on the ticket would be.

Another prediction: McCain will make a one-term pledge before election day. This move will reinforce his "maverick" image, and mitigate any concerns voters might have about his age. It might, in fact, be the single most effective thing he could do to improve his chances of victory on November 4.

It has been foretold.

McCain Sabotages Bipartisan Bailout Plan

2008-09-25T21:39:00.003-04:00

Early this afternoon, I pulled up the Washington Post's website to find that "an agreement in principle" had been reached between Democratic and Republican congressional leaders regarding the bailout plan. This evening, I went to the same website and I see that a deal has not been reached. What happened between 12 pm and 9:30 pm? John McCain rolled into town, of course, went to a meeting at the White House with congressional leaders of both parties as well as his rival for the presidency, and he sabotaged the whole damn thing. He suspended his campaign to focus on the economic crisis??? Wow, that's actually two lies in one sentence. He didn't suspended his campaign, first of all. He campaigned all day today. So he claimed that he was suspending his campaign in order to grandstand, posture, and obscure the fact that he and his closest advisers bear significant culpability for the policies that are at the root of this whole mess.

McCain also wanted to postpone Friday night's debate so that it could then bump the Palin-Biden debate to another date, or possibly cancel it altogether. McCain has realized what an absolute idiot Sarah Palin is, and he's pissing his Depends diaper over the possibility of her sharing a stage with Joe Biden. He made the asinine decision of selecting her in the first place, and now he's going to have to bear the consequences of it.

McCain is going to take the stage at the University of Mississippi tomorrow night- he has no choice. He's not going to give Obama 90 minutes of free airtime all to himself. Obama will expose McCain for the hypocritical, emptyheaded, lying geriatric that he is. It will be Must-See TV. Even better will be Palin vs. Biden next Thursday. This is where a close race starts to become a rout.

Yep. $700 Billion Is A Really Large Number.

2008-09-25T00:23:00.002-04:00

From ThinkProgress:

“[$700 billion is] not based on any particular data point,” a Treasury spokeswoman told Forbes.com Tuesday. “We just wanted to choose a really large number.”

Well, at least they succeeded in that respect.

The Implosion of the McCain Campaign Pt. II

2008-09-24T16:24:00.002-04:00

It just gets better. Now McCain wants to "suspend" his campaign and postpone Friday night's debate so that he can go back to Washington and wield his immense knowledge of the economy to help bring a swift resolution to the debate over the bailout. His campaign has degenerated into a farce. No SNL skits will be necessary from here on out; McCain and Co. are doing a fine enough job making a mockery of themselves.

The Implosion of the McCain Campaign

2008-09-24T06:42:00.005-04:00

Something decisive has been happening with the presidential election over the past two weeks. First, the worsening of the economic crisis has shown just how much better prepared Obama is to step in and lead than McCain. When George Will questions McCain's fitness for the presidency, you know things have gotten absolutely ridiculous.

It hasn't helped that neither McCain nor Palin are speaking to the media. This is one of the stupidest decisions a presidential campaign could ever make. The media is the main vehicle by which a candidate's message gets out to voters. Obama is out there everyday talking to reporters, answering questions, communicating his message, demonstrating his grasp of the issues that matter to voters. McCain and Palin are hiding, and by doing so they're communicating their complete lack of confidence in themselves when it comes to the issues of the day. Voter confidence in their ability to lead has slipped as a result.

There are also serious trust issues with the McCain campaign amongst the electorate. This morning's story about McCain campaign manager Rick Davis's lobbying firm being paid by Freddie Mac through the end of last month, despite McCain's claims to the contrary, won't help.

The McCain campaign is crumbling right now. My bet is that Friday night's debate will only accelerate that process.

Who to Blame for the Meltdown? How About Phil Gramm?

2008-09-22T07:26:00.004-04:00

Two great pieces on the central role McCain's chief economic adviser Phil Gramm played in creating the circumstances that led to the current crisis at Huffington Post and Daily Kos. In a nutshell, Gramm wrote the legislation that allowed investment banks and hedge funds to operate with no government oversight when it came to the credit swaps that played such a huge role in this meltdown. As Obama would say, you can't make this stuff up.

Two Viewpoints on the Bailout from People Who Actually Know What They're Talking About

2008-09-21T15:24:00.002-04:00

Paul Krugman provides his thoughts here; Robert Reich here.

A Primer on the Economic Crisis

2008-09-21T09:47:00.006-04:00

I have spent the morning learning as much as I can about the global credit crunch that's taking place.

The best explanation I came across was at NPR's This American Life. The origins of the crisis lie with a chain of investors. First, someone who wants to invest in a house buys a mortgage from a broker. The broker then sells the mortgage to a small bank. The small bank sells the mortgage to a big investment bank on Wall Street. A Wall Street manager then combines thousands of those mortgages and sells shares of them to investors in the form of mortgage-backed securities. By 2003, just about any individual who wanted a mortgage and actually qualified for one had a mortgage. There was still a huge pool of investment money that wanted into the mortgage market, though, so the standards that banks used to evaluate whether or not to grant someone a mortgage steadily dropped. In the beginning, an applicant needed verified income and verified assets to get a loan. It then slipped to stated income, verified assets, or in other words "yeah, I make this much money," but no one actually checks up on whether or not you're telling the truth. Eventually it got so bad that "NINA" loans were being given out- no income, no asset, which meant that people with no job and no assets whatsoever could potentially get a mortgage.

Credit rating agencies gave these mortgage-backed securities a AAA, or "money good" rating, since they were analyzing them using pre-2003 data; these ratings were not taking into account the lowered standards mortgage brokers were using in granting loans. Thus, investors thought they were safe.

This wasn't the end of the chain of investment, however. The mortgage-backed securities were then broken down into even smaller pieces called "collateralized debt obligations (CDOs)." These took the riskiest mortgage-backed securities (also known as "toxic waste"), repackaged them, and sold them off again to people who were willing to accept the risk involved in exchange for the possibility of a higher return.

The foundation of all of this was home prices. As long as home prices stayed up, even if someone couldn't pay the mortgage back, a bank could always repossess the house, liquidate it, and break even. The problem, though, was that the excess of mortgage credit drove the demand for homes far higher than it otherwise would have been. People started looking at houses as potential investments, and real estate "flipping" drove demand higher still. Thus, prices were far higher than they should have been, or in other words, a bubble had been created. Meanwhile, American incomes were stagnating, and once people started foreclosing on the houses that they couldn't afford, the number of houses on the market (supply) went up, the number of people wanting to buy houses (demand) went down, and prices dropped precipitously.

The value of investments linked to mortgages thus plummeted. Hundreds of billions, perhaps trillions of dollars disappeared. Poof. Gone forever.

With so many investors losing so much money, what they're now seeking are safe investments, which means that the availability of credit has contracted significantly. Our entire economy is dependent upon credit. Consumers need credit to buy houses, cars, and the like. Businesses need loans to finance expansion and create jobs.

And that's where the current bailout proposal comes in. If Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs were to collapse in the way Lehman Bros. and Bear Sterns have, the entire system would freeze up. There would be massive contraction in consumer demand. Corporations would either scale down or collapse completely. Unemployment would skyrocket. The bailout is designed to prevent that situation from occurring.

The question, though, is who should be helped in this situation: the Wall Street firms, or the homebuyers who got in over their heads? Both? Neither?

Good Reads

2008-09-19T13:23:00.005-04:00

There have been many fine articles in various online publications in the past few days. Alternet featured this piece by Larry Beinhart, which posits, among other things, that higher taxes actually lead to better economic growth than lower taxes. He does not offer any theories as to why this might be the case. I'm sure you pinko commies can come up with your own.

Meanwhile, over at In These Times, John MacArthur laments the sad state of American democracy, which I've been doing since before I started teaching civics three years ago. You may want to keep a bottle of hard liquor handy for this one.

On a lighter note, Markos Moulitsas of Daily Kos fame writes today on Sarah Palin's collapse in the polls as voters learn what an inexperienced, insane, ignorant liar she is. And she hasn't even debated Biden yet.

The Address-vertisement

2008-09-17T17:25:00.003-04:00

Obama's new 2-minute address-vertisement to the nation:

I like this a lot. I feel like all of Obama's ads should take this format from here on out, in fact. Stop the sinister-sounding narration, the slick editing, and just have the man speak directly to the voters about what he intends to do as President. It plays to his greatest strength, his charisma, and the straightforward simplicity of it makes McCain's attacks look all the more sleazy. Subconsciously it communicates that Obama is honest enough to speak directly to the tough issues facing Americans, while McCain has some faceless commentator spreading lies and innuendos about Obama. The best ad of the race so far.

Hope is Not Enough

2008-09-17T04:23:00.004-04:00

The best thing about working on a campaign is that you're constantly surrounded by people who are doing something to get a candidate elected rather than simply talking about it. A co-worker of mine said at school the other day, "Well, I just hope the Democrats don't blow it again this time." This is not what Obama is referring to when he invokes hope. Hope needs to lead to action if we have any chance at all of putting our country back on the right track. The Obama campaign has made it far easier than ever before to get involved- you can make phone calls to Ohio, for example, right from home. You can search events by zip code to find the canvasses, phone banks, and voter registration efforts closest to your home. There are simply no more excuses for people not to get involved. We've got 48 days left, y'all. We need to make them count.

In the Interest of the Democratic Exchange of Ideas...

2008-09-14T11:51:00.003-04:00

...I have enabled anonymous commenting on this blog. So fire away.

The Sunday Noose

2008-09-14T08:46:00.008-04:00

This article in the Politico is a Must-Read-of-the-Morning. It explains the strategic reasons for McCain going so negative, summed up in McCain spokesman Brian Rogers' statement, "We recognize it’s not going to be 2000 again...he lost then. We’re running a campaign to win. And we’re not too concerned about what the media filter tries to say about it.” In other words, they're running an anything-goes campaign. President Bush had the same willingness in 2004 to lie, cheat, and steal, but his tactics were mild in comparison to McCain's this time around because McCain is running against a much stronger candidate and facing an agitated electorate. In an election that truly is about change, McCain's only hope is to get people to fear Obama just enough to stop them from voting for him.

Another money quote from Rogers: “When [McCain is] sitting in back of a bus and getting questions about Viagra, I think we understand at that point you’ve got to make some tactical adjustments." Read: when our candidate bumbles like a complete idiot in response to a question regarding health insurers' willingness to cover Viagra but not birth control pills, we decided that we better just keep the candidate away from the media. Seems like they're taking the same tack with Palin. So, let me get this straight: McCain/Palin can't handle taking questions from the media, but they can handle running the government of the United States of America. A McCain win would signal a continued shift to an undemocratic, authoritarian system of government, a possibility that once seemed like a stretch after eight years of Dubya and the Prince of Darkness.

It's not really about one candidate or another now, though, as the Republican National Convention made clear. The Republican Party has become a fundamentally authoritarian party. They don't want citizens making decisions about the kind of society they want to live in. The want to leave it up to "the free market," i.e. large corporations. They get to set the agenda, and we get to follow like sheep. And if we don't follow like sheep, well...
I have generally thought it to be an overstatement to say that we are living in a fascist state. I still do. We are clearly moving more and more in that direction, however. And if a presidential campaign based on lies can be endorsed by the American people, then we deserve whatever we get.

Speaking of authoritarianism and its corresponding lack of transparency, there's another must-read article on Sarah Palin's governing style at the New York Times this morning. This quote will give you the heebie-jeebies:

Interviews show that Ms. Palin runs an administration that puts a premium on loyalty and secrecy. The governor and her top officials sometimes use personal e-mail accounts for state business; dozens of e-mail messages obtained by The New York Times show that her staff members studied whether that could allow them to circumvent subpoenas seeking public records.

Wow. In the words of Wilhelmina, "she sounds like a perfect fit."

To round out the authoritarian theme, we have this article at the Washington Post describing Vice-President Cheney's attempts to quash DOJ oversight of the White House's domestic spying program. The general impression is that Cheney clearly wanted no oversight whatsoever. Checks and balances? We don't need no stinkin' checks and balances!

Read 'em and weep.

Yes, I'll Take More of That, Please

2008-09-13T18:00:00.002-04:00

While the Obama campaign ran what I judge to be an ineffective ad yesterday criticizing McCain for not being able to use the Internet, this quote today from Bill Burton of the Obama campaign strikes precisely the right tone:

"We will take no lectures from John McCain who is cynically running the sleaziest and least honorable campaign in modern Presidential campaign history. His discredited ads with disgusting lies are running all over the country today. He runs a campaign not worthy of the office he is seeking."

What's so great about this is that it's not on the level of McCain's lies and personal attacks. It merely expresses outrage about McCain's willingness to abandon any semblance of principle in his quest to win the presidency. This is the message that Obama, and not just his campaign staff, needs to use every single time McCain releases another one of his lies and smears.

The Fear Sets In

2008-09-11T22:40:00.007-04:00

I have been quite agitated the past couple of days. The prospect of President P.O.W. and Vice President Hockey Mom occupying the White House genuinely frightens me.

That said, a good deal of the anxiety that so many Democrats are feeling right now has its origins in the results of the last two elections. The Supreme Court stole the election for Bush in 2000. After a disastrous first term, there was no way Bush could get reelected. By hook or crook, he did. It's perfectly natural for Democrats to be feeling on edge right now. The ghosts of recent elections past are haunting our psyches.

I wonder how much of the criticism of Obama's response to McCain, my own included, is shaded by this anxiety and how much of it is actually warranted. Obama and his team are brilliant people. They've got a strategy, and they're not letting McCain's campaign of lies derail it. After Palin's deer-in-the-headlights routine with Charles Gibson regarding the Bush Doctrine, you've got to think that the debate against Biden is going to be brutal. McCain won't fair quite as poorly against Obama, but the smart money is on Obama exposing McCain's key flaws- his total lack of policy proposals (and policy knowledge), as well as his age. The debates will be a turning point in this election. Obama's ground game and the likelihood that Palin will cost McCain more votes than she gets for him puts Obama in reasonably good shape right now.

If McCain wins, though, I'm getting the hell out of this country.

Obama Gets Hit With Baseball Bat; Files Amicus Brief

2008-09-10T22:26:00.004-04:00

This is the best piece I've seen thus far making the case that Obama needs to get dirty. Friedman has a good piece on gut-level politics here. And Drew Westen gives a more detailed analysis here.

I've already made my views on this known, but the urgency has been kicked up a notch with the sex education ad and the lipstick-on-a-pig fiasco. I understand that Obama is trying to take the high road. I simply don't have enough faith in the American electorate to believe that they're going to take it with him.

Into the Twilight Zone

2008-09-10T16:27:00.006-04:00

I'm beginning to wonder if the particle accelerator that just got revved up on the French-Swiss border has indeed created a black hole that's pulling us all into the twilight zone. First, there was this ad from the McCain folks yesterday:

This is about as low as it gets. Of course, the accusation is completely untrue; the bill that the ad refers to required kindergarten teachers to inform their students of the difference between appropriate and inappropriate touching so that sexual abuse of children could be prevented. This is a bad thing to McCain, evidently. John McCain Is For Child Sexual Abuse. Has a nice ring to it.

Meanwhile, there was this yesterday morning on Fox News:

"Lesbian Air America radio host." "Clearly partisan anchoring." "David Gregory will work it out- he has no agenda!" These are things being said in an interview between three Republican "anchors" and an "expert" from a right-wing media "watchdog."

And just think: we've got 50 days until the election. These scumbags are just hitting their stride.

Who Are These People???

2008-09-08T22:01:00.004-04:00

I have said here many times that I think national polls are useless in terms of predicting the results of a presidential election. I also think that the national polls right now are wrong, for at least two reasons: 1) many these polls are not reaching people who use cell phones instead of land lines, most of whom are young and voting for Obama, and 2) the voter registration and GOTV efforts of the Obama campaign will render the polls' selection of "likely voters" meaningless.

That having been said-

Who the hell are all of these people who say they're going to vote for John McCain and Sarah Palin? I'm all for respecting people of different viewpoints, but McCain/Palin supporters are not simply of a differing viewpoint. They are living in a different universe. The McCain campaign has been horribly run. He claims "experience" on foreign policy, yet he has repeatedly made statements on the campaign trail that betray his ignorance on these very issues. He has nothing to say on the economy; he promises more tax cuts for the wealthy, using the same trickle-down theory that landed us in the situation we're in. He claims good judgment on The Surge, but there's still little political reconciliation between Shiites and Sunnis. A large number of soldiers in Iraq also means that we don't have the soldiers to send to Afghanistan where they may be more needed. And Sarah Palin, of course, is a disaster. She's a creation of public relations. She's a walking lie. She knows far less about the federal government than many high school students that I have taught. Literally.

And yet the aggregate polling data right now shows McCain ahead nationally. If were are not an idiocracy already, we're well on our way.

Canvassing in Cary

2008-09-06T20:29:00.001-04:00

I canvassed in Cary this afternoon. Cary is one of the most crucial swing areas in one of the most crucial swing states in America. I feel blessed to live in an area in which I can potentially have such a powerful impact on the outcome of this election.

The anger and frustration that so many of us felt after watching Gov. Palin's speech must be channeled into positive action. When the story of this campaign is written, that speech, specifically her derogatory insinuation about community organizers, will be noted as quite possibly its most significant moment. Obama raised $8 million in the 24 hours after that speech. McCain raised $1 million. Obama's campaign offices here in NC were flooded with inquiries from potential volunteers. Palin managed to get Obama supporters more fired up and ready to go than anyone in the four days of the DNC was able to do.

I am committed to volunteering every Saturday between now and the election. I will make calls to voters several nights per week. I will recruit volunteers and help to get them out into the streets. I am more determined than ever to defeat the Republicans and their ignorant, selfish, hateful ways. We are all community organizers. And we are going to organize Barack Obama and Joe Biden into the White House.

Today I convinced two voters, one an independent who voted for Bush in 2000, another lifelong Republican, to at least seriously consider voting for Barack Obama on November 4. It was only two voters. If 1000 other volunteers convinced two people to vote for Obama today, however, and that happens every Saturday between now and November 4, Barack Obama is going to win North Carolina. And if that happens in every state that's in play between now and November 4, Barack Obama will be the next President of the United States.

Think about how terrible the pain will be if John McCain wins on Nov. 4. Use that pain to fuel your efforts between now and then. Think about how joyful you will be if Barack Obama wins, and we increase Democratic majorities in the House and Senate, and we take even more governor's mansions and state houses. Use that joy to inspire you to act.

We have an incredible opportunity before us right now to advance our progressive vision for America. Let's all do all that we can. Let's make history.

My New Home at Daily Kos

2008-09-06T20:05:00.003-04:00

In an effort to gain a wider readership, I have started posting a diary at Daily Kos. I will continue to write here as well, but if you'd like to help get my ideas to a wider audience, recommending my posts to other readers there would be very helpful.

Your attention to this little blog, along with all the positive feedback, has meant a lot to me. Thank you for taking your valuable time to read what I write. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I do writing it.

Something To Cheer You Up After McCain's Speech

2008-09-04T22:21:00.000-04:00

One Last Night in Hell

2008-09-04T21:06:00.005-04:00

The first two nights of the Republican convention was a showcase of anger, lies, and manipulation. Gee, I wonder if the third night will follow suit?

I have come to believe in the past two nights that the Republican Party is fundamentally anti-American. They have nothing more than fear, anger, and hatred to sell. They do not believe in equality of opportunity. They do not believe in freedom in any meaningful sense. They are an anti-government party that increases the size of government and then runs it incompetently. They take money from American taxpayers and funnel it to their corporate buddies in the form of tax breaks, subsidies, and government contracts. They do exactly the opposite of what government should do: they protect the interests of the wealthy and the powerful at the expense of everyone else. It's because of the fear-mongering of the Republican Party that we have a military budget that siphoned around $1 billion from Americans' bank accounts in the past year. It's because of the stupidity, corruption, and short-sightedness of the Republicans' patron saint, Ronald Reagan, that President Carter's investments in renewable sources of energy were eliminated. We would have energy independence today if it were not for the Republican Party and its culture of greed. Ronald Reagan made deficit spending the norm in Washington. George H.W. Bush continued this practice. And then The Man from Hope, Bill Clinton, balanced the budget. Then George W. Bush dug us a hole all over again, due in no small part to tax cuts for the ultra-rich. It was Republican jingoism that led us into Iraq unnecessarily, and there are now over 4,000 American families who have lost sons and daughters. An untold number of Iraqis have died as a result of the invasion. An unknown number of American soliders are missing arms, legs, and in some cases both.

That's the Republican Party in a nutshell. The Republican convention in the course of the past two days has got me fired up and ready to work as hard as I can between now and November 4. It's time to put this rabid dog down once and for all. It's time to turn the page.

The Obama Response To Tracy Flick's Stand-Up Routine

2008-09-04T07:46:00.001-04:00

She sure knows how to lie through those pearly whites.

It's Time for Action

2008-09-03T22:46:00.002-04:00

This post at Daily Kos says exactly what I was going to say at the conclusion of the GOP convention: it's time to stop the blogging, it's time to stop the bitching, it's time to act. The only people who read this blog are friends: if you are reading this, I know you feel as passionately as I do about the need to elect Barack Obama, as well as larger Democratic congressional majorities, on November 4.

If you are not actively doing anything to help Democrats win on November 4, what the hell are you waiting for? Make phone calls, knock on doors, register people to vote, or do some data entry at your local Obama office. We have two months until election day. Think about how you're going to feel on November 5 if John McCain and Sarah Palin win this election. Seriously think about how much that would hurt. Use that feeling to fuel your efforts between now and November 4. And think about how hard you're going to celebrate when Barack Obama becomes President-elect.

Hit the pavement. We have serious work to do.

The Death of the Republican Party

2008-09-03T21:49:00.002-04:00

There have been rumblings about this in the mainstream media as well as the blogosphere for a while now, but watching the first couple of nights of this convention have convinced me that the Republican Party is dying. It is becoming irrelevant. When Mike Huckabee talks about Americans wanting smaller government, it demonstrates how out-of-touch the Republican Party has become. Americans want effective government. Americans have had enough of Republicans who feed us lies about "smaller government." Republicans don't give us smaller government. They give us incompetent government. When people who don't believe in the potential efficacy of government attempt to run it, they inevitably do it badly. Americans are onto this simple fact.

All Republicans have left is what they are against. They are against taxes. They are against "big government." They are against unions. They are against abortion. They are against homosexuality. They are not for anything, other than imposing their own narrow, fearful, ignorant worldview on those who disagree with them. Americans are now quite familiar with this world view. On November 4, they will reject it overwhelmingly. Republicans will then be forced to begin a long, slow process of reinventing themselves.

Romney: Vote Fascist in 2012!

2008-09-03T21:14:00.004-04:00

Mitt Romney is up there talking about a "liberal Washington." We've had Republican majorities in Congress for 12 of the last 14 years. You've had Republicans in the White House for 20 of the last 28 years. And Washington is liberal? Seriously- this guy is advocating a shift to fascism. That is literally what his speech is about.

Well, this convention just might be the death of the Republican Party; something has to take its place.

The Central Myth of the Republican Party

2008-09-03T20:42:00.006-04:00

I've said this before, but listening to Carly Fiorina speak I feel the need to reiterate it. The central myth that the Republican Party pushes is that the government of the United States is somehow separate from the citizens it serves. Our government is of the people, by the people, for the people. Fiorina states that "people should be freed to make their own choices." When people vote, they are making a choice collectively about the kind of society they want to live in. Fiorina talks abstractly about empowering people. To keep the minimum wage at disgracefully low levels does not empower people, nor does it empower people to deny workers the right to organize. It does not empower the 47 million Americans without health insurance to leave the problem up to the "free market." It does not empower people to emphasize school choice as a solution to our education woes. Republicans are not about empowerment, unless it's the empowerment of those that have too much power already.

Multicultural Night at the Republican National Convention

2008-09-03T20:15:00.004-04:00

It's multicultural night at the RNC. I turned on my TV and there was a black man, deriding identity politics no less. (Is irony completely lost on these people?) Right after him came a Hispanic delegate from Puerto Rico. He even said buenas noches. That took some cajones in front of a party that wants to make English the official language of the United States. I was afraid one of the NRA freaks might start shooting at him.

Grandpa Fred's Hatchet Job

2008-09-03T00:23:00.005-04:00

I wasn't planning on watching the Republican National Convention tonight. I really wasn't. I turned on the TV, though, and there it was. It was like a car wreck. I couldn't look away.

Grandpa Fred Thompson had the honor of following up Dubya's speech, given via satellite, because, you know, he had to deal with the aftermath of Hurricane Gustav and all. Mofo stayed on vacation in Crawford for three days while New Orleans drowned under Katrina three years ago, but he's on the job this time, dammit!

Ah, Fred. Seems just like yesterday that you were the GOP's savior. Now you're a hatchet man put out there to misstate the facts, lie outright, and put forth irrelevancies, like this one about Sarah Palin:

She is from a small town, with small town values, but that's not good enough for those folks who are attacking her and her family.

Well no, Fred, being from a small town and having small town values is not a qualification to become Vice President as far as I know. He continues:

...give me a tough Alaskan Governor who has taken on the political establishment in the largest state in the Union -- and won -- over the beltway business-as-usual crowd any day of the week.

Uh, Fred, you do realize that Palin directed fundraising for indicted Senator Ted Stevens' 527 five years ago? Yep, those are sure some anti-establishment credentials right there!

She has run a municipality and she has run a state.

She ran a municipality of 7,000 people. Badly. She has run "the largest state in the Union," as Fred says (it's the 47th in terms of human population, but damn those moose are tough to control!), and couldn't avoid an ethics scandal in two and a half years in office. That's real reform!

Thompson then described in detail the hell that McCain went through in Vietnam- and it's indeed a harrowing story. The ability to keep one's mouth shut while getting brutally tortured, however, does not qualify one to be President, and may have in fact led to the kind of mental instability that, oh, led him to pick Sarah Palin as his veep, for instance.

The first implication, of course, is that John McCain puts "country first." If he was willing to die for his country, then he'll certainly always make decisions that he feels are in the best interests of the United States. The other implication is that Barack Obama will not. The evidence for this? Not a shred.

Grandpa Fred trumpeted McCain's support of The Surge, "and now we are winning," he said. Now, ask Thompson or any other person in that arena what winning actually means and they'd give you a blank stare, or say something to the effect of "defeating terrorism." You know, because all those Shiites, I mean Sunnis- which is which again?- are plotting to destroy America.

When Thompson talked about balancing the budget, he very well could have been making an argument for Barack Obama. Every Republican President since 1980 has presided over a growing national debt. The budget only got balanced when Slick Willie was fornicating in the Oval Office.

When Mr. Aqua Velva claimed that he and McCain helped to rebuild the military, I ask, rebuild it from what? We had a bigger military in the 1990s than the rest of the world combined, as we still do today. In addition, military spending as a percentage of GDP shrunk throughout the 1990s; it was only after 9/11 that the Pentagon budget started to shoot back up.

Then there was this:

The respect he is given around the world is not because of a teleprompter speech designed to appeal to American critics abroad, but because of decades of clearly demonstrated character and statesmanship.

Barack Obama is given respect around the world because of a teleprompter speech? Really? Or could it have something to do with the fact that he's intelligent, that he understands the complexity of international relations, and that he sees the United States as a member of the world community rather than its overlord? And perhaps if we had fewer critics abroad, Fred, we'd have more cooperation in preventing terrorism, which would make us all safer.

Terrorists, rogue nations developing nuclear weapons, an increasingly belligerent Russia...

All exacerbated by the asinine policies of the Bush Administration, which McCain wants to continue.

Spending at home that threatens to bankrupt future generations. For decades an expanding government ... increasingly wasteful and too often incompetent.

Once again: spending increased under Reagan, and it increased under both Bushes. He's offering an indictment of the Republican Party!

Well, at least he recognized that this is a history-making election:

History making in that he is the most liberal, most inexperienced nominee to ever run for President. Apparently they believe that he would match up well with the history making, Democrat controlled Congress. History making because it's the least accomplished and most unpopular Congress in our nation's history.

The "most liberal" label was from a biased ranking system in a biased publication. The most inexperienced moniker is an outright lie; Abraham Lincoln served 8 years in the Illinois legislature and 2 in the House of Representatives. Ronald Reagan served 8 years as governor of California. Dubya served 6 years as Texas governor. Obama's 12 years in public life surpasses all of them.

We need a President who understands that you don't make citizens prosperous by making Washington richer, and you don't lift an economic downturn by imposing one of the largest tax increases in American history.

Well, Washington is most definitely not rich, Fred, as our current and projected budget deficits demonstrate. And this "tax increase" that he refers to is actually a rollback of the Bush tax cuts, which preceded the current economic downturn. The bottom line is that 95% of Americans get a tax cut under Obama; McCain pledges to continue the same trickle-down nonsense that has placed an increased burden on middle-class families for the past three decades.

They tell you they are not going to tax your family.No, they're just going to tax "businesses"! So unless you buy something from a "business", like groceries or clothes or gasoline ... or unless you get a paycheck from a big or a small "business", don't worry ... it's not going to affect you. They say they are not going to take any water out of your side of the bucket, just the "other" side of the bucket! That's their idea of tax reform.

Actually, Obama will give businesses tax incentives to reinvest in the United States, will eliminate corporate loopholes for oil and gas companies, and will ensure that corporations pay their fair share of the tax burden. As far as the bucket analogy goes, the Republican idea of tax reform is to take water out of your kids' and grandkids' buckets so that they'll die of thirst. Brilliant!

And we need a President who doesn't think that the protection of the unborn or a newly born baby is above his pay grade.

Had to throw those fundamentalist freaks some red meat, didn't ya, Fred? I'd say we need a President who doesn't think that the protection of a woman's right to privacy is above his pay grade. The "newly born" nonsense is debunked here, and is a perfect example of the kind of despicable fear tactics the right resorts to when it's desperate.

Grandpa Fred delivered a speech bursting at the seams with manipulations and outright lies- absolutely fitting at a convention for a presidential candidate that promises nothing but more of the same.

The One Reason Palin's Kid's Pregnancy Might Matter

2008-09-01T22:26:00.004-04:00

Frankly, Sarah Palin's daughter being knocked up is not an issue for public scrutiny. I recognize the absurdity in the GOP pushing for abstinence-only education given the circumstances, but I wholeheartedly agree with Barack Obama's stance that this is a matter for Palin and her family to deal with privately...

...unless the entire thing turns out to be a cover-up in which Bristol Palin was actually the mother of Trig Palin, said to be Sarah Palin's son, and that the statement today was meant to cover up the fact that Gov. Palin was lying about the situation all along to protect her image and her political career. If that highly unlikely soap opera-esque scenario is found to be the case, Palin will be removed from the ticket and McCain will look like an even bigger moron than he already does.

The much better story from the day was Palin's quote that if the Pledge of Allegiance with its "under God" clause "was good enough for the founding fathers, then it's good enough for me." The Pledge of Allegiance was written in 1892 (by a Christian Socialist, no less). The phrase "under God" wasn't added until 1954.

Is ignorance a requirement to join the Republican Party?

The Apprentice: White House Edition

2008-08-31T20:12:00.006-04:00

Let's imagine for a moment that We the People of the United States are the Board of Directors of a large organization that's seeking a new chief executive. We have narrowed the search down to two candidates, each of whom we'll be bringing in for a final interview.

John McCain is a graduate of the United States Naval Academy, where he finished third-to-last in his class. He went on to serve in the Vietnam War, where he was shot down in combat, captured, and held as a POW for five years. Upon returning to the United States, McCain continued to serve in the Navy as a captain until 1981. He won election in 1982 to the United States House of Representatives from Arizona's 1st congressional district, and then took the US Senate seat of Barry Goldwater when Goldwater retired in 1986. During the 1990s he earned a reputation as a "maverick," working with Senator Russ Feingold to craft campaign finance reform legislation that would ban soft money; the bill failed to pass during the nineties but eventually secured passage in 2002. In his 2000 campaign for the White House, McCain toured the early primary states on a bus nicknamed the "Straight Talk Express," held town hall meetings with voters, and developed a reputation for unusual candor with the media. Eventually unsuccessful in this run for the Republican nomination, he returned to the Senate where he continued to break with Republican party orthodoxy by opposing the Bush tax cut plan. He co-sponsored the Climate Stewardship Act with Democratic Senator Joe Lieberman, and added an amendment to the 2005 defense appropriations bill banning torture of suspected terrorists, although he voted against a bill in February 2008 that would ban the use of waterboarding in interrogations of terrorism suspects. He won a close and hard-fought campaign for the Republican presidential nomination in the spring of 2008.

Barack Obama is a graduate of Columbia University and Harvard Law School, and former president of the Harvard Law Review. He has experience as a community organizer and worked at a law firm focusing on civil rights litigation and neighborhood economic development. He wrote a critically-acclaimed memoir of his life entitled Dreams from my Father in 1994. He was elected in 1996 to the Illinois State Senate, where he worked in a bipartisan manner to provide health care to children, reform the death penalty, and enact ethics legislation. He ascended to the United States Senate in 2004, where he co-sponsored bipartisan legislation to limit conventional weapon proliferation, and took a lead role in securing passage of the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007. After declaring his candidacy for President in February 2007, his campaign utilized innovations in online fundraising and organizing to defeat a well-entrenched frontrunner to earn the Democratic nomination.

On paper, McCain gets the edge in terms of experience, and his time in the Navy points to a readiness to serve as commander-in-chief of the armed forces. Obama has impressive academic credentials, and the efficiency of his primary election victory points to an ability to manage a large organization. Both men have a reputation for independent thinking and an ability to work across party lines to get legislation passed.

Then you interview them.

Your first impression of John McCain is that he is old. He is 72 and has had bouts of skin cancer. He lacks detailed policy knowledge on the economy, claiming that he "is not an expert" in this area, adding that the current economic downturn may be "psychological." He states, falsely, that Iran is training al Qaeda operatives and sending them into Iraq to kill American soldiers. He refers repeatedly to Czechoslovakia, a country that has not existed for 15 years. At one point in the interview, there's a long pause, he forgets what you've asked him and so you have to repeat your query. Asked about who he would have serve as his vice-president, he names the governor of Alaska, who before that was mayor of a town called Wasilla, pop. 7000. You're not quite sure that this guy has all of his marbles.

Obama is 47 years old, in his prime. He can discuss every issue you ask him about at length, and he clearly possesses an inquisitive and thoughtful mind. He is a remarkable communicator; he speaks in a calm, measured tone, occasionally adding striking rhetorical flourishes. He lays out a clear vision for what he would like to see our organization accomplish in the next four years, and offers detailed explanations of how he would accomplish it. He speaks with conviction of the principles and beliefs that led him into public life, and these principles can be seen in the policies that he proposes implementing. He is clearly ambitious, not just on behalf of himself, but on behalf of his country.

There is little question of who to hire. The experience of McCain is trumped by Obama's wisdom. And while McCain has military experience, Obama's superior knowledge of foreign policy issues is far more relevant to the job description. While McCain proposes economic policies very similar to those that have helped to lead the United States into recession, Obama suggests broad middle-class tax cuts and targeted government spending to stimulate the economy, especially in the area of renewable energy. Most importantly, Obama offers a vivid, resonant, evolved vision of where he would like to guide the United States of America, and he clearly possesses the intelligence, persuasive ability, and drive to make it a reality.

I'm All for Civility, But...

2008-08-30T08:29:00.003-04:00

It's really hard to be civil when you're dealing with idiots. The reactions to the Sarah Palin nomination over at the National Review Online are just plain ignorant. There is nothing I have a harder time dealing with than stupidity.

This post from Mona Charen is so rich that I just have to post the whole thing:

I'm getting tons of mail like this:
Sarah is real!!! What a fabulous contrast with Obama, who is not real. Sarah is from America. Obama is not.

Sarah gives me hope for America, because of who she is, not because of any group she "represents."

More valuable than pearls is a woman who likes to fish and hunt.
Consider that after last night's extravaganza we are all excitedly discussing the Republican team. That is a political feat of no small significance. Beginning to think the McCain folks can play this game.

Sarah is from America and Obama is not??? What?!?!?!?! And how does a woman who knows zero about foreign policy give anyone hope for America? This is from a member of a party that has done nothing but drive it down our throats that they are the folks best suited to keep this country safe from terrorists. And regarding the fishing and hunting bit, what does that have to do with...anything?

People like this scare the hell out of me.

Sarah Palin?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

2008-08-29T16:10:00.003-04:00

I just can't get over this. This is absolutely the most incomprehensible political decision I have encountered in the eight or so years that I've been engaged with politics. In an election in which the winner will inevitably have to deal with some extremely difficult foreign policy scenarios, John McCain has selected someone who has zero foreign policy experience. I want some of what the McCain camp is smoking. It has to be really good.

Add the fact that Palin is facing an ethics investigation for having Alaska's Public Safety Commissioner demoted (he didn't accept the lesser position so it was basically a firing) because he refused to fire a state trooper who happened to be the ex-husband of none other than Palin's sister. Seriously. You couldn't make this stuff up.

The only possible explanation for this is that the McCain camp is going after Hillary Clinton die-hards, but how insulting is it for McCain to think that he's going to get those voters into his corner because he selected a person with a vagina as his veep? I can just see the new campaign slogan now: McCain-Palin: Because She Has a Vagina!

Mark my words: this will go down as one of the greatest campaign blunders in the history of presidential politics.

Sarah Palin???

2008-08-29T11:16:00.003-04:00

For a guy who likes to trumpet his judgment, John McCain sure makes some pretty bizarre decisions. Josh Marshall explains the idiocy here.

Greatness.

2008-08-28T23:45:00.001-04:00

80,000 people in a football stadium, watching a presidential candidate give an acceptance speech. Absolutely mind-boggling.

Obama slammed eight years of Bush Administration policies and hit John McCain harder than he ever has. "We love this country too much to let the next 4 years look like the last 8." "What does it say about your judgment when you think that George Bush is right 90% of the time?" Indeed.

He defined American progress as opportunity for middle-class Americans. He told the story of his grandparents and related this back to the American Dream. He talked about his values. He explained what change would mean in an Obama Administration. And he made it clear that his candidacy is not about him; it's about the tens of millions of people who are fed up with the status quo and are looking for a new direction for America.

I'll have to look at the speech one more time when the buzz of the evening wears off, but Obama did very well tonight. King's dream has come full circle.

Tears of Joy.

2008-08-28T23:16:00.004-04:00

I actually cried watching the film that preceded Obama's acceptance speech. The cynic in me says that it was a propaganda piece. My heart, however, was overwhelmed by how absolutely American Obama's story truly is. 45 years after Martin Luther King Jr.'s address on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, a black man named Barack Obama, born in Hawaii to a mother from Kansas and a father from Kenya, accepted the Democratic nomination for President of the United States. That's progress. We are evolving as human beings. We are opening the doors of opportunity to an ever-expanding number of our brothers and sisters. There is no better reason to celebrate. Drink yourself a PBR and pomegranate juice, yell at the top of your lungs, hop in bed with your loved one and make babies. The kids are alright.

Butterflies.

2008-08-28T21:58:00.002-04:00

We witness history tonight, and that's not hyperbole. This is an epoch in our evolution as a nation. I am so thankful to be alive to witness this.

Barney Smith Before Smith Barney

2008-08-28T21:43:00.002-04:00

Having average Americans that have gotten a raw deal out of the past eight years speak on their own behalf was by far the most powerful segment of the convention thus far. Genius.

This Feeling in the Pit of my Stomach

2008-08-28T15:07:00.003-04:00

I've had an uneasy feeling throughout the convention this week, and Glenn Greenwald helped me clarify its origins today with a sharp indictment of the Democrats' failings in Denver.

This passage particularly stands out:

Republicans often use their Conventions as an opportunity not just to feed voters what they want to hear but to induce them to see the world the way the GOP wants them to see it. Even if it's true that the voters who Democrats are targeting care little about these issues -- and that's a precarious assumption -- the Convention is still an opportunity to persuade them why they should care and, at the very least, to fuel Democratic resolve to win and to demonstrate to non-core-Democratic voters that there are political values that Democrats actually "stand for."

This is what Drew Westen is referring to when he discusses "narratives," and what George Lakoff calls "framing." These ideas are not all that complicated. Coordinating speeches in such a way as to develop these narratives and frames would not be overly difficult. And yet there have been little more than vague hints of this at the convention. This is a major failure on the part of the Democratic Party, one that they fall prey to in election after election. More important than the lack of a coherent message, however, has been the unwillingness of the Democrats to take the gloves off:

More politically damaging still is the absence of any truly stinging attacks on John McCain. Even Joe Biden's speech -- billed as the "attack dog" event -- almost completely avoided any criticisms of McCain the Person, who will emerge from the four days here as a Wonderful, Honorable, Courageous Man -- a friend to Democrats and Republicans alike -- who just happens to be wrong on some issues...

The GOP assaults on Barack Obama will be -- have already been -- even more vicious and personalized, which means by the end of their Convention next week, John McCain will be, by all accounts, an honor-bound, principled and courageous patriot (who, at worst, is wrong on some issues), while Barack Obama will be some vaguely foreign, weak, appeasing, super-ambitious, exotic, empty-headed, borderline un-American liberal extremist.

Amen. I wrote last week that Barack Obama needs to stop approaching this election according to what he wants it to be, and acknowledge what it is. This week has signaled that he, and the rest of the Democratic Party as well, is unwilling to acknowledge the lengths to which they have to go to defeat the Republican attack machine. Obama is selling Change We Can Believe In. He needs to sell Change People Will Vote For. And I'm just not sure that he's accomplishing that.

That's More Like It

2008-08-26T21:18:00.015-04:00

My original post on tonight's convention festivities was written before I had seen not only Hillary Clinton's speech, but Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer's as well, not to mention Dennis Kucinich's. I had been underwhelmed by much of the convention to this point; Steny Hoyer came off like a used car salesman, Kathleen Sebelius evoked a talking corpse, and Bob Casey Jr., despite a good "four more months" line, did a good impersonation of a piece of cardboard.

There were more bright spots than duds tonight, however, led by Hillary Clinton's speech. She redeemed herself tonight, and any remaining Hillary holdouts can no longer be blamed on her. They're just craaaaazy, like this Ann Coulter look-alike:

Yeah, she's an "independent." Check out her website and see if you still believe that: www. clintons4mccain.com. That's quality right there.

Mark Warner was another bright spot of the night, espousing the message of equal opportunity as central to the identity of America. He framed Democrats as the party of the future and Republicans as the party of the past. He put forth the idea that Democrats possess the vision to harness emerging technologies to put Americans back to work and strengthen our position in the global economy. He made the crucial point that "we're all in this together." That's a message that Democrats need to hit repeatedly. Warner is an inspiring speaker, and it's a safe bet that he'll be a frontrunner for the White House in the very near future.

Governor Brian Schweitzer did a fantastic job on three fronts: he portrayed Democrats as the party of good governance, he showcased the appeal that Democrats have started to build in the Mountain West, and best of all, he tore John McCain a new one.

Dennis Kucinich, with his plea to "wake up, America!" was rousing, if also a bit comedic; Kucinich is a funny little man, after all. I love him, though. If we lived in an ideal America, that funny little man would be our President.

Democrats started to effectively define themselves tonight, and more importantly, they started to define John McCain. They need to do some more of that during the convention's last two nights.

Are Hipsters the End of Western Civilization?

2008-08-24T23:49:00.005-04:00

This article from the "culturejamming" publication Adbusters posits that the answer is an apathetic, detached, and probably ironic 'yes.'

The first question to ask here is "what exactly is a hipster?" I have been pondering this question since the beginning of this decade (the 00s? the Zeroes?) when I visited Williamsburg, Brooklyn with my best friend and roommate at the time, alias Hank Moody. There was a lot of talk about this subculture of people called hipsters, and there seemed to be a few superficial characteristics of these folks that could be easily deduced:

1) An interest in retro fashion, preferably from a thrift store and always with in ironic twist of some sort, i.e. "I'm wearing a John Deere trucker hat even though I just graduated from Sarah Lawrence College and will never own a John Deere tractor or drive a truck."

2) A fondness for "indie" music, which in and of itself is a difficult term to define. Its origins lie with the independent music labels of the late 80s/early 90s like Matador and Sub Pop that produced records by bands such as Mudhoney, Pavement, and yes, Nirvana. The virtue of independent music was that it wasn't beholden to any corporate interest trying to steer the direction of the music for financial gain. This ideal of artistic integrity still lies at the heart of indie music, even though many so-called indie bands are distributed on major labels nowadays. In any case, along with artistic integrity, hipsters valued (and still value) obscurity in their music, as in "I was totally into the Strokes when they put out The Modern Age EP and played at Arlene's Grocery, but now that they're on MTV they suck."

3) Avoidance of any societally respectable job. Coffeeshops, waiting tables, all bartending all seemed to be popular methods of paying the bills, as these left enough intellectual/creative energy to play music, create art, write literature, etc.

4) An absolute refusal to refer to oneself as a hipster. The term 'hipster' is not one of self-identification. It is a term that people who dress like hipsters, listen to hipster music, and live in hipster neighborhoods use to refer derogatorily to other such people.

These were my impressions back then, and they still hold true today for the most part as far as I can tell. Now, as to the question of whether or not these individuals signal "the end of western civilization." Obviously, the answer to this is an unequivocal 'no,' but the self-righteous stupidity of this article just might be something we should worry about.

Author Douglas Haddow's main thesis:

An artificial appropriation of different styles from different eras, the hipster represents the end of Western civilization – a culture lost in the superficiality of its past and unable to create any new meaning. Not only is it unsustainable, it is suicidal. While previous youth movements have challenged the dysfunction and decadence of their elders, today we have the “hipster” – a youth subculture that mirrors the doomed shallowness of mainstream society.

Various countercultures of the post-WWII era appropriated styles previously associated with other social movements. Hippies, for example, wore clothing inspired by Native Americans; did all or even most hippies do this because of the symbolism involved in it? Of course not; they grew their hair long and wore beads and moccasins because it was fashionable to do so. The fashion does not define the culture; it's merely a vehicle for self-definition and a signal to those whom one identifies with.

Meanwhile, many so-called hipsters positively challenge the dysfunction and decadence of their elders by refusing to buy into the materialistic, consumeristic, corporate-driven culture handed to them by their parents. This is one of the reasons hipsters buy their clothing at thrift stores, ride bikes (fixed-gear and otherwise), and eat vegetarian diets. Perhaps there are indeed a number of hipsters who "attend art parties, take lo-fi pictures with analog cameras, ride their bikes to night clubs and sweat it up at nouveau disco-coke parties." I would assert that the author has spent far too much time in Willamsburg, Brooklyn; the number of people he observes in order to draw his conclusions is so small it renders his assertions meaningless.

Haddow concludes:

We are a lost generation, desperately clinging to anything that feels real, but too afraid to become it ourselves. We are a defeated generation, resigned to the hypocrisy of those before us, who once sang songs of rebellion and now sell them back to us. We are the last generation, a culmination of all previous things, destroyed by the vapidity that surrounds us. The hipster represents the end of Western civilization – a culture so detached and disconnected that it has stopped giving birth to anything new.

Somebody get this guy some antidepressants. Who is the 'we' he's referring to? My generation is indeed struggling to fix the mess created by our parents and grandparents, but we are not lost, we are not resigned, we're not detached, and we're not disconnected. There are quite a few 20-and-30-something people who are dedicating their lives to ensure the sustainability of our society and our planet for future generations. Haddow decries the hipster's fondness for irony; the greatest irony of all is that he has seemingly submitted to the sort of toxic cynicism that is one of the toughest obstacles to social progress. He is not part of any solution, and so he inevitably is part of the problem.

Finally...

2008-08-23T00:28:00.002-04:00

Obviously, someone over at the Obama campaign has been reading my blog, because they finally decided to hit back this week. There was an article at the NYT on Wednesday discussing the Obama campaign's use of negative ads in targeted markets. Then came McCain's "how many houses do I own?" gaffe, which opened the flood gates and will form the basis of a powerful theme: that McCain is out of touch with the concerns of middle-class voters, and that he has been outrageously hypocritical in trying to label Obama elitist. The first version of the ad Obama ran on this issue was as follows:

This one left a bit too much inference up to the viewer, but the second one nails it:

Kaboom! In response, the McCain camp asked whether "a guy who worries about the price of arugula and thinks regular people 'cling' to guns and religion in the face of economic hardship really want to have a debate about who's in touch with regular Americans?" Ha!

Meanwhile, it's looking like Biden is going to be the veep pick, and I have to say I like it. Biden is an extremely smart guy, especially on matters of foreign policy, and he's also very blunt in his speech, which balances out Obama's more nuanced style quite well. This makes Biden a bit of a liability in terms of gaffes, but he's going to be an excellent attack dog against Republicans generally and McCain specifically. This speech he gave on the floor of the Senate will give you a taste of what I'm talking about:

Hells yeah. Obama Biden '08!

Arrrrrrrghhhhhh.

2008-08-19T23:02:00.007-04:00

It seems that I am not the only one who feels Obama needs to hit back harder and more directly in response to John McCain's attacks, as two pieces at the Huffington Post, found here and here demonstrate.

Obama has maintained an approach of remaining above the fray, but he's not above it. He's getting punched in the face and kicked in the balls and yet he's trying to maintain a calm, rational demeanor. Memo to the Obama campaign: a calm rational demeanor is not what's called for when you're getting kicked in the nuts. Obama's still using the line that McCain is resorting to "the politics of the past." The problem there is that in the last two presidential elections, that school of politics has worked pretty well for Republicans. In both 2000 and 2004, the refusal of Al Gore and John Kerry to address Republican lies about them had a major impact on the outcome of those elections. In Gore's case, the smear focused on Gore's trustworthiness, that he said outlandish things like claiming that he invented the Internet. With Kerry, it was elevated to such a level that it was actually given its own verb- Swift Boating.

The next week will be one of the most crucial of the campaign in terms of Obama defining himself in the eyes of the electorate. What he fails to say may end up having a much greater impact on voters' opinions of him than the most grandiose rhetoric he can come up with.

This is What Democracy Looks Like

2008-08-19T03:58:00.004-04:00

I volunteered for Obama on Saturday in Cary, a sprawling suburbia between Durham and Raleigh; I've decided to focus my volunteering efforts there since Durham seems to be flooded with volunteers and Cary will be much more of a swing area. My task was to register voters, since expanding the electorate represents a key aspect of Obama's strategy. The location: directly outside the entrance to Wal-Mart.

My fellow volunteer and I had to maintain that we were non-partisan, since Wal-Mart, or most other businesses for that matter, tend to frown upon overtly political activities being associated with their stores. My most interesting conversation of the morning came when an older woman, probably about 75 years old, asked if there were going to be ways for seniors without transportation to make it to the polls on election day. I said that there would be, and that she could contact the Obama office to get more information. "Oh, you just said a bad word," she said. Her son evidently lives in Chicago and "hasn't got a good word to say about Obama." Her son's main complaint seems to have been the fact that Obama has been largely absent from the Senate for the past two years because of his presidential bid. I encouraged her to look into McCain's attendance record in the Senate during that same time period to see how it compares. She then said, "maybe you can clarify something for me that I saw on the news the other day- they said that Obama wasn't even born in the United States, that he was born in Indonesia." I said that this wasn't true, that he was born in Hawaii and grew up there and in Indonesia. "Is it true his mother was white? Not that I have problem with the coloreds or anything..." "Yes, his mother was white," I said. Her bus came and she had to be on her way. Not a moment too soon.

The rest of the morning, in response to the question "Are you registered to vote at your current address?" I encountered blank stares, people hurrying past without a word while diverting their eyes to the ground, a simple "I'm registered," most of the time accompanied by a somewhat uncomfortable smile, and my favorite, "no." "Would you like to register?" "No." "Well, have a nice day!"

I was out there for a solid two-and-a-half hours and I didn't register a single person. My partner registered five people, one of whom was a Republican, and another who wanted to change his party affiliation to "unaffiliated." In any case, our organizer had set a goal for each of us to register 12 people. That was way too high to begin with, but the morning could not have been judged a success by any standard.

During the afternoon I worked in the office organizing a volunteer database and fiddling around with the Voter Activation Network that the campaign is using. I made arrangements to head back to Cary next weekend. Call me sadistic.

It's Them Russians!

2008-08-14T07:53:00.002-04:00

John McCain has come out aggressively in Georgia's corner in its conflict with Russia, which makes sense because a) his adviser on the conflict has made a ton of money lobbying for Georgia, and b) Georgia's president, Mikheil Saakashvili is about as insane and inept as John McCain would be as President of the United States. McCain feels a natural affinity for such an oblivious imbecile.

The whole conflict, after all, started because Saakashvili essentially invited Russia to intervene last week when he ordered a military offensive to retake the South Ossetian capital, Tskhinvali. South Ossetia has resisted Georgian control since the breakup of the Soviet Union; nevertheless, when Saakashvili came to power in 2003 he vowed to "regain" control of South Ossetia. On one level, this is a conflict about self-determination. South Ossetians are not Georgians, and they do not want to be Georgians, as a 2006 independence referendum that got 99% support from voters demonstrated.

On another level, though, this war is about oil and geopolitics. The Caucasus region is rich in oil reserves; oil produced in Azerbaijan passes through Georgia on its way to the Mediterranean, where it then makes its way to Europe and the US. If that oil can't go through Georgia, it has to pass through Russia. The Bush Administration was clearly opposed to Saakashvili escalating the conflict with South Ossetia; they knew that Russia would respond in a way that would expose the limits of American and European influence in the region. Russia responded, and all Bush and company could do was decry the "disproportionate" nature of Russian force, with Cheney offering a vague warning that for Russia to continue its military campaign would harm its relationship with Washington.

McCain meanwhile, has decided that perhaps it's time to bring back some Cold War rhetoric and make the Russians into The Enemy. If John McCain were President today, we may very well be moving towards World War III. I fail to see how ratcheting up the belligerence before a war-weary electorate benefits McCain; of course, more folks probably watched the Russia-Georgia beach volleyball match the other day than have read a single word about this war. That sort of ignorance presents a much greater threat to the long-term prospects of the United States than Russia's ascendancy or a disruption of oil supplies ever could.

The Roots of Political Apathy

2008-08-11T08:42:00.005-04:00

My last post got me thinking about the underlying causes of citizen ignorance and apathy. Books exist about this subject, most notably E.J. Dionne's Why Americans Hate Politics, published way back in the pre-Internet era of 1991. Your humble blogger has not read this tome as of yet, but you can be assured that it is near the top of The List.

In any case, it's a widely accepted principle of political science that political socialization occurs primarily during childhood and young adulthood. Outside of the family, school is the place where young people are most likely to encounter issues of politics and governance. Unfortunately, our public schools, as presently constituted, encourage passivity. This is a major cause of political apathy in America, and one that has the most potential to be addressed through public action.

Think back to your experience in public schools: other than a few isolated exceptions, you sat in a room with 25 or 30 other kids. The teacher stood at the front of the room either lecturing or explaining an assignment that you didn't know the purpose of and that you had no choice or role in creating. There were countless rules to obey, many of which you couldn't quite figure the reason for, but that didn't matter, because once again, you didn't have any say in determining the rules. You understood that the best way to avoid trouble was to mind your business, not ruffle any feathers, and do what adults told you to do, even if you mumbled to yourself under your breath while doing it.

Educational leaders are gradually recognizing that a school system designed to create obedient factory workers during the industrial age is woefully inadequate in providing workers for a globally competitive information age. This is indeed a problem, but it highlights another problem as well: our schools emphasize the economic value of education far more than the social and civic value of education.

Our schools lack an institutional commitment to shaping clear-thinking, passionate, engaged citizens. Present-day administrators and teachers, of course, were educated in schools that lacked this very focus; it's not a surprise that a significant number of them are continuing on with the status quo. Parents, too, were educated in schools that encouraged conformity, passivity, and blind allegiance. Thus, they do not demand better public education. Their children will receive the same quality of education they did, and the cycle will begin again when the children of this generation have their own children.

While there are many excellent teachers who are committed to the ideal of educating independent thinkers, without a system-wide focus, progress will be a strenuous uphill battle. That is just one of the herculean tasks before educational reformers in 21st century America. The focus, commitment, and patience of these leaders will have a significant impact on the path our nation takes moving forward.

The Lure and Myth of Libertarianism

2008-08-11T07:48:00.004-04:00

The Ron Paul phenomenon this election cycle has highlighted the appeal of libertarian philosophy to a significant number of Americans, particularly young tech-savvy ones (Paul's campaign wouldn't have even been a blip on the screen without these folks). The main appeal of libertariansim is its simplicity; whatever social problem you can think of, government is the cause of it, and so the solution is to get rid of the government. Folks don't have jobs? It's high taxes that are leading businesses to lay people off- cut the taxes and people will have jobs! Better yet, get rid of the minimum wage, and people will have even more jobs! People don't have health care? If the government just stopped interfering with the free market, everyone would have the medicine they need! The environment is getting raped? The government is the biggest polluter in the land! If we just got rid of those parasites, we'd live in a veritable Eden!

The key flaw behind all of this is that libertarians consider the government to be separate from rather than an extension of the will of the People. For all his cradling of the Constitution, Ron Paul neglects to note that the Constitution begins with the phrase "We the People." We the People own the government. The problem is not the government; it is the fact that We the People are not well-informed, that We are not engaged, and that We do not hold government accountable. It's remarkable that approval ratings for Congress hover around the 20% range but that reelection rates for the House of Representatives are in the mid-to-high 90s. A talking point on a major television network recently focused on the "sour mood" of the country and how outraged people are at the government. The people should be outraged at themselves for allowing such a ridiculous state of affairs to develop.

Gas prices are a great example of how absolutely stupid people are when it comes to public policy. Gas prices are high, at least in part, because of high demand. Reduce demand, and prices will drop. One of the great ironies that I have witnessed recently was at a gas station, where someone with no passengers in their car filled up at $4 a gallon. The bumper sticker on the car: "Gas Prices Stink." So stop paying $4 a gallon for gas! Carpool. Ride a bike. Or better yet, demand quality public transportation from your elected officials so that everyone can get where they need to go affordably. Demand that the government encourage development of renewable, sustainable sources of energy through direct funding and tax incentives. Phil Gramm was right: we are a nation of whiners, but not in the sense that he meant it. We need to stop lamenting how terrible things are and do something about it. We won't, though. We're too busy listening to TV commentators tell us how pissed off we are.