The World According to Me

Much has been said about Sarah Palin’s qualifications for Vice President.  Lately, very little of it has been positive.  Between the McCain camps sequestering her from the media, and two horrendous interviews with relative lightweights (ABC’s Charles Gibson, and CBS’ Katie Couric), not to mention her own flubs (recently on a stop in Philadelphia she actually agreed with Obama’s position to attack Pakistan), she’s become a walking punchline.  You know it’s bad when Tina Fey can do a spot on immitation of Palin using her exact words and get laughs.  Even conservatives have started jumping ship, some even suggesting that she step down.

With all of this, I’ve started to put on my nefarious conspiracy hat and wonder.  Could this be a major “fake-out” by the McCain campaign?  It’s impossible for me to believe that someone who’s held a position as high as Palin’s could be so incredibly ditzy (put kindly).  So impossible, in fact, that I’ve begun to wonder if this is by design.  Think about it.  They put on this air of cluelessness about her, lowering expectations of the media and the opposing campaign, then come the debates and POW!  SHE TOTALLY NAILS IT.  Causing panic amongst the media and the Obama campaign, and causing an immediate (and probably irreversable) bump in the polls.

Of course the question that comes to mind is “Why?”  Why would McCain risk his standing in the polls (which has been on a steady slide for the past two weeks), and possibly the presidency for such an extreme political stunt?  Easy.  It’s his way.  McCain has been extremely adept at controlling the news cycle.  And what better way than to have everyone underestimate his VP pick only to have them humbled by her genius.  It would be a masterstroke of politics not seen since…well, ever.

Of course, I could be wrong and she really could be just what she seems…a complete AIRHEAD.  Like Freud said, “Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.”

Throughout this campaign, I’ve always believe that it would be young people who would drive this election.  They will be the ones who would decide who will be the next President, and ultimately the future of this country.  This past weekend confirmed that belief more than any other moment.

 

I was out to dinner with my Moms and my young niece, Raven.  Raven is 16 years old, but has been following this campaign as much as any adult I’ve ever spoken to (perhaps even more).  Granted, she has a typical teenager’s point of view of what’s happening in the campaign.  Her views shaped more by observation than experience, but that she actually had an informed opinion amazed me.  Myself, I don’t think I even knew what was happening when I was 16 (as I recall, Regan was halfway through his first term), and didn’t really care as I was more interested in surviving my tenure at
Germantown High School.  I would bet that she probably has a firmer grasp of the issues facing this country, and this election, than most adults, who’s opinions are shaped by quick sound-bites and non-issue issues (a.k.a. low-information voters).

 

While amazing, this is not unique.  This campaign has energized young people in ways we could not have expected even four years ago.  At the risk of exposing my very obvious bias, I credit the candidacy of Barack Obama.  He represents something that they are more inclined to embrace than their parents.  That is diversity.  The realization that anyone can strive to whatever they wish to be, regardless of their race, their background, or even their upbringing.  They have never known a nation where people were discriminated against based solely on their skin color, and that level of innocence is what inspires them to action.  Regardless of the outcome of this election, what has happened here will have a very real effect on future elections.  And future aspiring leaders will need to take notice.

 

Once again, Obama clears the bar.  Granted, no knock out punches here, no major gaffes, no gotchas.  It was as if they agreed to disagree.  But Obama was able to go toe to toe, which I think was what McCain was afraid of.  I’ll put this as a draw, which gives an advantage to Obama.

What I’m a little dissapointed in is that Obama had a clear opening to Palin’s “Bridge to Nowhere” when the topic was on earmarks and he didn’t take it.  Granted, it would have been a risk to attack Palin, but it was there and he should have taken it.

We’ll see what the polls say Monday.

Yet another shining example of evangelical hipocrisy.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26843836

So now McCain is trying desparately to postpone the first debate with Obama, and he’s trying to use the current financial crisis as an excuse.  As I observe the happenings of the past week, I’ve noticed that there’s a pattern emerging in the McCain campaign that becomes clearer as the campaign wears on.  They have painted Obama as the inexperienced neophyte, but then try to hold him responsible for everything wrong with DC (gas prices, financial crisis, etc.).  They constantly underestimate him, and he consistently exceeds their expectations. 

The inconvenient truth that they are unable to face is that the old Washington establishment (both Democrats and Republicans) are afraid of Barack Obama.  More generally, they are afraid of what he represents.  What he represents is the shifting of the balance of power that has been happening in this country for decades.  The old establishments that have held onto power throughout the history of this country are slowly becoming extinct.  Those who are left are desparately clinging to a fallen empire, and a new era is coming.  Even if Obama loses, it doesn’t mean the end of the ideas and the hope that he has started.  As with all things, their time is coming to an end.  The old guard is dying, and the actions of McCain/Palin and their GOP alies represent the final death throes of the fallen beast.

Much has been made, and much will be made of the issue of race in this political campaign.  One thing that has been made clear is that there are some who are voting against Senator Barrack Obama solely because of his race.  Now those people will argue that African-Americans who are voting for Obama are doing so solely because of his race, and they’d be right.  Likewise, women who supported Hillary Clinton (some of whom are voting for John McCain because of the selection of Sarah Palin as his running mate) did so because of her gender.  They would also be correct in that assessment.

 

But here’s the thing, and it’s the difference between voting out of pride and hope and voting out of hatred and fear.  Ask African-Americans why they are voting for Obama, and they will likely (and proudly) tell you that it is because he’s an African-American.  Ask many women why they supported
Clinton, and why they support Palin on the McCain ticket, and they will just as proudly tell you it is because they are women.  What people don’t seem to understand is that minorities and women take immense pride in their respective groups.  As a result, they tend to base their successes and failures vicariously though members of those groups.  Be they celebrities, sports figures, or politicians.

 

On the other hand, with Whites who are voting against Obama there is something totally different at work.  Note that I do not say “voting for McCain”, as I feel there is a difference between voting against someone and voting for someone.  To be sure, most people (Black, White, etc.) who are voting for John McCain are doing so for very valid reasons (not that I could possibly fathom what they are, but that’s beyond the scope of this post).  However, those who are voting against Obama aren’t doing so out of any degree of racial pride, but out of racial fear.  Not of what an Obama presidency would mean for America, but of what a Black president, any Black president (or any Black person in a position of authority) would mean for them personally.  And at the core of everything, what it represents is CHANGE from their status quo.  When Obama campaigned in PA during the primaries, he got it halfway right (though at the time being a Hillary supporter, I didn’t pay it much attention).  These people do cling to guns and religion, not out of bitterness, but out of fear.  The “bitterness” they feel is born out of that fear.  Bitterness towards Blacks, towards gays, towards immigrants, towards feminism, multiculturalism, intellectualism.  Anything that threatens that status quo.  The Republican party for the past 7 years have masterfully manipulated that fear to their advantage.  They used it to garner the support of 76% of the country for the Iraq war in 2002, and in 2004 they used it to get George W. Bush elected for a second term.

 

Obama’s campaign represents terra-incognita for America, bringing it face to face with its most intractable issue.  This is a moment for this country to finally have that “discussion on race” that we always talk about having whenever some celebrity behaves badly (i.e. Don Imus, Michael Richards).  More importantly, it is a chance for us to decide whether we allow fear (which is at the heart of most racial attitudes) to dictate where this country will head in the next four years, and perhaps the next generation.  It’s time to start talking.

Found this in the MSNBC First Read Blog.  Very interesting.
==========

From NBC’s Domenico Montanaro
Just how big is the proposed Wall Street bailout? Let’s look at how it compares to some other numbers…

– $700 billion: proposed Wall St. bailout
– $648 billion: GDP of Dominica. If the bailout were a country it would be the 210th largest GDP, larger than several island nations. 
– $580 billion: cost of Iraq war (so far)
– $515.4 billion: proposed 2009 Pentagon budget
– $315 billion: McCain’s nuclear energy plan
– $295 billion: amount Pentagon overspent original budgets by.
– $150 billion: Obama’s energy plan
– $50-$65 billion: Obama’s health care plan, per year
– $59.2 billion: proposed 2009 U.S. education budget
– $10 billion: McCain health care proposals, per year
– $38 million: Hank Paulson’s post-2004 salary as Chairman, CEO of Goldman Sachs
– $43,371: Median household income in Ohio (2004)

=========

Average Americans taking it in the ass, priceless.

Both John McCain and Barack Obama are preparing for this Friday’s debate on Foreign Policy.  Admittedly this is McCain’s perceived strength and Obama’s perceived weakness.  There is some rumor that team Obama is going to employ a strategy of trying to get McCain to blow his cool.  I doubt that is the case.  Obama simply can’t bring himself to sink so low (consider his rather tepid response to the attack ads in his direction), and contrary to indications this past week McCain isn’t quite that stupid enough to take the bait.  Like the recent economic crisis, this is going to be a test of who is going to come out looking more presidential.  The bar is going to be set low for Obama and he’ll probably clear it easily.  My take is this will end in a draw, which will benefit Obama.  If he maintains the calm, thoughtful, presidential air he’s maintained this week, and if the finiancial crisis is still front and center in the news cycle, he should continue to see a bump in the polls.  This is crucial.  As I’ve written elsewhere, he needs at least a 10% lead come election day or he’ll lose, given that most people are giving the politically correct answers to the pollsters rather than the truth.  Looking forward to Friday.

As it happens to most of us every four years around this time, I’ve become a bit of a ploitical junkie.  Most of the time I spend reading the First Read blog on MSNBC.  I came across this comment on one of the blog postings and thought I’d share (credit to the author at the bottom).
==========
Now this is an interesting look at the candidates…

I’m a little confused. Let me see  if I have this straight…..

* If you grow up in Hawaii, raised  by your grandparents, you’re “exotic, different.”

* Grow up in Alaska eating mooseburgers,  a  quintessential American story.

* If your name is Barack you’re a radical, unpatriotic  Muslim.

* Name your  kids Willow, Trig and Track, you’re a maverick.

* Graduate from Harvard Law  School and you are unstable.

* Attend 5 different small colleges before graduating, you’re  well grounded.

* If  you spend 3 years as a brilliant community organizer, become the first black  President of the Harvard Law Review, create a voter registration drive that  registers 150,000 new voters, spend 12 years as a Constitutional Law  professor,  spend 8 years as a State Senator representing a district  with over 750,000 people, become chairman of the state Senate’s Health and  Human Services committee, spend 4 years in the United States Senate  representing a state of  13 million people while sponsoring 131 bills  and serving on the Foreign Affairs, Environment and Public Works and  Veteran’s Affairs committees, you don’t have any real leadership  experience.

* If your  total resume is: local weather girl,  4 years on the city council and 6  years as the mayor of a town with less than 7,000 people, 20 months as the  governor of a state with only 650,000 people, then you’re qualified to  become the country’s second highest ranking  executive.

* If you  have been married to the same woman for 19 years while raising 2 beautiful  daughters, all within Protestant churches, you’re not a real Christian.

* If you cheated on your first wife with a rich heiress, and left your disfigured  wife and married the heiress the next month, you’re a  Christian.

* If you  teach responsible, age appropriate sex education, including the proper use  of birth control, you are eroding the fiber of  society.

* If , while  governor, you staunchly advocate abstinence only, with no other option in  sex education in your state’s school system while your unwed teen daughter  ends up pregnant, you’re very responsible.  

* If your wife is a Harvard graduate lawyer who  gave up a position in a prestigious law firm to work for the betterment of  her inner city community, then gave that up to raise a family, your family’s values don’t represent America’s.

* If you’re husband is nicknamed “First Dude”,  with at  least one DWI conviction and no college education, who didn’t register to  vote until age 25 and once was a member of a group that advocated the  secession of Alaska from the USA, your family is extremely admirable.

OK, much  clearer now

You should call McCain the de-regulator/regulator/de-regulator considering how he’s done a flip-flop-backflip on the issue all in the same week.  He started out for de-regulation, then decided it was a bad idea when he saw the stock market tank, now that it’s recovered and Bush (who’s actually decided to do his job for once) ordered a trillion dollar bail out (that we’ll be paying for, btw), he now wants to de-regulate again.

And exactly what is McCain’s plan anyway.  Obama has laid out at least some of his plan, and has decided on the wise course of action of holding off until he sees what the experts come up with.  While McCain is shouting at clouds and calling for people to be fired and blaming Obama for the whole thing.  That’s the plan for a man who HAS NO PLAN!

AMERICA PLEASE WAKE UP!  STOP VOTING WITH YOUR SKIN COLOR AND VOTE WITH YOUR HEADS!  DO WHAT’S RIGHT FOR A CHANGE!

Obama/Biden ‘08!