Obama electric!

I had one of my occasional dips into the democratic political process today – I attended a rally in Newark, NJ for the reelection of Jon Corzine as governor of New Jersey, with Loretta Weingberg, from my town, as Lieutenant Governor.  The wait outside was tedious, but we got to the head of the line with three lovely young ladies we happened to meet, all of them dressed to the nines, and with VIP tickets.

Eventually, we got in, and we watched the entertainment while we waited.  We ended up sitting next to the girls, all of whom are from Kenya it turns out.  Loretta, Cory, and Jon gave their stump speeches, and then the main attraction was on -  Barak Obama.  The crowd went crazy – it was electric!  I had to laugh when he walked out – amazing to see him in the flesh rather than as a flickering image of a political celebrity.  We were only 150 feet away at the most.

He gave a good speech – a mixture of popular politics with some wit and humor.  He manages to weave in important ideas in a way that makes them seem popular, not something for only an elite.  He commented on how Corzine (and he) are mopping up a mess left by the previous administration, and that they don’t really mind doing that, except why do they (the Republicans) have to stand around and say things like:

“Uh, can you mop faster?  You’re not holding that mop right.  Why do you have to use a socialist mop?”  I thought that last bit was a good dig at the GOP, quite witty for an American political speech.

Dressed to the nines!

How much longer?

Working the crowd

Still waiting.

Cory Booker, Mayor of Newark

Entertainment

The Media watch

Jon Corzine, Gov. NJ

Obama

Making a point.

Vote for Jon!

Gov, Lt. Gov, Prez

As Obama was led out, people formed a crush to shake his hand or just touch him.  One big fellow was walking towards us, his hand held out – “I shook his hand, I shook the brother’s hand!  Amazing!” – probably never so excited since Christmas morning as a little boy.  My wife shook his hand, the hand that shook the hand …

Pointy-head…

Readers of my blog will recall that I have great admiration for Paul Krugman and the service he has done our body-politic with his commentaries in the NYTimes.  However, like all things, he is not perfect, and today’s column shows him in full form as an out-of-touch, intellectual crank with a tin ear for the realities of politics. 

Obama didn’t say everything he would have said, so he’s obviously got it all wrong.  He expects the new prez to deliver a policy-wonk speech to welcome us to his administration.  As for the remarks Obama made about how we Americans didn’t make the “hard choices” necessary, and how we all share some blame for our problems, how about interpreting that to mean that in the past we were content to vote for politicians who told us we could get everything without paying for it, especially if the we give a lot back to the rich…which is what all of us would be if we would just cut taxes.  Krug’s remarks are similar to his silliest columns during the primary race for the nomination.

Put a sock in it Paul, and wait a bit before weighing in with both guns blazing.

WORDS

!

First ever acknowledgement of “unbelievers” by a president…in the innaugural, no less!

Oops!  Apparently he said non- not un-.  Great either way.  I’m an UNbeliever!

We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus, and nonbelievers.

A president whose father wouldn’t have been served in a local restaurant sixty years ago…Amen to that!

A fine speech!!

The date, the site, and the event brought Martin Luther King to mind for millions, no doubt, but in my mind, on this innauguration, the spirit of another president was close.  Lyndon B. Johnson, who could have gone down in history as one of America’s greatest, who did more for the cause of civil rights in the USA than any other president after Lincoln, and who destroyed his presidency and historical reputation with the folly and horror of Vietnam.

LBJ shows off his scar from an appendix removal to reporters – brilliantly caricatured by Levine, the scar is a map of Vietnam.

And we are “free at last” of George W. Bush (and his family, I hope!).  Into the dustbin of history with him!!

Historical Irony and Booker T.

John McCain gave a fine concession speech last night.  High minded and principled.  His admirers say that that’s the real McCain, as opposed to the nasty mud slinger his campaign handlers forced him to be in recent months.  Perhaps so…

He cited Teddy Roosevelt’s invitation to Booker T. Washington to visit the White House and the condemnation that rained down on him for it as an example of how far this country has come in the last century.  For example, the quotation below, with offensive epithets retained for historical flavor:

“The action of President Roosevelt in entertaining that nigger will necessitate our killing a thousand niggers in the South before they learn their place again.”

[quoted inTheodore Rex, Edmund Morris, 2001, 55]

Need it be said that the speaker, Benjamin Tillman was a stalwart of the Democratic Party?

Waiting in line…

I went to vote this morning, and I had to wait in line for nearly twenty minutes to vote.  GREAT!  Usually I go, and I’m in and out in a jiffy.  Of course, I fear that there will be chaos and some votes won’t be counted, but maybe people are lining up early because they’ve heard so much about the coming crunch, and they all are thinking the same thing:  “I’d better get there early.”  So, maybe it will even out later today.

Well, the nightmare of GWB is coming to end, but as the NYTimes notes in its editorial, the evil genius, Dick Cheney, is furiously directing the issuance of unitary-executive orders to gum up the works of the predecessor.  Well, that can be undone. 

When the Republicans go down in flames, I expect we will be treated to a slew of grand conspiracy theories about why it happened.  The Paranoid Right will have a field day.  As for the Left in the Democratic Party, Obama is not one of them, but if they are patient, they may find that they have an opening to get some real gains for their program…Only if the party delivers on some basic items first.

To the left of me, to the right of me!!

Socialists, communists!  To the left of me, to the right of me!!  We’re lost!!!

Yep, earlier this election season, there was a deep-pocketed fund manager in Austin, Texas making his dissenting voice heard on the bailout package with cartoons depicting Bush and Paulson as agents of a Stalinist takeover!

In their last debate, McCain asserted that Obama wants to give us a health care system like the ones in Canada or England.  You know, those impoverished, third-world, communist tyrannies we know and love…Heavens to Betsy!  Today, in the NYTimes letters there was this gem:

I think Mr. Obama is a socialist who will change the very foundation of our nation. That may appeal to some, but the reality is that socialism does not work.

Socialist indeed!  My father wishes he were a socialist the way I wish there really were two cultures in our country now.

How deep must we go to plumb the depths of ignorance of history and politics to reach bottom in this letter writer’s mind?  Still, I’m happy to see how shaken up the credit crisis has gotten people.  At least they’re asking, “How does our country work?”

We, terrorists all!

This cover on the New Yorker magazine caused quite a (negative) stir recently.  Disgusting and reprehensible were words applied to it, I recall.  It seems, now, however, that it was pretty much on the mark.  Yes indeed, listen to Sarah Palin talk and watch McCain’s ads (“Obama, too dangerous for America!”) and this cover appears to have been strangely prescient.  “This is what we’ve come to,” it was saying, and it was right.

I guess I’m a terrorist too, or at least a sympathizer.  I occasionally attend cultural events in town at a foundation administered by a fellow who did time for some criminal political activity in the 60s.  Oh, yes, and my wife has crossed paths in the field of adult education with Cathy Wilkerson, the Weather Underground member who demolished her parents’ townhouse in Greenwich Village with a too-sensitive bomb. 

I think Obama was in grade school while this was going on.  Palin probably wasn’t born yet.

Guilt by association.  Palin & McCain, the Grand Inquisitors.

Are YOU experienced???

What a topsy-turvy few weeks in the news it’s been!  Let me mention my highlights:

Federal Government declares it will let Lehman fail to protect the principles of the free market.  Rep. Barney Frank declares Sept. 15 Free Market Day.  Sept. 16 Federal Government effectively nationalizes AIG.  This under a Republican president!

John (Keating Five) McCain, the Republican candidate, lambastes the “greed” of Wall Street and calls for more government regulation.  Experience, Oscar Wilde said, is the name so many of us give to our mistakes.  Has John learned from his?   He did recently say that he knew little about economics.  Time to hit those textbooks, John!

Republicans, whiter and richer than ever, have a convention at which they rail against the elite.

Does experience matter?  OF COURSE - Palin has none…ooops, it doesn’t REALLY matter!

David Brooks, at sixes and sevens over the nomination of an airhead evangelical for veep practically endorses Obama-Biden.  What other conclusion can you draw from his recent column?  He just can’t face the facts of it.  (Shocked, shocked!!! that Republicans would nominate such a person simply because she assures their rabid base of religious nuts.)

News reports say that the Fed bailout of AIG may actually be quite profitable for the taxpayer, as was the loan bailout of Mexico in the 90s.  They charge high interest rates, and they get to call the shots, having dumped the shareholders.  Why not do this more often a reporter asks?  “That would be socialism…”

Wake me when it’s over…

The Election…aaarrghh!   I made up my mind long ago.  That is, there wasn’t even a question.  The political theatre is not for me.  Going over the statements and claims made by the Republicanos just drives me nuts.  I should tune in to the McCain party just to try and learn why anyone would vote for them, unless they’re a religious fundamentalist or a wealthy coupon-clipper.  Grrrhh…must calm down…

Did ya hear the one about the war hero?

Did John McCain listen in on Obama as he was interviewed?  He was not in the “cone of silence.”  His aid had this to say:

“The insinuation from the Obama campaign that John McCain, a former prisoner of war, cheated is outrageous,” Ms. Wallace said.

Get ready for more of the same.  I foresee something like this:

Mr/Ms fill in name stated that it was

choose one: [outrageous, scurrilous, sickening]

to imply that John McCain, a FORMER PRISONER OF WAR AND A WAR HERO had

choose one: [lied, failed to fully disclose the truth, made a mistake, mispoke, voted for something he now opposes, opposed something he now supports, accepted money from rich people, insulted anyone, etc.]