America, this is our moment

Hillary Clinton made history by coming so close to winning the Democratic nomination on June 3.

Barack Obama graciously called her “a leader who inspires millions of Americans with her strength, her courage, and her commitment to the causes that brought us here tonight.”

More history was made that night. Only two sitting Senators have ever been elected President, Warren G. Harding, and John F. Kennedy. No matter who wins in November, they will be the third. Arizona Senator John McCain (age 71) is the oldest man to ever run for President.

I believe that history was made Tuesday, June 3, not because a Black man had accumulated enough delegates to win a party nomination, but when Sen. Obama told us that “Our time to turn the page on the policies of the past. Our time to bring new energy and new ideas to the challenges we face. Our time to offer a new direction for the country we love.”

McCain’s speech that night was about Barack Obama, about how McCain doesn’t think Obama is qualified to be President and that his rhetoric about hope and change is just rhetoric. Hillary Clinton’s speech that night was about herself and how many people voted for her and how she deserves power. Obama’s speech wasn’t about a Black man making history, it wasn’t about himself or his rivals (except to praise them). His speech was about providing jobs, making taxes fair for the middle and working classes, making college and health care more affordable and restoring our reputation in the world.

Hillary supporters need to pull together behind the Democrat’s new nominee. Democrats will only hurt their chances in the Fall if they continue to campaign using fear, innuendo, and division. Those were the tactics of the Bush administration. Obama showed what he was made of when he stuck to the high road.

"What you won’t hear from this campaign or this party,” he told the crowd in St. Paul that Tuesday night, “is the kind of politics that uses religion as a wedge, and patriotism as a bludgeon – that sees our opponents not as competitors to challenge, but enemies to demonize."

Frankly, I think that’s been a problem afflicting our nation since the days of Joseph Mccarthy.

Religion should be a tie that binds, not a tool for political leverage. So-called conservative Christianity is neither genuinely conservative or at all Christ-like. It’s radical and legalistic, like the Pharisees who were constantly trying to trap Jesus in the Bible.

The Right-wing religion introduced into the public square by the likes of Jerry Falwell back in the 1980’s is about fear, anger, and a need to control culture. It’s about prohibiting and preventing. It’s against a lot of things- but what is it for? It opposes things but what does it propose? Does it propose we feed the hungry? Refresh the thirsty? Invite in the stranger? Clothe the needy? Visit the sick and imprisoned? What would Jesus do?

TRUE patriotism is standing up for the principals embodied in the Declaration, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights- not just the flag or the pledge or a car magnet shaped like a ribbon. It's not a lapel pin.

Choose hope over fear? Yes we can.

I hope that Hillary supporters will unite with Obama supporters to truly change the direction of the Democratic party. So that it will be bottom-up and not top-down. So that it won’t be politics as usual. Millions of small donors on the internet instead of millions from corporate donors and special interest groups and lobbyists.

I also hope that Republicans who are sincere in their concern for traditional values, for families and for honest people who work hard for a living will find something about Senator Obama that they can agree with and be leery of the faux-maverick promises of John McCain.

We all need to be able to argue and debate and hash out solutions together to our problems without calling each other names or writing each other off as irrelevant or morally inferior. It really is time for some serious change.

Let’s come together “to remake this great nation so that it may always reflect our very best selves and our highest ideals."

Hillary's inner Flick

I saw this on Slate and thought it was a kill! Do you ever feel like you're Matthew Broderick? You used to be the cool suave, Ferris Bueller, but now you're just another boring, middle aged teacher type? I do.

Mired in mud, war wages on

“Tsuanmi Tuesday” is coming up next week so, here’s my take on what I’m calling “the Malevolent Seven,” the men and woman who would be President. In the interest of making it arbitrary, thereby giving the false impression of impartiality, let’s do it in reverse alphabetical order.

Former Massachusetts Governor, Mitt “perfect hair” Romney (R) has still got the money and the machinery. How will he do on Tuesday? Hard to say, he’ll probably do great in the big states where he’s run ad after ad on TV. He’s taken a lot of flack for being a flip-flopper.

But as appealing as his Reaganesque hair is, I think his biggest drawback will be his biggest strengths. He’s smooth, he’s good looking, and he has a captivating style. Just what any candidate needs right? But he’s too smooth, too good looking, and too stylish. Voters are gonna think he’s a phoney-McFake-pants and avoid him the way you avoid plastic people who are too perfect to be real, which is sad because they might be nice people, but they try too hard.

I am frankly, frightened for Illinois Senator Barrack Obama (D). He genuinely wants to heal our country and be a bridge-repairing consensus builder who reaches across party lines, racial lines, and probably even socio-economic levels. Nobody wants that. Get real. People hate a goody-goody. We like being angry at each other, calling each other names, and blaming each other for our problems.

How could he actually think he could get anywhere with a message of hope and reconciliation? If Bill and Hillary don’t take care of him, the Republicans will find a way to “swift-boat” him. And if he makes it though both of those onslaughts, I’m afraid that the majority of Americans are only pretending to be ready to elect a woman or a Black man. We’re still way more tribal than we want to admit to ourselves.

When you really get down to it, Arizona Senator John McCain (R) is about as old-school Republican as you get, but Republicans don’t think so. See, he proposed the McCain-Feingold Campaign Finance Reform Bill years ago. Yeah, at one time he actually wanted to clean up politics. He’s also come out and publicly said that he’s opposed to torture- which makes sense, seeing as he was once a victim of it.

Be that as it may, he’s said that he’s willing to keep our troops in Iraq for a hundred years if that’s what it takes to win. I guess he forgot that we already won, several years ago. We deposed Saddam Hussein, defeated the Iraqi army and removed the Bathist Party from power. Since then, we’ve pretty much been hanging out, building the world’s largest air base and the world’s largest embassy, and ticking people off.

Then there’s Arkansas Governor Rev. Mike Huckabee (R). Ya want so much to like him because he’s nice and likeable and best friends with Chuck Norris, but there’s just something about him that makes you wonder if he’s not playing that guitar with a few strings missing, no pick, and his amp unplugged.

I’m not talking about the violent criminal activity of his sons, or the fact that he thinks that Pakistan is in Latin America. Even those of us who are on the same page with him on his Evangelical Christian faith and values need to step back and think twice before rushing to amend the Constitution. Of course, he also want so get rid of the IRS- who isn’t for that? Except, funny thing about government services is that they need revenues to pay for them. Even the most radical libertarian likes having an army protect us and appreciates things like roads, bridges, the Center for Disease Control…

How did former New York City Mayor Rudy Guliani (R) do in the Florida primary? When I wrote this a week ago, I could not imagine that his candidacy was going to last too much longer. But who knows? I have a friend who actually thinks that both of the nominations won’t get decided until the conventions this summer.

I feel bad for former South Carolina Senator John Edwards (D), because no one’s really listened to him since the Iowa Caucus. Ah, but not only does he have even better hair than Mitt Romney, but he also has a lot of delegates. He may just end up being the Democratic “King-maker” (or Queen maker, as the case may be). Eventually at least two people are going to start paying attention to him.

Finally there’s New York Senator and former First Lady, Hillary Clinton (D). If a Republican gets elected in November, I won’t blame any third-party candidates, I’ll blame the dirty campaigning and lying that she and her husband Bill were doing back in January.

The woman who made Clinton cry voted for Obama

Yeah, maybe it was a "real" moment, maybe it wasn't a calculated act, I recognize that they're all exhausted. But I still found this story terribly ironic. Alas, my man Richardson plans to bow out today. Onto Nevada for the big 3.

The woman who made Clinton cry
voted for Obama
Suzanne Goldenberg
Thursday January 10, 2008
The Guardian

The woman whose question produced the tearful moment from Hillary Clinton that helped her win the New Hampshire primary ended up voting for Barack Obama.

Marianne Pernold Young, 64, a freelance photographer, was one of a small group of women who went to meet Clinton at a coffee shop in the town of Portsmouth on the day before the vote.

Although a lifelong Democrat, Young and the others were undecided at that point in the race. She acknowledges the power of that moment.

"It showed us that she is human and manages to still perform in the way she does, and still has a person inside of her. She is a human being. She is not a robot," Young told the Guardian.

But although she was moved by Clinton's display of emotion, it did not influence her vote on polling day.

"I was leaning towards Obama and I voted for Obama. It's strange, but he made me cry when I went to see him," she said. "We need new blood."

Young said she was not persuaded that Clinton's display of emotion had been entirely sincere.

"Her response to me was heartfelt for the first 10 seconds," she said. "She put her hand on her chin and kind of looked at me like someone she had known for a long time and we were in a coffee shop just her and I," Young said.

But the moment was fleeting. "When she turned away from me, she assumed political posture again. I felt that her body language was rigid and she assumed that political language."

Get ready, Momma’s comin’

Charter Oak-Ute NEWSpaper - Schleswig Leader, Thursday, August 9, 2007 - Page 3

I know, I know, the election is still 16 months away, caucuses still five months away so maybe it’s too early for this, but I think it may not be too soon to face the inevitable. Uncle Sam may soon become Aunt Samantha.

Mind you, I’m no Hillary supporter. If Iowa moved up the caucus I’d probably support New Mexico Governor Richardson if I were serious or former Alaska Congressman Gravel if I really felt like annoying people.

I know that a lot of things can happen in 16 months, including John Edwards winning Iowa. I know a lot of readers around here aren’t prepared to contemplate any Democrat as our next President. But maybe it will be easier to for us all to get used to the idea of a “Commanderess-in-Chief” if we start on it now so we have a almost year and a half for it to sink in.

I know it’s especially hard for my Republican friends, but come on- will most Republicans really get excited about most of the Republican candidates?

Giuliani has had how many divorces? Pro-Choice? New York City Firefighters oppose him because these heroes of 9/11 say he’s screwed them over?

Fred “Hollywood” Thompson and his half-his-age arm candy wife only raised half as much money as he hoped to in the first month of his non campaign.

John “Anger Management” McCain has pretty much lost his entire campaign staff.

And then there’s Mitt “First Mormon” Romney. Mormonism, that’s the one with all the polygamy and the secret underwear, right? But he’s from Massachusetts and used to flip on gay civil unions and abortion, but now he flops instead of flipping.

As much as some right-wingers loved to cultivate a visceral hatred for her husband Bill, Clinton is probably the most conservative of all the Democratic presidential candidates. The Clintons are charter members of the Democratic Leadership Council, the group that wanted to bring their party closer to the moderate center or even a little to the right in order to remain viable during the Reagan era. Like the GOP, the DLC is sympathetic to corporate interests and the interests of the wealthy.

FYI; Ken Starr’s law firm has contributed more to Hillary’s campaign than to the top four Republican campaigns combined.

So not only will she be good for hate-marketeers like Limbaugh, O’Rielly and Savage, she might also be good for business. What helps me tolerate the DLC more than the GOP is that they believe in fiscal restraint and responsibility. They don’t believe in huge deficits, operating off-the-books and raiding the Social Security Trust Fund, or in handing massive tax cuts to the wealthiest 2% and oil companies. Just “major” tax “incentives,” not massive tax cuts.
So, we’ve got almost a year and a half to get used to the Washington Post’s fashion reporter getting excited about whether or not the CSPAN camera caught a glimpse of Senator Clinton’s cleavage during a speech about college funding.

Remember the 60’s when people opposed women’s rights because they were afraid that it would lead to unisex bathrooms because civil rights had eliminated racially segregated bathrooms?

Remember the 70’s when comedians could joke about not wanting a woman president because she might drop the bomb if she got PMS?

Remember the 80’s when people started talking half-serious about a woman president because Geraldine Ferraro was the Democratic candidate for Vice President?

Remember the 90’s when women were becoming successful in business but they had to be tougher than men to do it, so we couldn’t imagine a “Fatal Attraction” kind of woman as President?

Well, you might want to get ready for all our old chauvinistic attitudes to become memories.

Just how ready are we?

Just how ready are we?
Charter Oak-Ute NEWSpaper — Schleswig Leader, Thursday, March 1, 2007 – Page 3

There was a time when people asked if America was ready for a Catholic President. Then there was John Kennedy. People wondered if we were ready for a divorced President, then there was Ron Reagan.

This time around, of course people are asking a lot of those kinds of questions.
Would we be ready for Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, a Mormon?

I’ll admit, I’d be one of those who aren’t especially comfortable with that, considering some of the theology of the Church of Ladder Day Saints, under close scrutiny it doesn’t look a whole lot better than Scientology.

Of course, plenty of members of government, including a few Presidents and many of our founders were Free Masons and we’re still here.
Ordinarily, you expect a “lefty” like me to be more tolerant than that. Certainly no one bat an eyelash when Joe Lieberman was the first serious Jewish primary candidate and then Vice Presidential candidate. Of course Judaism is a lot older than Mormonism and after all, Jesus is Jewish. (was Jewish if you don’t believe in His resurrection, is an alien from another planet if you believe what some religions teach).

There was a time when you just couldn’t be Italian and from New York and run for President. People whispered “mob” under their breath when talking about Mario Cuomo.

This time around, New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani is a pretty serious candidate. Three wives and two gay roommates? Cancer survivor? These are all things that not so many years ago would’ve killed him as a Democrat, but the leadership he showed during the September 11 attacks have made hip appealing to both parties.

And, lest I tip toe around the elephants (er, donkeys) in the living room, the big questions that Newsweek magazine has been asking are whether or not America is ready for a woman or a Black President?

That may be the wrong question. What Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama may need to ask themselves is whether or not Iowa and New Hampshire are ready for them?

Lots of people thought that Howard Dean was a regular juggernaut in 2004, but Iowans weren’t sold on him and his internet based base of college egg head progressives. Iowa Democrats like tall, slow moving veterans like John Kerry and good old fashioned, pro labor, pro agriculture Midwestern Democrats like Richard Gebhardt. And then Dean screamed like a Hockey-Dad when he celebrated placing third in our caucus and it was completely over then.

So, how can they expect to win us over? Hillary has to not just distance herself from her husband, but maybe from New York too. She should appeal to her Illinois roots and maybe even the fact that she was a “Goldwater girl.”

Because I know readers who I easily rile won’t believe this , especially about me, but basically, even Iowa Democrats are fairly conservative.

If Hillary wants to win Iowa over, she has to come off as a steady, clear-headed, hard working matriarch. She can’t be too attractive so that we think of her as a woman. But she can’t be too shrill so that we think of her as trying too hard to seem tougher than a man either. Practical, wise, steady. Slow to talk but says the right thing when she does. That’s what I imagine Iowans would like if Uncle Sam were to be replaced with an Aunt Samantha.

There have been plenty of Black candidates for President. The Rev. Jesse Jackson and the Rev. Al Sharpton. But I think that neither of them were Presidential candidates who happened to be Black, Let’s face it, they were both Black candidates. Jackson has represented minorities and the down-trodden his entire career. Not every American is down-trodden. And Sharpton? Well, let’s just say he made Jackson look mainstream.

Of course, and for a while, the perennial non-candidate General Collin Powell. I think that if he came out and pointed fingers and named names and apologized for helping lie us into war, most Americans would still like to draft him for President.

All Obama really has to do is make sure he defines himself and not let Fox news or other right-wing propagandists do it for him. He’s running as a Democrat, not as a Black Democrat.
So far he also talks the talk of a post-partisan, someone who just happens to be a Democrat, almost like he happens to be Black. He speaks his own mind, and speaks carefully and eloquently. Those are things Iowans like; making up your own mind and knowing what the heck you’re talking about.

After the last six years, I’m certainly ready for some of that.

Why she's not viable

Hate to say it, but this is her biggest problem and why so many Dems are more interested in Obama and Richardson, and Edwards, and Fienstein, etc. etc.

The irony is that she is probably the most conservative of any Democrat in the running. She and former President Bill are charter members of the "Blue Dogs," the Democratic Leadership Council, a group of major middle-of the road moderates who are pro-business and all about fiscal responsibility, balanced budgets, reduced deficits, etc. Everything that the Republican party USED to be about. But because there was an element with such vicious and viceral hatred for her and her husband, she has been demonized as some sort of dangerous liberal-extremist icon.

So, ironically, she's divicive even though she and Bill have always practiced bi-particanship. She is imensely compitent and qualified, but she's exactly who the Republicans want because they know thay can beat her because they've already successfully defined her in the public's preceptions.

Plus, I don't know that we want to be volleying between family dynasties anyway. It makes us look like a cheap bannaba-republic. Nixon used to be paranoid about the Kennedys and successfully destroyed Teddy's presidential aspirations. Remeber, that's where Woodward & Bernstien started their investigation- when someone tipped them off that former CIA agent E. Howard Hunt, working in Nixon's Special Council (Chuck Colson's) office was investigating Kennedy... but I digress