I apologize in advance for the rambling nature of this post, but I’ve been taking in tonight’s events from a variety of sources. CNN, BBC, Fox News, CNBC, even Al Jazeera.
There is a common theme in all of the coverage I’ve seen. Reactions in Europe, the Middle East, Black America, White America, and Latin America all focus on one theme. Hope. There is something magical about believing in an idea. The belief that you are truly witnessing the dawn of a new day.
Barack Obama captured the moment very well in his victory speech. Even John McCain recognized the moment and delivered one of the warmest speeches of his campaign. There were celebrations as far away as Kenya. I saw blacks, whites, latinos, men, women, young and old all eagerly showing hope that today was a new day in this country.
Tomorrow morning, nothing will change. The same issues that existed yesterday will exist tomorrow. However, the first step to fixing it is believing that you can fix it. Today, I saw a country believe in itself once again.
President Obama has a lot of work ahead of him if he is going to back up that belief and turn it into action.
Good luck and congratulations Mr. President-Elect. May your hand remain steady on the helm, and may you be the leader we can all be proud of.
This should come as no surprise because there is one former Bush cabinet secretary who still has his personal integrity intact. There is one former Bush cabinet secretary who saw what was going on 4 years ago and said “No, I will not be a part of this.” I’m talking, of course, about General Colin Powell.
In case you need a refresher on the circumstances behind Powell’s departure as Secretary of State, the Bush administration forced Powell out because he was frequently at odds with cabinet members such as Donald Rumsfeld. Powell never went public or spoke negatively about his time in the administration and has consistently taken the high road in all discussions on the matter. As a result, he has maintained favorable opinion with most of the American public, and his endorsement of Obama is a severe blow to the McCain campaign.
Predictably, McCain has moved to counter the blow by mentioning that every other living Republican former Secretary of State has endorsed Senator McCain. To paraphrase Chris Farley… La-deee-Fricking-dah. Republicans endorsing one of their own is no surprise, and frankly, not much of an endorsement. Is there anyone out there who thinks “Well, Nixon’s Secretary of State endorses McCain. That’s good enough for me!”
Having a former member of the current administration endorse the candidate from the other party, on the other hand, speaks volumes about the ineptitude of Bush and, by extension, a presumptive McCain administration.
Sure, you might see the Al Jazeera logo at the bottom of this screen, but those are Americans that are making us look bad, not the announcer who just happens to be speaking the truth.
Let’s address these comments one by one… They are all ludicrous to the point of hilarity, but for the sake of argument, I’m going to tackle them anyway. I need the laugh this morning.
“I’m afraid that if he wins, the black will take over”
Yeah, because he’ll pass that “Kill Whitey” law that the black community has been clamoring for all these years. Pay no attention to Congress or the Supreme Court or the fact that the President can’t pass any laws on his own. Whitey is gonna PAY when Obama is in the White (racist) House.
“He’s not a Christian! This is a Christian Nation!”
Oh, so then the Reverend Jeremiah Wright scandal was completely made up! How could Obama have anything to do with Reverend Wright if he isn’t a Christian in the first place! It still amazes me that a constituency that can recite the Second Amendment so passionately and eloquently is completely ignorant of the First Amendment. You remember that one, right? “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof”? You can find it just before you get to the part about “Freedom of Speech” which is another clause that the Republican Party likes to ignore.
“When you’ve got a nigger running for president, you need a first stringer. He’s definitely a second stringer”
Maybe if Obama broke into a chorus of “Mammy”, he could move into the starting lineup, eh? What’s the matter? Is Obama not “uppity” enough for you, Mr John Deere hat?
Fuck. We’re 30 seconds into a 2 minute video. It gets worse.
“He seems like a…wolf in sheep’s clothing. Now Palin… She’s filled with the holy spirit.”
She’s filled with something alright. Seriously, if Christians are this stupid, how did that religion survive for 2000 years? I know this is a fundamentalist minority in Christianity, but let’s compare a list of atrocities between Christianity and Islam some time. It’s easy to blame “Islam” for the world’s ills, but don’t forget that our side has a few extremists too.
“He’s related to a known terrorist”
Who? Did Bill Ayers adopt him or something?
“He is friends with a terrorist of this country”
This would be an inconvenient time to bring up the connections between the Bush family and the Bin Ladens, eh? The Bill Ayers story has been beaten into the ground already. The fact that this “connection” is gaining traction with members of the Republican base says more about the intelligence of the average republican voter than it does about Senator Obama’s character.
“Just the whole… Muslim thing and everything”
Sorry lady, you can put it in vague language all you like, but you’re still a bigot. A bigot that is too stupid to understand that Obama is not a Muslim. You’re part of the problem.
“Obama and his wife… I’m concerned that they could be anti-white”
Project much?
“I don’t like the fact that he thinks us white people are trash.”
Not all white people, lady. Just you. In this case, he happens to be right.
The commentator in this news video introduces the video, then does not speak again until 1:20 of the 2:08 video. The pictures tell the story. The commentator introduces a pro-Obama protester, who happens to be white and is called “Baby Killer”, “Nigger”, and “Muslim” by the Republicans in attendance. He plainly states that he is afraid that one of these whack-jobs is going to try to kill Obama, and his fears aren’t that unreasonable.
“The divisive nature of this campaign has brought out into the open what is usually discussed behind closed doors in America. It’s a reminder that hate and fear are still powerful forces in American deciding(sic).”
The one good thing about all of this is that it is bringing racists and racism out into the open again. Let the world know where you stand. Are you a racist, bigoted moron? Or not? Why is the Republican party such a stronghold of white racism? Why do racist minorities flock to the Democratic party? Let’s not pretend that only white people are idiots like this. What is it that is keeping racism alive, and how do we kill it?
Schieffer: But even if it was someone — even someone who had a history of being for abortion rights, you would consider them?
McCain: I would consider anyone in their qualifications. I do not believe that someone who has supported Roe v. Wade that would be part of those qualifications. But I certainly would not impose any litmus test.
Schieffer: All right.
No, it’s not all right. In one sentence, McCain says that someone who supports Roe v Wade is not qualified to be a judge on the Supreme Court. In the VERY NEXT SENTENCE, he says “I certainly would not impose any litmus test”.
Litmus Test: A litmus test is a question asked of a potential candidate for high office, the answer to which would determine whether the nominating official would choose to proceed with the appointment or nomination. (The expression is a metaphor based on the litmus test in chemistry.) Those who must approve a nominee, such as a justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, may also be said to apply a litmus test to determine whether the nominee will receive their vote. In these contexts, the phrase comes up most often with respect to nominations to the judiciary.
If you’re going to bullshit, at least put in a couple of sentences of fluff about how you are fighting for a person’s right to life. (even though you support the death penalty)
Then, of course, there is Joe the Plumber…
I have a few questions for Mr. “The Plumber”.
1) Since when do plumbers make more than 250,000 per year? (No, really… I might consider a career change)
2) According to the data provided by CNN and mentioned in an earlier column here, the tax burden for people making between 250,000 and 650,000 dollars will increase, on average, by 12 dollars per year. If such an additional burden means that you are now unable to afford to buy your own business, then isn’t your capital stretched just a little thin already?
3) How, exactly, did you manage to appear on Fox News almost immediately after your “spontaneous” encounter with Senator Obama?
Wait just a minute…
In the first few seconds of this clip, you mention that your business makes between 270,000 and 280,000 dollars per year.
You’re seriously telling us that paying an additional 12 dollars per year in taxes (on average), one dollar per month, is the difference between you being able to afford your own business and not being able to afford it?
Bullshit.
In fact, since I will admit that I’m using an “average” figure to come up with 12 dollars/year, let’s look at EXACTLY how much more “Joe the Plumber” will pay in taxes under Obama’s plan.
FACT: Obama will raise the marginal tax rate on income greater than 250,000 dollars per year from 35% to 39%.
FACT: Marginal tax rate affects only the income within a particular bracket.
CONCLUSION: Given Joe’s statement that he makes between 270 and 280 thousand dollars, here are the numbers.
270,000-250,000 = 20,000 dollars taxed at the highest marginal tax rate.
280,000-250,000 = 30,000 dollars taxed at the highest marginal tax rate.
Under the current tax code, Joe pays between 7,000 and 10,500 dollars per year at the highest marginal tax rate. (35%)
Under Obama’s tax plan, Joe would pay between 7,800 and 11,700 dollars per year in taxes at the highest marginal tax rate. (39%)
Net difference: 800 dollars per year.
So 800 dollars per year, not counting the elimination of Capital Gains taxes for small businesses is the difference between “Joe the Plumber” being able to afford his own business and not being able to afford it? Sure, that’s a bit more than the 12 dollars/month cited elsewhere, but we haven’t yet discussed the savings from Obama’s “Making Work Pay” program that would put an additional 500 dollars per year in Joe’s pocket (whoops, final number just dropped to 300 dollars per year) nor have we mentioned reductions in lower marginal tax rates that would bring the overall tax burden down significantly.
800 dollars per year translates to about 16 bucks per week. (300 ~ 6 dollars/week)
Perhaps if Joe cut out a couple of six packs per month, he’d be able to afford that business of his after all. The fact is, if the success or failure of his business depends on less than 20 dollars per week, maybe Joe is riding a little too close to the edge, financially, to be successful as a business owner at this time. Maybe another year or two might help Joe stabilize his financial position to the point where a cup of coffee each day won’t be the difference between success and failure.
While watching the debate last night, I thought that McCain clearly outperformed Obama in the first 30 minutes or so. The “Joe the Plumber” references were really hitting home and illustrating the difference between McCain’s plan and Obama’s plan. The problem is that folks like you and me can go back and check the facts, run the numbers, and watch previous speeches and debates to see where candidates have fudged facts or outright lied to us.
In fact, Jon Stewart and friends have made a rather successful TV show based on this concept. Perhaps you’ve heard of it.
Last night represented a first for me. I parked my ass on the couch with my wife and watched a Vice Presidential debate in HD. Normally, such attention is reserved for weekend football games and Jeopardy, those being about the only two things my wife and I agree on with respect to the idiot box.
I was about to witness a complete and total meltdown on live television, and there was nothing the McCain camp, or Palin’s “handlers” could do about it. Imagine if Captain Smith saw the iceberg on “over the horizon” radar, and still sailed the Titanic right into that sucker. This was going to be the best television since Janet Jackson’s “wardrobe malfunction”.
So it shouldn’t be a complete surprise that I was slightly disappointed with the debate itself. Make no mistake, Biden’s “shit eating grin” spoke volumes about Palin’s babbling also rambling and did I mention that McCain is a maverick too, also, stumbling bumbling approach to the debate… also. (had to throw that last one in there to tie the whole sentence together, otherwise it might not have made sense) Palin is the only candidate I’ve ever seen who can answer a question on foreign policy with a statement on her energy policy while governor of Alaska. In fact, it seems like she answered EVERY question with a statement on her energy policy while governor of Alaska.
As for her delivery, can we give the hockey mom thing a rest? I played hockey for a short time, which means technically my mom is a “hockey mom” too. If she had talked like that around our house when I was a kid, we’d have had her locked up for being mentally incompetent. (let’s throw in one more “also” for good measure) The constant winking at the camera and ham-handed cribbing from Ronald Reagan’s debate with Jimmy Carter in 1980 came across as fake instead of genuine and warm which is what made that approach so effective for Reagan in the first place. (in fact, you can see a clip from that debate elsewhere on this very website)
What actually impressed me was Senator Biden’s performance. I knew very little about Joe Biden aside from the fact that he had failed in the Democratic primaries twice, lead the Democratic lynching party against Robert Bork, and was considered someone who couldn’t keep his mouth shut at times. (my kind of guy, now that I think about it…) I thought his approach was understated, yet more effective for that. Instead of tearing into Palin’s rambling approach with a stream of soundbites and pithy comebacks, he either responded with the facts to correct her statements (effective) or threw a dazzling shit-eating grin into the camera as if to say “You don’t need ME to tell you she’s full of shit”. Both he and Barack Obama appeared relaxed and ready to handle the pressure of a debate on live television. McCain and Palin appeared nervous, uncomfortable, and unwilling to answer the questions asked of them. It was Kennedy v Nixon all over again in vibrant HD color goodness.
What really got me, and I think this was the clincher, was Biden’s emotional response to dealing with family issues. When Palin slid so easily into her “hockey mom” routine, Biden came back with a simple, yet emotionally powerful statement.
“Look, I understand what it’s like to be a single parent. When my wife and daughter died and my two sons were gravely injured, I understand what it’s like as a parent to wonder what it’s like if your kid’s going to make it.
I understand what it’s like to sit around the kitchen table with a father who says, “I’ve got to leave, champ, because there’s no jobs here. I got to head down to Wilmington. And when we get enough money, honey, we’ll bring you down.”
I understand what it’s like. I’m much better off than almost all Americans now. I get a good salary with the United States Senate. I live in a beautiful house that’s my total investment that I have. So I — I am much better off now.
But the notion that somehow, because I’m a man, I don’t know what it’s like to raise two kids alone, I don’t know what it’s like to have a child you’re not sure is going to — is going to make it — I understand.
I understand, as well as, with all due respect, the governor or anybody else, what it’s like for those people sitting around that kitchen table. And guess what? They’re looking for help. They’re looking for help. They’re not looking for more of the same.”
Who would have ever thought that a 36-year Senator would “get it” more than a self-professed “hockey mom” who’s entire image screams “Mom, apple pie, and baseball hockey”? I don’t care how much you rehearse before a debate, or how much you cram, if your message is wrong then the preparation is worthless. Obama and Biden stayed on their message, a message that resonates with the voters.
Sarah Palin came across as “one of us” in the debate last night, and no doubt the McCain campaign considers that “Mission Accomplished”. The problem is, we don’t want “one of us” in the White House. We want someone who is more prepared and more informed than we are to make the decisions. It is too much to hope for to ask for someone smarter than us, or better than us, but at least give us someone that we can look in the eye and come away with the confidence that they can get the job done. Palin should be running a boutique in a shopping mall somewhere, not one heartbeat away from Air Force One.
My fellow denizens of “Teh Intartubez”, I am going to give you an extremely valuable piece of information today. One which will help you in any election, for any office, in any country that allows voting. Like Ron Popeil’s dream-come-true, this information will slice, dice, circumsize, sanitize, sterilize, homogenize all of the bullshit out there and is guaranteed never to rust, bust, combust, or collect dust or your money back.
I can’t take credit for this information, the inspiration came from a debate with Ronald Reagan many years ago.
If you’ll remember, this debate effectively gut-punched Carter’s campaign. Jimmy “Nobel Prize” Carter, who many consider to be the best EX-President in American history, is a good man who advocated many positions that are central to today’s campaign. Health Care, Energy Independence, Education were all key points in Carter’s campaign message, yet Reagan beat him in the general election like a pinata filled with cupcakes at Rush Limbaugh’s birthday party.
Why?
“Are you better off now than you were 4 years ago?”
It’s JUST THAT EASY! (now do you see why I use the Popeil reference?)
Ask any sane human being and you’ll hear the conventional wisdom that promises made by politicians aren’t worth the airwaves that they travel on. We all know that politicians lie. We all know that they’d sell their mothers for another 4 year fix. We know this, yet the public insists on getting swept up in campaign speeches and debates where nobody remembers the salient points, but everyone parrots a clever soundbite.
When was the last time you checked a voting record in detail? If Senator Whatshisname “voted against the troops”, did he do it because there was too much pork included in the bill? Or was it because another version of the same funding bill was circulating in a House committee and he preferred that version instead? Nuance may not sell with Joe Sixpack, but it is a fact of political life. Sometimes politicians have to hold their noses and vote for things that will get them in deep shit with their constituents. That’s how the game is played. If reporters, who are paid to do this sort of work, can’t keep up with all of the nuance, how can the American voter be expected to do the job well?
Some folks take a shortcut and listen to their friendly neighborhood radio talk show host. Others hang out on their favorite political blog among like-minded individuals where their preconceptions are reinforced by a sympathetic audience.
Same sheep, different color wool.
The great thing about most elections is that they are not held in a vacuum. There is always an incumbent and there is always a challenger. If you like the way things are going, you vote for the incumbent. If you don’t, then you vote for the other guy. Simple? Yes. Your job is to form an intelligent opinion on the state of the world and make your decision. It’s not that hard.
Why have Republicans had a stranglehold on the Presidency since 1980? (well, except for the Clinton years, which I’ll get to in a moment) The economy was booming, we were top-dog in the global kennel, and the vast majority of us were thanking whatever divine providence was in vocal range that we were fortunate enough to live in the U-S-of-by-god-A. Back when uttering the phrase “I’m an American” in a foreign country earned you a certain amount of deference, or even a free drink, depending on where you travelled in the world.
Try walking into a bar in Europe these days and loudly proclaiming “I’m an American!”. At best, you’ll just be sniggered at.
How did Clinton break up the Republican streak? “It’s the economy, stupid!” The economic recession in the early 90′s got everyone refocused on the question of “Are you better off today…” and it cost Bush the election. 4 years later, when things had improved largely on their own, the same question kept Clinton in office for another 4 years despite galvanized opposition from the talk-radio crowd.
But Grim, you ask…
“What about 2004?”
We were still reeling from the 9/11 attacks in 2004. We had just gone into Iraq the previous year and stomped the holy hell out of Saddam’s army. We were fresh off of “Mission Accomplished” when election season came in. The economy appeared to be rebounding, and Americans were disinclined to change direction at that time. A very good argument could be made that 9/11 guaranteed Bush an 8 year term since the American public rarely votes for a challenger in time of war (or at least a war that we appear to be winning). Were we “better off” in 2004 than in 2000? No, but being unable to see the forest for the trees, the American public had the perception that better days were on the way really soon.
Even if Barack Obama spends his entire presidency trying to push through his campaign promises, it is a virtual certainty that he will fail to get everything he wants. Even if John McCain is such a Maverick that he fights every bit of pork-laden legislation that crosses his desk, it is a virtual certainty that he will trend in the same political direction as his predecessor. The only thing you can count on is that Obama will be a change of direction, and McCain will “stay the course” politically speaking.
So I put it to you again…
“Are you better off now than you were 8 years ago?”
