I've enjoyed reading Susan Faludi over the years - Stiffed was excellent and, while I found Backlash a bit less convincing, it was still pretty stimulating and well argued. To me, she is one of the best "post-feminist" writers going (and a helluva lot more credible - and readable - than a shrill, if articulate, harpy like Camille Paglia). So it was with keen interest that I read her op-ed piece on Hillary Clinton in the New York Times yesterday.

Again, I don't agree with her thesis entirely, but her argument that Clinton has gained ground among working class white males because she has overcome a number of gender stereotypes (notably through her recent pugnacity) seems to have some merit. It could be that what the powdered faces of MSNBC's talking heads find so distasteful in Clinton is exactly what many American men find appealing about the candidate. The piece is well worth a read.

Tags: media, politburo
humour: thoughtful

It's official: Barry Obama and Jerry Wright are no longer BFFs.

I was really afraid that Obama might throw Rev. Wright under the bus, but no. All he said was that he was "outraged" and "saddened" over the "spectacle" of Wright's "performance" over the past few days, that Wright is "divisive and destructive," that he gives "comfort to those that prey on hate," and that there are now "no excuses" for the all the things Wright said prior to The Greatest Speech Tongue Has Ever Uttered (Obama's facile speech on race a few weeks ago, in case you missed the address that left Patrick Henry, Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, Daniel Webster, Frederick Douglas, Henry Clay, Sojourner Truth, Abraham Lincoln, Susan B. Anthony, Chief Joseph, William Jennings Bryan, Theodore Roosevelt, Mother Jones, Woodrow Wilson, Emma Goldman, Eugene Debs, Clarence Darrow, Al Smith, Franklin Roosevelt, Douglas MacArthur, Dwight Eisenhower, Martin Luther King, John Kennedy, Earl Warren, Adlai Stevenson, Barbara Jordan, Ronald Reagan, Thurgood Marshall, Bill Clinton, and Elie Weisel choking in St. Obama's dust).

So, no: Obama didn't throw Wright under the bus - he shoved him in front of a fucking subway train - and an express train at that.

But what we should all be asking ourselves is why? Why now? What has Rev. Wright said in the last three days that he hadn't said previously - and perhaps continuously - over the past twenty years? Easy. He's said one new thing - and one new thing only: Barack Obama is a politician. He "says what he has to say as a politician" and "does what politicians do" - or, as Obama paraphrased him, Wright suggested that the senator's "values and beliefs" - the lifetime that he has selflessly devoted to giving speeches - was nothing more than "political posturing". Now that is an unpardonable sin.

Tags: duly noted, politburo
humour: nauseated

After our weekly trip to Wegman's - possibly the best grocery store in the known universe - we decided to stop at KFC for some chicken product to go. I must confess that I have a weakness for KFC Famous Bowls (reconstituted mashed potatoes topped with hybrid corn, unidentified popcorn chicken parts, condensed gravy, and grated cheese food - mmnnn), probably a throwback to playing with my food as a child, and Sean picked up an overpriced bucket of battery chicken with overpriced sides, some of which are headed for the microwave as I type (there'll be no healthy eating here tonight).

As I was washing down a chicken leg with a bit of mango nectar (courtesy of Wegman's) on our way out of State College, Sean asked what I'd thought of the Obama rally. "Oh, yeah - I'd forgotten about that." After all, we'd since been to a craft shop for some balsa wood, had contended with a particularly dense parking garage attendant, had stopped to pick up a picture frame and some glue, filled the car with gas - and done the groceries - and picked up a Famous Bowl (half of which I'd devoured in the KFC parking lot before hitting the road home) - and I had quite forgotten that the day started out attempting to pick up a hunk of inspiration at the Penn State Obama rally.

Sen. Obama's current concert campaign tour is called "The Path to Change" or "The Road to Hope" or "The Fast Lane to Glory" or something, with Sen. Bob Casey (the most recent public figure to jump on the dreamwagon) as the support band introductory speaker. We were welcomed on campus by a relentlessly cheerful Obamette, grinning like a Moonie, inviting us to "Come on inside" - "inside" being the expansive Old Main lawn - which is kind of outside. But this was an Obama rally - reality was not expected to be the order of the day.

We were hoping to maybe catch a bit of the Obama magic for ourselves. Who knew, right? Maybe he'd be charismatic enough to transport a couple of cynical old socialists like Sean and I. No such luck. It was the same old stump speech that we've heard dozens of times from dozens of politicians, with a bit more shameless jingo than usual. And the enthusiastic mob was indistinguishable from the college crowds that thronged Howard Dean and Bill Clinton and George McGovern and Eugene McCarthy - and Adlai Stevenson and Al Smith, I shouldn't wonder. (And, hey - didn't only one of those guys get elected?) Here they are:


In case you can't read the banners ("No signs or banners are permitted", according to the Obamasite), they say - in one of those flashes of originality for which college students are renowned - "YES WE CAN", "FIRED UP AND READY TO GO - State College for CHANGE", and "OBAMAVILLE".

Yes, "OBAMAVILLE". Is that anything like Jonestown?

Our view was initially blocked somewhat by a flag so large they must have stolen it from a Perkins restaurant, but shortly after the Anointed One began speaking, it was lowered - onto the ground. A few young patriots planted their asses on it to enjoy the show.

Anyway, as it turns out, Barack Obama isn't even a good speaker - and a clearer view didn't help. Maybe he's just tired. Or maybe this emperor has always been as naked as a jaybird. I kept flashing back to demonstrations that took place at Penn State during the Vietnam War, some of the largest and loudest in the country. Now those were students who were fired up - and we're still waiting for the Age of Aquarius to dawn. Today's rally, by contrast, was all about conformity - applaud on cue, chant on cue, follow the leader in his stage managed promotional tour - and listen politely as he mentions his church connections over and over and over again. Forty years ago, he'd have been jeered from the stage.

Plus, there was not one whiff of cannabis in the air (we even waited till we were back in the car). What kind of progressives are these? Barack Obama was having way more fun when he was their age than this shower of church camp rejects. Ah, revolution.

Not long after he cautioned the crowd that the "road to change" was not his responsibility, but everyone's (in short, "if I don't accomplish anything in office, it's your fault"), we decided that household errands would be more inspiring. So I don't know if this rally ended with the traditional burning in effigy of Hillary Clinton or not.

I did note that, sometime after his first three mentions of Abraham Lincoln, but a little before the crowd started in with the mindless chanting, he told the gathering that he'd found his community service work frustrating because it was often difficult to see progress being made. Presumably this was why he decided to pursue public office. Then, of course, he spent his first term in the Illinois Senate running (unsuccessfully) for the US House of Representatives, his final term as an Illinois Senator running for the US Senate and - again due to frustration over the "glacial pace" of getting things done in Congress - his first three years as a US Senator running for the presidency.

Aside from the fact that there's nothing on this guy's resume apart from ambition, what are to we expect should President Obama decide that the White House is similarly frustrating and glacial? Does he intend to spend his next four years in office running for the Supreme Court? Or Secretary General of the UN? Or President of the World Bank Group?

There were police and and other security types in abundance - not that there was any need. Apart from a few discouraged banners, the biggest threat to public safety was an excess of toddlers. Still, it was nice to see so many authority figures getting a bit of exercise - and getting along so famously with Mr. Change. Here's another shot that I think kinda sums up my experience. I call it "Police - Flag - Mob". Oh - and "Charismatic Leader" is in there somewhere too. He's a bit of a dot to the right of the soon-to-be-desecrated flag.


Good luck.

Tags: foodstuffs, photo/graphic, politburo
humour: disappointed

I haven't commented on the Rev. Jeremiah Wright and his untoward remarks on any number of issues as I don't quite buy the associative argument - and there's been nothing in anything Obama has said that indicates that he subscribes to any of Wright's more outrageous claims. In fact, it looks as though I agree with more of what Wright has been saying of late than Obama does (at least publicly). There's much that is valid in a lot of his criticism of American society and our government: our judicial and penal systems are racist, the US is responsible for drawing terrorist fire, our double standard in relation to Israel and Palestine is disgraceful.

I'm afraid I have to draw the line, though, when Wright starts crossing into Nation of Islam territory - and with comments like "Hillary ain't never been called a nigger." True enough - though both Clintons have been called "nigger-lovers" and Sen. Clinton has certainly been called a bitch and a cunt and every other derogatory term in existence for "woman". In fact, Rev. Wright himself has called her a bitch. I don't believe she's ever called Wright or Obama or anyone else a nigger.

But, damn - Obama had to have known how divisive Rev. Wright's sermons could get. Even if he had missed most of Wright's homilies over the past twenty years (and he is supposed to be a devout practicing Church of Christer, isn't he? at least when he's courting the Christian Right), they're available on DVD, for God's sake. If the Candidate of Judgment was totally unaware of his alleged mentor's beliefs, he couldn't get an aide to vet a couple of damned videos?

Anyway, it looks like this is one story that's not going to go away. In fact, the way this story is going so far, Obama's association with the Trinity United Church of Christ could well mark the end of his campaign. There are Wright stories being carried in more than a thousand US papers today - and a Kansas City Star editorial is speculating on whether or not Sen. McCaskill and Gov. Sebelius will have to withdraw their endorsements of Obama - or at least cease campaigning for him. Despite how much I may agree with some of Wright's sentiments, stuff like "No, no, no - not God bless America, God damn America!" just won't fly in the Heartland.

Sen. Obama would do well to distance himself as far as possible, as publicly as possible from the TUCC - as Wright himself predicted he might have to do last April. He should have done it then. He should do it now - in no uncertain terms. And in a bit more public a forum than Countdown to Obama's Victory with Keith Olberman and HuffPo.

Until he does, I've come up with a new poster for Obama's fairer-skinned supporters:


As should be obvious by now, I've never thought Obama had a hope of winning the national election - and this could cement it. It would be a pity, though, if his candidacy crumbled through guilt by association rather than on the candidate's own merit (or singular lack thereof). Ah, well, at least they're not blaming this controversy on the Clinton campaign.

Yet.

Tags: photo/graphic, politburo
humour: pensive

While all the results have yet to be tallied, Hillary Clinton has been declared the winner in Texas, Ohio, and Rhode Island, with Obama only taking Vermont.

Ideally, at this point, the Democratic Party should acknowledge that Clinton has won just about every primary in traditionally blue states - and in those that could well be battleground states: Ohio, Texas, Nevada, if we're counting them, Michigan and Florida, and what many are now predicting will be a battleground state this year, California. She'll most likely take Pennsylvania, as well. Obama, on the other hand, has been doing well in states that are almost certain to go to the Republican candidate.

The DNC should also acknowledge that Clinton has got more votes from Democrats than Obama has. If one excludes the votes of Republicans and independents, Obama has taken almost no states at all of any electoral significance - except unsurprisingly, his home state of Illinois (which would easily go for Clinton were she the candidate). They should also start realizing that Obama's ability to get votes from Republicans in open primaries says nothing on God's earth about how electible he is. Those were principally votes against Clinton to keep her off the ticket - and they are almost certain to go to the Republican candidate in the general election, regardless of who the Democrat is.

In short, Democrats should start recognizing that Obama can't win and that it is he who is dividing the party.

But they won't. Far too many have invested far too much in the myth of this phantom "coalition". Far too many are subscribing to the fantasy that America is now, officially, colorblind and that the millions of our citizens who wouldn't piss on a black man if he were on fire are now going to vote for one. Far too many are sooooo pleased with themselves for supporting a candidate who is sooooo cool, despite the fact that he has virtually no experience (especially in foreign policy, defense issues, or the economy), nothing to show for his Senate career except reams of missed votes (not unlike his record in Illinois), and no policies that distinguish him from the more capable and electable candidate. Far too many of them believe - setting a new bar for naiveté - that the Republican Noise Machine is going to roll over and play dead, that there will be no 527s out to destroy Obama at all costs, that the mainstream media is going to join hands and celebrate Citizen Obama the way two talking heads on MSNBC and two op-ed pundits at the New York Times are. Far too many of them are confusing a national election with American Idol and assume that the popularity of Obama within their immediate peer group means he's already won. Guess again.



On the other hand, I don't think the ongoing campaign is a bad thing at all, contrary to the wishes of the punditocracy. I'm afraid I find myself agreeing with James Wolcott (and hardly for the first time):

I'm unaccustomed to approving the testimony of John Podhoretz, newly crowned boy-king of Commentary, but his reading of the media elite's perverse eagerness to pull the plug on the Democratic primary battle strikes me as unassailable:

Journalists love a good story, right? Just love one. Love the competition. Love a good race, especially in politics. Yes, there’s nothing like conflict--that's the bread and butter of modern-day journalism. What media bias?

The last month disproves this fantasy. The relentless hunger of the mainstream media to run Hillary Clinton out of the race is palpable--even though there exists a real possibility of a battle that will continue all the way to the Democratic convention in August. What's more, this battle is generating excitement and ratings, with MSNBC crowing about the 8 million plus viewers it got for last week's Obama-Clinton debate. That's ten to fifteen times its ordinary rating on a weekday night.

The great story would be--Hillary stays in. She's tough. Obama feels the heat. Neither one of them has it nailed down. The superdelegates are up for grabs. It's a fight for every last superdelegate.

But that's not what's happening. Instead, you will see, tomorrow and for the rest of the week, no matter what happens tonight, a constant drumbeat that Hillary must drop out. Politicians will be sought to deliver this message. Talking heads will talk themselves hoarse on MSNBC and others. Op-eds will be drafted on the nobility Hillary will show by giving way to Obama. And so on.

MSNBC is indeed the home of thwarted hopes tonight as Clinton's Ohio victory ensures another leg of battle. Their Decision '08 headquarters is a brightly lit study in dyspepsia. Chris Matthews, sitting with his arms irritably crossed, and Keith Olbermann look like the gold and silver medal winners in a lemon-sucking contest, with the Newsweek's dependable Howard Fineman settling for the bronze. Only Tom Brokaw, his wry Olympian perspective still intact from his distinguished tenure in the anchor chair of NBC News, seems willing to let this contest unfold at its own pace and drama until the final shot lands in the cup. I agree with Tom Watson that a Democratic duel that goes all the way to the convention is a healthy development, not a death march:

A Hillary-Barack race that goes to the convention is a bonanza not just for the media sales departments (who will be rooting against their Obama-worshipping colleagues in the newsroom) but for the Democratic Party and for the progressive cause. The fickle, often-bored electorate is excited about this race--why go dark for several months? Further, why give McCain and the Republicans equal time?

Then again, I'm also sympathetic to those whose nerves are wrung out and just want this thing over, the way they want Bush's presidency to come to its miserable conclusion so that this oppressive weight will no longer be hanging over our heads. But it's not nearly as exhausting a marathon for us as it is for the candidates, their families, and their staffs, and if they can tough it out to the finish, who are we to whine?

Who, indeed? Tom Watson makes another couple of good points:

An ongoing Clinton-Obama race also sharpens the issues and the candidates. I say: make 'em defend their positions, and make 'em hang left - not tack to the right, as Obama has started to do once he became convinced this nomination was in the bag.

Finally, keeping hope alive in Clinton land means keeping my hopes alive for the best possible Democratic ticket featuring the best two candidates of this long, long cycle.

Hell yeah. I've said before that the Democratic nomination going all the way to the convention is about the best thing that could happen to the party this year. Nothing has changed my mind.

Tags: politburo
humour: encouraged

Dateline Pittsburgh:

So we stopped into an ice cream parlor in Newport, Kentucky, yesterday - Sean and I were the only ones in the shop - and struck up a conversation with the only employee in the place (Richard, according to his name tag). Or, rather, he struck up conversation with us. As has been happening frequently over the past few days, the "Hillary" buttons that we've been wearing have drawn a lot of comment, engagement, and discussion. Mostly, it's been middle-aged women, but we've had quite a few men (especially men of color) and, at Cincinnati University, we were getting high fives and "that's what I'm talking abouts" from a lot of female students - of all races. That's all been encouraging.

Then there was Richard the Ice Cream Guy.

The first thing he says (after determining that we were, indeed, canvassing for Clinton) is "Yeah, how could anyone support a Muslim candidate? They're the guys we're fighting." We've been getting a lot of that - and I mean a lot - so that wasn't so unusual. And, of course, we spent a few minutes explaining that Barack Obama is not a Muslim and that, even if he were, that wouldn't be a good reason for not supporting him. Then we had to go through the flag in nonsense - and the national anthem nonsense. Honest to God, it sometimes feels like we've spent as much time correcting misinformation about and spurious criticisms of Obama than we have discussing Clinton on the issues - and, frankly, after half a dozen such conversations, I've been seriously tempted to just say, "Yeah, how could anyone vote for a Muslim?" and move on. Conscience forbids.

Anyway, after we've dismissed the idiocy (one never knows how successfully), Richard the Ice Cream Guy moves on. "Don't worry," he tells us. "Obama will never make it to the White House." He then goes on - at length - about "one of the guys that lives in his house" who works for Army Intelligence and the background checks that he and his partner had to go through when this guy moved in and how all the neighbors had to be interviewed and how this housemate or whatever has the highest possible security clearance in INSCOM. Okay, a bit dubious, perhaps, but still within the realm of possibility, maybe.

Then the confidential tone sets in. Apparently, this guy-that-lives-in-his-house informed Ice Cream Guy that "if Obama even gets close to winning, they'll take him out". Huh? Who? "The government. They already have it all planned out. If Obama wins the primaries and it looks like he's gonna win the election, they're gonna kill him. The Army's gonna kill him."

This, remember, was all prefaced by "Don't worry." We grabbed our bowls of coconut chocolate almond and headed for the exit. "Are we going to sit out here," I asked Sean, referring to their outdoor seating area, "or are we getting as far away from Scary Ice Cream Guy as possible?"

"We're getting far away."

Tags: duly noted, politburo, tin-foil hat?, travelogue
humour: unnerved