Here’s something to think about from Slate Magazine, a snippet from The Olympics ad this administration doesn’t want you to see:
My dream ad would show the robot Wall-E methodically stacking pressed blocks of discarded dollar bills to form giant structures, which turn out to be the Bird’s Nest stadium, the Water Cube aquatic center, and the CCTV tower. The script would go something like this:
“Sponsor” (60 seconds)
Voiceover: “Ever wonder what Washington has done with your tax dollars? This Olympics is your chance to find out. For the last 8 years, the Bush administration has been paying China billions of dollars in interest on the trillions it borrowed for tax breaks, pork, and special privileges you never got. That money helped create thousands of businesses and millions of jobs—in China. So as you enjoy the games, keep an eye on your tax dollars at work. The way our economy’s going, it’s tough to pay your bills. But take heart: You already paid China’s.”
Tagline: “America’s Taxpayers. Proud Sponsors of the Beijing Olympics.”
In this NY Times opinion piece, Krugman sets out to debunk the claim that America will be transformed by Barack Obama, arguing that America has already been transformed, and Obama’s nomination is the evidence for this. As the NYT resident liberal, Krugman supported Hillary Clinton, and now it’s good to know he’s being an adult about her loss by trying to take the wind out of Obama’s sails.
Krugman’s beef with Obama is that he’s too quick to forget the Boomers who fought and protested for the racial equality that made his nomination possible. Without citing any examples, he also points out that we have yet to make comparable moves toward gender equality, but we know what he really means. While none of these points are outright false, it all comes across as sour grapes.
There were only two Boomer presidents and both of them were sleaze bags. Still, the 60s generation has warranted more PBS specials, coffee table books, and four-disc retrospectives than anyone could have imagined. Do Paul and the Clintons really need Obama to bow down and ask permission for the torch to be passed?
Krugman reminds us again that Obama’s victory is no certainty, that Rev. Wright will be back, and “[m]oreover, despite Hillary Clinton’s gracious, eloquent concession speech, some of her supporters may yet refuse to support the Democratic nominee.”
Come on, Paul, it’s time for you to graciously and eloquently step aside for the new kids, and let’s see if we can’t continue where the Boomers left off. Sorry, Paul, but your generation’s time has passed.
Imagine this, everyone gets to vote once, but some votes carry more weight. It’s all based on your education and your net worth. The more money you have, the less your vote counts; but the more educated you are, the more it counts. The scale goes from 1 to 2 and all the fractions in between. So you may only have one vote, or maybe 1.398 votes, but only up to two.
Okay, it’s ridiculous. A rich person could feasibly buy up twelve doctorates; and does philosophy degree from Harvard weigh as much as an online degree in metaphysics that comes with a crystal ball and a tarot deck?
Sigh…it seems like the start for a good bar discussion though.
I was just looking through some of the photos Sarah took of the Obama rally and I picked a few out to post. We were packed like a net full of sardines, so it was hard to get good shots, but she managed to get one good one of Barack. Enjoy!
Clinton and McCain are pleasing crowds all over by promising a break from the gas tax, while Obama is saying they’re just telling you what you want to hear. The news media has been batting the idea around without getting into the substance of it until now. Turns out, Obama is completely correct. The gas tax holiday will benefit the oil companies more than regular folks because they’re the ones who pay it, and they don’t have to pass the savings on to you. The gas tax holiday is just an even stupider version of Bush’s trickle-down economics. (”Don’t piss on my leg and call it trickle-down economics” - me.)
Obama needs to jump on this! He’s been saying for a while that his opponents will only tell you what you want to hear. Now he’s got rock-solid proof. McCain and Clinton have walked into a trap, and I don’t see an easy way out of it: A) just shut up about the gas tax; or B) deny the haters and keep preachin’ the gas tax gospel.
The best part is that it’s the first real issues-oriented mistake of the campaign. McCain and Clinton can fire back about Rev. Wright all they want, when the people see that Obama is talking about something real and important to them they’ll come around.
After the depressing defeat in Pennsylvania I can’t wait for Barack to drive this one home.
There has been a big debate over whether the Democrats’ long hard slog to the convention would actually be good for the party. The prophecy goes, one, the Dems will dominate news coverage while McCain disappears; and two, Hillary and Barack will air each others laundry now, and take the wind out of the Republican clothesline come Fall.
Weeks after McCain clenched the Republican nomination, we can see that the first prophecy has come true: McCain has only been newsworthy for the simple fact that he’s no longer newsworthy. And with the Reverend Wright story scaring the hell out of white people, I’m beginning to think the second prophecy has come true.
This morning on ABC George Will dirtied his diaper when they showed a clip of Rev. Wright. He went on to assert that Obama was in attendance when Wright gave those sermons, even though Obama says he wasn’t and there’s no evidence that he was. How does Will know? Because he knows in his heart that all black men are trying to steal his medication, duh!
So after I stewed for a while about the whole situation, I realized that all Obama has to do is come out and remind people that everything he’s said on this campaign (and his books, and before this campaign) has been in direct opposition to what Wright was saying. Then all the white folks who might vote for him (the same white folks who are deathly afraid of being racist) will swing back to his side. So when the Swift Boat Veterans come back with Wright tapes in the Fall, everyone will groan with annoyance that those idiots have been digging in the garbage and pulling out things we’ve all gotten over. By that time of course, McCain will be approving SBV commercials, as his senility continues to reverse his principles at an accelerated pace.
So for now, I think the long campaign looks good for Obama, even while it’s at its worst. The trick will be for the Dems to know when to call it a day. And that means taming the Clintons. Good luck with that!
The Globe and Mail and the CBC (big Canadian media) have both reported that the PM aide who started the whole Obama-is-soft-on-NAFTA story actually said “that someone from Ms. Clinton’s campaign had even contacted Canadian diplomats to tell them not to worry because the NAFTA threats were mostly political posturing.”
Either way it was apparently very wrong for many reasons for the PM aide to say anything, but nevertheless it hurt the Obama campaign in Ohio when the US media took off with the story.
The US media has yet to pick up on what the Canadians are saying now.
OMFG! Comeback?! Two weeks ago Clinton lead Ohio and Texas by 20 points. Last night she won Ohio by 10 and Texas by 4. NOT A COMEBACK! We are a nation of retards apparently.
Even before last night, it was being reported that it would be close to impossible for Clinton to catch up with Obama. Now, after winning by tiny margins in states where she was supposed to cleanup, it’s become even less possible for her to–ahem–comeback.
Let’s look at the delegate winnings (from DailyKos):
Vermont (15 delegates)
Obama 9
Clinton 6
Rhode Island (21 delegates)
Clinton 12
Obama 8
Texas
Primary (126 delegates)
Clinton 64
Obama 62
Caucuses (67 delegates; tentative results based on a straight percentage from 34% reporting)
Obama ~37
Clinton ~30
Total Texas (Nowhere near final)
Obama ~99
Clinton ~94
Ohio (141 delegates, punching in results with 97% reporting here)
Clinton 73
Obama 68
And the grand total is Clinton 185 to Obama’s measly, disappointing 184. WOW! What a coup for Clinton! Clearly this country has spoken. Way to go national media…
UPDATE: From DailyKos–
“…for now, the current results, before the Texas caucuses are fully tallied, are Clinton 191, Obama 178 — a better showing than last night’s single delegate lead.
So the stark reality remains — even in this best-case scenario, Clinton only chipped Obama’s pledged delegate lead from 159 to 148. Yet last night offered more than 1/3rd of remaining delegates, 370. Only about 560 remain in the contest.”
The consensus among the articles I’ve read is that women, being so emotional and wishy-washy, came to the aid of their distressed sister in her time of need and gave her the votes.
Seriously?
Okay, I’m no expert, but I can think of a much better explanation. First of all, women probably didn’t suddenly decide to come out and vote just because Hillary forced a tear out of her head. That’s ridiculous.
Second, look at the Republican winner. John McCain won by a decent margin, and where did he get all those votes? Probably not from many hard line Republicans. McCain doesn’t pander to Evangelists, and some Bushies still consider him a traitor to the party.
So where? Independent voters. New Hampshire has an open primary, which means any registered voter can vote in either the Republican or Democratic primary. But I seriously doubt anyone was torn between McCain and Hillary. I’d bet that a big chunk of McCain’s votes were from people who might have voted for Obama.
All the criticisms of Obama’s performance are correct (overconfident), and Hillary did a good job too, but McCain’s great performance was probably what hurt Obama the most.
Prediction:
The defeat will be good for Obama because he’ll drop the overconfidence and get back to business. Most importantly he’ll start attacking Hillary’s health care plan. John Edwards will continue to steer votes away from Hillary (but not to him). Huckabee and Giuliani will make a comeback in less educated states and McCain will slip.
Obama/Edwards versus Huckabee/???.
I got a lot of fiery comments after the Sopranos finale from people I’ve never heard of (click here). It’s as if they think I’m David Chase or the mayor of HBO. For the record, I loved the finale. Sure, I jumped up and joined in the collective cringe shared by eight million viewers as the screen went black, but the more I ruminated the more I loved it. See these links for in depth analysis:
http://alessonaday.wordpress.com/2007/06/15/sopranos-finale-analysis-of-final-scene/
http://www.bobharris.com/content/view/1406/1/
Some of it is dubious, but it’s all interesting.
Also, the video at the top of this page is the coolest campaign gimmick since Giuliani stopped dressing in drag.
