Clinton Nominates Obama By Acclamation Vote

I’ll write about this historical meeting a bit later, but it was truly an amazing moment to watch.

Sen. Hillary Clinton asked to cut the roll call short saying, “With eyes firmly fixed on the future, and in the spirit of unity with the goal of victory, with faith in our party and our country, let’s declare together with one voice right here, right now that Barack Obama is our candidate and he will be our president,” she said.

Delegates then affirmed Obama as their choice with cheers.

Clinton and Obama were on the ballot at the party convention on Wednesday.

The states announced their votes in alphabetical order. The voting was to continue until a candidate received 2,210 delegates — the threshold needed to secure the nomination.

While most delegates cast their votes for Obama, some were voting for Clinton.

It was truly a very neat thing to watch as Clinton made the nomination and asked for an acclamation vote.

Pretty nifty, watching history being made.

Photo credit CNN

C-Span Sends Emails On Linkage

I woke up this morning with an email in my box that was from C-Span. It was saying they were including my post about Hillary Clinton’s speech last night.

It was surprising but what was even better is that they contacted me to let me know it was being used.

I realized they took a few minutes to let me know that my work was being utilized as part of their coverage.

That was smart and good public relations.

There are always new things to learn and this was a good one for me. Being interactive in our blogging efforts is important and I forget that lesson sometimes. If it’s a two way conversation instead of just one way, there is a sense of ownership on both sides.

Observations on a Wednesday morning.

Hillary Clinton Promoted Unity

I’ve been twittering with some of the Twitter posse about Hillary Clinton’s speech tonight. It was well-orchestrated, impassioned and she appeared extremely gracious and hit several political points that needed addressing.

There are several things she said I liked.

“My mother was born before women had the right to vote. My daughter was able to vote for her mother for President.”

I liked her statement, and I paraphrase, about being in it for the party or just in it for her. It was a strong passage to her supporters.

(Updated: Found the quote.)

I want you to ask yourselves: Were you in this campaign just for me? Or were you in it for that young Marine and others like him? Were you in it for that mom struggling with cancer while raising her kids? Were you in it for that boy and his mom surviving on the minimum wage? Were you in it for all the people in this country who feel invisible?

Her speech may not change the PUMA issues but it was about unity and she delivered. By tomorrow morning, it will be back to politics as usual however, Hillary Clinton, tonight deserves kudos for a well structured speech.

She may not be president, but she was a leader tonight. And she created a new catch phrase with this:

“You haven’t worked so hard over the last 18 months, or endured the last eight years, to suffer through more failed leadership,” Clinton said. “No way. No how. No McCain.”

Tonight, Clinton gave a Vince Lombardi speech.

Media-Driven Political Drama

The Rude Pundit talks about Hillary Clinton.

Look, you know the way this went down. It’s not complicated. We already know that the Obama campaign ran “one of the most rigorous vice-presidential vetting processes that Democrats could recall.” So the Obama people went to Hillary Clinton and said, “We need a complete financial disclosure, including Bill’s foundation,” and Bill said, “You can kiss my hairy ass,” and thus the whole thing was over for Hillary. It’s that simple.

This ludicrous, unending coda to the primary campaign is nearly exclusively media-driven. Sure, yeah, some of the Clintons’ people are acting like an athlete who took steroids trying to prove how often the tests show a false positive. He may have a point, but he still doesn’t get to win. And he’s not really the best spokesperson for testing reform. In other words, to the extent that any convention wrangling and bitter feelings are actually happening, Clinton and her people need to act like they lost.

The key thing RP says is that much of what is going on is media-driven. And it is. No one is going to watch unless there is some drama. If everyone was standing around singing Burt Bacharach, then MSM wouldn’t feel like that had a story. I’m seeing a lot of created foo-foo crap happening which is to drive ratings

I think Hillary Clinton has been very classy at the convention. She’s a leader and she’s good at it. She just didn’t win this one.

Jones Soda Campaign Cola War 2008

Well, it’s the same drink but with different packaging from Jones Soda.

Whitney has the scoop.

For this election season, Jones has launched a series of “Campaign Colas.” They come in three varieties: Yes We Can Cola, Pure McCain Cola and Capitol Hillary Cola. I’ve tried all three, and they taste exactly the same! The only difference is the labeling.

Apparently this site is keeping tracks of the sale.

For more information, head to Campaign Cola 2008.

Barack Obama is currently kicking everyone’s butt over there.

The Long-Term Affects Of FISA

I won’t serve as an apologist for the weak backbone of the Democrats in Washington right now. In my personal political views, I am very liberal when it comes to social causes because they impact me personally and actually more fiscally conservative when it comes to this nation’s money because it’s my money.

No, this does not make me a Blue Dog Democrat as the lot of them tend to vote very far to the right on social issues.

Sorry, I’m just not into that whole mindset.

But there is one thing, ONE THING, that irritates me in politics more than anything. Today, I’m aggravated with the Democrats on FISA and it goes back to something I said a year ago which is coming to fruition at this time. My thoughts, (and I can’t find the post) was that whoever we elected to lead this country, well, would they be willing to strike down some of the directives that BushCo has put in place? My lack of optimism, if I recall correctly, ran pretty deep. Would our elected officials be willing to make decisions that wouldn’t violate a person’s rights and be willing to stand up to corporate greed in a country where the rich get richer and the poor are eating ramen noodles?

The answer is bleak.

In an analysis released Tuesday, Maplight.org, a nonprofit campaign finance watchdog group, found that lawmakers voting Friday in support of the wiretap deal averaged roughly twice the donations from the nation’s leading telecoms — Verizon, Sprint and AT&T — over the last three years as those voting against it.

The figures might not have raised eyebrows except that the proposal contained a gift for the industry, effectively granting retroactive legal immunity to the telecoms that enabled the Bush administration’s warrantless eavesdropping program. The immunity provision — blasted by civil libertarians for putting industry concerns above Fourth Amendment rights against search and seizure — rescues the companies from the roughly 40 lawsuits pending against them. Some money-in-politics watchdogs say the connection between the contributions and votes is no accident.

There is no such thing, in my book at least, as a reluctant vote. And it wasn’t just Barack Obama, who I might remind you didn’t even show up for this vote, it was a whole mess of democrats and republicans.

Only a few stood firm on this including Russ Feingold.

Language that appears likely to let telecommunications companies escape lawsuits over the Bush administration’s warrantless surveillance program drew sharp opposition from liberal Democrats such as Wisconsin Sen. Russ Feingold.

Feingold said the bill would be a “get out of jail free” card for companies that went along with a program critics say was illegal, and would give the government sweeping powers to spy on Americans.

“This legislation is going to be remembered as the legislation in which Congress granted the executive branch the power to sweep up all of our international communications, with very few controls or oversight,” he said.

I may be getting my libertarian on here but this just reeks. It’s like in the movie of the Shawshank Redemption where Andy Dufresne takes that small rock hammer and over years creates a big enough hole to get out of the prison.

That’s how I feel about our government right now. They are creating holes when it comes to civil liberties. And I’m with much of the progressive blogosphere when we see that Barack Obama said he would filibuster this bill last year and he didn’t. I ain’t happy, campers. Obama simply blew it.

Our elected officials are taking small pieces out of our individual rights such as the Fourth Amendment. This is basically being gutted and whittled away and one of these mornings, we are going to wake up and find that all the words we keep hearing about  the constitution have just been that, words. I’d like to see some action please.

I thought, naively, that I might get a Camelot with either Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama this year.

I won’t.

It’s just politics as usual.

Unifying A Party

Last night I missed all the fanfare in a monumental day in history. I was sitting in a local, very emotional board meeting that I’m not going to talk about here. I usually talk around the items that happen in my day job anyway and just write about my reaction to what I do for a living. It’s called a blog where we get to navel gaze about our lives.

So I missed the speeches and probably won’t get to watch them until later today when I have some time.

With that said, I have read the reaction of how folks perceived the last day of the democratic primary. I find that people usually deal with politics from an emotional level. Be it locally or nationally.

I read with great disappointment these posts from Aunt B. Left Wing Cracker and Mack regarding Tennessee Guerilla Women. That blog has won national kudos and has done a great deal for communicating the ongoing battle for women’s rights. I don’t want to take that away from TGW but I must say that as a woman in my 40s there is one thing that I’ve realized as the gray at my hairline becomes a bit whiter and that is not everyone who disagrees with me is out to get me. Sometimes it’s just a different philosophy.

Was there misogyny in this race? Yes.

As a woman, I cringed at moments where Hillary Clinton was asked about her pantsuits and pictures were photoshopped making her into some sort of wicked witch. I hated that.

Was there a covert, and sometimes blatant, thread of racism in this contest? Yes. I felt the nasty sting of Bill Hobbs’ attack on Barack Obama and I have listened to some rather nasty words thrown at the candidate.

And although I don’t always write about feminism here doesn’t mean that I don’t live a life of being a professional woman in a male-dominated world.  During my career in news and social work, I’ve had some rather nasty words thrown at me as well as other women have as well.

I try to let my actions speak louder than my words. People that know me know that I’m more than this blog.

So speeches were given last night and in internalizing the immediate needs of my particular community, I find my concerns about this country are more than just race and sexism which can’t be fixed in a day but should be fixed nonetheless. I don’t want my nieces listening to the nastiness that I have on occasion. With that said, there has to be a unified effort to make sure they are okay. And taking our toys and going home because our candidate of choice didn’t win doesn’t cut it for me. I just want something different from the last eight years.  This country has had a rough run. And I don’t want those same nieces to ever go through something like this ever again.

My concerns, for right now at least, are about the economy and the war (where women and people of color die too), about a recession in my community that has no access to rural public transportation and where gas prices have created such hardships where I’ve seen people reduced to tears choosing between milk and getting to work. Jackson Miller posted this yesterday and that’s what I’m talking about.

Politics are emotional and I don’t care what anyone says, it is. But there has to be unity in fixing some of the things in this country that are impacting regular people. It’s the only way.

Last Day Of The Democratic Primary

It’s the last day of the Democratic Primary. I know, it’s been a long primary season. I think it started in 1999 and I, for one, am ready for the next stage.

Today we have Montana and South Dakota. Tonight we have a big speech coming from Hillary Clinton that the major cable networks are drooling over.

As things in news and politics can change in exactly 12 minutes, I can’t see Clinton conceding today but then again, who knows. Obama leads in the delegate count 2,074 to 1,917 for Clinton, with 2,118 needed to clinch the nomination, and South Dakota and Montana award a total of 31 delegates. Our governator, Bredesen, is saying that he will throw out his choice after these primaries.

The Page is posting clues on if Clinton is leaving a trail of clues about her speech tonight. Interesting,  Nothing on the schedule later this week but comments about “superdelegates can change their mind.”

But there are some major things going on now in this country. When I talk to regular folks, they indicated they are weary as well with what feels like the longest primary season ever. We are still talking about gas here.

And what’s going on this week in Washington? Fixing the Farm Bill, which suffered a clerical mistake that has become a legislative nightmare.

And in this stream of consciousness blogging I’m vested in this morning, something cool happened yesterday. We did a story about a couple living on a fixed income that were basically rationing food a couple of weeks ago.

A woman called me and said that would not abide. She said on the phone “I have plenty and I want to share. I don’t want them to worry about eating.”

She called them to help out.

There are good folks in this world.

Politics: The Human Element

I am an average woman in my early 40s stumbling through life as best I can. I’m human. I’m flawed. And I get tired. Sometimes I say stupid things. Other times I’m reasonable. There are times my confidence is lost. There are other times I’m boisterous and on top of the world. There are times I am excessive. There are other times that I’m kind.

I’m many things. I say again, I’m human.

I have said repeatedly that the idea of a Bush, Clinton, Clinton, Bush, Bush and then Clinton presidency was something I just didn’t really want.  In this republic we live in, if Clinton were to have won the White House, I couldn’t help but think of three decades of two families being so immersed in the leadership of this country. We are not a monarchy.  I liked Bill Clinton and I don’t have a problem with Hillary but I don’t think she would have gotten the national attention she has if it weren’t for his popularity as president. There is no doubt she is a smart politician. But I’ve said before she is a divisive force amongst voters. I’ve said that since the inception of this blog. Could she run this country?

Sure she could.

Speaking of being tired, this election with relentless, and at times bitter, campaigning has lasted forever. I don’t remember a time in my adult life seeing anything like this and I’m somewhat of a political junkie.

If the American public is suffering from campaign fatigue, I can’t imagine what the candidates are going through, all three of them.

They are not deities. They are human as well.

The remarks made yesterday by Hillary Clinton were stupid. There isn’t any getting around it. But I also understand being exhausted. I can give her the benefit of the doubt about the whole thing because I get tired too. I’ve wanted something so bad and not been able to get it before. I can relate to those things.

Clinton can stay in the race until doomsday if she chooses because that’s her right. Her remarks were not thought out but I think she was speaking of a time frame regarding June in her reference to the assassination of Robert Kennedy.

The one thing that I don’t think Clinton remembered in that moment that in this new age of politics is every word is dissected by the media and the blogosphere. She has thrown some verbal grenades in the past specifically trying to put out questions about Barack Obama. She has done this. And because we’ve seen this with all three candidates using words as weapons of mass distraction, there obviously is going to be scrutiny of rather or not she was trying to create an earworm, if you will, again.

But this time, I don’t think this was the case. And, in politics, you win. There is no second place. It’s just politics. I don’t think she threw one of those loaded statement in this particular instance with her comments but she did made a nation shudder, to quote Holly from a Twitter post.

They are all tired. WE are all tired. I get that.

I realize this probably isn’t popular to say because we aren’t supposed to treat politicians as human beings but they are.

Whether they know it or not.

Tiki Barber And Pat Buchanan

I woke up this morning and did some early morning blogging over at Music City Bloggers while drinking my morning joe watching CNN.

The audio started acting wonky and it sounded like John Roberts was the devil. Of course I don’t want my newscasters to sound like Beelzebub so I turned the channel to, and the irony it burns, Morning Joe.

As it is primary day, I thought watching the news would give me some insight into the election. Joe had Pat Buchanan on.

I have to tell you, Pat B. always looks mad. He looked mad when he was on Crossfire a kajillion years ago. He just has this look of perpetual pissdom.

Well, they played all of the negative ads running giving everyone a freebie on national television and I kinda zoned out because we won’t know until tonight.

Here’s what I think, and I could be wrong, will happen today. Obama has to close the deal if he wants the nomination. Clinton, well, I’m not happy with her at all right now but she’s probably going to do well.

More democrat fighting for six more weeks! Woot. *snark*

Who knows at this point. All I know is I’m still suffering Election Fatigue Syndrome.

So, back to my morning, Tiki Barber and Pat Buchanan are pontificating about Hillary Clinton as I write this.

Huh?

This is a combination of political punditry I would have never considered in my entire life.

Obligatory Post On Pennsylvania Primary

If you don’t want to know anything about the Pennsylvania Primary, I suggest that you look at this picture of a man who had an alligator in his car when he was arrested.

George Bush is on Deal or No Deal. Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and John McCain got their wrestling on.

Ahh, the joys of American Politics and how it seeps into pop culture.

I don’t know who is going to win today. I assume Clinton will but not by the landslide predicted a couple of months ago.

And the story that sits on the backburner as candidates run like hyenas toward a wounded gazelle is that it’s okay for felons to join the military but not gay people.

Felons.

Under pressure to meet combat needs, the Army and Marine Corps brought in significantly more recruits with felony convictions last year than in 2006, including some with manslaughter and sex crime convictions.

Data released by a congressional committee shows the number of soldiers admitted to the Army with felony records jumped from 249 in 2006 to 511 in 2007. And the number of Marines with felonies rose from 208 to 350.

Notice the words “sex crime convictions?”

I am constantly perplexed by our government.

Finger Puppet Candidates

Because you know you need it, finger puppets of the three remaining candidates for president.

The FoldUSCandidate site.

I’m trying it out right now.

I think everyone should do this craft right now. I am not a craft kind of person, but this is one I think children far and wide will love.

Hat Tip To Neatorama and photo credit here.

The Disenfranchised Voter

Right now, I know who I voted for in the primary and I’m not ashamed of it. I’m sitting back looking at the different candidates’ behavior. Thus far, I am not liking what I see. I still feel I voted for the guy I wanted to win but I’m seeing some things from everyone that makes me think of the race in 2000.

I don’t like it. Not one bit.

First out, John McCain. He gets information on global policy wrong sometimes. Here’s what bugs me: we have a president that does that now. Whoever is our next president needs to know about the different cultures all residing in Iraq and their different philosophies especially when you are in their country when you are on a political junket. We’ve buried four soldiers here in Hoots. Singing “Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb” to the tune of Barbara Ann did not endear me to him nor did it to others I’ve spoken to. I used to, before the Savings and Loans fiasco, though McCain was a moderate. I can’t help but wonder what deal he made with Bush and Co. back in 2004 because I think he did. He was one of their harshest critics and then they are doing a group hug? We don’t need Bush Lite in office in November. I think he’s smarter than Bush. Of course, Cheney is the president and likes money so I digress. We have MORE government from a party that promised us LESS government.

Remember that political spin?

Second out, Barack Obama. I didn’t see anything wrong with him talking about bitter, disenfranchised voters in Pennsylvania. His comments, although not the most well-thought out when spoken, does hit on a very crucial element about people are hanging on to the familiar because they are tired of struggling. Regardless of what one might thing, we live in hard times. Hell, Bill Clinton did a version of it himself back in 1992 and you didn’t see people going ape-poo. Let’s take rural voters from my neck of the woods for an example. I can beg, plead, cajole and talk about what a wonderful thing it is to vote and they don’t. Our last few elections, state, national and local have seen less than 25 percent of registered voters hitting the polls. People are bitter about government and disenfranchised by hearing words that aren’t backed up by actions. What I don’t like that Obama has done, and I’m trying to be fair about it, is that sometimes he backtracks. Here’s the thing, just own it Senator which you do sometimes and don’t others. I believe faith is important and it goes without saying that many people tie in their faith with the way they vote. But it seems that, once again, faith (an important personal issue for so many Americans) is being used as a political weapon. I was raised Presbyterian and I understand the importance of feeling connected. My dad was Church of Christ growing up (imagine my confusion with those two denominations mixed in the bag.) But, you know, it just seems disingenuous at times when it’s brought out conveniently for a speech or a jab. I have a friend who is a Buddhist. I don’t see them talking about that. Obama is going to have to take the heat and he would make me a happy camper if he starts talking about those changes again he mentioned a few months ago. Focus on the long-term goals of the party, just don’t change the party’s mission for the sake of the win.

On to Hillary Clinton, to my dear friends who support her, I respect your commitment to her, but I don’t like the way she’s running her race. There, I said it. She pounces on Obama when I think she needs to be pouncing on McCain. She may have expected an easy race, but in the long run, she didn’t get it. Right now, what I’m hearing is give McCain a shot if I can’t have it so I can have it in 2012. I know she isn’t saying that but it’s the vibe I’m getting. I think Clinton’s policies are basically the same as Obama’s. I think she is a savvy and clever woman, but if anyone is utilizing the tired Rovian playbook, it’s Clinton. Don’t get me wrong, it okay to be critical and I don’t think she’s a bad person I just think she wants to get the win more than anything. And at this point, I’m thinking she just might.I said months ago if she won, I’d happily vote for her before all this crap started. Now, I will begrudgingly vote for her if this kind of behavior continues. She spoke of change too. I’m ready to see it. Ms. Clinton, make me believe. I could care less if you shot a duck and had a shot of whiskey with the boys. I want to know if you can fix the economic mess in this country. Remember, people voted for Bush because he was “the guy they wanted to have a beer with.” Clinton’s policies are sound. Obama’s are similar. Let’s talk about the issues, not pulling phrases out and bashing the hell out of him.

And, as my head is filled with many things this morning other than just politics, we had to have a forum on COMPASSION?

Jeez, I thought that was ingrained in us. Golden Rule stuff. Treat others they way you want to be treated. Candidates, you don’t want to see people losing their jobs or eating six-packs of chicken ramen noodles because that’s all they can afford, then start talking about ways to stop this nonsense.

The news cycle in this race is short. We have new media bombarding us with information so quickly it’s hard to keep up. It’s time for our candidates to keep up to.

Most of the folks I know here in rural west Tennessee are second amendment, blue dog Democrats. (I know, I’m largely in the minority. Guns and church are a way of life here. I don’t participate in either one but I have no problem with it, quite frankly, which may put me on the list of some liberals.) They vote too (and sometimes Republican nationally, but I have a feeling they aren’t buying any of it. We are smarter than you guys stereotype us to be.

Start remembering you are campaigning for votes from average people. I think the Superdelegates are eating just fine and aren’t rolling pennies to put gas in their cars

I said this before and I will say it again, it’s too fuzzy.

New Obama/Clinton Parody

Well, you’ve seen Sarah Silverman and Matt Damon, and then you saw Jimmy Kimmell respond with his bro Ben Affleck.

Guess what this video is about.

I have a feeling you never expected this (safe yet not depending on where you are):

Mabel, who is seeking the highest office in the land, approves. I, on the other hand, am appalled. Appalled I’m telling you.

Not.

From Trendhunter

Finally …

Something odd is happening. I thought it wouldn’t but then again, the presidential candidates did something yesterday so unusual and fascinating that I couldn’t help but have to sit back in my recliner and weep tears of joy.

They actually talked about things other than each other.

Praise the Lord and Pass the Cheetos! I had gotten so disillusioned in the past couple of weeks with all of the static that I thought seriously of going and getting a cat so I could cat blog. As you know, I’ve never really owned a cat. I hear they own you. I guess I’ll stick with Mabel.

From USA Today:

Obama was in New York City, where he was introduced by Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a Republican-turned-independent. Obama reiterated his proposals for helping homeowners faced with foreclosure, including a $10 billion fund to keep some mortgages afloat. Bloomberg rearranged his schedule to be at the speech, but Stu Loeser, a spokesman for the mayor, said his boss’s courtesy doesn’t constitute an endorsement.

Clinton campaigned in North Carolina on the start of a six-day, three-state tour focused on the economy. She proposed a five-year, $10 billion program to help displaced workers get job training.

 

Whaaa!?! Get OUT!

The Dems are finally talking about the sorry state of the economy in this country? Seriously, I thought it was all about faux sniper stories and Obama and the preacher but after this I think Clinton will knock it off.

By sniping at each other, both candidates put me off and I’m a political junkie. I have heard people, just common folks here in Hoots, that have been so disgusted with it that they are talking more about that then the actual race as they look at the gas signs screaming $3.39 a gallon at them.

Howard Dean has got to get this together and keep on task. From yesterday:

Democratic Party chief Howard Dean is expressing concern about the angry tone of his party’s presidential campaign.

Dean says Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and their supporters should beware of tearing each other down, demoralizing the base and damaging the party’s chances of winning the White House in November.

About time, Howard. With this said, damage has been done. But it can be fixed.

Talk about the issues and the party’s mission. Unity good, BS bad.

From Pat Oliphant

The White Noise Of The Presidential Race

Every once in a while I get on this imaginary treadmill and start running in place. It’s not a great feeling and usually I start feeling it when I feel confined by the world around me.

I don’t know if it’s a thing about getting older or if it’s just me. I’m leaning with door number two.

As a political junkie, I’m not too compelled by the presidential race right now and have been watching some of the state elections.  So much information comes in during these dead times of a campaign and sometimes it’s daunting. During the primaries, there was too much going on but now, small details are coming out about the candidates. If you follow the news, you know what I’m talking about from “misspeaking” about Bosnia sniper fire to someone asking Chelsea Clinton about Monica Lewinsky (which I thought was pretty classless.)

Static.

The political spin of today with the introduction of cable/Internet news in the last 25 years has given news stories the shelf life of a mayfly. The passport incident from less than a week ago is old, tired fodder now. Today’s news du jour is that Clinton is still bringing up the Jeremiah Wright incident where even a pastor she used to go to church with ( there seems to be confusion) is telling her to stop it, Barack Obama is pressing her to come clean on her finances and John McCain is watching to see if the Democratic Duo will destroy each other.

**Whoops, there is a story on Britney Spears** and thus the news cycle begins again.

Are we talking healthcare, the war, secrecy in government, Osama Bin Laden or the cost of gas prices? Are we looking for solutions? We can bail out Wall Street but not Main Street?

No, we aren’t talking about those things.

We are nation that doesn’t believe our leaders, despite their party affiliation, because they are not giving us anything put static. People tune out static after awhile, because we are a world comfortable with white noise. It plays in the background and it becomes part of the environment steeped into our senses to where we don’t hear it after awhile.

Everyone wants their voices heard. They want to be treated as valid entities. Hope is important.  Day-to-day issues dominate our world. How will a person buy milk for their family or do they take that four bucks and put it in their gas tank to get to work? Do you go to the doctor and take on additional debt or hope their illness will get better on it’s own?

I’m extremely disappointed with it all but I’ll get over it.

Bill Richardson

Bill Richardson has endorsed Barack Obama. I’m a day late and a dollar short here because I realize the blogosphere has moved on and new LOL cats are available to look at as they are bright and shiny.

But I think it’s more significant that some of the Right might think. Sharon Cobb talked about it at her place and she makes some good points.

The obvious reason that it is significant is that he used to work in the Clinton Administration. He is friends with the Clintons.

But I think there is one thing about Richardson’s endorsement that is highly significant and that is Richardson is grounded and seems to be a voice of reason in this dead period before the next primary. I would have said the same thing if he had endorsed Hillary Clinton.

Richardson is not a drama queen. I tend to pay attention to what’s going on with him.
Let me tell you, when I would take those political tests that every website had back when the race was filled with candidates that was supposed to be one’s perfect match, I took several and I realize they were basically meant very little but I always got Mike Gravel, Dennis Kucinich and Bill Richardson.

Ahh, I miss the early days of this race where the mission statement of the Dems was more important than who had their picture taken with who and people weren’t throwing sand at each other daily.

James Carville said in a New York Times article that Richardson’s endorsement of Obama was an “act of betrayal” but there is more in the Times write-up which is good stuff. I’m sure it stings but on the other hand because both of the last candidate’s standing have been whined and dined for their sway. And apparently now the endorsement is causing more of a stir, but Richardson is directly dealing with the backlash.

Chris Dodd is endorsing Obama too but it didn’t make as many waves as Richardson’s did. Richardson’s means votes.

I’m interested to see what John Edwards does now.

“… as though they were adults.”

As I told you earlier this week, I’ve been busy and I was taking a much-needed sabbatical from watching the democratic candidates try to tear each other up.

Of course, I saw something this morning that reminded me why I’m not too bothered about the whole Jeremiah Wright/Barack Obama thing this past week. If you want to know the truth, I could care less what Wright said.

I was listening to what Obama said.

Having a few days to process this because I wanted to sit down and actually listen to the 37 minutes of his speech from Tuesday, I didn’t want to be swayed by what other people are saying. I wanted to have my own opinion. On Twitter, I saw people going at it about the speech with folks taking very broad strokes articulating which camps they were in. Don’t get me wrong, it was intriguing.

I have two lines of thinking on this. I am an adult. I pay taxes. I work at a job I go to everyday. I am paying medical bills off from my Ednaectomy from a year and a half ago still. I have ups and downs like everyone I know. I have a car that needs work. I have a family that I love. And I have people in my life that are good influences, and some who aren’t so positive. I am flawed as everyone is.

And I go back to I am an adult.

And I agree with Jon Stewart to a large degree about the speech. After five minutes of his opening bit on The Daily Show, he said one sentence that made me think. He said:

“at 11:00 on a Tuesday, a prominent politician spoke to Americans about race, as though they were adults.”

I want to be spoken to like an adult about politics.

Race issues are real. Gender issues are real. If you are for Obama, it doesn’t mean you are anti-woman. If you are for Clinton, it doesn’t mean that you are anti-black. The party that has commended themselves of being diverse through my life has taken to playing some really jacked-up games recently. And I don’t like it.

Are American citizens the ones beating these issues with a hammer? Is it the media? Is it the strategy of political spin from the Rove handbook, as I’ve questioned before?

I needed to sit down and process the speech given by Obama without interruption. I didn’t want to be swayed by other people’s opinions of the speech. I thought it was a good one and I agree with Stewart, we were spoken to with bluntness that, and this is my opinion, treated me with the respect I deserve as a voting American.

And most of the folks talking about what he said probably weren’t going to vote for Obama anyway. But, in a thoughtful discussion at Ginger’s, people were talking about hesitations about the candidate. This kind of discussion is a good thing. It’s best to have “adult” conversations about politics instead of a bunch of name-calling and I commend Ginger for being upfront in her uncertainty.

I respect a person’s right to question the whole Wright thing. As Americans, if it bothered folks, they need to process it out. I pay him about as much mind as I did Jerry Falwell or Pat Robertson (who at one time openly spoke of assassinating Hugo Chavez.) Preachers (as they are called around here) are human beings too with flaws, emotions and beliefs. I had grandparents on both sides of my family who went to church every time the doors opened. Homer is a regular church attendee. I don’t think Homer and the preacher are voting for the same guy.

As for me, I saw it and didn’t put too much thought in it. Others did.

There are no easy answers here. The one thing that I do want to stress is that quite frequently a group of us here in rural America get together for a couple of beers. Politics invariably comes up. Cravens voted for Edwards, Squirrel Queen voted for Hillary and I voted for Obama on Super Tuesday.

The issues of race and gender rarely come up although they do occasionally. We are all adults who had a preference. We voted for whom we thought would be the best person.

What we do talk about is the economy, the war, how we are having to stretch our dollars further than we have had to since our days in school and the personal realities we have faced with healthcare.

You know, because these are the issues impacting us personally in our adult life.

Throw The Karl Rove Handbook Away

I can’t tell you what to do or how to think. I’m not going to do that because that wouldn’t be cool. I’m not going to tell you how to vote, because that would be disingenuous. I have my opinions, you have yours and we can all keep it friendly.

We can all agree to disagree or at least I hope we can.

I am going to say that my fellow progressives need to chill. We are not oppressing women if we support Barack Obama. We are not oppressing African-Americans if we support Hillary Clinton. We are on the same team and yet we are acting like we aren’t.

I can also say that Karl Rove is not the guy we need to be taking tips from. Yeah, I know he got folks elected and I am not naive enough to believe that the ultimate prize is to win but then again I think we’ve lost the mission of the left with all the static. Throw his playbook away, campers, immediately.

And that’s what it is: static. Let’s not get caught up in it.

In 2000, we saw some very suspicious things happen in our government (and I realize there are always suspicious things happening in our government from both sides of the aisle so let’s not get hung up on that. Bear with me, we are taking a journey in this post so hear me out.)

We saw the national media bow down after 9/11 and not asking the right questions to our leaders in this country. We saw the national media start to come out of the fog after Hurricane Katrina.

And we have had a campaign that started in 2005 give everyone such Primary Election Fatigue that I’m surprised I can still sit upright.

The thing that bothers me about the last few weeks is that we have forgotten some basic things. The whole Geraldine Ferraro thing is a perfect example. The controversy hit on the day of the Mississippi primary. There seems to be a lot of maneuvering here because it seems this keeps happening to sway what is said during that news cycle. Mack wrote about this last week and in so many ways, he’s right.

He wrote:

I am prepared to work hard for either candidate. When I talk to uncommitted people, especially bloggers, I am well positioned to make my case for Hillary Clinton, even though I have publicly stated I voted for Obama in the primary. The reason I can do this is because you will find nothing disparaging about either candidate on this blog. I had a choice to make, and I did so, and stated my reasons for it. I have a preference, thats it.

There is a great deal at stake in the General Election, so a win is extremely important to me as a citizen. As a person, how we win is of more importance. I truly believe our country is poised to rally behind not just change, but real leadership that includes keeping citizens informed of what is at stake, without exaggeration or misrepresentation. Even the media will come around.

That pretty much sums it up for me.

The whole “Obama is a Muslim” and “Clinton is a monster” is tiring and silly. I will give Clinton credit for saying this morning that both campaigns are sensitive to the race/sex edge that is playing out because nothing could be more true. To give credit to Obama, the most he said about Ferraro’s comments was that is was “ridiculous.”

And for whatever reason, I’m hoping that this and some of the other goofy-assed crap that has happened on the national stage will stop.

Can we please just calm down?

With that said, I want to know how I can get better health-care. I want to know about civil liberties. I want my president to read the constitution and not call “it a godd***ed piece of paper“.

When a president leads our country, he/she represents all of this country and that’s been my issue with the last eight years quite frankly. The world doesn’t look at race or sex as an issue when they are talking international politics and the United States’ role in a global community.

We are all in this together, my friends. And in Denver, we will all stand together no matter who the candidate is.

As no one reads political blogs or posts much anyway, here is a picture of a mongoose to keep it real.

UPDATE: A comment thread at Music City Bloggers disputed Bush saying the GD comment. In being fair, I wanted to note that.

Geraldine Ferraro

I’ve been thinking a lot about respect.

I know in our personal lives, we hope that we have garnered  some semblance of respect from our families, our friends and the people we work with as that is in our posse. We have to recognize that some people are going to respect us and not like us necessarily.

We make the decision of how we display our respect for others. One thing that came to mind this past evening is do we judge people in broad strokes?

I started thinking about this last night as I was reading about Geraldine Ferraro’s comments about Barack Obama.

Her remarks where very sad if you ask me.

“If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position.  And if he was a woman (of any color) he would not be in this position.  He happens to be very  lucky to be who he is.  And the country is caught up  in the concept.”

If someone had said in 1984 when she was on the presidential ticket that “Ferraro was lucky to be a woman” how would she have reacted? I’m seriously curious and then I kinda got my answer from Ferraro herself.

Ferraro isn’t backing down from her statement and it’s funny (not a ha ha kind of funny) because she is just another person who has reduced this campaign down to race and sex.

And she should have known better quite frankly because she has stood on the front line of in fighting stereotypes herself.

I believe that Barack Obama is well aware of the color of his skin just as Geraldine Ferraro and Hillary Clinton are well aware that they are women.

But didn’t she want to be judged in 1984 whether or not she would be a good leader? And she says this which diminishes her own role which I found to be so peculiar.

“I said in large measure, because he is black. I said, Let me also say in 1984 — and if I have said it once, I have said it 20, 60, 100 times — in 1984, if my name was Gerard Ferraro instead of Geraldine Ferraro, I would never have been the nominee for vice president,” she said.

I am in a younger generation than Ferraro. She has obviously had different experiences than I’ve had in my life and there are different waves of feminism in our world that are, in many ways, age-based. But I keep going back to that thing about the Golden Rule. She wasn’t very courteous about the very things she fought against herself when I was 19 years old and she ran for office.

I’ll be glad when we start talking about issues again nationwide instead of hammering the race/sex thing to death.