So I saw Karl Rove speak last night. To a packed auditorium on campus, he proved to be the smartest one in the room. I've often wished that he would use his power for good, rather than evil- or at least that the Democratic Party had someone as adept at navigating the political world and giving a succinct and on-target phrase to encapsulate the emotionally charged dynamics of American life. A few take aways I have from the event include, but are not limited to:
- Karl Rove is a moderate. He spoke of social security in economically sound terms and even spoke of the need to focus on those who are less well off when planning policy. When asked about his reflections of the Obama presidency, he anecdotally spoke of a confrontation the two political powerhouses had in the west wing. Rove was offended that Obama had included him in a group of republicans who spoke of America as a Christian nation. He told Obama, and later we students, that he was offended and that he would ever say he felt that way, that the very idea of that statement was offensive and discriminatory. A nation based on Judeo-Christian values perhaps, he continued, but a nation of all religions and creeds and to say we are Christian disgraces us as an America. WHAT?!?! I was shocked and confused, and then remembered that I was watching a man who would sell out any personal value for the sake of party dominance.
- With regard to the war in Iraq, he followed the Fox News logic by the book and then repeated, "Well, we're there. What are we going to do about it?" Awesome. Well, I have cancer- probably should keep smoking. Well, my hand already has 2nd degree burns from resting on the oven, should probably keep it there. Well, I already have an STD, might as well keep having unprotected sex. Well, I have not been in the tabloids for a few days, might as well shave my hair off.
No logic at all. Just an accepted heightened level of irrationality.
- He has a victory plan for Sen. McCain that is both vetted and very smart. I would be surprised if he is not hired by the McCain campaign soon. And any campaign with which the evil genius is involved is one to be feared by a good democrat.
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Send everyone on over!
Of course the Republicans want to run against Hillary.
On the school-yard of presidential nominees, she is the plaid-wearing know-it-all that tells the rest of us how immature we are for playing red rover instead of hanging out by the swings, where she likes to stay and go to and fro on issues that can help or hinder her ambitions. Obama is the cool kid that all the guys want to be and all the girls want to be with. Not only does he support us in red rover, he is the captain of both teams, calling each of us to come over, daring us to be bold enough to bust through the binds that make the political game seem out of reach for us plebeians with messy hair and grass-stained knees.
It's easy to use the same old line on the bossy girl that all the kids on the playground would like to see fall off the swing at some point, simply because she manages to swing higher than we do, no matter how hard we pump our legs. But, no republican wants to be the bully that pushes the cool kid around. In the middle-school mindset that we voting adults try fruitlessly to abandon, we want to be a part of the fun; an insider in the cool-kids club. Hillary's current, and the potential for the republican's future, attacks on the viability of Obama are striking a cord of self preservation in us voters. We want to be on the inside, and feel like we are cool ourselves. We want to be accepted for who we are and what we are capable of doing-not because we trudge over to the swing and push our candidate higher and higher but because we hold hands and work together. If our gut reactions to Obama, an unlikely candidate, sound juvenile and naive, it is because they are. But they are also powerful and real. And they could propel a certain 'hope monger' into the White House.
On the school-yard of presidential nominees, she is the plaid-wearing know-it-all that tells the rest of us how immature we are for playing red rover instead of hanging out by the swings, where she likes to stay and go to and fro on issues that can help or hinder her ambitions. Obama is the cool kid that all the guys want to be and all the girls want to be with. Not only does he support us in red rover, he is the captain of both teams, calling each of us to come over, daring us to be bold enough to bust through the binds that make the political game seem out of reach for us plebeians with messy hair and grass-stained knees.
It's easy to use the same old line on the bossy girl that all the kids on the playground would like to see fall off the swing at some point, simply because she manages to swing higher than we do, no matter how hard we pump our legs. But, no republican wants to be the bully that pushes the cool kid around. In the middle-school mindset that we voting adults try fruitlessly to abandon, we want to be a part of the fun; an insider in the cool-kids club. Hillary's current, and the potential for the republican's future, attacks on the viability of Obama are striking a cord of self preservation in us voters. We want to be on the inside, and feel like we are cool ourselves. We want to be accepted for who we are and what we are capable of doing-not because we trudge over to the swing and push our candidate higher and higher but because we hold hands and work together. If our gut reactions to Obama, an unlikely candidate, sound juvenile and naive, it is because they are. But they are also powerful and real. And they could propel a certain 'hope monger' into the White House.
Thursday, February 14, 2008
A swing and a miss
The public approval rating of the Congress is practically subterranean, it is so low. The Hill is becoming the valley of despair. YET, the Congress presses on. They don't need the American people to like them. In fact, they don't really need to legislate. You know what they need to do? Become involved with professional sports.
Thank god our top governing body is taking time from their (apparently wide open) schedules to help Roger Clemens clear his name and investigate old Superbowl results. Without Congress, would sports even exist now? Probably not. So thank you Arlen Spector. Thank you House Committee of Oversight and Government Control for providing America with crucial investigatory probes such as:
-House Committee: Are you a vegan?
-Roger Clemens: A what?
-HC: A vegan.
-RC: I'm sorry, I don't know what that is.
Thank god our top governing body is taking time from their (apparently wide open) schedules to help Roger Clemens clear his name and investigate old Superbowl results. Without Congress, would sports even exist now? Probably not. So thank you Arlen Spector. Thank you House Committee of Oversight and Government Control for providing America with crucial investigatory probes such as:
-House Committee: Are you a vegan?
-Roger Clemens: A what?
-HC: A vegan.
-RC: I'm sorry, I don't know what that is.
Thursday, February 7, 2008
Voice of Americans
Dear Middle Class Americans,
I hear you.
I understand you are frustrated and concerned about dwindling jobs and uncertain futures. Through my many chats with several of you over my 35 years of extensive experience, I have heard you time and time again repeat your family's and your own stories. And believe me, I am listening. I am the true voice of the American middle class. I get where you are coming from. My mid-western accent, for example, is evidence of my empathy.
In an effort to continue my great support of you, my middle-class compatriots, last night I donated $5M to myself. I know that seems like a lot of money for someone to have, much less spend all at once on herself; but, believe me, its all for YOU.
God bless you and God bless America.
Word,
Hillary
**Blogger donated to Obama today as a gut reaction to previously mentioned 'self-endorsement.' One of blogger's friends did in kind immediately thereafter. Apparently Obama has raised $7.2M since Tuesday, mostly in small individual amounts.**
I hear you.
I understand you are frustrated and concerned about dwindling jobs and uncertain futures. Through my many chats with several of you over my 35 years of extensive experience, I have heard you time and time again repeat your family's and your own stories. And believe me, I am listening. I am the true voice of the American middle class. I get where you are coming from. My mid-western accent, for example, is evidence of my empathy.
In an effort to continue my great support of you, my middle-class compatriots, last night I donated $5M to myself. I know that seems like a lot of money for someone to have, much less spend all at once on herself; but, believe me, its all for YOU.
God bless you and God bless America.
Word,
Hillary
**Blogger donated to Obama today as a gut reaction to previously mentioned 'self-endorsement.' One of blogger's friends did in kind immediately thereafter. Apparently Obama has raised $7.2M since Tuesday, mostly in small individual amounts.**
Monday, February 4, 2008
Head over Heels
Cynics beware: over the next 36 hours I am going to, for the first time, let myself fall hopelessly and dangerously in love. I am going to allow myself be enamored with the voices of positivity, of progress, of unity, of hope. Regardless of how challenging it will be, I am choosing to believe in a person, in a government, that I've only actually known in episodes of the West Wing- not in real life. I am being swept away into Camelot: the reprise; I am scared to fall so fully, but I am swept up in the movement of possibility and I'm relinquishing personal control. I am in love with a skinny man from the south side of Chicago and I am praying to every god in all mono- and poly-theistic worlds that the majority of democrats in the 27 states that vote tomorrow feel the same way.
I had a difficult conversation this week with a Hillary supporter regarding Obama's stances on conversing with Iran and experience in general. I was on the line for so long that I can understand the compulsion to veer toward the Clinton machine in this, the most critical election of my lifetime. Following the conversation, I was pondering the most effective articulation of my choice of candidate- and why the 'classic' rebuttals from opposition candidates are not the most appropriate means of debate in this election. From the outset, this election has been as much about hope and change as it has been about policy and dirty politics. Clinton has remained with the latter, it's all she knows. Obama, when he's at his best, can articulate former's nerve with such acuity that it makes America stand up and not only believe in politics and our nation- but want to be a part of it once again. This is not the same as the Sept. 12, 2001 call to service; tragedy can bring out the best in anyone. With Obama, we are seeing our nation rise to its potential, not in the face of immediate tragedy, but in the spirit of unity and hope. We are no longer reactionary, we are participatory...and there is nothing greater, more inspirational, more innovative, and more American.
Hillary and McCain have more experience. H&M (not to be confused with the discount clothing shop) can better 'game' the system and have made more votes. But H&M can better polarize their own parties than they can galvanize Americans. H&M will be fine leaders; they are excellent at Washingtonian Chess: moving the political players around to please their bottom line. But H&M won't heal and progress the nation in the way that Obama will. H&M can't unite- they built their careers on elite 'insider/outsider' games, and their 35+ years experience each (QUESTIONABLE on the HRC side) doesn't allow them any leeway to change strategies.
Obama is much more than a dynamic speaker, the current box the Clinton camp is trying to shove him into. He is a bundle of potential. He is an entrance to the path forward to greater American prosperity. But perhaps most importantly to this democrat: he is the only person who can make me inspired, hopeful and fired up to serve in 4 minutes. I can only imagine what he could do with this country in 4 years.
I had a difficult conversation this week with a Hillary supporter regarding Obama's stances on conversing with Iran and experience in general. I was on the line for so long that I can understand the compulsion to veer toward the Clinton machine in this, the most critical election of my lifetime. Following the conversation, I was pondering the most effective articulation of my choice of candidate- and why the 'classic' rebuttals from opposition candidates are not the most appropriate means of debate in this election. From the outset, this election has been as much about hope and change as it has been about policy and dirty politics. Clinton has remained with the latter, it's all she knows. Obama, when he's at his best, can articulate former's nerve with such acuity that it makes America stand up and not only believe in politics and our nation- but want to be a part of it once again. This is not the same as the Sept. 12, 2001 call to service; tragedy can bring out the best in anyone. With Obama, we are seeing our nation rise to its potential, not in the face of immediate tragedy, but in the spirit of unity and hope. We are no longer reactionary, we are participatory...and there is nothing greater, more inspirational, more innovative, and more American.
Hillary and McCain have more experience. H&M (not to be confused with the discount clothing shop) can better 'game' the system and have made more votes. But H&M can better polarize their own parties than they can galvanize Americans. H&M will be fine leaders; they are excellent at Washingtonian Chess: moving the political players around to please their bottom line. But H&M won't heal and progress the nation in the way that Obama will. H&M can't unite- they built their careers on elite 'insider/outsider' games, and their 35+ years experience each (QUESTIONABLE on the HRC side) doesn't allow them any leeway to change strategies.
Obama is much more than a dynamic speaker, the current box the Clinton camp is trying to shove him into. He is a bundle of potential. He is an entrance to the path forward to greater American prosperity. But perhaps most importantly to this democrat: he is the only person who can make me inspired, hopeful and fired up to serve in 4 minutes. I can only imagine what he could do with this country in 4 years.
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