RJ Eskow: 100 Million Suspects
<p>In the end, the decision couldn’t be clearer. This is more than just a choice between parties, or ideologies, or policy positions. It’s a choice between philosophies and worldviews. It’s a choice grounded in moral psychology. In the end, the choice is between different portions of our own brains, between our baser instincts and what used to be called “the angels of our better nature.” <br />
The other represents fear and greed, and his campaign reflects the lower-order impulses that have guided his party and given it success. They’ve triggered fear in us so effectively for so long that they can’t <em>believe </em>it’s not working this time. They’re still frantically sending memo after memo to our lizard brains: Khalidi, Ayers, redistribution … be afraid! And the more this old strategem fails, the harder they try.</p> <p>Now they’re trying to make us afraid of <em>ourselves</em>. That’s what the ACORN con is all about. That’s why McCain called it “one of the greatest frauds in voter history” and suggested that its “destroying the fabric of democracy.” Sure, it’s a calculated diversion and an attempt to delegitimize any Democratic victory. But it also reflects a fundamental belief, one held deep in the heart of the powerful elite McCain represents:</p> <p><em>Be afraid of the voters … voters are unpredictable … voters might do <u>anything</u>.</em> We can’t let that happen.</p> <p>You probably remember Rumsfeld’s line: “Democracy is messy.” But you may not remember <em>when </em>he said it. It was in response to widespread looting of banks, offices, and museums. That says a lot. To this crowd, “democracy” is a violent mob. Representative government is an unpleasant necessity, not a value or an ideal. The rest of us this “war is too important to be left to the generals.” They think self-government is too important to be left to the voters.</p> <p>To some extent this is nothing more than greed and lust for power, although also reflects a difference in political philosophy that goes back to Locke and Hobbes. Their equation of democracy with mob rule, so clearly mirrored in Rumsfeld’s comment, helps explain why they feel morally entitled to lie, cheat, and steal votes. To them, voters aren’t reflections of a democratic ideal. They’re suspects, threats, enemies. They’re the Iraqi mob looting the Museum of Antiquities.</p> <p>That’s why they’ve condemned Barack Obama’s donors, too – all 30 million of them. Somebody might have used a phony credit card! Never mind the lobbyists that crowd McCain/Palin’s campaign staff, or <a rel=”nofollow” target=”_blank” href=”http://www.americablog.com/2008/03/mccain-busts-fecs-spending-cap.html”>McCain’s apparent violation of his own “reform” laws</a> during the primary. Lobbyists and big-money contributors are “us.” But grassroots donors are the unruly mob the candidate will have to please if he’s elected. That makes them 30 million cronies, to go along with that list of 100 million suspects.</p> <p>Voters are guilty until proven innocent. That’s why they hate voter-registration organizations like ACORN. To them, minorities are nothing more than an especially untrustworthy subset of that unsavory group called “voters.” </p> <p>The only thing that makes a citizen more of a threat than voting is “voting while black.” That’s why they can sleep at night after creating long waiting lines at “separate but equal” polling places in states like Ohio, despite the fact that what they’re doing is no different from what was done under Jim Crow segregation. That’s why they can live with themselves after creating photo ID requirements in Florida that disproportionately exclude minority voters (who are less likely to drive and therefore to have a driver’s license.)</p> <p>It’s also why we fight. Don’t let up. Vote. Help others vote. Bring camcorders, cell phones, and cameras to your polling place for some election “<a rel=”nofollow” target=”_blank” href=”http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sousveillance”>sousveillance</a>” (surveillance from below.) Document the intrusions. You can sign up <a rel=”nofollow” target=”_blank” href=”http://act.credoaction.com/election/?r=1867&id=1366-1163266-Chfd2ax”>here</a> to help track problems, or you can participate in the Election Protection Wiki described <a rel=”nofollow” target=”_blank” href=”http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dave-johnson/election-protection-wiki_b_136570.html”>here</a>. And work hard over the next few days to get out the vote.</p> <p>Democracy isn’t a subversive activity. It’s our way of life, our highest ideal. They will try to overrule the will of the people on Nov. 4. Don’t let them. Democracy: it’s the “real America.”</p> <p><i>RJ Eskow blogs when he can at:</i></p> <p><a rel=”nofollow” target=”_blank” href=”http://nightlight.typepad.com”>A Night Light</a><br />
<a rel=”nofollow” target=”_blank” href=”http://www.sentineleffect.com”>The Sentinel Effect: Healthcare Blog</a><br />
<a rel=”nofollow” target=”_blank” href=”http://futurewhileuwait.wordpress.com”>Future-While-U-Wait</a></p>
Joshuah Bearman: McCain-o-ween!
<p><img alt=”2008-10-31-mccainoween.jpg” src=”http://images.huffingtonpost.com/2008-10-31-mccainoween.jpg” width=”506″ height=”380″/></p><p>As 20,000 Obama supporters streamed into the BankAtlantic center to see Obama’s aptly titled Sunrise Rally, a small but valiant detachment of McCain volunteers stood their ground. We were in Sunrise, Florida, on the edge of the swamp, deep in Broward County, the largest concentration of Democratic voters in the state. People had been lining up to see Obama since 6am. As the cars rolled past all day and the lines swelled, there they were, a dozen McCain supporters, perched on the median, hoping to stem the tide.</p> <p>”Do you see our plane?” the head volunteer said, pointing. </p> <p>Above, an orange open cockpit stunt plane circled with a banner: DON’T SPREAD MY WEALTH VOTE McCAIN!</p> <p>”No communism!” they yelled at passersby. </p> <p>Exciting: my first glimpse of real, live rank and file McCainiacs. They were all nice to me, but vehement in their utter loathing of the press and anyone dumb enough not to realize that Obama represented some kind of creeping putsch from the past. My notepad attracted a lot of attention, as everyone took turns trying to convince me, the liberal elite media, how deranged the liberal elite media are. “They have such a distorted view!” Then it was on to a nuanced discussion of the issues, like: “MAN, I TELL YOU OBAMA IS SOCIALISM!”</p> <p>I had been wondering where the socialism argument might be catching on, and the answer is in south Florida. At last half of this crowd were Cubans, older Cubans, people who had lived in Cuba, or at least felt like they did through the vicarious transmission of fierce anti-Castro Cuban sentiment from friends, family, and the non liberal elite Cuban media. </p> <p>Elaine said she had two reasons to vote against Obama, as she was Cuban and Jewish. “I’m a Jewban! And Obama is going to let Israel disappear.” </p> <p>I didn’t bother pointing out that despite the best efforts of the right wing to scare Jewish Floridians like my family in Century Village (West Palm), eighty percent of Jews here are voting for Obama. Elaine wore a red sweater with three buttons, one of which said: DEMOCRATS 4 McCAIN.</p> <p>”So you’re a Democrat?” </p> <p>”No. I’m just wearing this. The office gave it to me.”</p> <p>The next button announced that: MARTIN LUTHER KING WAS A REPUBLICAN. </p> <p>”Are you sure about that?” I asked. </p> <p>”No. They gave me that one too.”</p> <p>”I think that’s not correct.” </p> <p>”I don’t think so either.” </p> <p>Two of Elaine’s three pieces of flair were falsehoods pinned to her by the McCain campaign. Sound familiar? Then came Al, the organizer of this outing, who told me how Obama has been “groomed for this since college.” Where do you think his money is coming from, after all? “All these foreigners controlling him,” he said. “And he’s not even American.” Al and I never arrived at the destination of his particular brand of illumanti theory, because Al couldn’t pry himself away long enough from the passing cars, at which he liked to yell: “Use your brain, vote McCain!” </p> <p>”You see how rude they are?” He asked me. “They flip you off, they yell, they don’t know nothing. These people are so stupid. And they’re voting, you know?”</p> <p>”So you think stupid people shouldn’t vote?”</p> <p>Yes, that’s right, he affirms, especially not these stupid Obama people. Then he turned to a car to yell, “GO BACK TO RUSSIA!”<br /> <br />
Behind me, a guy named Seth looked like a theme park McCain: black suit, rubber mask, waving indiscriminately with a fixed smile. In homage to his candidate, Seth even mimicked the stiff arms and double thumbs up. But every so often the mask had to come off. </p> <p>”This thing gets really sweaty,” he said, holding the slightly disturbing rubber shell of McCain’s face in his hand. </p> <p>”Where’d you find that thing?”</p> <p>”This place called Party City.”</p> <p>”That what I think of when I think of McCain: Party City.” </p> <p>”Yeah.”</p> <p>”It’s a pretty good likeness.”</p> <p>”I’m going use it for Halloween too.”</p> <p>”Pretty scary!”</p> <p>”Yeah. And my wife will be Sarah Palin.”</p> <p>”Double scary!”</p> <p>”I know. I can’t wait.” </p>
Paula Gordon: Antidotes for Venom
<p>The gut-wrenching virulence of McPalin acolytes got me wondering, “What are these people so AFRAID of?” Then the familiarity registers. This is the classic behavior of abusive relationships. Mr. and Mrs. Republican are unable to leave the old white guy and his screechy female counterpart even though their extremist views underlie all that ails us. They are so very familiar. </p> <p>The abused are defending the abusers. They need each other to be sure that nothing changes, even though the change would clearly be a vast improvement. That “other one” is … different. </p> <p>It’s no accident the abused/abuser scenario is also a precise fit for fundamentalisms — freemarket economic fundamentalists, political reactionaries, educational holdouts or religious stalwarts — authoritarians all, strumming the fears of their followers to keep them in line. </p> <p>But not so fast, I think. I’m afraid, too. I am afraid of the Republicans’ relentless and rampant defiance of the most fundamental rights of any democracy — my right to vote and to have my vote affect my future. </p> <p>It’s good to be humble in the face of fear, just as it is to be alert the the realities of abuse. Perhaps, I tell myself, if I could find a foothold for generating at least a little empathy for those frightened McPalin supporters, I could use that empathy to engender constructive action. </p> <p>So I embrace my own disconcerting fear of willful and would-be tyrants, and listen for wisdom in the voices of some of the people we’ve welcomed to our program over the years.</p> <p>It was Sandra Mackey, a Middle East expert, who just after American’s ill-conceived adventure in Iraq made some sense of that fiasco and of “9/11″ for me. Globalization is terrifying to fundamentalists — Islamic , Hindu, Christian and Jewish alike. Whatever one thinks globalization is, whether we “like” it or not, clearly human technology has changed the game on this planet, in ways no one — no one — can predict. So McPalinistas hug tight to desiccated 19th century illusions of certainty in an effort to ward off the 21st.</p> <p>Fast forward to January, 2006, almost a year before fall elections began to loosen the authoritarian vice-grip of the Bushites, supported by Senator John McCain. _Our Endangered Values: America’s Moral Crisis_ focused our conversation with its author, President Jimmy Carter. In his analysis of religious fundamentalists — and he is not one — he characterizes fundamentalism with three words: rigidity, domination and exclusion. </p> <p>Rigidity. Domination. Exclusion. Here’s an alarmingly good fit for any backward-looking perspective that is fueled by fear. And how very Republican! To the barricades! Defend the status quo even while it’s killing you! Be afraid, be very afraid! No scruples need apply when securing and advancing established power, ersatz or otherwise! And at all costs, guard against defections!</p> <p>This is no joke. Together, these people are holdouts against the essence of life itself. Like it or not, everything — EVERYTHING — changes. It’s a biological certainty. That openness gives Republicans vertigo, Obama would have us embrace the adventure of it all.</p> <p>The McCain/Palin/Bush/Cheneys of this world have been with us always. They’re fronts behind which hide the patricians and autocrats determined first to hold on to power, and having done so, to channel whatever change they cannot stop to serve their own ends. People of modest personal capacity, they’re mouthpieces for the very same people who have — since the founding of this nation — despised democracy. They really do loathe the fact that — all evidence to the contrary — the people of the United States really are SOVEREIGN. </p> <p>The great philosopher Frederick Ferré calls people who willfully destroy in order to further their own ends “vandals”. The business interests and plutocrats of the United States fit that bill perfectly. That’s why they have — from the first breath after Abraham Lincoln drew his last — controlled and used the Republican Party to fulfill their wishes.</p> <p>Susan Faludi, in making sense out of the “terror dream”, as she calls our response to “9/11″, reminds us that the first step in addressing fear is truthfulness. Face it — the Republican Party has vandalized us, collectively and individually. And make no mistake. This is McPalin writ large. They have demonstrated, time and again, that they will honor no codes of decency nor of honor or fair play in desperate attempts to maintain and reinforce their entrenched position. </p> <p>The second step in harnessing fear is to act. The lazy version of “vandals” is also insidious. “Philistines” is what Dr. Ferré calls people who just “go along”, are too self-centered or simply too lazy to counter the vandals. That includes complacency, i.e., “Oh, Obama’s already won, the lines might be long, I think after all I’ll just pass on voting ….”</p> <p>My personal antidote to my all-too-reasonable concerns that, once again, the Republicans will cheat the American people is this: I have genuine faith in the democratic process from which Senator Obama has emerged. Faith sustained by action.</p> <p>So, I’m putting my own fear in it’s place, intent on transforming it from obstacle into engine in this pivotal year. We must elect Barack Obama President. Then we must be there for and with him when the real work begins — embracing not our fears, but life — joyously — in the face of all its uncertainty. Happily, we already know by heart the words for our 21st century aspirations: “the land of the free and the home of the brave.” </p> <p><br />
A world of antidotes to fear, illusion and deceits can be found in our hundreds of “Conversations with People at the Leading Edge” which include Sandra Mackey, President Jimmy Carter, Susan Faludi and others. Take your pick at our website, PaulaGordon.com and watch a growing number of video excerpts at .</p>
Joseph A. Palermo: If Only Obama Agreed To McCain’s “Town Hall” Meetings
<p>When John McCain grabbed the microphone out of the hand of that disheveled Republican lady in Minnesota who called Barack Obama an “Arab” he was sincerely trying to rise above the woman’s racist misconceptions to set the record straight. But what came out of his mouth was this: “No ma’am, [Obama's] a decent man, citizen, that I just happen to have disagreement with on fundamental issues.” His response speaks for itself. </p> <p>When McCain’s ignorant tool, Samuel “Joe The Plumber” Wurzelbacher, agreed with someone at a McCain-Palin rally that if we elected Obama it would mean the “death of Israel” even Fox News had to reprimand him. </p> <p>Lately, the McCain campaign is claiming that Obama’s 2003 interaction with a Palestinian professor, Rashid Khalidi, has nefarious implications. They never miss an opportunity to link Obama with Arabs, Muslims, and “terrorists.” </p> <p>And then there’s the McCain campaign’s “voter fraud” histrionics against low-income African-Americans in the cities who are just trying to register voters. Voter suppression is the Republicans’ bread and butter and the attacks on ACORN are just subterfuge.</p> <p>And let’s not forget Ashley Todd, the 20 year old Young Republican volunteer in Pittsburgh who carved a backwards “B” on her own cheek to fake an assault by a rampaging black Obama supporter, and how the McCain campaign jumped at the chance to milk the hoax for maximum political effect. </p> <p>And when John McCain and Sarah Palin say that Obama will turn the Internal Revenue Service into “a giant welfare program” they choose their words carefully and know exactly what they are saying. </p> <p>And when they slam “community organizers” as second-rate people no one on the campaign staff bothers to inform them that they are dissing people from our nation’s history like Samuel Adams, Susan B. Anthony, Dorothy Day, Marin Luther King, Jr., and Cesar Chavez. </p> <p>And don’t forget the phony pamphlets that have popped up pretending to come from the Obama campaign and trying to scare white voters in swing neighborhoods of swing states. </p> <p>And there was also a fake broadsheet pretending to be from the state of Virginia falsely alerting voters in African-American precincts that due to high voter turnout Democrats and Independents will be voting on November 5th instead of the 4th. </p> <p>And out on the stump Sarah Palin likes to talk about Obama’s “early surrender in Iraq” and his secret plan to “gut” the defense budget. She also talks about how terrible it will be for the nation if the “Democrat Party” takes power. Nobody hurls red meat to her supporters better than Sarah Palin. She fuses together the cluelessness of Elisabeth Hasselbeck with the meanness of Susan Molinari. I hope the Republicans nominate Palin in 2012. </p> <p>Add to this mix of McCain campaign slime the accusations about Obama’s ties to Bill Ayres, his relationship to Reverend Jeremiah Wright, the questions about his country of birth and his “true” religion, the charge of being a “socialist” and sympathetic to “terrorists,” and what we have is one of the most vicious, dishonest, and mean-spirited presidential campaigns in American history. </p> <p>It is fitting that at the miserable close of the George Bush–Karl Rove era we are finally seeing, at long last, the Republican Party’s true colors divorced from the verbal pabulum of “compassionate conservatism” and “reaching across the aisle.” McCain and Palin, Hannity and O’Reilly, Limbaugh and Medved are singing to the choir, spewing their bile in an endless loop inside an echo chamber whose walls are closing in all around them. The party is shrinking. It’s becoming whiter and more intolerant at a time when the country is moving in the opposite direction. </p> <p>But McCain sticks to his absurd story that it was Obama who forced his hand. It is Obama’s fault that McCain had to embark on one of the most fiercely negative campaigns in history. </p> <p>If only Obama agreed to appear with his esteemed opponent in the series of “Town Halls” that McCain proposed at the beginning of the campaign. </p> <p>All of this unpleasantness could have been avoided. </p>
Dawn Teo: Tight Polls and Rumors of an Obama Visit Boost Momentum in Arizona
<p><a rel=”nofollow” target=”_blank” href=”http://blog.newsweek.com/blogs/sprinttotheoval/archive/2008/10/29/raising-arizona.aspx”>Newsweek reported late yesterday </a>that senior Obama advisers are discussing a possible visit to Arizona by the candidate during his Western swing-state tour this weekend, heightening the excitement of Democrats here and stoking the momentum that has been building in the state in recent days. Five polls have been released over the last week declaring the presidential race in Arizona a statistical dead heat. </p> <p>When CBS asked Obama campaign Senior Adviser Robert Gibbs whether or not Obama might make a personal appearance in Arizona, he downplayed the possibility but would not rule it out.</p> <blockquote>Obviously we’ve seen a number of public polls as you guys have in the past few days that show — not surprisingly — a close race in Arizona and it’s something that we’ll watch.</blockquote> <p>Spokesperson Emily DeRose of the Arizona Democratic Party only had this to say:</p> <blockquote>We’ve certainly had discussions with the Obama campaign about steps to make Arizona more competitive.</blockquote> <p>On a campaign conference call this morning, Shannon Gilson, an Obama spokesperson at the Chicago headquarters, also played down the idea of a personal visit from Barack Obama, while holding the possibility open. Both she and Obama’s Arizona Communications Director Dave Cieslak would only say that although there are no current plans for an Obama visit to Arizona, the campaign assesses each state on a daily basis to determine where campaign resources would be most effective. </p> <p>Regardless of the psychological benefits of a foray deep into McCain territory, it may not be possible (or wise) for Obama to make a visit to Arizona at this late stage of the game. With only five days left and battleground races tightening up, giving up an appearance in a state whose race is narrower would be a risky move. In the final days, the focus will likely be on states considered essential for the win.</p> <p>More important, the impetus is already on the side of Democrats in Arizona. Just knowing the race is close has had an unmistakable effect. The Arizona Obama headquarters in Phoenix was overflowing with people this morning. Volunteers were busy making phone calls, working on computers, dashing from corner to corner, working on scores of projects. </p> <p>Every demographic is represented in the Obama office: older, younger, middle-aged, white, Hispanic, African-American, Asian-American, and more. A group of children came into the office wanting to donate a collection of coins they had taken up in class. Obama Communications Director Dave Cieslak said,</p> <blockquote>The polls are creating a level of excitement that we haven’t seen before. The promise and hope that Arizonans could help put Barack Obama in the White House has our offices packed with people.</blockquote> <p>DeRose added:</p> <blockquote>Democratic momentum in Arizona is tremendous – and this recent polling only magnifies that.</blockquote> <p>Some of the enthusiasm was also driven by the hordes of Arizonans receiving robcalls from the McCain-Palin campaign on Wednesday. Stephen, a Vietnam veteran in Phoenix who was the recipient of a robocall from McCain on Wednesday said,</p> <blockquote>I was inspired to donate 50 bucks to Obama and take off work election day to do volunteer work for Obama. Thanks for the inspiration McSane. If things are that bad for you, maybe my extra effort will make a difference.</blockquote> <p>The Obama campaign used the opportunity to ask supporters to increase their support. Obama’s National Field Director Jon Carson wrote on the Arizona for Obama blog,</p> <blockquote>[McCain's robocalls are] a desperate move, but we need to respond and keep our momentum going. If enough of you take the time to get involved and do your part, we could pull a real upset …. Supporters like you have put us within striking distance. Now it’s time to pull off what no one expected.</blockquote> <p>Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano wrote an email to supporters today that said,</p> <blockquote>As election day approaches, the people who know John McCain best are rejecting him.</blockquote> <p>Kelly Larabee of Phoenix received two calls, one Wednesday and another Thursday. She said,</p> <blockquote>It’s strikes me that even home in Arizona – these RNC/McCain messages are from nameless voices spreading fear against Obama, not friends with trusted voices giving reasons to build support for Senator McCain. But alas, I understand the robocall volume in Wisconsin is relentless and I guess we can take slight comfort in knowing that even in this case McCain’s not working very hard for Arizona.</blockquote> <p>Obama’s Deputy Economic Policy Director, Brian Deese, said today that Barack Obama has also gained support in Arizona because of his aggressive agenda to stabilize the economy and the real estate market — perhaps the most pressing issue in McCain’s home state. Arizonans have been hit particularly hard by declining home prices and the mortgage crisis. Obama has called for a 90 day moratorium on foreclosures for families who are making a good faith effort to pay their mortgages. Deese said that Obama’s plan is aimed squarely at providing relief for the middle class, while McCain’s plan would create windfall profits for banks with the cost falling on the shoulders of taxpayers.</p> <p>Arizona’s demographics have changed dramatically for the same reasons that its real estate market changed dramatically. During the real estate boom, a massive influx of home buyers migrated to Arizona, many coming from the über-Democratic state of California. Home sales skyrocketed, along with the prices of real estate in Arizona. When the real estate market crashed, Arizona’s real estate market suffered one of the worst drops in the nation.</p> <p>Kelly from Central Phoenix says,</p> <blockquote>I cheered the fact that the McCain campaign is in Arizona defending the home turf. I live in central Phoenix where Obama signs and stickers outnumber McCain’s by 10-1. I think we are the folks who best know that John McCain has not been great for Arizona. Our progress (economic development, etc.) is <em>despite</em> our Senator, <em>not</em> because of him.</blockquote> <p>After five polls showed John McCain’s home state of Arizona to be a statistical tie over the last several days, the McCain-Palin campaign began must have begun to worry about winning Arizona. Wednesday, while Obama was airing his 30 minute prime time special, the McCain-Palin campaign began making robocalls into John McCain’s home state of Arizona. Before I even finished writing the first story about the robocalls, I was being inundated with emails from Arizonans who were outraged, amused, or even celebratory. In fact, I’ve received more email regarding John McCain’s robocalls in Arizona than I’ve received in relation to any issue since I began writing for Huffington Post. </p> <p>Robin in Peeple’s Valley said,</p> <blockquote>The robocall I received today is the first EVER of this type, for me, and it came through on my cellphone, not my landline. It makes me happy to know that McCain is afraid of losing his home state. I’ve been doing what I can to ensure that that’s exactly what happens next week.</blockquote> <p>Although some Arizonans, like Robin (above) were happy to know that John McCain is being forced to spend resources in his home state, others were angry. Melinda in Tempe had this to say,</p> <blockquote>I can tell you I received a robocall from McCain saying very nasty things about Obama – it came from 866-520-5796. … I’d register my Greyhounds Democrat if I could.</blockquote> <p>Adrian in Mesa said,</p> <blockquote>The ‘paid for’ clause at the end is garbled; it’s the equivalent of fine print.</blockquote> <p>From Andrea, a registered Independent in Arizona,</p> <blockquote>It made me ill. McCain is low for doing this. He has lost my vote PERMANENTLY!!!</blockquote> <p>Arizona has about 1.7 million voters, and Secretary of State Jan Brewer expects nearly 1.5 million (approximately 85%) to turn out to vote this year. Nearly 900,000 requested early ballots, and throughout this week, early voters have reported standing in long lines for an hour or more to vote in person.</p> <p>Democratic Congressional candidates in Arizona have gone all in with the Obama campaign, which means they are also benefiting from the increased enthusiasm. Congressional candidate Bob Lord, who is vying for the Rep. John Shadegg’s seat in the most hotly contested race in the state, has combined canvassing, phone banking, and other operations with the Obama campaign. Even candidates whose campaigns are all but guaranteed to win are working hand-in-hand with the Obama campaign. Rep. Raul Grijalva (CD-7) shares his re-election office in Tucson with the Obama campaign. </p> <p>Andrew Eldredge-Martin, campaign manager for Democrat Bob Lord in Arizona’s third Congressional district, had this to say today regarding the possibility of a visit from Barack Obama,</p> <blockquote>Barack Obama’s efforts in Arizona would be a huge help. The excitement his campaign has created among Republicans, Independents, and Democrats alike is fueling huge enthusiasm for change here in Arizona, just like it is all over America. Recent Arizona polling suggests it is going to be a very exciting election day – and some polling is showing Obama ahead in Maricopa county where [Arizona's third district] is. It’d be great to have him visit the state because there are so many Arizonans who want new leadership to change our nation’s course on the economy, on national security, and on energy independence. Every race in Arizona will be based on turnout and that’s where our energies are focused now through the election.</blockquote> <p>Even candidates for County races are excited about the increased attention that Arizona is getting thanks to the polls and speculation of an Obama visit. In Maricopa County (Phoenix), the Democratic Party is hoping to win a majority on the County Board in an effort to curb Sheriff Joe Arpaio. He’s the sheriff with a “tent city” jail and regular immigration raids. Candidates for the Maricopa County Board, like <a rel=”nofollow” target=”_blank” href=”http://www.edhermes.com”>Ed Hermes</a>, are hoping that higher turnout (and increased donations to the Arizona Democratic Party) inspired by Barack Obama will help edge out their opponents.</p> <p>Whatever happens, November 4th will be a long night for Arizona Republicans.</p> <p><a rel=”nofollow” target=”_blank” href=”http://org2.democracyinaction.org/o/5397/t/2348/signUp.jsp?key=198″><img alt=”2008-06-12-otb_coverage3.gif” src=”http://images.huffingtonpost.com/2008-06-12-otb_coverage3.gif” width=”300″ height=”181″/></a></p>
Stan Goff: The complications of conscience and elections
My little website has been about as critical of Barack Obama’s presidential candidacy as any one might find outside the Right and the sectarian Left. I am unapologetic about that criticism; and folks can rest assured that such criticism will extend past the election and the inauguration of — I hope, frankly — Barack Obama.
I was reading a short piece by the young evangelist, Shane Claiborne, entitled Voting as Damage Control. Claiborne takes no definitive position on the question of whether to vote or to withhold votes as a matter of principle. Unlike the evangelists of the Right — who we know so well — he says he is interested in getting people to think before they act instead of telling them how to act. This seems a pretty transferable idea, beyond Claiborne’s Christian audience, that is.
Being critical is more work than being told what to do (from a pulpit or a party), and it is not synonymous with being ideological and memorizing someone’s playbook. Being critical also requires some set of values, some criteria, as a bottom-line (to use the common capitalist parlance), a final authority or principle.
Whatever that authority or principle is, I will suggest that benevolent solidarity is a ‘good’ for most of us. It’s complicated, however, in an American general election, as we all know, because solidarity-with-whom can be between solidarity with, e.g., solidarity with African America that is anything but solidarity with Afghanistan, about which Obama repeatedly declares he will expand and intensify the military occupation. They’re tough, these competing solidarity dilemmas. They can even lead to paralysis, either from demoralizations or sectarian perfectionisms.
As Claiborne says but doesn’t say, damage control itself cannot be minimized. Some minimizers of damage control strategies (to which elections have been reduced) elect inaction for themselves in order to hold onto the sense of being superior to these competing solidarities.
If there is damage — you make the list — damage does spread. Decry the damage control as imperfect if you like, but if there is real damage being done, defensive measures are better than none. Waiting for the eschaton or some Utopian program is just… waiting. We are not going to ‘build’ Utopia; and the eschaton is out of our hands. Meanwhile, time marches on and the bifurcating sequels of the damage with it.
Choosing between who will kill the most or the least is — as Claiborne suggests — a pretty shitty choice for people who care about strangers… like Afghans or prisoners or Iraqis or the poor.
There are a couple of other factors, however, beyond damage control (or lesser-evilism), that ought to be taken into account, and solidarity is just one of them.
This election means a great deal to African Americans, as it should, because the mere fact of a Black President is indicative — in a tangible way — of some ‘good’ in our culture. Anyone who argues otherwise is dishonest with themselves or others. I remember Klan billboards on the interstate highways, Jim Crow, and miscegenation laws. White supremacy has not been transcended; but it has lost a lot of ground.
We are witnessing something historic, and something that was not possible even ten — much less fifty — years ago. African Americans are being motivated to vote in record numbers this year, because, among other things, the parents of Black children want those children to see someone who looks like them accepted in this society to the most powerful political office in the world. It’s important in ways too numerous to count. Sherry and I are two of those parents.
God bless Sister McKinney, a principled Black politician, but her being Black does not give her candidacy anything like equal material force with Obama’s, and the people need to exercise that material force for all its worth — at this particular historic conjuncture — as a step down the path to communities retaking power.
The possibility of Obama has now entered into the realm of the probable, and so the issue of damage control (is Obama less dangerous than McCain) and the issue of solidarity (with the overwhelming majority of African America) are both real… and to some of us, compelling.
I’m not a fan of “building” political parties, even though I admire Green Party people. With each day, I become more convinced that the principle in nature and society of self-organization is always more determinative of outcomes than long-term strategic intent.
Obama’s candidacy has taken on the character of something more than an election. It has taken on the character of a mass movement. There is stage management and choreography in wild abundance, to be sure; but there is also a movement esprit that animates the Obama campaign. This spirit is self-organizing now in large part because there is a shared — if not-yet-clarified — sense of dissatisfaction, combined with a yearning for those intangibles: hope and change. The campaign tapped into this yearning, and it hit a colossal wellspring.
Two mass phenomena, then, are colliding: a latent mass movement, and a slowly waning mass cultural expression.
The mass expression of the substantial vestiges of white supremacy in US culture is the Republican Party, as a quick perusal of the demographics of McCain-Palin rallies shows. White supremacy and male supremacy have been the cultural synapses of Republican power for decades, with the Democratic Party playing the role of good cop and getting away with it. In this election, a very significant bloc of Republican and unaffiliated voters will vote against Obama because he is Black. And they are not voting against one Black man; they are voting to maintain white hegemony in American politics. No one who raises the aforementioned Black children will ignore this. The main effort in this election from the Republicans will be directed against African America.
I will not stand on the sidelines while African America — which has such a powerful stake and such an historical investment in this election — is under an organized attack for being African America — African America as it is, African America right now. For me, this election is damn-sure about race.
The mass movement aspect of the Obama campaign, however, is not tapping into simple antiracism as it mobilizes a very significant white plurality. The actual conditions that have generated these high levels of concern (with hopeful concern as part of the mix) are war, economic insecurity, etc. The other things that can be found in abundance in this latent movement are a lot of real empathy, goodwill, and altruism.
These latter qualities have space within the Obama phenom now, and will not evaporate after the election is decided. The connections have been made, and the experience of an historic turning point in which they participated cannot be undone. They have seen results in the enthusiastic exercise of their own collective work and creativity; and that can’t be taken back from them. These people are not turning back inward en masse. They will be the core of the immediate conscience of an Obama period.
I believe that, because I believe the latent movement has now overgrown a single personality. Getting Obama elected will not be everyone’s last act.
The acts that follow are going to depend on and be determined by leadership and its ability to critically discern.
It is my own hope that we can finally get the public talking about this hideous energy war again, as well as retooling for relocalization. Whatever the priorities are, one person who is certain feel the pressure of these critiques from inside his own political base will be the POTUS.
Hilary Beard: An All-American Obama Nation (VIDEO)
<p>The McCain/Palin campaign has engaged in an abominable campaign of painting Senator Obama and his backers as “un-American”. But his supporters understand what the McCain camp cannot acknowledge: that Senator Obama’s ascendance from modest beginnings to the highest levels of power personifies the American dream. Additionally, attend any rally and you will witness not only patriotism and pride, but American democracy, diversity, creativity and capitalism in action — and that’s before you notice that people are sporting an incredible array of Obama-themed gear. </p> <p></p>
Steve Kettmann: Sarah Palin’s Not Done Yet – The World’s New “Ugly American”
<p>We might all think that, come Tuesday, if indeed all goes as expected (nail-gnawing encouraged), Sarah Palin will mercifully retreat from public view and we won’t have to wince any more at every one of her awful, ain’t-I-cute? winks, or at least not until her love-America-by-preaching-hate supporters try to build her up into a 2012 presidential candidate.</p> <p>But I’ve got bad news for anyone who – unlike Palin and her core supporters – actually travels to other countries with some regularity: We Americans are going to be answering for this one for a long time. </p> <p>A couple of nights ago, I was at an East Berlin night spot called <a rel=”nofollow” target=”_blank” href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2003/aug/21/russia.germany”>Kaffee Burger </a>talking to a German guy demanding answers of me. Yes, sure, it looks good for Obama, and yes, sure, that will be a big step forward for the U.S. and probably the world, too, but the disturbing question about Palin remains: How is it even POSSIBLE that such a person could get so close to so much power?</p> <p>To be clear, it’s not the stuff about the wardrobe and the makeup. Those stories hop the Atlantic, as surely as the latest financial temblors, but what makes the real impact is Palin’s dizzying combination of ignorance and arrogance, no matter what the subject, no matter how little she might know about it. </p> <p>Put it this way: To get a feel for what it’s like listening as a European to Palin’s flourishes of happy, overconfident nonsense, whether on Putin’s head traveling into U.S. air space or whatever else, just pretend you were one of those good people in Erie, Pennsylvania, this week when Palin mentioned the Phillies and expected easy cheers! Talk about tone deaf. That’s a little like asking Mets fans to cheer the Yankees for winning another World Series. </p> <p>The point is: It’s all about understanding geography. If you’re sitting in Encino, California, and you hear Palin failing to make much sense in talking about the Georgia crisis,<a rel=”nofollow” target=”_blank” href=”http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ilan-goldenberg/palins-dangerous-saber-ra_b_125812.html”> in fact outlining a scenario where we would “perhaps” have to go to war with Russia,</a> you might not care that much about what she says. Here in Europe, where Cold War doctrine envisioned Europe as the playing field where Russians and Americans would battle it out, you have a right to recoil – in anger and disgust – at even having to imagine having a person with so little world knowledge in a top U.S. leadership role.<br /> <br />
We’ve heard an awful lot of talk this political cycle about how people in other countries don’t like us much any more, thanks to Bush, but usually this talk is vague and shallow, which, come to think of it, is how we Americans are widely seen in Europe: vague and shallow. Add cocky to the list and the “Hockey Mom” self-caricature has a risible ludicrousness that is likely to keep them howling in other countries all over the world for years, from Canada and Mexico to Palau and Japan, no matter what comes of Team Palin’s over-the-top-ambitious designs on rewiring the McCain campaign as the first stage of the Palin-in-’12, with-god-on-our-side-who-can-stop-us? bandwagon. </p>
Verena von Pfetten: My Election Makeover
Hi everybody! Some of you might remember me from such illuminating and hair-related posts as Frizzy Is The New Fabulous, A Blogger’s Guide To Judging People (By Their Hair), Dear Kate Hudson: Please Stop Wearing Wigs, and my infamous Adventures With The World’s Worst Makeover. And if you don’t, all you need to take away from these posts is that I’m seemingly obsessed with other people’s hair and I cannot resist a makeover site.
So. You can imagine my sheer burst of joy when a fellow co-worker pointed me in the direction of InStyle’s Hollywood Hair Makeover.
And then you can further imagine my head exploding when I saw that they had a subcategory titled “Election.” Yes, you read that right, election. As in, campaign hair. As in Cindy, Sarah, Hillary, and Michelle’s downright delectable (see what I did there?) ‘dos dutifully framing the blank canvas that is my face.
Yowza!
Also, just to lend this whole experiment that much more gravitas — it is Halloween, after all — I went to great lengths (including some co-worker-assisted facial gymnastics) to really channel each particular hair muse. I think you’ll find I was beyond successful.)
So, without further ado, I bring to you: Verena von Pfetten, color-chameleon and campaign copy-cat extraordinaire. I don’t think I have to tell you which is which.
Pardon the blank background on this one — my portrait of Cindy required the aforementioned co-worker cooperation in order to accurately emulate her, um, tautness.
And lastly, I think it’s enormously important to point out that InStyle’s technology puts Clairol’s Try It On Studio to downright shame.
Take a look!
You can move the little dots and lines so that they perfectly frame your face, which is mighty handy especially for someone like me whose face has a, how shall I put it?, slightly oblong shape to it. This is great because instead of just plopping an unsightly computer-generated mop on the top of your head, it allows the magical elves inside the internet to crop and size the hair to fit your own personal face. (Clairol — you better be taking notes!)
Which reminds me! I’m not sure I ever mentioned this, but I actually received an e-mail from Clairol’s Digital Branding person — turns out they’re just as embarrassed with the site as I am. It read:
Hi Ms. Verena,
Thank you for your feedback regarding Clairol’s Try It On Studio (in your 6/3 and 7/29 posts: “My Adventures with the World’s Worst Makeover”). We tried unsuccessful to reach you via phone following the initial posting to discuss your experience with Try It On Studio, and wanted to try again now the blog has been re-posted.
Clairol speaks with more than one million women every year regarding their hair coloring experiences and we take everyone’s feedback very seriously. We understand your concerns about our Try It On Studio and agree the application needs an upgrade. You’ll be happy to know this is in the works and will be launching soon – we’ll certainly contact you when it goes live.
Thank you again for your feedback.
Best,
[Redacted]
Clairol Digital Branding
I have yet to hear from them.
I’m just sayin’.
Anywhoosle, just thought I’d share! It really brightened up my afternoon and thought it might just do the same for you.
What’dya think? Should I quit my day job?
Steve Clemons: Obama’s Team Needs to Drop Phobia Towards Arab-Americans and Muslims
<form target=”_blank” class=”mt-enclosure mt-enclosure-image” style=”display:inline;”><img alt=”pistons_300.jpg” src=”http://www.thewashingtonnote.com/pistons_300.jpg” width=”300″ height=”426″ class=”mt-image-none” style=”"/></form><p>A couple of well-placed insiders have told me that US Ambassador to the United Nations <a rel=”nofollow” target=”_blank” href=”http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/biog/83777.htm”>Zalmay Khalilzad</a> is going to make a quick split after the November 4th election. Some think he is going to position himself to run for the presidency of Afghanistan — which I sincerely hope he does not do. Others think he has lined up a financially lucrative perch at an investment house. The problem with the latter scenario is that I was informed by my sources of Khalizad’s departure agenda before the financial meltdown.</p> <p>Khalilzad has been an effective and important successor to John Bolton at the UN on a number of levels, but one aspect of his service and identity that rarely gets attention is that he is the highest-ranking Muslim in the Bush administration.</p> <p>America needs Arab-Americans and Muslim-Americans in positions of responsibility in our government — and not just dealing with Arab-American and Muslim issues. This is important as America needs to <a rel=”nofollow” target=”_blank” href=”http://www.voanews.com/english/2008-10-28-voa54.cfm”>keep open the doors of civic opportunity to all Americans</a> however hyphenated. </p> <p>Yesterday, Justin Vogt of <em><a rel=”nofollow” target=”_blank” href=”http://www.newyorker.com”>The New Yorker</a></em> wrote a piece titled “<a rel=”nofollow” target=”_blank” href=”http://www.thenational.ae/article/20081031/REVIEW/417597144/-1/NEWS”>Imagined Community</a>” for the new Abu-Dhabi based <em><a rel=”nofollow” target=”_blank” href=”http://www.thenational.ae”>The National</a></em>. His article is one of the most serious and comprehensive discussions of the state of Arab-Americans in American politics I have read. I had a few quotes in the piece including the comment that “Both Muslims and Arab-Americans have been ill-treated in this political environment.”</p> <p>But the reason to read it is that we do need the ‘likely’ Obama administration to immediately suspend its generalized phobia of most things Muslim and Arab. McCain and Palin have been trying to slander Obama for relationships with “questionable” Arabs and have through a variety of means allowing a whisper campaign that he may be “Muslim.”</p> <p>I <a rel=”nofollow” target=”_blank” href=”http://www.thewashingtonnote.com/archives/2008/10/arabs_arabs_and/”>agree with Colin Powell</a>. Why should it matter?! Muslims and Arab Americans are no less American than anyone else reading <a rel=”nofollow” target=”_blank” href=”http://www.theWashingtonnote.com”>this blog</a> — or reading <a rel=”nofollow” target=”_blank” href=”http://www.redstate.org”>RedState.org</a> or listening to <em><a rel=”nofollow” target=”_blank” href=”http://www.foxnews.com/foxfriends/”>Fox and Friends</a></em> in the morning.</p> <p>Although, shame on Tom Ridge for jumping on the bandwagon of hysterical demonization and slander of Columbia University Rashid Khalidi and Barack Obama even though Ridge said on Fox’s show Tuesday morning that he knew nothing about Khalidi or what he had written or said — but that this showed Obama’s tendency to associate himself with terrorists and questionable people. That was outrageous. </p> <p>Some of these Fox critics ought to dig into the founding entities of the Likud party in Israel and apply some historical objectivity.</p> <p><em>– Steve Clemons publishes the popular political blog, </em><a rel=”nofollow” target=”_blank” href=”http://www.thewashingtonnote.com”>The Washington Note</a><br />
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