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sepdet

Listed below are comments made by sepdet between Wednesday, 22nd October 2008 and Tuesday, 4th November 2008.

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An elusive surge 6:50pm on 04 Nov 2008 The Guardian pointed out a telling irony of this election (among many others) -- the progressive tax system espoused by Teddy Roosevelt, McCain's hero, a fine Republican president, is now being derided as socialist and a threat to America.
What victory would mean 4:15pm on 04 Nov 2008 After the elections of the last two cycles, I still say:

chicken + chicken + chicken + chicken + fox = 0 chickens.

There is only one thing that counts, and it's not chickens. It's votes.

I will be crossing fingers and toes until I hear the guy who looks startlingly like my Dad say, "My friends, I concede."
The Cleansing 07:27am on 03 Nov 2008 In 2000, the election came down to a questionable vote recount and about 500 votes in Florda. Just two weeks ago, CNN reported another 3500 uncounted ballots found in a Florida warehouse. In the end, a mostly-Republican-appointee Supreme Court ruled in George's favor. Bizarrely, Gore won the popular vote and (supposedly) lost the election.

In 2004, it came down to Ohio. Google "Ohio Election 2004" and you will find plenty of articles detailing the voting irregularities that cost THAT election.

During the course of the last eight years, America has been a grim place to live. At least half the country has been treated to rhetoric implying we're not "real Americans," we've watched our President embroil us in one or two wars that were unnecessary, we've watched the world's opinion of and support of America drain away to dour resentment, we've watched our economy tank and gas prices go up, we've watched thousands of citizens left to die in New Orleans, we've watched the housing market crash and massive layoffs, we've watched prisoners held without charges and tortured, we've watched the government wiretapping and spying on citizens without warrants, we've watched rights curtailed and the Constitution eroded... on and on...

and every time Bush does something else we think is reckless or idiotic, every time some thing bad happens and he fails to share intelligence or leadership, we think back to those elections, and we despair.

Now, finally, it feels like we're coming out of a long, dark tunnel. But we're still not sure. We're still afraid to hope. Obama's phrase "the audacity of hope" is very apt, after the nightmare of the last 8 years.

Cleansing indeed. Whoever gets into the White House has inherited the Augean Stables!
Frayed Nerves and Rumours 07:16am on 03 Nov 2008 About Obama's temper: I saw the video, and I think a mountain is being made of a molehill. He let the photographers take pictures of him with his kid in her Hallowe'en costume, then when they kept trailing him, he put up his hand and said, "Okay, that's enough, guys."

Professional. Also brisk, but he was being a Dad protecting his little girl.

I applaud the man for trying to shield his family, to the extent that he can, from the difficult world his job has thrust on them.
The wiser view 7:39pm on 02 Nov 2008 #54 - middlecroony -- I don't know if you'll see this, but this may reassure you on Obama's inclusion of faith-based initiatives.

When I first heard of him, I looked him up online and found an old speech--
http://obama.senate.gov/speech/060628-call_to_renewal/
-- he'd delivered to an interfaith organization that worked to eliminate poverty and help low-income Americans in various social programs.

Obama argues three things in that speech that interest me (keep in mind he had a targeted audience).

1. He said that separation of church and state is vital -- we can't have the government dictating religion or vice versa -- but he said that Democrats have dropped the ball by applying that so strictly that they NEVER talk about religion except in terms of where it shouldn't apply. He noted that if Democrats and progressives refuse to talk about religion (including their own beliefs), then the right-wing nut jobs (er, evangelicals) will seize the microphone and preach their screwy visions of religious truth to America, painting moderates as godless and morally astray. He said that it's important to make clear one's own religious views to combat extremism and distortion (and this was years before the "Obama is a Muslim" scare tactic was used).

2. Obama there ARE ways to acknowledge and tap into the powerful role religion and religious communities play in the lives of many Americans ... as LONG as we don't assume this holds true for EVERYONE, and as long as we don't impose religious truths on others. He pointed out that MLK and Lincoln were effective communicators because they weren't afraid to use God and quote the Bible, which happens to be metaphors that many Americans connect with and understand at an emotional, deep level. Strip God and all religious references out of the speeches of those men, and their messages would've been lifeless, ineffective. Yet neither of them was trying to make a CHRISTIAN nation... they were just speaking through the metaphor of Christian values.

3. Obama, as a longtime community organizer, knows there's some things that churches are really good at: helping the poor and disenfranchised, reaching out to the minorities that democracy/majority-rule tend to lose sight of. Also, Obama often notes that while government can fund education and create rule of law, it can't instill ethics or change behavior very easily -- he's fond of saying that it's up to parents to turn off the TV and make kids do their homework. Church is one vehicle that can help in instilling right and wrong, a work ethic, various core beliefs in people. Obama also notes this is common to MOST religions and churches -- despite doctrinal differences between, say, Jews and Sikhs, there's a core set of ethics of compassion and justice that most religions teach.

His faith-based initiatives... he's renamed them something else, to stress his own view of religion, but I forget what it is... are shaped by the religious groups he's worked with as a community organizer, such as Sojourner where he gave this speech. Sojourner tries to help those in need according to the teachings that Jesus preached. That's not a bad thing to do, as LONG as they don't require those who receive their help to follow their religion.

It's a tricky balance to strike, but I think Obama's multicultural background gives him an edge on most of us in striking that balance. He grew up for a few years in a Muslim country. He's not like any president we've had before in that respect.
Last-minute changes 03:55am on 30 Oct 2008 OldSouth -- interesting that you ask if you'd "pal around with Pinochet".

That would be John McCain:
http://miamiherald.typepad.com/nakedpolitics/2008/10/blog-mccain-met.html

Unless, of course, you think these guilt-by-associations are overblown?
Last-minute changes 03:52am on 30 Oct 2008 That may be the October Surprise but I expect something more.
One thing to note on that story: I was listening to my LA radio news station this evening, and they said that the only reason McCain knows about the "controversial" tape is that the LA Times reported it BACK IN APRIL. The McCain campaign chose to bring it up now-- an 11th hour scare tactic. Yawn.
Why poll numbers vary 6:05pm on 23 Oct 2008 Belmons -- you are quite right about terrorism, and one of the things that impressed me about Obama early (and Tony Blair, before Bush warped him) is that he said we can't fight the war on terror as a ground war when terrorist networks are scattered across so many countries-- the old "don't bomb a house to destroy the termites" metaphor.

Obama says we need to change our approach and resources to combat the actual problem. He's a smart cookie. I suspect he's actually read the NIE report saying that Al Qaeda's pretty well been stripped of power at this point and that there are other terrorist networks which are more of a danger.

However, he's got to convince sound bite Americans that he can be a strong commander-in-chief despite being a Harvard-educated lawyer. So he has to do some chest-beating and invoking of the word "bomb" to show he's tough. Also, the easiest way for Obama to show he's "tough" and silence naysayers is to kill bin Ladin, so don't put it past him to bomb those caves. (Although he might prefer other tactics, because he needs to be able to prove bin Ladin is dead.)

And on the more symbolic side, letting bin Ladin get away with 9/11 looks bad. It's like Jack the Ripper; I'm sure Londoners really, really hated the fact that he was still out there somewhere and was never brought to justice, even decades after the killings when he was either dead or apparently wasn't into serial killing anymore. We need closure. Taking out bin Ladin could serve as a way to say "this part of the War on Terror is over; now it's time to reexamine our priorities and allot more effort/time to domestic problems while retooling our anti-terrorism approach for longterm operations."
Determined to vote 08:47am on 23 Oct 2008 Some of us feel the 2004 election was suspect as well -- Google "Ohio 2004 election" for info.

You've characterized well the frustration, cynicism, and concerns on both sides, Mr Hewitt.

I'm worried. But the one thing that's made me happy in this election -- besides the fact that I really appreciate Mr. Obama managing to break through my cynicism enough to get me to hope again (at least a little) -- is that Americans are EAGER to vote. I don't know why, but for most of my thirtysomething life, people haven't been engaged enough in politics, and many don't vote.

This time, they're voting. There may be some voting irregularities, but my hope is the vast numbers turning out for this election will reduce the significance of those irregularities to nothing. Whereas in the 2000 election, it really did come down to a few hundred votes in Florida -- and just this week CNN reported another 3500 uncounted ballots discovered in a Florida warehouse.

This time, hopefully, the numbers will be far enough apart that even with the accusations of fraud, the courts and most Americans will know in their heart of hearts who "really" won.
The risk of expectation 6:51pm on 22 Oct 2008 The fear that many of us feel after the 2000 election was decided by the Supreme Court (and just this week, to add salt to the wound, CNN reports 3500 more uncounted ballots were found in a Florida warehouse) and the 2004 by possible voter suppression on a massive scale (Google "2004 Ohio election") is huge. Obama has called for the audacity of hope at a time when many Americans -- perhaps the majority of Americans -- had let the thorny armor of cynicism grow rampant years ago to insulate them from despair. We finally dare to believe things will get better again, that America can come together as the United States and not the Partisan States With Fifty Percent of Us Silenced. If he loses, a large majority of the US population will stop believing in the electoral process, in government, and in hope.

If that happens, God help us.

McCain's rallies with their incendiary rhetoric of suspicion and divisiveness offer a possible alternate future that many of us fear. We buy into it, too, as I'm doing here-- as soon as I start trying to describe the "McCain" paradigm I start talking in terms of "us versus them," fear, and mistrust. I don't want to be doing that either... but I feel like many of McCain's supporters don't see the problem with it.

I'm not usually one given to highfalutin' rhetoric -- or, for that matter, invoking "God" in public -- but I feel that the American Dream, meaning the collective soul of the country, really is at stake right now.

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