It's still going to be crazy...
Obama was up there last night and he made a riveting
speech. He brought out some specifics he really needed to bring out, he got the crowd going, he made some good jabs at McCain and the Bush administration; it was well done.
But McCain found a way to overshadow him today. He announced his running mate. And he chose a
woman.
She's a conservative pro-life conservative Christian who supports oil drilling in the Arctic, but she is still a woman...a woman most likely just clinched the votes of bitter women who decided already that they were going to vote for McCain once Hillary lost in the primaries. (admittedly, I STILL think all those women are crazy as while Governor Palin is of the female persuasion, she is still a conservative Republican: merely a wolf in former beauty queen clothing)
Why this hurts Obama right now in particular is because, during his fab speech last night, he talked about how much he wants to do for women. How he wants to bring about equal pay for equal work, support women like his night-school attending single mother and business owning grandmother...but he couldn't take on a great woman for his running mate. It's a moment of hypocrisy that I am sure was not lost on the Hillary supporters - former and present - and that was brought into glaring light as soon as McCain made his announcement this morning.
Yet, while Obama and his people may have to work on spinning that mess, McCain and his folk may have to backtrack a bit themselves as for all the times they have talked about Obama's inexperience, the running mate they have chosen has been a small town mayor and only Govenor for two years...and heck even ran for "change" in Alaska when she campaigned for her present position, hence, she's got no experience either. (does anyone else hear Jimi Hendrix's "Are you experienced?" right now?)
The next couple of months, I think, are going to be two of the craziest we've seen in campaign history.
I just have this to say to all the Hillary supporters who are going to vote for McCain: DO NOT BE DUPED!!!! You may think McCain was positively visionary in his choice of running mate, but he was not. He and his advisors were merely targeting you and your votes, yet they are not going to help us in the next four years. They are going to bring this country down even farther. Write in Hillary if you feel so inclined and are still bitter by that first Tuesday in November, but in the end, don't you think the "bandaid" will be better than allowing our country's present wound(s) to fester?
KEEP PAYING ATTENTION!!!
Peace --Alex
Hillary, unity, acting...presidentially
Let's just face it.
Hillary gave good speech.
And she looked pretty damn presidential. Look out for her in 2012.
She also could not be accused of NOT supporting Obama and trying to bring the party together. And she made three great points of why we should come together behind Barack Obama:
Exhibit A):
“I want you to ask yourselves: Were you in this campaign just for me?” Mrs. Clinton said. “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?” Yes, we gotta think of the people that have been, and will continue to be disserved (is that a word? spellcheck says no, but...) by the present administration and by the McCain administration.
Exhibit B):
“And you haven’t worked so hard over the last 18 months, or endured the last eight years, to suffer through more failed leadership.” Okay, I'm sure some die-hard supporters are thinking, "Yeah, you're right! That's why we voted for YOU rather than Obama!", but face it, McCain and his ilk are the enemy here. Do you REALLY want his campaign and the GOP to WIN over a man who actually does support women's rights to choose, proper health care and education and a proper withdrawal from Iraq?
Exhibit C)
“No way, no how, no McCain.” Again, we can't have McCain be the next man in the White House. Whatever experience he has over Obama, and so many people do have more experience than Obama, his experience is related to supporting the troop surge, supporting the war in Iraq, supporting the Bush tax cuts, supporting the overturning of Roe V. Wade, voting against proper sex education, voting against decent support for public schools...the "maverick" is no longer...and hardly ever was.
I agree that Obama is not ready. I agree that the presidency is not a position where you should just learn on the job. I also believe that he should have chosen Hillary as his running mate. BUT, Obama and Biden are who we got running. And I think smart cabinet choices will be made and that they will work together, starting to fix the mess we are presently in. If McCain gets into office, the mess will not even begin to be fixed; it will merely get worse. Obama and Biden can lay some groundwork for whoever comes in 2012 as they begin to rebuild our reputation as a nation among our allies, perhaps even get in a more liberal judge into the Supreme Court; start the work of a withdrawal from the war in Iraq; start making changes that need to be made. Things can only get better with Obama and again, only get worse or stay the same with McCain.
You can see the rest of the speech
here.
There are some people out there who will vote for McCain in order to punish the Democratic party. But do you really want to punish the whole country and yourselves by voting this bugger in for FOUR YEARS?!?!?!?! I understand being upset, and I've been a glutton for punishment, but good lord, this is just wrong.
My mother is going to write in Hillary. I support that as it at least it is not a vote for McCain. But I
will be voting for Obama as, right now, every vote counts. The race in the polls is already a statistical dead heat, hence, I would rather vote for Obama and keep McCain out of office, than risk another four years after the mistake of the last eight.
In the meantime KEEP PAYING ATTENTION!
Peace --Alex
And I am back...for the time being...
And I am at job! I was just about done with my 6 months of unemployment when I walk into a temp agency Tuesday and they actually tell me "Well, we have something that starts Thursday..." WHAT?!?! You have something to offer me? I was so thrown, rather than actually take a moment to really think about it, I actually just said yes...despite the small pay. But it's a non-profit that helps bring reading opportunites to various communities, can I really say no to that?
Anyhoo, I have been meaning to write about our buddy, our pal Keith Olberman since last week. After the whole Edwards scandal broke, he busted Rush Limbaugh on comments the "drug-addled gasbag" (thank Stephanie Miller for that one) made about Elizabeth Edwards and how basically, John couldn't help but cheat on her because she was, essentially, too smart for him...and should have used her mouth for "something other than talking". Keith made yet another extremely eloquent retort and I felt I had to post it. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677#26186923
(please cut and pasted for now as I am work computer and certain things like attahcing links appear to be not allowed for the time being.) Also, I gotta give John Edwards points for not making Elizabeth sit with him holding his hand during his interviews.
In the meantime, oh...my..God...the convention really is happening next week. And no one can deny that it is going to be interesting. Hillary supporters will be able to have their voice heard, but not make a scene 9there will be "whip teams" with Obama signs to get in front of overly unruly folk). Then there is the Vice President hoo ha. There are folks whoa re saying that they believe the present veep choices out there are merely a smokescreen before Hillary is called out as the Veep of Choice. I cannot deny that I would like to see this, but cannot see this actually happening right now. But who's to say? I can't recall a campaign (that I've paid attention to and that started in fourth grade when Anderson was running as an independent) causing more heartburn - and I'm out of Prilosec! I do hope Obama makes a proper choice and that McCain...doesn't win. HE CANNOT WIN! (where's my prilosec?!?!)
AND...I've been transcribing the interviews from the trip and man, it has been wonderful reliving those conversations...no matter how tedious the typing can be :p And right now, there is a great interview on www.wnyc.org that is worth catching. The Brian Lehrer show is presently discussing multiracial issues int he country, particularly in relation to Obama and the campaign. So worth catching so if you can get it on line, it should be on until a little after 11am. And hopefully can be picked up by podcast later :)
All right, back to the job here, but hope all is well and remember KEEP PAYING ATTENTION!!!
Peace --Alex
