Politics

Barack Obama on the Economy

Candidate Obama addresses what’s happened in the last few days. Every time I hear him speak, I think this guy is the most presidential guy I’ve seen in years.

Does Barack need to suspend the campaign and return home? Here’s an astute analysis from metafilter:

This is entirely needless. Yes, they’re both Senators, but that doesn’t put them on any sort of level at which they ought to be meeting with the sitting President as a pair on this issue. Nor should they be able to do that as candidates. And despite both being Senators, neither of them are on the Senate Banking Committee. Nor is either on on the Joint Economic Committee, from which the eventual bicameral bailout bill is expected to emerge.

As Senators, they have only three roles in this crisis: 1) to vote on the eventual bill, and 2) to negotiate with their networks within the Senate on the content of the bill, and 3) to speak publicly in support of their vision for the bill. Only one of those roles (1) requires presence in Washington, and it doesn’t look like that’s going to be happening Friday night. Congress was scheduled to end its session Friday – they may have to go into special session, in which case Friday evening won’t be when things get resolved anyway (that would be insanely optimistic!) The other two Senatorial functions can be fulfilled – indeed, perhaps best are fulfilled – by communicating from the road, privately and to the public and the press.

I am not sure I respect the judgement of a candidate who is so ready to go into panic mode over a crisis that he doesn’t really even have much power to direct at this moment. We’re six weeks away from electing one of these two men President. I think that the debates are actually a much more important way for them to spend their time than meddling in a process which is already well under way and doesn’t require special Candidate Magic to move forward. It will be easy for them to fulfill their rather limited (at this moment) Senatorial responsibilities while still campaigning, as sitting Congresspeople usually do. The choice of who will be leading us through the aftermath of this crisis over the next 4-8 years is a bit more important to me than watching them showboat right now. Put in your two cents, stay out of the way, vote when you’re called to, and stay accountable to the American people whose votes you’re asking for. Anything else looks like grandstanding and evasion. No other way to read it.

Continue ReadingBarack Obama on the Economy

Jill Long Thompson gaining in Indiana Gov. Race

The latest Indy Star poll that showed Obama edging out McCain by 3 percent also shows Democratic Gubernatorial candidate Jill Long Thompson moving up in the polls – within spittin’ distance of ol’ Ditch Mitch, actually.

Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels holds a four-point lead in his bid for a second term, including support from one in five voters who plan to back Democrat Barack Obama for president, according to a new Indianapolis Star-WTHR (Channel 13) poll.

Daniels leads Democratic challenger Jill Long Thompson 46 percent to 42 percent. The poll’s margin of error is 4 percentage points.

Help Jill out — Donate some money to her campaign.

Continue ReadingJill Long Thompson gaining in Indiana Gov. Race

Indiana as a swing state

Last night we were watching Anderson Cooper’s 360 and the identified Indiana as one of the five states they’re watching as “battleground” states. No kidding — we were not red, but “pink” on their chart.

Blue Indiana notes that a new Star poll coming out will show Obama on top, and sure enough — WTHR and Star Polling shows Obama leads McCain in Indiana by 47% to 44%.

Given the massive number of Obama signs and bumperstickers around town for the past several months, we’ve been expressing wonderment at the disparity between polls and visual evidence. I chalked it up to urban living, but I wonder if there’s not just a bit more to it.

But given that McCain has declared war on Spain (!?!) in the past couple days (The Rain In Spain Mainly Falling on McCain! Ha!) — hey, maybe Indiana is just a big fan of bullfighting.

Continue ReadingIndiana as a swing state

To Middle Class, Economic Crisis isn’t News

Barack Obama outlines exactly what he wants to do to fix the economy.

You can read more about his plan here.

Transcript of the Video:

In the past few weeks, Wall Street’s been rocked as banks closed and markets tumbled. But for many of you — the people I’ve met in town halls, backyards and diners across America — our troubled economy isn’t news. 600,000 Americans have lost their jobs since January. Paychecks are flat and home values are falling. It’s hard to pay for gas and groceries and if you put it on a credit card they’ve probably raised your rates. You’re paying more than ever for health insurance that covers less and less.

This isn’t just a string of bad luck. The truth is that while you’ve been living up to your responsibilities Washington has not. That’s why we need change. Real change.

This is no ordinary time and it shouldn’t be an ordinary election. But much of this campaign has been consumed by petty attacks and distractions that have nothing to do with you or how we get America back on track.

Here’s what I believe we need to do. Reform our tax system to give a $1,000 tax break to the middle class instead of showering more on oil companies and corporations that outsource our jobs. End the “anything goes” culture on Wall Street with real regulation that protects your investments and pensions. Fast track a plan for energy ‘made-in-America’ that will free us from our dependence on mid-east oil in 10 years and put millions of Americans to work. Crack down on lobbyists — once and for all — so their back-room deal-making no longer drowns out the voices of the middle class and undermines our common interests as Americans. And yes, bring a responsible end to the war in Iraq so we stop spending billions each month rebuilding their country when we should be rebuilding ours.

Doing these things won’t be easy. But we’re Americans. We’ve met tough challenges before. And we can again.
I’m Barack Obama. I hope you’ll read my economic plan. I approved this message because bitter, partisan fights and outworn ideas of the Left and the Right won’t solve the problems we face today. But a new spirit of unity and shared responsibility will.

Continue ReadingTo Middle Class, Economic Crisis isn’t News

McCain supporter Richard Cohen calls him a liar

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Richard Cohen is a weekly columnist for the Washington Post and has steadfastly supported McCain this election — until now. It’s hard to pick just a small section of this column to quote, because he’s damning McCain throughout it. You really should read the whole thing.

“We know that those two ads are untrue,” Behar said. “They are lies.”
Freeze. Close in on McCain. This was the moment. He has largely been avoiding the press. The Straight Talk Express is now just a brand, an ad slogan like “Home Cooking” or “We Will Not Be Undersold.” Until then, it was possible for McCain to say that he had not really known about the ads, that the formulation “I approve this message” was just boilerplate. But he didn’t.

“Actually, they are not lies,” he said.

Actually, they are.

McCain has turned ugly. His dishonesty would be unacceptable in any politician, but McCain has always set his own bar higher than most. He has contempt for most of his colleagues for that very reason: They lie. He tells the truth. He internalizes the code of the McCains — his grandfather, his father: both admirals of the shining sea. He serves his country differently, that’s all — but just as honorably. No more, though.

Continue ReadingMcCain supporter Richard Cohen calls him a liar

Quotes of the Day: “the fundamentals of our economy are strong”

John McCain – speaking THIS MORNING on today’s financial markets meltdown:

“You know that there’s been tremendous turmoil in our financial markets and Wall St. And it is — people are frightened by these events. Our economy, I think still — the fundamentals of our economy are strong. But these are very, very difficult times.”

And for counterpoint:

“The man most responsible for the financial services and banking deregulation that made today possible, fmr. Sen. Phil Gramm, is the man John McCain wants to put in charge of the whole economy.” — Josh Marshall

Continue ReadingQuotes of the Day: “the fundamentals of our economy are strong”

A couple more links

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I think the media’s obsession with Palin is pretty out of line with the reality of what’s going on in the election right now — lots of McCain lies and distortions of the facts that seem pretty desperate — and Obama raising a record amount of money in August — so I’m going to lay off talking about her and focus more on what’s important.

But let me leave you with two last links to ponder about the woman who wants to be a heartbeat away from the Oval Office:

Once Elected, Palin Hired Friends and Lashed Foes by the New York Times:

And four months ago, a Wasilla blogger, Sherry Whitstine, who chronicles the governor’s career with an astringent eye, answered her phone to hear an assistant to the governor on the line, she said.
“You should be ashamed!” Ivy Frye, the assistant, told her. “Stop blogging. Stop blogging right now!”

Throughout her political career, she has pursued vendettas, fired officials who crossed her and sometimes blurred the line between government and personal grievance, according to a review of public records and interviews with 60 Republican and Democratic legislators and local officials.

and

As Mayor of Wasilla, Palin Cut Own Duties, Left Trail of Bad Blood by the Washington Post:

The mayor oversees a police department created three years before Palin took office; the public works department; the parks and recreation department; a planning office; a library; and a small history museum. Council meetings are in the low-ceilinged basement of the town hall, a former school, and often the only residents who show up to testify are two gadflies. When Palin was mayor, the population was just 5,500.
Palin limited her duties further by hiring a deputy administrator to handle much of the town’s day-to-day management. Her top achievement as mayor was the construction of an ice rink, a project that landed in the courts and cost the city more than expected.

Continue ReadingA couple more links

Tina Fey as Sarah Palin on SNL

In the comments on MetaFilter, posted by Naberius:

Oh my god. OH MY GOD! I see the way clear to a better future. We vote in John McCain. Then, stay with me, stay with me… we KIDNAP SARAH PALIN AND REPLACE HER WITH TINA FEY!!

She’d totally pull it off. She’s perfect. If Sarah Palin’s not standing right next to her, you’d totally believe it’s her. Once she’s sworn in, we just wait for McCain to keel over, and PRESIDENT TINA FEY!! How fucking cool would that be? Imagine a President that’s not just the best of a bad lot, but one you’re actually head over heels in love with. Like Katharine Hepburn in Philadelphia Story in love.

It’s destiny. This is why Tina Fey was born looking like she does. Her moment has come to rise up and save her country.

Wow, I see it now. The future can be so much more than this. Anything can happen. Anything at all. It’s so beautiful.

Continue ReadingTina Fey as Sarah Palin on SNL

Racist McCain Ad

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Ordering a black man to show you respect you is pretty over the top in 2008. I’m sure McCain’s constituency in the South and perhaps right here in Indiana will recognize the terminology from their heyday of sundown towns and lynch mob gatherings, though, and respond accordingly.

There’s only one response to that ad:

That's Racist!

Why on earth would Senator Obama respect anyone from the McCain campaign? Sigh. I hate it when anyone demands respect, whether it’s my mom, a cop, a priest, or the McCain campaign. Respect is earned; You’ll get it when you show you deserve it.

I try to treat people courteously, because I want to live in harmony with people, so I don’t have to live on deserted island and make my own clothes and shelter. And there are people of great accomplishment like Kamau Bobb Google that I respect and admire.

It’s not that I disrespect authority — I just don’t believe authority exists. I do what they ask me at work because I get a paycheck. I won’t tolerate being the focus of offensive jokes at work because that’s harassment. I pull over for cops because I want them to come to my house if I need to call 911. I pay taxes because I want my roads paved. I’ll do what other people want if I get something in return that I want. Other than that, anyone telling me what to do is in danger of getting a stick in their eye. I hope Senator Obama feels the same.

Update: In case you haven’t heard yet — at The Value Voter’s Forum, one of the booths was selling ‘Obama Waffles’ with racial stereotypes. Lovely. Apparently before someone realized these were racist and should be pulled from event, Lou Dobbs stopped by and had some racist waffles with his wife.

Obama Waffles
Obama Waffles

Oh, and in case you haven’t seen it yet — What Made John Mad Today?

2022-03-14 Update:
I’m a big fan of this quote from @stimmyabby:

Sometimes people use “respect” to mean “treating someone like a person” and sometimes they use “respect” to mean “treating someone like an authority.” And sometimes people who are used to being treated like an authority say “if you won’t respect me I won’t respect you” and they mean “if you won’t treat me like an authority I won’t treat you like a person” and they think they’re being fair but they aren’t, and it’s not okay.

 

Continue ReadingRacist McCain Ad

John McCain’s Critical Thinking Skills

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John McCain on why Palin would be qualified to be Commander in Chief if something happened to him in an interview with an NBC affiliate in Portland, ME:

Q: Well, you say you’re sure that she has the experience, but again, I’m just asking for an example. What experience does she have in the field of national security?

McCAIN: Energy. She knows more about energy than probably anyone else in the United States of America. …. And we all know that energy is a critical and vital national security issue. We’ve got to stop sending $700 billion of American money to countries that don’t like us very much. She’s very well versed on that issue. And, uh, she also happens to represent, be governor of a state that’s right next to Russia. She understands Russia.

Who cares about Palin? McCain himself is too dumb to be president. You have got to be kidding me. There’s no way he could possible believe this shit, could he? More than anyone else in the United States? More than scientists studying energy? And how does being next door to a country tell you anything about them? She’s conducted international diplomacy with them?

As people are pointing out — it seems to say something about the McCain camp’s priorities for national security when you ask them a question about it and they come back with an answer about oil.

Continue ReadingJohn McCain’s Critical Thinking Skills