I Voted

No Hanging Chads Permitted in 2010.

Apparently these are important elections in 2010 and in Pennsylvania. Above and beyond the usual, local noise and funk, we had our choice of new Governor replacing Ed Rendell and new Senator replacing the flip-flopped then forfeited seat of Arlen Spector. Rendell out on term limits, the Spector vacancy is sign of changed times.

I had a long chat with my old man last night, who lived through the optimism of the 1950s and came of age in the disillusioning 1960s and has thus seen all kinds of political turmoil. He said he hadn't seen politics as vitriolic as the current Tea Party campaigning by loud, fringe elements of the Republican Party.

The most astonishing thing from his perspective is how the only thing this group of charlatans seems to stand for is opposition to Barack Obama and that this seems like thinly veiled racism. Beyond that, where is the semblance of a plan for making things better? Is there a platform? Any policy?

This kind of campaigning is made to appeal to one selfish sentiment: keeping money in your pocket; and to one end: getting the candidate elected. But the hidden danger is in only knowing what someone is against, you have no understanding of what they are for. Why put that level of dubious intent in Congress?

It's not a popular platform, but we need something to the effect of old British austerity measures to get the country back on track, that is spending less and raising taxes. Ouch. But it's got to hurt if it's going to heal.

The problem is nobody seems ready to take the high road. I'm not seeing a lot of strength in the Democratic corner either. Lots of the moderate Democratic campaigning seems to be about distancing one's self from the dirty-word liberal Obama administration stimulus and healthcare bills, even though the former had to be done and nobody understands yet the provisions or effects of the healthcare legislation. It's too early to put a stamp on these initiatives, but at least they are action. I'd rather err on the side of doing something, than railing against everything.

But it's disappointing all the same that the Democrats have let the Tea Party movement set the terms of the debate. As one sign of how sad this is, consider the story of my sister-in-law, who's living on a conservative island in one of the Main Line's most liberal neighborhoods, Bala Cynwyd.

It's her Constitutional right to display yard signs for the Republican candidates she supports. But this year she's engaged in a saboteur's war with some anonymous liberal in her neighborhood who keeps stealing her Pat Toomey and Tom Corbett signs. Each day she replaces them, and after the 2nd or 3rd theft, added a little direct communication of her own, an additional, hand-made sign baring a threat to donate additional dollars each time a sign is stolen to the Republican cause in the name of the Democratic thief. It's low-blow politics right down to the Grassroots level.

Which still leaves me wondering, if people obviously care so much, why are they so focused on the wrong things? That's not to say that  D or R are the wrong things, because I don't think anyone's getting it right. But rather a plea that we start demanding a higher calling out of our elected officials and supporting those who bring solutions rather than criticism, open-minded cooperation rather than partisan group think.

This will likely be my only political screed of the year, but I hope it makes people think, vote and start paying a little more attention.

Yikes!

I found this yesterday doing a Google Image Search for Denver Nuggets forward Chris Andersen. Strange correlations Google makes sometimes, but not entirely outside of the realm of possibile relevance.

Blogger 'Chris Andersen' of Interesting Times, posted this mashup of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama that I find compellingly creepy, not least for the fact that Hillary's frosted, beltway power coif combines with Obama's cocoa complexion for an uncanny resemblance to a weathered Don Johnson:

Miami on Election Night

For election day, I returned to the scene of the crime, Florida, where the 8 years of pain began in 2000.

Cruising the streets of Miami as the evening wore on and it became clear that Obama was winning, it began to feel like New Year's Eve. There were people everywhere in the streets , holding signs, chanting, clapping, eliciting horn honks from passing cars. It was a jubilant celebration in anticipation of good times to come.

So what an appropriate analogy New Year's eve turned out to be. We're at the beginning of something new and desperately wanted but uncertain and unfulfilled. We have a lot of hope and a lot of promise in Obama. I don't want to be so callous as to allow the seeds of doubt into my mind, but we are on a thin margin with failure a very real possibility given the enormity of what has been pledged. But I voted for Obama and appreciate the celebration of everyone else who did so in the hopes that change is the only way to bring improvment.

I want to believe 'Yes We Can!'

*By saying 'returned' I'm commiting something of a bald-faced lie for dramatic effect, since that would imply I was in Florida in 2000, when I wasn't. At all. I was in Scotland actually, but thought the rhetorical device of 'returning to the scene of the crime' was too brilliant to waste. Chalk it up to poetic license. At least half of my mission here is entertainment.

I Was Very Late to the Party of Barack-Pun Mayhem

Though I maintain I arrived at this thought independently, I was not the first to imagine that Barack's period of prominence in the American public eye would be defined by a near limitless array of Barack and Obama puns.

In fact, I'm so late to the party that I might not even be considered an early adopter. To wit, Slate, in a follow up article 'Obomedy', has apparently been covering said poltico-linguistic phenomenon since February, even going so far as to assemble a compendium of 'obamaism's in their cleverly titled 'Encyclopedia Baracktannica.'

Sadly, while I attributed an earth-shattering degree of novelty and importance to this concept, when it independently occurred to me, Slate's high-minded cultural mavens dump it in their 'Low Concept' category with other 'dubious and far-fetched' ideas.

In other news about ships I let sail, I hemmed and hawwed over Wells Fargo stock at $20 a share last week. When will I grow some balls?

'Barackracy' - Another Term I Didn't Coin

I was thinking the other day that if the Republican fears are realized and Barack ultimately sets up this clumsy, socialist safety net of a government we could start calling it the 'barackracy.' Naturally high on my own notions and agreeing (with myself) that I either invent or independently arrive at most good ideas, I decided to see if this (finally) would be my million dollar idea.

So how to get rich on this idea? Given that we've got a 50/50 chance of Obama winning the next election, I reasoned that it might be a fine domain name for a political blog or satire site of some kind. Certainly clever, possibly intuitive enough to get incidental free web traffic and monetize it with advertising! Yes.....

We're onto something right?

But.

Of course, like most of my million dollar ideas to date, this is one I arrived at independently and some clever carpetbagger with a URL-registration business already got there. Two years ago it turns out.

Assholes 'Domains By Proxy, Inc.' Maybe his fortune is the product of a disciplined mind (if only I could think of such things on demand)!

No other website shits on my dreams quite as hard or often as Whois.net

Banking Bucks with Barack

One of the things my republican ancestry is afraid of vis a vis Obama, is his stance on raising taxes, principally those that would affect the stock dividends which grease the wheels of the babyboomer easy life parade.

Not that I am insensitive to such problems, but let's consider the bottom line from the younger perspective: My investments won't be appreciating this year, the last under Bush, so what is there to tax? I'd gladly pay more tax, any tax, if the economy was in a better state to make me some solid returns.

And I think the patriarchs would have to agree that there's a strong possibility that better leadership would produce better economic performance and higher investment returns. And hopefully these returns would be enough to offset the increased taxes when you're looking at your absolute net dollar amounts.

Here's some simple math to illustrate the principle:
$100 at 30% tax > $50 at 0% tax

What we see is that there's a balance. At some level of performance, we'd be worse off, at some level we'd be equal, and at a third we'd be making out like bandits, counting our money sipping boat drinks and listening to Earth, Wind & Fire. I don't think Bush had is going in that direction, in fact I'd argue just the opposite.

Which is why I'm ready to put a little money down for Obama.

Obama is the Bigger Man

As if responding to the hope I posited on Friday, Obama has shifted focus and is now taking on John McCain. Sure, it may be melodramatic to insinuate that I had anything to do with it, and Obama's nomination is virtually locked up as of tomorrow, but hey, better late than never and I'm glad to see this day.

Though the question remains how bruised Obama will be after the battle with Hillary and whether he can sway those middle of the road Republicans (to whom I have one thing to say vis a vis John McCain: (and don't click here) 'old balls').

Quit It Bitch, You're Ruining America!

This isn't an original thought, but it's something I've been itching to express myself. I really can't stand the way Hilary Clinton is conducting herself here in the waning days of her campaign. It's pretty clear that Obama's going to win the Democratic nod and this stubbornness with which Hillary is clinging to her protracted campaign is pure hubris that is weakening the Democratic party's chances at a win in the Presidential election.

I understand that this was likely her last best shot, but as a statesman you've got to stand for principals larger than own advancement if you really think you're cut out to be the leader of the free world. America deserves as much.

What we're seeing out of Hillary is proof-positive of a trait many expected she had starting long ago when she stood by her man and his wandering trouser snake, cold, over-ridding, android-like careerism. Is this what we want in American president?

I guess all I wanted to say is that it's sad Hillary can't bow out gracefully for the benefit of the party and let Obama concentrate on the next race against McCain. Then again, maybe I'm drinking the kool-aid a little here. After all, if Obama's really got the stuff he should also be able to recognize the victory and take his fight to the next level.

Sidenote - Since visual aids are imporant in blogging, I wanted to get a picture of Hillary looking detestable. A simple Google image search (I didn't use any descriptive modifiers, such as 'scary' or 'ugly' or 'bitchy') yielded literally dozens to chose from, the first of which is called 'Scary Hillary Clinton.jpg.' If that isn't an indicator of zeitgeist (and thereby Hillary's refusal to see the forest for the trees) I don't know what is.

God, how did they let this go so wrong...