Kabul
Baghdad
Mumbai
Twisted metal
Broken glass
Blood-stained pavement
Mangled bodies
Chaos, confusion and carnage
Death, death, death
The papers and TV tell us Islamists from Pakistan
With possible ties to Al Qaida
Are prime suspects in the Mumbai attacks
Ruthless, righteous, full of retributive hatred
For Westerners
What do they want?
Why are they so eager to die
And take innocent people with them?
Is the answer in them?
Or us?
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Happy Illusions
“It is style and story, not content or history or reality, which informs our politics and our lives. We prefer happy illusions. And it works because so much of the American electorate, including those who should know better, blindly cast ballots for slogans, smiles, the cheerful family tableaux, narratives and the perceived sincerity and the attractiveness of candidates.” Chris Hedges, Truthdig
The Tea Fire shoved politics off my table. When a wildfire devastates people in your own family, it’s hard to focus on the goings-on in Sacramento or Washington D.C.
The fire was a stark reminder of the ephemeral nature of life, how in an instant the course of a life – no matter how rich or seemingly protected – can change. In a matter of hours on a preternaturally hot and windy November night, hundreds of people lost a lifetime of memories, investment and their place in the world. You have to walk in the burn area, through the ash and charred timbers, see with your own eyes the collapsed roofs, blackened bricks and torched oak trees to fully grasp the devastation.
But politics has returned now, as it always does, because human beings are political creatures, and the decisions made in the capitol city of any nation carry implications for real people with real needs. Americans are riveted by the economy, desperate to know how bad it will get and how they might be personally affected, while Detroit cries for a bail-out and once proud and arrogant CitiBank calls for a helping hand. The irony is as stark as the hypocrisy and I don’t know where to start my tirade, other than to say that lavishly compensated and coddled corporate CEO’s know no shame.
The bottom line on Detroit is that the Big 3 have been sliding into the shitter for years, stubbornly wedded to shoddy designs and crappy quality. Sorry, UAW members. (The Ford parked in my carport is the most service-prone vehicle I have ever owned, and never, ever again will I plunk down my hard-earned credit on a Ford, GM or Chrysler product.) While the Japanese focused on quality, the Big 3 focused on the slick commercials they would show during halftime at the Super Bowl. While Honda and Toyota were getting out front of hybrid technology, the Big 3 were rolling out one gargantuan SUV after another, with names like Explorer and Expedition, Yukon and Tahoe, rugged luxury for suburban soccer moms who never ventured within a hundred miles of an unpaved road.
Now Detroit wants taxpayer money to execute an about-face, but let’s be honest: six months or a year from now, the Big 3 CEO’s will be back in front of a Congressional committee asking for more money, more concessions, more assistance, and they will spout the same arguments about the auto industry’s importance to the American economy, how it cannot be allowed to flounder or fail, blah, blah, blah. Congress will cave in, as it always does, and the slow death will continue, limb by limb, organ by organ; two of the Big 3 will merge amidst the usual corporate rhetoric -- happy talk of synergy and complimentary strengths and how the merger is good for America and American workers – and that too will fail.
But what was the point I was sidling up to when I got off on a Detroit tangent? Yes, Mr. Hedges, whose piece I came across a week after the election, when Sarah Palin embarked on her magical media tour. The hapless Governor from the Alaskan Frontier didn’t seem to grasp that her ticket was on the losing end of the electoral vote count or that she was the anchor that helped pull it down.
Palin is the poster child for Hedges’ thesis that American voters are easy marks for slick media images, sunny personal narratives, and campaign messages that bear little or no resemblance to reality. Why journalists following Palin didn’t burst out laughing when she said she was keeping her options open for 2012 is beyond me; she won’t be any more qualified then than she is now because the Governor of Alaska is Stupid. Flat stupid. Dense. Moronic. A politician who claims, as Palin does, that the economy will right itself if Government will just get out of the way of the people, is simply not to be taken seriously. The problem, Governor, was caused by lack of government oversight of the financial system, and that lack was systematically engineered by free-market ideologues.
Palin can run amok in Alaska without doing much damage because the state is sparsely populated, remote, and rich from petro-dollars and Federal subsidies. If the people of Alaska want a dolt for a governor, fine, they have the right to keep electing Palin, but do us all a favor and never again allow that dingbat into the lower 48.
Rush Limbaugh’s millions of faithful listeners also add credence to Hedges’ argument. There was Limbaugh, two or three days after the election, two and a half months before Obama will be sworn in, calling the economic downturn the “Obama Recession.” Rush contended that the financial markets were rattled by the mere thought of a Liberal in the White House – as if the past eight years of economic mismanagement by Republicans (and some weak-kneed Democrats, too) never happened. If we’re going to give this recession a name, let’s be fair, include the architects and the enablers, and call it the Phil Graham-Alan Greenspan-Robert Rubin-George W. Bush Recession.
Limbaugh shouldn’t be taken seriously, either, but I can see thousands of his adherents nodding in agreement when he spouts nonsense about the “Obama Recession.”
Meanwhile, the President-Elect is surrounding himself with Clintonites and moving closer and closer to the safe center. No one should be surprised by this – campaigning is one thing, governing another. As Eric Alterman wrote in the Nation, “Obama will disappoint us.”
The Tea Fire shoved politics off my table. When a wildfire devastates people in your own family, it’s hard to focus on the goings-on in Sacramento or Washington D.C.
The fire was a stark reminder of the ephemeral nature of life, how in an instant the course of a life – no matter how rich or seemingly protected – can change. In a matter of hours on a preternaturally hot and windy November night, hundreds of people lost a lifetime of memories, investment and their place in the world. You have to walk in the burn area, through the ash and charred timbers, see with your own eyes the collapsed roofs, blackened bricks and torched oak trees to fully grasp the devastation.
But politics has returned now, as it always does, because human beings are political creatures, and the decisions made in the capitol city of any nation carry implications for real people with real needs. Americans are riveted by the economy, desperate to know how bad it will get and how they might be personally affected, while Detroit cries for a bail-out and once proud and arrogant CitiBank calls for a helping hand. The irony is as stark as the hypocrisy and I don’t know where to start my tirade, other than to say that lavishly compensated and coddled corporate CEO’s know no shame.
The bottom line on Detroit is that the Big 3 have been sliding into the shitter for years, stubbornly wedded to shoddy designs and crappy quality. Sorry, UAW members. (The Ford parked in my carport is the most service-prone vehicle I have ever owned, and never, ever again will I plunk down my hard-earned credit on a Ford, GM or Chrysler product.) While the Japanese focused on quality, the Big 3 focused on the slick commercials they would show during halftime at the Super Bowl. While Honda and Toyota were getting out front of hybrid technology, the Big 3 were rolling out one gargantuan SUV after another, with names like Explorer and Expedition, Yukon and Tahoe, rugged luxury for suburban soccer moms who never ventured within a hundred miles of an unpaved road.
Now Detroit wants taxpayer money to execute an about-face, but let’s be honest: six months or a year from now, the Big 3 CEO’s will be back in front of a Congressional committee asking for more money, more concessions, more assistance, and they will spout the same arguments about the auto industry’s importance to the American economy, how it cannot be allowed to flounder or fail, blah, blah, blah. Congress will cave in, as it always does, and the slow death will continue, limb by limb, organ by organ; two of the Big 3 will merge amidst the usual corporate rhetoric -- happy talk of synergy and complimentary strengths and how the merger is good for America and American workers – and that too will fail.
But what was the point I was sidling up to when I got off on a Detroit tangent? Yes, Mr. Hedges, whose piece I came across a week after the election, when Sarah Palin embarked on her magical media tour. The hapless Governor from the Alaskan Frontier didn’t seem to grasp that her ticket was on the losing end of the electoral vote count or that she was the anchor that helped pull it down.
Palin is the poster child for Hedges’ thesis that American voters are easy marks for slick media images, sunny personal narratives, and campaign messages that bear little or no resemblance to reality. Why journalists following Palin didn’t burst out laughing when she said she was keeping her options open for 2012 is beyond me; she won’t be any more qualified then than she is now because the Governor of Alaska is Stupid. Flat stupid. Dense. Moronic. A politician who claims, as Palin does, that the economy will right itself if Government will just get out of the way of the people, is simply not to be taken seriously. The problem, Governor, was caused by lack of government oversight of the financial system, and that lack was systematically engineered by free-market ideologues.
Palin can run amok in Alaska without doing much damage because the state is sparsely populated, remote, and rich from petro-dollars and Federal subsidies. If the people of Alaska want a dolt for a governor, fine, they have the right to keep electing Palin, but do us all a favor and never again allow that dingbat into the lower 48.
Rush Limbaugh’s millions of faithful listeners also add credence to Hedges’ argument. There was Limbaugh, two or three days after the election, two and a half months before Obama will be sworn in, calling the economic downturn the “Obama Recession.” Rush contended that the financial markets were rattled by the mere thought of a Liberal in the White House – as if the past eight years of economic mismanagement by Republicans (and some weak-kneed Democrats, too) never happened. If we’re going to give this recession a name, let’s be fair, include the architects and the enablers, and call it the Phil Graham-Alan Greenspan-Robert Rubin-George W. Bush Recession.
Limbaugh shouldn’t be taken seriously, either, but I can see thousands of his adherents nodding in agreement when he spouts nonsense about the “Obama Recession.”
Meanwhile, the President-Elect is surrounding himself with Clintonites and moving closer and closer to the safe center. No one should be surprised by this – campaigning is one thing, governing another. As Eric Alterman wrote in the Nation, “Obama will disappoint us.”
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Fire, Fire Everywhere
The Tea Fire shut the Balcony down for a few days, focused
all attention on the here and now, on the direction of the wind,
the temperature and the latest count of homes destroyed
Helicopters chugged overhead like a war zone, only now fighting devil winds and unforgiving heat
The moon turned orange, soot blanketed our cars; the home of a friend went up, an aunt lost everything in less time than it takes to drive to Ventura
Power went out and we fumbled for flashlights and candles as sirens cut the smoky darkness; the blaze jumped and skipped across dry hillsides, laughed at the men who gathered to make a stand in million dollar cul-de-sacs
Rich and poor got the same treatment, not from God but from the hand of careless Man
Drunk maybe, stoned maybe, or maybe just giddy with Youth, playing with fire in a field of tinder; an errant ember latched onto the devil wind’s breath as the sun slipped from sight
One spark to one bush to one tree
And then a car and a house
And another and another, and the sky dripped flame while the wind ran in circles, herding sparks to still more bushes and trees, unstoppable now, an insatiable force, indiscriminate, uncaring
Disaster on Thursday, disbelief on Friday, despair on Saturday, destitution on Sunday
Survivors poke through the rubble in search of miracles
all attention on the here and now, on the direction of the wind,
the temperature and the latest count of homes destroyed
Helicopters chugged overhead like a war zone, only now fighting devil winds and unforgiving heat
The moon turned orange, soot blanketed our cars; the home of a friend went up, an aunt lost everything in less time than it takes to drive to Ventura
Power went out and we fumbled for flashlights and candles as sirens cut the smoky darkness; the blaze jumped and skipped across dry hillsides, laughed at the men who gathered to make a stand in million dollar cul-de-sacs
Rich and poor got the same treatment, not from God but from the hand of careless Man
Drunk maybe, stoned maybe, or maybe just giddy with Youth, playing with fire in a field of tinder; an errant ember latched onto the devil wind’s breath as the sun slipped from sight
One spark to one bush to one tree
And then a car and a house
And another and another, and the sky dripped flame while the wind ran in circles, herding sparks to still more bushes and trees, unstoppable now, an insatiable force, indiscriminate, uncaring
Disaster on Thursday, disbelief on Friday, despair on Saturday, destitution on Sunday
Survivors poke through the rubble in search of miracles
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
The Rule of Law & Other Fables
George W. Bush continues to strut around the White House as if he will depart on January 20, 2009 on a triumphant note – and not as the worst and most unpopular Presidents in U.S. history. You have to admire George’s uncanny ability to shut out the real world and create his own alternate reality, where the nation’s economy is humming – thanks to his tax cuts for the wealthy – and our wars in Afghanistan and Iraq are going according to plan – thanks to his brilliant leadership.
Barack Obama lives in the real world where outrageous political corruption and slavish devotion to failed ideology leads to the suffering of flesh and blood human beings. The cable TV pundits are wild with advice for the President-elect, what he should do first, who he should appoint to what Cabinet post and so on. Office pools predicting the final composition of Obama’s cabinet are enjoying enthusiastic support and faring far better than the average 401K.
Meanwhile, King George is ramping up efforts to rat-fuck the nation one last time. While the country celebrates Obama’s victory and enjoys a resurgence of hope and anticipation, Bush and his cronies are changing rules and re-writing regulations to make it easier for the FBI to spy on American citizens, dismantling environmental protections in place since Bill Clinton enjoyed blow-jobs from Monica Lewinsky in the Oval Office, and basically standing around playing pocket pool while JPMorgan Chase and other big banks use their bailout windfalls for mergers and acquisitions rather than loans.
We expected nothing less from Bush than a last gasp orgy of ideological intercourse, one or two final lost weekends where the rich and well-connected get richer and American taxpayers get saddled with the bill. The big bailout (paid for with our hard-earned money and our kids’ future, don’t forget) wasn’t supposed to play this way, and we can only hope that an Obama Administration will tweak the bailout to make it work the way it was intended. This is important. The country’s leaders need to understand what made the financial system run off the rails, identify who was culpable, and enact legislation or create regulations to make sure it never happens again. Unfortunately, with the likes of Robert Rubin and Lawrence Summers circling Obama’s camp like birds of prey, it’s possible that Obama, in the end, will do nothing to upset the status quo.
That would hurt, not to mention insult, all the people who supported Obama’s campaign by donating money, knocking on doors or making phone calls; people didn’t work their tails off for Barack Obama only to watch him fall victim to the Clinton Syndrome. Remember? Clinton entered the White House on a wave of hope, but after encountering some early opposition, promptly pitched his tent in the valley of corporate interests and became a shill for Wall Street flim-flam. Despite his rhetoric and good-old-boy charm, Bill Clinton was no friend of working Americans. Frankly, when he wasn’t screwing someone other than his lawfully wedded wife, he was screwing us.
It’s natural for TV pundits and citizens to focus on the economy in this time of uncertainty and spreading financial distress, but personally I would like to hear the President-elect say something about restoring the rule of law at home and abroad. It seems to me that an affirmation of bedrock American principles is not only necessary, but a precondition for solving all the other problems we face. Are we going to allow Administration officials to ignore Congressional subpoenas or not? Are we going to continue violating the human rights of detainees? Are we going to turn a blind eye to Israel as it continues to violate every treaty it has ever entered into with the Palestinians? Are we going to allow further erosion of our civil liberties in the name of a false security? From there we can debate the best way to create a more just and equitable society, deliver health care to those in need, and get the hell out of Iraq, with or without “honor.”
I don’t think such introspection and reflection will happen, but it’s nice to hope.
Barack Obama lives in the real world where outrageous political corruption and slavish devotion to failed ideology leads to the suffering of flesh and blood human beings. The cable TV pundits are wild with advice for the President-elect, what he should do first, who he should appoint to what Cabinet post and so on. Office pools predicting the final composition of Obama’s cabinet are enjoying enthusiastic support and faring far better than the average 401K.
Meanwhile, King George is ramping up efforts to rat-fuck the nation one last time. While the country celebrates Obama’s victory and enjoys a resurgence of hope and anticipation, Bush and his cronies are changing rules and re-writing regulations to make it easier for the FBI to spy on American citizens, dismantling environmental protections in place since Bill Clinton enjoyed blow-jobs from Monica Lewinsky in the Oval Office, and basically standing around playing pocket pool while JPMorgan Chase and other big banks use their bailout windfalls for mergers and acquisitions rather than loans.
We expected nothing less from Bush than a last gasp orgy of ideological intercourse, one or two final lost weekends where the rich and well-connected get richer and American taxpayers get saddled with the bill. The big bailout (paid for with our hard-earned money and our kids’ future, don’t forget) wasn’t supposed to play this way, and we can only hope that an Obama Administration will tweak the bailout to make it work the way it was intended. This is important. The country’s leaders need to understand what made the financial system run off the rails, identify who was culpable, and enact legislation or create regulations to make sure it never happens again. Unfortunately, with the likes of Robert Rubin and Lawrence Summers circling Obama’s camp like birds of prey, it’s possible that Obama, in the end, will do nothing to upset the status quo.
That would hurt, not to mention insult, all the people who supported Obama’s campaign by donating money, knocking on doors or making phone calls; people didn’t work their tails off for Barack Obama only to watch him fall victim to the Clinton Syndrome. Remember? Clinton entered the White House on a wave of hope, but after encountering some early opposition, promptly pitched his tent in the valley of corporate interests and became a shill for Wall Street flim-flam. Despite his rhetoric and good-old-boy charm, Bill Clinton was no friend of working Americans. Frankly, when he wasn’t screwing someone other than his lawfully wedded wife, he was screwing us.
It’s natural for TV pundits and citizens to focus on the economy in this time of uncertainty and spreading financial distress, but personally I would like to hear the President-elect say something about restoring the rule of law at home and abroad. It seems to me that an affirmation of bedrock American principles is not only necessary, but a precondition for solving all the other problems we face. Are we going to allow Administration officials to ignore Congressional subpoenas or not? Are we going to continue violating the human rights of detainees? Are we going to turn a blind eye to Israel as it continues to violate every treaty it has ever entered into with the Palestinians? Are we going to allow further erosion of our civil liberties in the name of a false security? From there we can debate the best way to create a more just and equitable society, deliver health care to those in need, and get the hell out of Iraq, with or without “honor.”
I don’t think such introspection and reflection will happen, but it’s nice to hope.
Saturday, November 08, 2008
When the People are Ready
The euphoria from election night lingers. It’s like stepping from a subterranean cavern into the first light of a fresh morning. The way ahead may be difficult and perplexing, but at least we can feel proud of our President as he represents us to the world. Obama reads, studies history, and speaks in complete sentences – by themselves these attributes make him radically different from the current occupant of the White House.
On January 20, 2009, intelligence and rational thought make a triumphant return to the White House. One thing is certain: willful ignorance will not be a virtue in an Obama Administration.
The reaction from people around the globe to Barack Obama’s victory proves that the idea of America is alive and kicking. Perhaps the world is reacting so favorably to Obama because he appears calm, collected and sane, reasonable and reassuring; he doesn’t swagger like a gunslinger (Bush) or talk like a fascist (Cheney). We have yet to fully appreciate the damage done by Bush and Cheney to our standing in the world. It won’t happen overnight, but Obama has a window of opportunity to repair that damage and restore our credibility and moral authority.
Tuesday night’s historic results were a relief, a catharsis -- hope that had been dammed for nearly eight years escaped in a deluge. Americans know that we are better than the last eight years. We’re hungry to rebuild our country along more equitable lines, with a stronger foundation that supports more citizens; hungry to prove that we are more than slaves to the “free” market and mindless consumerism; hungry to relate to the rest of the world in less bellicose ways; hungry to find solutions for pressing human needs.
George W. Bush is an aristocrat and he governed like one, never asking the people to sacrifice or put their collective shoulder to the wheel. Even when it came to Iraq, Bush asked for nothing but our prayers and blind faith in his word. In Bush’s twisted, out-of-touch worldview, the people need not concern themselves with complex matters of policy; instead, they should shop, watch TV and let the chosen ones at the top run things. When the people spoke about their concerns, as when millions took to the streets to protest the Iraq invasion, Bush ignored us.
When Barack Obama takes his seat in the Oval Office for the first time, he will face a daunting array of inherited challenges. Obama is stepping into a house trashed by a bunch of spoiled frat boys – light fixtures dangle from the ceiling, every toilet is clogged, furniture is upended, the kitchen is wrecked and nobody ever bothered to take out the garbage or clean out the refrigerator. What the frat boys couldn’t carry off they destroyed.
One of the great reclamation projects in American history will begin with the deck stacked against it.
But perhaps Americans owe George W. Bush a debt of gratitude, for it was Bush’s utter incompetence and failure that made it possible for Barack Obama to become President, for Obama’s message of hope to echo across the wasteland Bush bequeathed to us, and resonate with millions.
When the people are ready, the leader will appear.
On January 20, 2009, intelligence and rational thought make a triumphant return to the White House. One thing is certain: willful ignorance will not be a virtue in an Obama Administration.
The reaction from people around the globe to Barack Obama’s victory proves that the idea of America is alive and kicking. Perhaps the world is reacting so favorably to Obama because he appears calm, collected and sane, reasonable and reassuring; he doesn’t swagger like a gunslinger (Bush) or talk like a fascist (Cheney). We have yet to fully appreciate the damage done by Bush and Cheney to our standing in the world. It won’t happen overnight, but Obama has a window of opportunity to repair that damage and restore our credibility and moral authority.
Tuesday night’s historic results were a relief, a catharsis -- hope that had been dammed for nearly eight years escaped in a deluge. Americans know that we are better than the last eight years. We’re hungry to rebuild our country along more equitable lines, with a stronger foundation that supports more citizens; hungry to prove that we are more than slaves to the “free” market and mindless consumerism; hungry to relate to the rest of the world in less bellicose ways; hungry to find solutions for pressing human needs.
George W. Bush is an aristocrat and he governed like one, never asking the people to sacrifice or put their collective shoulder to the wheel. Even when it came to Iraq, Bush asked for nothing but our prayers and blind faith in his word. In Bush’s twisted, out-of-touch worldview, the people need not concern themselves with complex matters of policy; instead, they should shop, watch TV and let the chosen ones at the top run things. When the people spoke about their concerns, as when millions took to the streets to protest the Iraq invasion, Bush ignored us.
When Barack Obama takes his seat in the Oval Office for the first time, he will face a daunting array of inherited challenges. Obama is stepping into a house trashed by a bunch of spoiled frat boys – light fixtures dangle from the ceiling, every toilet is clogged, furniture is upended, the kitchen is wrecked and nobody ever bothered to take out the garbage or clean out the refrigerator. What the frat boys couldn’t carry off they destroyed.
One of the great reclamation projects in American history will begin with the deck stacked against it.
But perhaps Americans owe George W. Bush a debt of gratitude, for it was Bush’s utter incompetence and failure that made it possible for Barack Obama to become President, for Obama’s message of hope to echo across the wasteland Bush bequeathed to us, and resonate with millions.
When the people are ready, the leader will appear.
Wednesday, November 05, 2008
Election Night, Historic Night
5:10 P.M. We just cast our votes at the Methodist Church on Anapamu Street. The lines were short and the poll workers chipper. During the day people kept asking me if I had voted; most of them had and wore stickers to prove it. Obviously, this is not a run-of-the-mill, ho-hum election; people are into it, hopeful. We waited until late in the day so we could take our kids with us.
At this moment MSNBC has Obama at 103 electoral votes and McCain at 58. I wonder what McCain is doing right now…probably taking a nap and hoping that he’ll wake up to a stunning upset. McCain clearly believes in fantasies and Hollywood endings, which is why he choose Sarah Palin as his running mate…I’m still trying to understand what his Brain Trust was snorting when they tapped Palin. It’s as if they tossed some names in a hat, closed their eyes, reached in…
Speaking of Palin, I saw that cipher on TV last night, regurgitating the same tired clichés that Republicans have employed for years, still straining, on the night before the election, to tar Obama with Jeremiah Wright and William Ayers, and to make the unconvincing claim – except to a cadre of die hard Republicans, rednecks, racists, and utter morons – that Obama is a socialist.
Why is MSNBC giving Tom Delay a forum? The prick is a criminal, a disgraced no-good unrepentant criminal who doesn’t deserve to speak to a national audience; of course the rat predicts that a Democratic majority in Congress will “ruin” the American economy. Huh? DeLay was a swaggering power broker in Bush’s first term and did a wonderful job terrorizing Democrats while transferring wealth to the richest Americans and pissing on the rest of us. DeLay wielded power like a Roman proconsul, sparing no one.
The Talking Heads are jabbering like barroom drunks, making projections, predictions and prognostications, most of which will be disproved by the time the night is through. But there’s air time to fill while the numbers trickle in so they need to say something.
The Big Board shows Obama at 175 and McCain at 76. Thousands of Obama supporters are gathering in Grant Park in Chicago. The Deep South goes for McCain – no surprise there -- old habits die hard.
I read this morning that Maya Angelou hoped that an Obama victory would signal that the people of the United States have finally grown up, thrown off the shackles of fear and racism and bigotry, and entered adulthood. Forty years after Martin Luther King Jr. was shot and killed. After RFK went down the same way.
The Talking Heads are now saying that Obama will win Ohio! This is a huge development. In 2004 I went to bed thinking John Kerry would squeak out a victory there and woke up to discover that Bush had taken the state – by fraud as we would later learn.
Virginia. Florida. North Carolina. Indiana. All too close to call at this hour, 7:03 P.M. on my end of the continent. Iowa goes for Obama with 7 electoral votes. Should the current trend hold and Obama win the election, I wonder what will become of the Republican Party. It will be a smaller party, even more right-wing and wacky than it is today, and just as apt to hitch its wagon to a wingnut like Sarah Palin. Or Huckabee. Or maybe they’ll pass the baton to Pat Buchanan.
I wonder what is going through John McCain’s mind right now. Is he working on his concession speech or maybe staring at the developing scene in Grant Park and wetting his Depends? Cindy is no doubt by his side, as she always is, now drug-free though still high-strung and as inclined to psychological meltdown as her hubby is. I have a hunch that she’s thinking: “You owe me old man, big time. I followed you from town to city to hamlet, from gated community to country club, from Wal-Mart to 7-11, from the Waldorf-Astoria to the Biltmore. I’m tired! I’m sick of politics, of your political aspirations, and of all the phony people that have surrounded us for the past year! I want to go home, but I can’t decide to which of our eight homes.”
MSNBC just called it for Barack Obama. Can it be true? Finally, an African-American in the White House! What a tremendous First Family the Obama’s will be -- bright man, smart woman, lovely children. And not white! Finally, finally, finally, after all these years, after all the lynchings and beatings and shootings, after all the dreams deferred and denied…now we can call ourselves Americans. Now we have an opportunity to live up to our most cherished ideals.
OK, the Talking Heads are getting mushy and teary-eyed. Rachel Maddow is crying like a baby. My 12-year-old son just commented that Sarah Palin is only a footnote now. The boy is so happy that the Era of Bush is nearly over that he’s bouncing off the walls. On the TV Jesse Jackson is teary-eyed. This is amazing. I almost can’t believe it. Not only did Obama win Ohio, he also won Florida! Florida – the Bush backyard.
The electoral count is 333 to 156. An emphatic statement. A dramatic repudiation of the last eight wasted years.
McCain is conceding now before his faithful, and actually sounding like a reasonable man, like a US Senator, like a gracious statesman. Where has this version of John McCain been since August? McCain’s crowd in Arizona is so lily white that I need my Ray-Bans. McCain’s people are chanting “USA! USA!”
Waiting for the man now, for Barack Obama to take the stage before a throng estimated at 100,000. What does it mean that the voters of America have elected an African-American man president? What does it mean for our tomorrow?
And here he is, conjuring FDR and Martin Luther King Jr., and RFK. Yes we can. Yes we can. Yes we can. After eight years of being told that only some of us can, that only some of us are worthy, that only some of us matter. Yes we can. Yes we can. Together as Americans. All of us.
That’s worth thinking about on this unbelievable night.
At this moment MSNBC has Obama at 103 electoral votes and McCain at 58. I wonder what McCain is doing right now…probably taking a nap and hoping that he’ll wake up to a stunning upset. McCain clearly believes in fantasies and Hollywood endings, which is why he choose Sarah Palin as his running mate…I’m still trying to understand what his Brain Trust was snorting when they tapped Palin. It’s as if they tossed some names in a hat, closed their eyes, reached in…
Speaking of Palin, I saw that cipher on TV last night, regurgitating the same tired clichés that Republicans have employed for years, still straining, on the night before the election, to tar Obama with Jeremiah Wright and William Ayers, and to make the unconvincing claim – except to a cadre of die hard Republicans, rednecks, racists, and utter morons – that Obama is a socialist.
Why is MSNBC giving Tom Delay a forum? The prick is a criminal, a disgraced no-good unrepentant criminal who doesn’t deserve to speak to a national audience; of course the rat predicts that a Democratic majority in Congress will “ruin” the American economy. Huh? DeLay was a swaggering power broker in Bush’s first term and did a wonderful job terrorizing Democrats while transferring wealth to the richest Americans and pissing on the rest of us. DeLay wielded power like a Roman proconsul, sparing no one.
The Talking Heads are jabbering like barroom drunks, making projections, predictions and prognostications, most of which will be disproved by the time the night is through. But there’s air time to fill while the numbers trickle in so they need to say something.
The Big Board shows Obama at 175 and McCain at 76. Thousands of Obama supporters are gathering in Grant Park in Chicago. The Deep South goes for McCain – no surprise there -- old habits die hard.
I read this morning that Maya Angelou hoped that an Obama victory would signal that the people of the United States have finally grown up, thrown off the shackles of fear and racism and bigotry, and entered adulthood. Forty years after Martin Luther King Jr. was shot and killed. After RFK went down the same way.
The Talking Heads are now saying that Obama will win Ohio! This is a huge development. In 2004 I went to bed thinking John Kerry would squeak out a victory there and woke up to discover that Bush had taken the state – by fraud as we would later learn.
Virginia. Florida. North Carolina. Indiana. All too close to call at this hour, 7:03 P.M. on my end of the continent. Iowa goes for Obama with 7 electoral votes. Should the current trend hold and Obama win the election, I wonder what will become of the Republican Party. It will be a smaller party, even more right-wing and wacky than it is today, and just as apt to hitch its wagon to a wingnut like Sarah Palin. Or Huckabee. Or maybe they’ll pass the baton to Pat Buchanan.
I wonder what is going through John McCain’s mind right now. Is he working on his concession speech or maybe staring at the developing scene in Grant Park and wetting his Depends? Cindy is no doubt by his side, as she always is, now drug-free though still high-strung and as inclined to psychological meltdown as her hubby is. I have a hunch that she’s thinking: “You owe me old man, big time. I followed you from town to city to hamlet, from gated community to country club, from Wal-Mart to 7-11, from the Waldorf-Astoria to the Biltmore. I’m tired! I’m sick of politics, of your political aspirations, and of all the phony people that have surrounded us for the past year! I want to go home, but I can’t decide to which of our eight homes.”
MSNBC just called it for Barack Obama. Can it be true? Finally, an African-American in the White House! What a tremendous First Family the Obama’s will be -- bright man, smart woman, lovely children. And not white! Finally, finally, finally, after all these years, after all the lynchings and beatings and shootings, after all the dreams deferred and denied…now we can call ourselves Americans. Now we have an opportunity to live up to our most cherished ideals.
OK, the Talking Heads are getting mushy and teary-eyed. Rachel Maddow is crying like a baby. My 12-year-old son just commented that Sarah Palin is only a footnote now. The boy is so happy that the Era of Bush is nearly over that he’s bouncing off the walls. On the TV Jesse Jackson is teary-eyed. This is amazing. I almost can’t believe it. Not only did Obama win Ohio, he also won Florida! Florida – the Bush backyard.
The electoral count is 333 to 156. An emphatic statement. A dramatic repudiation of the last eight wasted years.
McCain is conceding now before his faithful, and actually sounding like a reasonable man, like a US Senator, like a gracious statesman. Where has this version of John McCain been since August? McCain’s crowd in Arizona is so lily white that I need my Ray-Bans. McCain’s people are chanting “USA! USA!”
Waiting for the man now, for Barack Obama to take the stage before a throng estimated at 100,000. What does it mean that the voters of America have elected an African-American man president? What does it mean for our tomorrow?
And here he is, conjuring FDR and Martin Luther King Jr., and RFK. Yes we can. Yes we can. Yes we can. After eight years of being told that only some of us can, that only some of us are worthy, that only some of us matter. Yes we can. Yes we can. Together as Americans. All of us.
That’s worth thinking about on this unbelievable night.
Saturday, November 01, 2008
The 9th Inning
Waiting for Tuesday, November 4, is like watching the seventh game of the World Series where the home team – a franchise with a storied history of failure – is six outs away from erasing a decade of pain and frustration. The home crowd is delirious, on the one hand, and yet a palpable current of apprehension ripples through the stands; these fans have been here before, standing so close to the post-game victory celebration that they could feel the spray of champagne in their faces, only to watch in disbelief as the home team stumbled, bumbled and fumbled it all away.
The clock atop the centerfield scoreboard seems frozen and the interval between each pitch stretches like an eternity. The home team has its ace closer on the mound, but the opposing batters keep fouling his best pitches into the stands. A base hit and a walk, a sacrifice bunt, and suddenly the pesky, never-say-die visiting team is threatening, a hit away from being right back in the contest. From the outfield bleachers to the luxury boxes above home plate, the current of apprehension becomes a wave of fear. Is another historic collapse about to happen?
Tuesday can’t get here quickly enough. If I have to watch another clip of stiff, ridiculous John McCain making that robotic thumbs-up gesture I’m going to puke on the living room rug; if I have to hear Sarah Palin contorting logic and twisting truth in order to link Barack Obama to the PLO, the Weather Underground, the Symbionese Liberation Army or Osama bin Laden himself, I’m going to become violent; and if I see Karl Rove – that disgraced, corrupt and lying toad –one more time, well, there’s no telling what I’m capable of.
Yes, it’s the top of the ninth and the home club has the lead, its ace closer on the mound, and its first world championship in sixteen long years in sight. Nothing can go wrong, right? It’s OK to breathe, to leave the room to get a cold beer from the fridge, to take the dog for a stroll…
No, hell no, don’t you dare move except to get out and cast your ballot. Don’t be misled by polls or pundits. Keep rolling those prayer beads in your hands, keep promising the Gods that you will turn yourself around if they just have mercy and let us win, keep lighting candles and burning incense until the decent voters of America drive a splintered baseball bat through the hearts of John McCain and Sarah Palin. But even when that happens – and it must happen or the dream of America is dead – don’t rejoice until the coroner pronounces McCain and Palin officially deceased.
The clock atop the centerfield scoreboard seems frozen and the interval between each pitch stretches like an eternity. The home team has its ace closer on the mound, but the opposing batters keep fouling his best pitches into the stands. A base hit and a walk, a sacrifice bunt, and suddenly the pesky, never-say-die visiting team is threatening, a hit away from being right back in the contest. From the outfield bleachers to the luxury boxes above home plate, the current of apprehension becomes a wave of fear. Is another historic collapse about to happen?
Tuesday can’t get here quickly enough. If I have to watch another clip of stiff, ridiculous John McCain making that robotic thumbs-up gesture I’m going to puke on the living room rug; if I have to hear Sarah Palin contorting logic and twisting truth in order to link Barack Obama to the PLO, the Weather Underground, the Symbionese Liberation Army or Osama bin Laden himself, I’m going to become violent; and if I see Karl Rove – that disgraced, corrupt and lying toad –one more time, well, there’s no telling what I’m capable of.
Yes, it’s the top of the ninth and the home club has the lead, its ace closer on the mound, and its first world championship in sixteen long years in sight. Nothing can go wrong, right? It’s OK to breathe, to leave the room to get a cold beer from the fridge, to take the dog for a stroll…
No, hell no, don’t you dare move except to get out and cast your ballot. Don’t be misled by polls or pundits. Keep rolling those prayer beads in your hands, keep promising the Gods that you will turn yourself around if they just have mercy and let us win, keep lighting candles and burning incense until the decent voters of America drive a splintered baseball bat through the hearts of John McCain and Sarah Palin. But even when that happens – and it must happen or the dream of America is dead – don’t rejoice until the coroner pronounces McCain and Palin officially deceased.
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