Video of the Week (But Not Every Week) #12

FINALLY! Someone who can imitate Obama. I don't know who this guy is, but he's way better than anyone on SNL.

"Debate Prep."



"After the Debate"

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In 2008, we (hopefully) elected some real Democrats

While I surely look back with fondness on the peace and prosperity of the 1990’s, this was a time in the history of the Democratic Party that I dare not return. The Clintonian policies of balanced budgets, fairer taxes and investments in education and infrastructure helped progressively power the economy of the 90’s, but other actions helped conservatives (Democrats included) sew the seeds of today’s financial crisis and further the decline of the middle class.

At the time, the Democrats acted like liberals on cultural issues, but Democratic leaders caved into the Republican policies on issues of Wall Street. Back then, the Democratic leadership Council was still powerful within the Party and Clinton was their leader. According to the DLC, if you weren’t a “New Democrat” you were a loser, bound to be tossed out of office and relegated to the dustbin of history. According to them, everything that went well politically was a result of their policies and when things went bad, they were always quick to say that if Democrats acted more like them, they would have won. The DLC, with Bill Clinton as chief spokesman, pushed unfair trade and essentially told blue collar workers – and America as a whole - that manufacturing jobs were expendable. They conveyed a message that blue collar workers futures were being traded for the jobs of Wall Street and the college educated. It wasn’t too hard to paint Democrats as elitist when we were guided by a core economic message that picked winners and losers.

Part of the DLC message was declaring the “era of big government is over”. True to message, in 1999, President Bill Clinton signed the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act. (Sponsored by among others, Phil Gramm, now banking lobbyist.) This legislation repealed portions of the Glass-Steagall Act, which was enacted following the Great Depression. The Glass-Steagall Act of 1933, among other things, established the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and established banking reforms to control speculation and prohibit certain types of banks from owning other types of financial institutions. This included mixing commercial banks with investment banks and mixing banks with some of the insurance companies that are failing today. (Paragraph edited for clarity and corrections)

In the end, the DLC message and policies led to the Democrats downfall. Who wants to vote for a Democrat acting like a Republican, when you can vote for the real thing? Fortunately, when Democrats were tossed out of office, it was the DLCers who took the majority of the hit. Their ineffectual leadership, regular pandering to Republican demands and essentially making decisions based on political posturing, instead of core Democratic beliefs led to the Democrats losing control in 2002.

Thankfully, the Democratic Party is now led by the Obamas, Deans, and Bidens of the party, while and the days of Clinton, Harold Ford, Terry McAuliffe, and Joe Lieberman are over. The progressive movement regained control of the party and we seem to have grown back our confidence and spine. Unfortunately, it wasn’t soon enough to head off the financial and manufacturing melt down we are seeing today.

It is my hope that we have not only learned the political and electoral lessons of being “New Democrats” but also learned the economic lessons as well.

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For a short history lesson on the history on banking regulations, visit this article, written by Robert Sweere in the Springfield Missouri News-Leader.

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Rebuilding my faith.

My father taught me my love of country. He always said that I was extremely lucky to be born into the United States. He valued the hard work of Americans and demonstrated it through a dedication to buying American products. He taught me the importance of helping our neighbors and most importantly, the value of voting. As a result, I have always been a liberal flag-waver.

But in the last few years, I had begun to lose faith in my country.

My crisis of faith isn’t due to the failure to elect Democrats. There are plenty of reasons for Republicans to rightfully win elections. I lost my faith when my people continued to respond to non-issues. I couldn’t help but be disappointed when voters responded to cultural, racial and class warfare instead of voting based on the best interest of themselves and their fellow Americans. Polls regularly showed that people voted for one candidate, when the other candidate better reflected their own positions on issues of the economy, education and foreign affairs.

Over the last few election cycles, it seems that a significant number of swing voters have based their votes on the superficial rationale of personality or baseless insinuations of character flaws. They’ve responded to charges of “flip-flopping”, boisterousness, and exaggeration. Some voters seemed motivated by fear of gays, Arabs, blacks, or other boogie men. Independent groups turned decorated war heroes into cowards and liars.

Voters couldn’t see beyond the rhetoric and see the damage happening to this country.

Yet, my faith is returning.

On Tuesday, my country elected a man named Barack Obama to be president. The victory of a Democrat does restore my faith, but not nearly as much as the actions of the people who worked to elect him.

We all expected racism be an ugly force in this election and it was. That said, the response to the racism was truly inspiring. Racist comments and voting behavior could have been brushed under the rug, but in this election, with so much at stake, white Americans confronted and battled racism in a way they likely never envisioned.

Richard Trumka, the Secretary Treasurer of the AFL-CIO took initiative and made several impassioned speeches on race. In each of his speeches, he spoke of a conversation he had the day of the primary in Nemacolin, Pennsylvania, Trumka’s home town:

"This woman walks up to me. I'd known her for a long time, and I ask her 'Have you decided who you gonna vote for?' "

"There's no way I'd ever vote for Barack Obama," the woman responded.

Trumka said he pressed her as to why. First, she said it's because Obama is "a Muslim." Trumka responded that Obama is actually a Christian.

Then, she told him Obama never wears an American flag pin on his lapel. Trumka told her that, too, is false, then asked her why she wasn't wearing one if that is such an important issue.

Trumka said he continued to push, until "her eyes dropped down and she said to me, 'Well, he's a black man.' "

Trumka said he told her to look around at their town, the mining community where they both had lived for so long. "And I said to her, 'This town is dying — literally dying.' "

"Our kids are moving away because there's no future here," Trumka said. "And here's a man, Barack Obama, who's going to fight for people like us, and you won't vote for him because of the color of his skin? Are you out of your ever-loving mind?"

These lines would always elicit great applause and really moved minds.

(Source: NPR.org)

About a week ago, National Public Radio ran an excellent report on the individual campaigners on the front lines. They showcased ordinary union members who pleaded and fought to elect Obama and pursued the votes of people who were openly opposed to Obama based on race. Some people were shocked to learn that long-time friends and co-workers, many who worked side-by-side with blacks, were racist. People argued. Some minds went unchanged, but many did. Friendships dissolved, but others were created. Older people, who never thought of electing a black man, voted for him. Many good people asked themselves about why they weren’t comfortable voting for Obama and upon introspection realized it was race that was holding them back.

In the end, people who were never directly confronted by racism or were never personally impacted by racism stood up and did the right thing at a time when many people would have folded. These are the people who restored my faith in my country.

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The Perfect Storm

What creates a perfect storm for an election? In 1994, the Republicans had it by taking control of Congress for the first time in 40 years. The capitalized on unpopular social issues (gays in the military, proposed nationalized health care) and entrenched incumbents. In 2006, the Democrats thought they had it by taking control of the Congress (House and Senate), and stunningly taking back the Michigan House of Representatives. But it turned out that the Dems were wrong because 2006 was precursor to 2008, which was the perfect tsunami!

What makes the perfect storm in politics that leads to a landslide for one party or the other? My thoughts:

The Economy. “It’s the economy, stupid.” Thanks, James Carville, for pointing that out to us. What held true in 1992 still holds true. But this time, it was not just the economy. That has been depressed for a while, while trying to make a rebound. Jobs losses are common and people are leaving the state. Leaders, whether governmental or business, are doing all they can to bring jobs back. But no one saw the financial market mess coming. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac collapsing was big, but when real people see that that they can’t get bank loans or refinance mortgages then it really comes home to roost.

The Bailout. People really can’t believe that the American public gave so much money to Wall Street. Was it the right thing to do? Probably. But when you default on your loan, no one bails you out. When you make bad decisions, no one bails you out. Corporate America got bailed out, though, and people are sick of it. This reflected on President Bush and his administration, though, and not on the candidates nor on the Congress. People just seem to believe that we wouldn’t be there in the first place if not for President Bush.

The War. Going on so many years, people are sick of tremendous spending on the war. They want to bring the troops home victorious, but they see the incredible expense of the American people for a never-ending and potentially losing effort. Why not spend those dollars here at home? Or close the federal deficit and debt? See above, The Economy.

Change. People want change. They need it. People want to know that the country has new ideas to move forward. That is what brought us John F. Kennedy, and Ronald Reagan, and Bill Clinton. Whether you believe in the new ideas of the youth (Kennedy), or supply-side economics with the trickle-down effects (Reagan), or a plan to do something rather than staying the course (Clinton), you want change. New ideas, not the status quo.

None of these on their own creates a “perfect storm” but these all taken together created the perfect storm this year. Oh, and the addition of race to the mix. Barack Obama drew out African-Americans in droves. Young, old, men, women. Some thought that race would also be a factor in discouraging people from voting for Obama, and maybe it was. But I think the new voters greatly outweighed those that wouldn’t vote for him because he is African-American.

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Bob's Best: My five favorite images from this election.

As published in the New York Times, this image was taken at the Democratic National Convention:

Another NY Times photo taken during the primaries:

The picture below makes me wonder what this man might have been thinking or feeling to be brought to tears and inspiration by Obama. Is it pride in country? Was he denied a job because of his color? Is he another person holding out hope that the future will be better for his children?

A rain-soaked rally:

My little Obamamaniac. She can read two words: her name and "Obama."

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Go.

Get the hell off this blog and go vote. Go. Now. Vote. Then talk about it in the comments section.

But for now? Go vote.

And for any loyal ATK readers who need an extra push, here's a little election day sexy for you.

Better?

Good. Still here? Go. Vote.

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Undecided?

Somewhere around 7 or 8 percent of the U.S. voting population have not made a decision on who they will vote for president.

Who are these people and what is their holdup?

Maybe if you have not had a chance to turn on the TV this election cycle, you might be confused by one candidate’s economic plan versus his opponent's. Maybe if you haven’t even walked past a news stand, you might not know one tax plan from the other. But seriously, do these undecided voters have absolutely no opinion on the major issues that differentiate the candidates?

In case one of ATK’s 1.9 million readers is still on the fence, below you will find the simpletons guide to five major differences that can be defined in pretty much black and white terms. Each candidate for sure has more nuanced positions on these issues, but since some people are still pretty confused, I think we need to make it simple.

McCain – supports current tax policies, with an additional across the board cut.
Obama – wants to return to Clinton style tax policies, with an additional “middle class” cut.

McCain – supported the invasion of Iraq, supports a measured withdrawal of troops
Obama – opposed the invasion of Iraq, supports a measured withdrawal of troops, possibly a bit quicker.

McCain – opposed to abortion rights
Obama – in favor of abortion rights

McCain – generally supports reduced government regulation of business
Obama – generally in favor of greater regulation of business

Just in case you need extreme labels to make up your mind:

McCain – Conservative, fascist pig
Obama – Liberal, commie-pinko

I close with a funny quote from David Sedaris, written in the New Yorker on October 27th.

In regards to undecided voters:

To put them in perspective, I think of being on an airplane. The flight attendant comes down the aisle with her food cart and, eventually, parks it beside my seat.

“Can I interest you in the chicken?” she asks. “Or would you prefer the platter of shit with bits of broken glass in it?”

To be undecided in this election is to pause for a moment and then ask how the chicken is cooked.

I mean, really, what’s to be confused about?

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Obama takes over the airwaves

So tonight during prime time, Senator Barack Obama will buy a half-hour of time on eight different networks. From the moment this was announced, I have thought this was a risky move. The guy is ahead, yet he is buying enough time that everyone in America will be forced to watch him, which will even delay the World Series.

UPDATED PHOTO:
The Obama team has been darn smart so far the last two years, but this major move during the last week of the campaign still has me wondering. What do you think? Will the Obama infomercials close the deal, or cut loose some voters?

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***Prediction Time***

We're one week away from Election Day. Get-out-the-vote efforts are kicking into gear. Poll workers are preparing their 87-year-old bodies for the masses of humanity. Florida is praying that they don't f*** things up again. And Ohio? Well, Ohio still sucks.

I think it's about time for the fine folks of ATK to weigh in. Submit your predictions for the following:

~ Popular vote percentage for Obama/McCain
~ Electoral votes for Obama/McCain (538 total)
~ Net gain in the Senate seats by the Democrats (currently 51 Dems-49 GOP, w/ independents)
~ Net gain in House seats for the Democrats (currently 233 Dems-202 GOP)
~ Three surprises

I recommend RealClearPolitics, Pollster.com, FiveThirtyEight.com, and 270toWin.com (especially for predicting Electoral Vote totals).

Whoever "wins" earns the title of "Chief Political Prognosticator" for the balance of November.

You all seem good at politics. We'll see about the math.

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Thug Life

Look who else pals around with felons.

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Theodore Renatus

Two of the best biographies I have ever read** are authored by Sir Edmund Morris, Winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award for The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt. His second book in his three-volume chronicle of Theodore Roosevelt is called Theodore Rex. Morris is a gifted writer whose genre of choice isn't always very exciting.
Could be though that in this case, Morris' subject was...pretty damn exciting.

At any rate, Morris did a mock-interview in today's New York Times, asking modern questins but answering them with actual Roosevelt quotes. What you get are Morris' conjecture about how Roosevelt may actually have answered these questions, based on what Morris knows about Roosevelt's mindset (which again, after devoting the time it takes to write three biographies about the guy, should be a pretty good idea...).

Go check it out. It's at least funny, if not also insightful.


**Biographies tend to be pretty damn dull (see: David McCullough's "John Adams." Szzzznnnkkkkkzzz....), but these were well-written and almost story-like. It's a tactic that got Morrris in a little trouble with the Reagan estate.

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Here's One For You

A Libertarian's view of why, lacking any other choice, is voting for Obama.


Sopor: consider it.

Steves: contradict it.

Bob: Yeah, he hates Obama too but it's one more vote for our guy.

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Oliver, You Bastard

Oliver messed up.

Don't be Oliver. Send this video to your friends and make sure you and everyone else gets out and votes.

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Powell's Real Endorsement

As you have likely heard, former General Colin Powell endorsed Barack Obama yesterday. That's fine and good. I am glad he did it, but that wasn't the most important thing he said.

The Republican nutty fringe has been trying to paint Obama as a Muslim since the beginning of the campaign. Powell corrected the rumor mill in stating that Obama is indeed a Christian, but more powerfully, he asks why it should matter if he is.

Powell said:

"I feel particularly strong about this because of a picture I saw in a magazine. It was a photo essay about troops who were serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. And one picture at the tail end of this photo essay, was of a mother at Arlington Cemetery and she had her head on the headstone of her son's grave. And as the picture focused in, you could see the writing on the headstone, and it gave his awards - Purple Heart, Bronze Star - showed that he died in Iraq, gave his date of birth, date of death, he was 20 years old. And then at the very top of the head stone, it didn't have a Christian cross. It didn't have a Star of David. It has a crescent and star of the Islamic faith.

"And his name was Kareem Rashad Sultan Khan. And he was an American. He was born in New Jersey. He was fourteen years old at the time of 9/11, and he waited until he could serve his country and he gave his life."

Source: TPM.

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Do Anything, Say Anything...

My favorite part is at the end when he says "You know, you've really got to work hard to violate Governor Palin's standards on negative campaigning."

For some perspective, here's where Obama is coming from in that statement (from WaPo). A snippet:

GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin last night criticized the automated calls the Republican National Committee and her own campaign have put out linking Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama to former Weather Underground member William Ayers, even though she did not call for a halt to the controversial practice.

"If I called all the shots, and if I could wave a magic wand," Palin told her traveling press corps as she stood on the tarmac here, "I would be sitting at a kitchen table with more and more Americans, talking to them about our plan to get the economy back on track and winning the war and not having to rely on the old conventional ways of campaigning that includes those robocalls and includes spending so much money on the television ads that, I think, is kind of draining out there in terms of Americans' attention span."

Now certainly I know that Palin is being critical of Obama's massive TV ad purchases, the infusion of boatloads of cash into Obama's campaign in September, and this massive half-hour block of airtime Obama purchased for next week. What makes it hysterical is hypocritical shit like this and this too, which hilariously stars Palin herself. recorded after, you know, her comments above.

***UPDATE***

Looks like Cole beat me to it.

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Beer and Politics

It seems our friends over at the Washington Post like to mix their beer with politics too.

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BOB makes great political ads.

I didn’t think Democrats had it in them to make funny, well-made political ads. A 527 group called Bring Ohio Back, (BOB) has some talented people working there. These ads might even cut through the clutter of negative ads over the next few weeks.

Economy



UPDATE:

The three other videos are now located here, here, and here.

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Staggering level of hypocrisy

The title is in reference to what Glenn Reynolds said in regards to the 'yellers' at McCain rallies. I have never tried to defend the nutjobs and bigots yelling those things. I have also been critical of those on the right who seek to lower the debate and dialog to the gutter and engage in lies and half-truths. Unfortunately, there is no shortage of inflammatory speech on the right, from the occasional forum poster, all the way up to TV pundits. Recent calls for McCain to tone down his campaign have been welcome and reasonable. What is lacking is some perspective and scrutiny for those on the left that are engaging in nastiness and nuttery.



There are some bloggers that have tried to paint a picture of McCain rallies as being ugly, hate-filled, brownshirt events with crowds calling for blood. There have been several unfortunate hecklers and idiots, but they are not common. Several bloggers, such as Patterico and Mary Katherine Ham (over at the Weekly Standard), have noted the circumstances surrounding these incidents and the problems with how they have been reported. Althouse notes that some have gone farther than take things out of context and have added words that were never said.



I have been told on more than one occasiona that the hate coming from left is mostly harmless, or in the case of people like Bill Maher (joking about a Cheney assassination) is just snarky and edgy. I looked around and couldn't find much. It tunrs out that I had to go to some sites that I don't really care for and ones that engage in the kind of behavior that I believe contributes little to intelligent debate. Therefore, I apologize in advance, but the fact is they have the information I need.



Michelle Malkin (I promise to not link to her again) has a whole page on lefty attacks on McCain and Palin. Some are absolutely disgusting. Some are certainly violent and hate-filled, such as the Abort Palin, most are just pathetic. Philly.com also notes these gems about Palin:

"Let’s stone her, old school." and "Wait till your daughter wants an abortion, you hypocrite."

These paragons of civility and reasonable discourse chose to wear shirts that say "Sarah Palin is a cunt". Classy. This guy called McCain a murderer.

I certainly don't believe that most on the left are like this. As it can be seen from ATK, the left has many intelligent, rational, respectful, and articulate advocates. I would also say that Obama and McCain have appeared to have done a decent job at confronting aspects of their campaign that are harmful and dangerous. There are some exceptions, but I am talking in a general sense. I would like to see some level of civilty and restraint, but should this only apply to the right?

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Don’t lay down the hay where the goats can get it.

Roger Simon at Politico writes a nice piece, which taught me a little history. It also shows that John Lewis shouldn't be ignored.

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Presidential Debate 3.0

Well, the final of three Presidential debates happened tonight. What's your take?



If you were to ask me, I'd say McCain would be doing better today in the polls if he had a long-term message similar to tonight's themes. He'd also have less of a climb had he performed similarly in the previous two debates.

Your take after the jump.

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