no story? no problem

-Back in the day, a friend of mine and I made a fever-dream of a movie entitled "The Vaults Were Empty." The basic "premise" was that the narrator of a Masterpiece Theater-type show had simply run out of stories to tell. Sometimes I wonder if that was somehow prophetic on a global scale. Specifically when I read things like this. Seriously, a Marvin the Martian movie? About Christmas!?!? Wow.

-Speculation about VP picks is rampant, because there really isn't anything happening right now with the campaigns. Personally I don't think there is a home run pick for Obama. Clinton comes with a lot of baggage. Dodd, Bayh, Biden, Reed, Nunn may each have some upside, but none of them are particularly exciting, and they're all Senators. Sibelius and Kaine are at least Governors, but neither is very exciting either. None of those are BAD choices, I just don't see any of the possibilities as being a boon to the ticket.

-Now this is a story that I can't wait to watch unfold.

end it now

I'm a bit of a political junkie. Not to an unhealthy degree, but I enjoy reading political blogs, keeping up with the latest headlines, etc. So a drawn out primary season has been pretty interesting this year, especially with two pretty strong candidates seeking to make history. While I've been an unabashed Obama supporter since "The Speech" in 2004 its really only since Super Tuesday that I've started to lose all patience with the Clinton campaign. Between telling us which states don't count, telling us states that in fact don't count should, otherwise whining about wanting to change the rules in the middle of the game, being angry and self-righteous, or fear-mongering, she has done nothing in the past month to convince me that she cares about anything other than getting herself elected President. I look forward to the day we have a woman President. I think its long overdue, and would provide a welcome change in perspective at the top. I think that Sen. Clinton would be a more than capable President. However the conduct of her campaign has been underhanded, cynical, and critically shortsighted. I've no doubt, in fact, that the blame for much of this lies with her advisors, but in the end the candidate must be responsible for those they choose to advise them, and she has clearly chosen poorly.

It is time (in my opinion past time) for this nominating season to end, and for the party to unite behind Sen. Barack Obama as the Democratic nominee for President. Sen. Clinton has a large number of ardent supporters who will be understandably devasted by her defeat. It will be an emotional blow and it will take some time before they are able to be enthusiastic about Obama. Given the choice, however, between George W. McCain and Obama, I hope that nearly all of Clinton's supporters will be able to once again join the difficult fight for the advancement of Progressive causes under a new standard-bearer.

Now, today there are four critical contests taking place in Texas, Ohio, Rhode Island and Vermont. Clinton and Obama have both been playing the expectations game but there is a stark mathematical reality to the nominating process.

I was bored the other day and started to crunch some numbers, but CNN outdid me with an interactive delegate counter game. Its pretty neat. If you go play around with the results, the endgame of this nominating process seems surprisingly clear.

Essentially, there's almost no way Clinton can win the nomination without either scoring landslide victories today that totally demoralize the Obama camp and raise questions about his ability to "close it out", or subverting the will of the voters.

John McCain will be a tough opponent, for either Clinton or Obama. The longer the two most popular Democratic politicians keep fighting each other, the more time McCain gets to solidify his base and campaign for the presidency. We can ill afford to allow the infighting to continue and take a fractured party base deep into what should be general election season.

As I said before, it is time for this to end. Barring a surprise pair of wide victory margins by Senator Clinton, I hope she has the perspective and grace to concede the contest and continue her advocacy on behalf of progressive causes and the people of New York in the US Senate.

Apologies for the long post. I'm anxious to watch the returns, and see what happens after the votes are counted. So this is, hopefully, my last word on the primaries (although I doubt it).

ready for the weekend

TGIF....am I right or am I right?

That never makes any sense.

I just spent too long preparing a post for next Tuesday about the Democratic Primaries. It may end up being a two-parter even. I'm really done with this primary fight, so I was surprised I wrote so much, but there it was.

If you're like me you were moved by Obama's 2004 DNC keynote address. Well here is a great article about how it all came together. Think of it as Obama's political origin story.

Its NSFW, but I still think this cartoon is one of the funniest things ever said about Iraq. It comes from the always crass, yet always amusing Get Your War On.

And on that note*, have a great weekend everybody!

*Old showbiz saying: Good to end on a donkey/Iraq joke.

political link hour

Ladies and gentleman, I give you Ralph Nader

I'm not sure what he's thinking. In 2000, there was a fair amount of apathy and disappointment with both candidates, and he was able to tap into that. But I doubt very much he could garner much interest in the current political landscape. People are generally satisfied with the slate of candidates, and there's no way he performs on the same stage as McCain/Obama/Clinton. Of those three, I think he would hurt Clinton the most, but thats just a gut feeling and I'm not sure why.

Also, this is a good point and one that I wish more people made. If Obama had gone 0-fer since Super Tuesday, the narrative would be "why is he still in the race?".

And one more link, regarding concerns for Obama's safety. I really think the parallels between Obama and Lincoln run deeper than we realize, and that includes the intense hatred/threats on his life that he will face if elected. It is a valid concern, and makes his VP selection as important as any such choice in recent memory. I swear somebody said once "If they're shooting at you, you must be doing something right." Maybe its a West Wing quote?

Hillary did a nice job in the debate last night, but the dials took a nose dive when she went negative, which could present a problem for her since she needs to be able to take shots at him. Obama has done a masterful job of painting himself as the positive candidate and making attacks against him just backfire.

In any case, I just want this contest to be OVER soon. I'm tired of delaying my celebration/misery.

the experiment continues

Super Tuesday is upon us. Polls are about to close in Georgia, with the second wave coming about an hour later, and I'll be glued to the various media delivery devices at my disposal watching the results. I voted for the fine Senator from Illinois, although despite the rather contentious divisions that have developed between the Obama and Clinton supporters, I'll support either in November. Certainly I could muster more enthusiasm for Clinton than I could for Kerry last year. Honestly, though, I believe Barack Obama would make the best President of any of the candidates.

I always think its important, on election days, to take a moment to appreciate our country's 230+ years of bloodless transfer of executive power every four or eight years. Free elections, and peaceful transitions between opposing political parties are all America has ever known. We forget, when we set out to "spread democracy", that this concept is completely foreign to a great many people. While we've certainly been slow in expanding suffrage rights, and our electoral system has room for improvement, the mere fact that on January 20, 2009 there will be (again) a peaceful transfer of power in the highest office in the land.

And for so many reasons, that is worth celebrating.

Also....happy Mardi Gras! Be sure to get 40 days worth of sinning in tonight.

he shall, from time to time...

Its not only the title of an excellent West Wing episode, its also the line in the US Constitution (Article II Section 3) that is cited as the grounds for what we call the State of the Union address. Last night's had to be one of the lamest of the lame duck SOTU speeches ever. Fortunately I was with smart people and alcohol so it wasn't a total waste. I was pretty disappointed that the Democratic response was almost as lame, thanks to a robotic delivery by Gov. Kathleen Sibelius of Kansas. She made Al Gore look like Robin Williams.

These last several years we've had to content ourselves with the assumption that the President knew how to spell "oratory" and maybe use it in a sentence. I don't think that inspirational public speaking is necessarily a required skill for someone to be a "good" President. However given the violent and volatile condition of our world today, I feel now is a particularly opportune time to elect someone with the ability to inspire us. The difficult challenges that lie ahead have no easy solutions, and this nation requires a leader with the ability to convince us all to make some sacrifices for the greater good. In case you've forgotten what a President like that sounds like, you can go here.

In case you're looking for something less "real-world", then maybe check out one of the SOTU episodes from the aforementioned TV series. I've listed all four of them below, in descending order of Quality as determined by me.

1. Season 2, 'Bartlet's Third SOTU' - Which wins if only by virtue of having Ainsley Hayes meeting the President while dancing in a bathrobe to "Blame it On the Bossa Nova". While we only see brief excerpts of the speech on TV, the speech might be seen as a bit of a political disappointment for Bartlet's more liberal fans. Blue Ribbon Commissions, school uniforms, and setting aside "ideological entrenchment" are the headliners as he unofficially kicks off his re-election campaign. There are about 5 different stories going on in this episode which are all great.

2. Season 1, 'He Shall, From Time to Time' - The episode ends before the SOTU even happens, but that takes a backseat to the introduction of the MS storyline, which doesn't come to a head until the end of Season 2. The episode is a great Bartlet-Leo story, which is the relationship at the heart of at least Season 1.

3. Season 4, 'Inauguration' - Its an election year in the Sorkin-verse, so there is no SOTU, but this one fills the void. Bartlet makes a major shift in foreign policy, with regards to pledging the use of military intervention for humanitarian disasters, a thinly veiled reference to the US non-action in the Rwandan genocide. There's the stirring scene in which Will Bailey is hired, and the adorable scene in which Josh throws snowballs at Donna's window.

4. Season 3, '100,000 Airplanes' - The first several episodes of Season 3 were in the can when 9/11 happened, and the show took the whole season to recover. There are some little gems in S3, like the introduction of Amy Gardner, and CJ's "handsome but capable" Secret Service guard. This episode tries to get the show back on track, and to a small degree, it succeeds.