deaniac

As it has recently been announced that Howard Dean will be honoring his commitment to serve only one term as DNC Chairman, I thought I would take a quick look back at Dean's lasting effect on me and the Democratic Party.

I can probably attribute my current level of interest in politics to two things: The West Wing, and Howard Dean. The two are not unrelated. When I heard about Dean's speech to the California Democratic Party in March of 2003, like so many others I took notice of its rehetorical similarity to the fictional President Bartlett (not to mention the biographical similarities). I saw in Dean someone who was legitimately ready to speak truth not only to power, but to the American people. I saw someone with both rhetorical and executive acumen, not to mention a first-hand understanding of the health-care system, who was convinced that the right ideas can carry a candidate to the White House.

Dean also understood (with the help of Joe Trippi) the transformative power the internet could have over the democratic process. Word of Dean's California speech spread like wildfire throughout the blogosphere, and suddenly people all over the country were learning about this small state governor. They also began to give money, stage meet-ups, and otherwise begin to get involved in the process, many of them for the first time. The lead-up to the 2004 Iowa and New Hampshire caucus and primary was one the first time I had ever gotten excited about politics at all.

The losses were difficult to take, as an upstart movement to put a true progressive at the head of the Democratic ticket was foiled by two small, conservative states wielding disproportionate influence on the primary process. Democrats opted for "electability" over the candidate that was right for the moment. On top of this was the ridicule following the "Dean scream" that the media used to diffuse the Dean movement.

In the end, however, it was Dean who would be vindicated. I was extremely heartened when he became chairman of the DNC, and immediately began to implement the philosophies that drove is campaign into the party machinery. Dean's loss in 2004 turned out to be very good for Democrats, and very good for America.

You can draw, very easily, a straight line between Dean's candidacy, the Democrats' electoral gains in 2006, and Barack Obama's election. The Obama campaign went to school on Dean's efforts, and improved on almost every aspect: from bottom-up volunteer empowerment to internet fundraising. Dean's 50-State strategy built the beginnings of a Democratic organizing infrastructure in 2006 that Obama (and to a lesser degree, Clinton) would dramatically expand and exploit in 2008.

As proud as I am to see Barack Obama elected President, I will consider myself a Howard Dean Democrat for quite some time.

monday morning brain dump

I love this picture. I love it because it offers another reason to have hope for an Obama administration: he's got two constant reminders of what he's fighting for in Malia and Sasha. This is from Obama's Flickr account, which leads me to exclaim how cool it is that our President-elect has a Flickr account (BAGNewsNotes writes it up here). Obama is going to take the presidency into the 21st century, something that is easy to overlook given the breadth of immediate challenges he faces. Quick thoughts this morning, on a range of topics:

-A national CTO? Fantastic idea, and long overdue. Every federal department should have a blog, if only because this is one way to reach out and make public service seem like an attractive option for young people.

-LOLZ: "Yesterday, first lady Laura Bush called Michelle Obama and invited her and her young daughters to the White House. Laura Bush told Mrs. Obama, 'While I give you a tour, the girls can watch SpongeBob with the president.'" ---Conan O'Brien

-There's plenty of mess to clean up, and apparently the Obama transition team is already working to review Bush's executive orders that need to be corrected/rescinded (probably all of them) and developing a plan to responsibly close Gitmo.

-I got to attend the USC-Cal game on Saturday, which was fun only in the sense that its always fun to be back on campus for gameday. The offense did their best to make it a frustrating night, but fortunately our defense is crazy good. We HAVE to cut down on these penalties. We can get away with spotting Cal 105 yds, but that just ain't gonna fly if we make it to the Rose Bowl.

-Green Bay lost another heartbreaker via a late field goal on Sunday. Adrian Peterson is a monster. Of course, this one hurt more because it was against a division rival. That loss makes it pretty important to come out on top of this weekend's contest with Da Bears.

-Thank you to the Cardinals for not trading Ryan Ludwick et. al. for Matt Holliday. There's no reason to force a move for an outfielder when we have such glaring offensive holes in the middle infield.

Whew, felt good to get all of that out.

one president at a time

I thought President-elect Obama, in his first press conference today, managed to strike the right balance between deference to still-President Bush, and still asserting the fact that he's going to be calling the shots before long. I like this photo, too. "We're going that way." Finally we'll have a President who sounds in control.

As he starts to put together his Cabinet, everyone has opinions and of course so do I.

First, I'll point over to James at Sense From Center. I'll generally agree with his first two points (Assemble a 'team of rivals', and keep Congress in check) and take issue with the other two (Shake up Congressional leadership, reconcile with Lieberman). I think that its better to have people like Reid and Pelosi out front so Obama can be seen as reining them in if (when) they get too riled up. As for Lieberman, I don't see the point in letting him keep his chairmanship, and he apparently seems to think that's a dealbreaker. If he wants to take his ball and go home, then let him. Does this look petty and punitive? Possibly, but in the end its not going to have any kind of significant effect electorally speaking, and I don't see the benefit in rewarding bad behavior. There are plenty of more qualified Senators who are actual Democrats who could do good things with Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.

Second, I'd like to share a couple of thoughts on some key appointments likely to come down as early as next week:

Secretary of State: I like Bill Richardson a lot for this. In addition to getting a Hispanic in a high profile position, Richardson has a lot of experience negotiating with North Korea, which may prove invaluable in the next 4-8 years. I also would like to see this post restored to its long forgotten status as the staging ground for future Presidents. I guess Hagel wouldn't be awful, but only if Gates isn't kept around. Bad choices here: Kerry, Lugar.

Secretary of Defense: If Gates is kept, I'd like it to be for a finite transition period of a year or two, tops. I understand the rationale for keeping him in the beginning, but for a candidate who ran on Change, especially with regards to the conduct of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, keeping the Defense Secretary on board seems like the wrong signal. Hagel could be a fit here, or Powell, but I hate to see Dem's appear to need Republicans to handle military/foreign affairs.

Attorney General: Janet Napolitano, hands down. You've got to get a high profile woman in the cabinet, and this makes a lot of sense. The downside is that she probably has her eye on McCain's Senate seat in 2010, and could worry that leaving for Washington will hinder her chances. Deval Patrick is a close second, and seems like a fine choice as well. I wonder: Is Obama under less pressure to appoint a black Cabinet member because of his own race?

Treasury Secretary: The home run here would be Warren Buffet, but this seems unlikely. I can't say I understand modern economics well enough, nor am I too familiar with some of the other candidates. I will say, however, that I don't like hardly anything I've heard about Larry Summers. He's made some poorly calculated (to say the least) statements about women, pollution, and the third world. There are those who counter that, however. He may be a world class economic mind, but he also seems to be regularly an embarassment to his bosses. This is not what the new administration needs.

Other points:

-I'd like to see at least a couple of suprise, outside-the-box choices. Obama is as well set-up as any President since Kennedy to approach titans of industry and academia and call upon them to take a break from their 7-figure salaries or tenured proffesorships in service of their country.

-Caroline Kennedy as Education Secretary? I'll take it. RFK, Jr. as EPA head apparently is a little touchy.

-Bill Clinton, and Al Gore should be involved in developing and executing policy, although probably not in the cabinet. Gore is someone Obama needs to have on his side to push for a new energy policy, possibly via an "Energy Security Council" suggested by Obama's transition chief. Clinton can be a valuable envoy to foreign leaders, as long as he can be trusted and kept on a leash.

-What kind of role might someone like Eric Schmidt play? Schmidt's already been a supporter and advisor for Obama, and I would like to see Obama take steps to bring the government into the 21st century in the same ways he did with his campaign.

life imitating art?

Did you have any idea that Ari Gold and Josh Lyman were brothers?

I was not previously aware that Josh Lyman was at least partly based on Obama's newly named White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel. And while I had heard that Ari Gold was somewhat based on Ari Emanuel, I never made the connection that the two were brothers. The LA Times has a write-up of what must arguably be the most powerful duo of brothers in America right now.

mixed blessings

As thrilled as I am about President-Elect Obama, there are reasons to temper excitement. First and foremost is the fact that he has a Herculean task ahead of him in facing catastrophic climate change, the economic crisis, two wars, and cleaning up after 8 years in which the federal government was grossly abused and mismanaged. He has enormously high expectations, and risks alienating a large part of the new electorate that he empowered if he fails to make progress soon.

Secondly, my state of California institutionalized bigotry with the passage of a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage. This is only a lost battle, not a war, as the generation gap on this issue is remarkable, and as the young people of today become the majority tomorrow these kinds of laws will eventually fall. That, however, is little consolation to those of us who had hoped that we could begin to move beyond this as a society sooner rather than later.

We had our goddaughter and her parents with us last night watching the results, and I watched her mother hold her and sob with what I'm sure was a mixture of relief, hope, and pride that Obama will be the first President that young Cady will remember. Indeed, his legacy may have a more lasting impact on her than on us.

There's a lot of work to be done, but I know we've got the right man for the job.

election art

Between being really busy at work, fairly busy away from work (which included camping!!) and otherwise distracted by reading polls to an unhealthy extent, I just have not felt like I had much to add here. I'm pretty ready for this election to wrap up, so I'm not going to write much about it, but I did want to share a few of these great pictures that I've seen while poking around the internets.

First, a really well done rendition of Obama/Biden as the Adam West era Dynamic Duo...

You can buy prints here.

Also a while back I was pointed to, by which blog I can't remember, this page displaying the many variations on Obama's logo designed to target specific groups. They know how to create a brand over there at the Obama campaign.

Then today I was pointed to these two Barack Obama posters rendered as old Blue Note jazz record covers.


All great stuff that hopefully helps us keep a little levity as we approach the tense evening of Nov 4.

back at it

I didn't think it had been quite THAT long since I've posted. September is halfway gone, and the world has been busy. For starters, Krysta spent another night and day in the ER this week. It was largely precautionary, and she was bothered more by having to go in again than she was by the symptoms that took her there. Fortunately all of the test results were good and she's back into her regular routine.

The Cardinals are just now playing like the team we thought they'd be for most of the year. They needed everything to go right for them to have a shot at playing in October. And injuries to Izzy, Wainwright, Carpenter, Mulder, Wellemeyer, Duncan, Molina, Glaus, and Ankiel were simply too much to overcome. We've seen some promising things from the kids, though, so as they say up in Chi-Town, "There's always next year."

How is John McCain winning this election? (Lipstick?) What had the potential to be an intruiging election with an interesting map has become another partisan hate-fest. John McCain circa 1998 versus Obama might have been an interesting debate. But Palin has the wingnut base whipped into such a frenzy that the noise machines are in overdrive, and we're stuck talking about Ohio again instead of Virginia or Montana or North Carolina. At a time when this country is facing epic catastrophes in the environment and the economy, mounting troubles in health care and education, not to mention trying to heal the Constitution after eight years of abuse and neglect, losing influence and credibility as a world leader, we're talking about whether a beauty pageant runner-up should have billed Alaska for a few thousand dollars in travel expenses for nights she spent at home? I..!!!...seriously!? Everyone is complicit in this: both campaigns, the media, the voters. The demise of civil public discourse in this country is something that we are about to start paying for in very dear ways. I hope, however, that at the very least we have the right man at the helm come January to start leading us out of this hole we've dug for ourselves.

Sorry for the long rant on a Monday morning. I guess its just one of those days.

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).

who do ya trust?

Its looking increasingly likely that Hillary Clinton will win Ohio. But will it be enough to change the course of the campaign? More on that tomorrow.

If she does win, perhaps some will claim this video put her over the top:


A couple of observations, if you will:

First, this opens with a line from the Joker asking "Who do ya trust?". You know what he says after that in the movie? "Now comes the part where I relieve you, the little people, of the burden of your failed and useless lives." Huh.

Second, near the end of the video Col. Jessup says "There is nothing on this earth sexier, believe me, gentlemen, than a woman you have to salute in the morning." Now, there have been accusations of sexism on behalf of supporters of both candidates in this race. Some of those claims have merit, some are exaggerated. But I'd like to know how pleased Clinton's supporters are with this line being used in promoting their candidate. It gets better, though. The rest of the line in the movie is, "Promote 'em all, I say, 'cause this is true: if you haven't gotten a blowjob from a superior officer, well, you're just letting the best in life pass you by."

So Jack wants us to vote for Clinton because she'll kill us all and/or give us the best head we've ever gotten. If any Clinton supporters care to reject and/or denounce that message, lets hear it. Oh what's that? Her campaign will say almost anything as long as it gets her elected? Huh.

If that one's got you annoyed, here's some funny to make it better (although I'm sure You Tube will take this down anytime now):

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.

super links

I've done enough talking about the events of yesterday's primaries. Other people, however, are still at it, and here are a couple of links you might want to check out:

Get Your War On took a nice jab at a Clinton vote regarding cluster bombs, and then explains the issue a little more over at the Huffington Post.

Also, Bag News Notes is always a great way to get a different perspective on events, as they analyze news images of the day.

I don't really have much else to add, other than I'm pretty pleased with how things panned out yesterday. Looking forward to at least another few weeks of primary contests to pass the time until Spring Training.

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.