Hillary Clinton sez: Dr. King’s dream began to be realized when President Johnson passed the Civil Rights Act,” Mrs. Clinton said […]. “It took a president to get it done.” And a commenter at Andrew Sullivan’s responds: That’s right. It wasn’t the courage of King and local Montgomery residents standing up to legalized white supremacy […]
January 7, 2008
Emotive Politics Mediascape
Beyond his policy positions and rhetorical mad skillz, Barack Obama is setting a new standard for excellence in mass communication propaganda. Go to Barack TV and check out the “Generation Obama” video. It’s just under 15 min long, documentary style, and a fascinating example of aspirational politics. * It opens with organizing a student meeting, […]
January 4, 2008
On The Obama Iowa Win
Nine percentage points. That’s a strength you can’t overlook. Look at the diversity in the slices: * Obama beat Clinton among women 35% to 30% * Obama beat Edwards among voters in union households 30%-24% * Obama beat Clinton and Edwards among voters of almost every income level (Obama and Clinton tied among voters who […]
January 3, 2008
Real-Time Democracy
C-span live at an Iowa caucus! It’s amazing, watching people stand up, hold their hands up, count up a number, point to the next person to count, and drop their hands. Riveting, truly. Update, from NY Times 7:54 p.m. | Our colleague Ashley Parker, who is in Des Moines at the Plymouth Congregational Church, Precinct […]
January 2, 2008
Iowa Caucus Closers
I had my hair cut today, and the stylist told me she supported Barack Obama in the NH primary. We chatted about that, and I asked her if she had considered Hillary Clinton. She said, “Well, it’s funny, because when I first heard she was running I got really excited. People came into the salon […]
November 6, 2007
On Obama
Andrew Sullivan has written a strong cover story for The Atlantic supporting Barack Obama. He describes how he came to this in a great interview. Combined, they provide pretty much everything you need to know about why I’m supporting Obama in the NH primary. Summary: Obama is a meta-candidate, attempting to re-frame not just the […]
November 6, 2007
Our Generation’s Enlightened Contribution
I am moved by this post, which relates an unfortunate incident on a train from New Haven CT to the dominant cultural narrative currently unfolding. [Grammatical ambiguity intended.] In 2002 and 2003 – seems so long ago, now, doesn’t it? – I remember thinking that the tone of America’s leadership would have a trickle-down effect […]
November 5, 2007
Except You
Bravo. Probably the most important factor in the next US Presidential election is getting young people to vote, no matter what. Maybe this campaign will help.
October 1, 2007
What many people criticize
Adam Nagourney at the New York Times on NH’s independent voters: As a rule, they are middle and upper income, college educated, socially moderate, fiscally conservative, anti-Washington and repulsed by what many people criticize as the overly partisan atmosphere there. This is the first article I’ve read with any analysis that comes even close to […]
September 23, 2007
Leading with love, not fear
The mayor of San Diego struggles with gay marriage, and does the right thing. I read the brief speech yesterday, but the power of watching him speak, tearfully, brings some hope to my cynical perspective of today’s politics.
September 12, 2007
3 links…
…on the Iraq situation. 1. Conservative commentator Andrew Sullivan, The Atlantic. 2. Law professor and Harvard Fellow Oliver Goodenough , Rutland Herald. 3. Software entrepreneur Dave Winer, Scripting News. Bonus link: New York reporter Mark Shenk, Bloomberg.
January 26, 2007
Social Web Hits The Election Cycle
Great post over at Bokardo Social Web Design, altering us that Hillary Clinton is using Yahoo answers to gather the prol’s thoughts on health-care reform. One, Clinton is actually asking the American people what they think, rather than assuming or generalizing from the party she’s a part of. (this doesn’t mean she’ll listen, but it’s […]
January 11, 2007
The Speech
For my money, Andrew Sullivan sums it up perfectly. What we will discover in the next few months, therefore, is simply whether the entire premise of this strategy is actually true. The president is asking us to find this out one more time. He seems to disbelieve the overwhelming evidence on the ground – that […]
December 20, 2006
When You Act You Make New Facts
Important intellectual analysis from Jay Rosen on how the Bush administration has played the media. In Without a Doubt (subtitled “Faith, Certainty and the Presidency of George W. Bush”) Suskind was not talking about an age old conflict between realists and idealists, the sort of story line that can be re-cycled for every administration. It […]
November 30, 2006
Impossible to Write a PC Headline For This
New Haven Advocate: “Lohse, a social work master’s student at Southern Connecticut State University, says he has proven what many progressives have probably suspected for years: a direct link between mental illness and support for President Bush.” “Our study shows that psychotic patients prefer an authoritative leader,” Lohse says. “If your world is very mixed […]
November 7, 2006
Axis of ’70s Campus Republicans
Whiskey Bar: Like everybody else, I don’t know what’s going to happen today, but this election has already illuminated one critical truth: The modern GOP — or, more specifically, the Axis of ’70s Campus Republicans now running it — really is just a criminal enterprise disguised as a political party. Dirty tricks, large and small, […]
November 7, 2006
Keep An Eye On the Situation
CNN: Bonds rally on election bets: Market surges on hopes of fiscal discipline created by Democrat-controlled Congress; dollar mixed. via Talking Points Memo, who’s doing a great job covering the election tampering… From the GOP handbook of Maryland politics: (1) Recruit homeless men in Philadelphia; (2) Bus them into Maryland; (3) Arrange for the Republican […]
November 7, 2006
Election Protection
Real-time tracking the election disruptions. EIRS or the Election Incident Reporting System is a sophisticated voting incident tracking system that will be an invaluable tool for Election Protection coalition partners and the public on Election Day and beyond. Voting problems reported through the Voter Hotline (1-866-OUR-VOTE) by coalition members or by poll watchers involved in […]
October 20, 2006
Does the News Matter?
Aaron Swartz speaks for me: But finally, I’d like to argue that following the news isn’t just a waste of time, it’s actively unhealthy. Edward Tufte notes that when he used to read the New York Times in the morning, it scrambled his brain with so many different topics that he couldn’t get any real […]