Decide Already!

You can count it in hours. The election of our generation is only 5 days away, and after 20 months of campaigning, I can say this without reservation....everything pertinent to the issues has been said. If you have not decided, you might as well find a heavy coin you can flip...or perhaps you can catch an all day matinee and sit this one out....that sure should sound great 50 years from now, with grandchildren on your knee...”why I remember the election of ’08....most important election of the century...nah, I didn’t vote. I couldn’t be bothered”. That ought to inspire the little tykes!

Perhaps the undecided voters are waiting for the October surprise. They are waiting some sort of galvanizing moment when the clouds part, and the choice somehow slaps them upside the head. However, maybe the real problem is that because the election has gone on so long, that these people have hit some sort of strange overload, where they simply cannot process any further data, and they are sick of it, and they stop watching the news shows and turn to Gilligan’s Island reruns on Nick at Night. They are undecided because they are not going to decide. These are the same people who struggle with “paper or plastic” at the grocery store, or the chicken or fish at a banquet. They are not prepared to starve a cold OR feed a fever. The choices posed by an elevator button panel can be debilitating. They never go to cafeterias. Selecting a tie is all but impossible.

In the end, we can prod them to vote, or perhaps offer them a padded portion of fence on which to sit comfortably.

A Weak Week

I am prone to distrust the polls and though I find myself watching them constantly, I frankly wish they weren’t even available to observe. It boils this election process down to little more than a horse race. You can bet on the outcome. You can watch the daily fluctuations and wonder why one pollster can have Obama up by 2 points, while another has him up by 13. And then there is John McCain, suggesting he has a plan, and that he will win and show everyone what idiots the pollsters and pundits have been. I wonder if the pollsters will offer some of their fees back if somehow their predictions and analysis has been...flawed. I mean, they have had Obama up by so much for so long, how this can be overturned....and if it is, will it be the will of the voters or some more sinister force. One hesitates to go down that road.

With a week left, there will be attacks, if possible even more acidic than last week, or the week before that. Vitriol will flow from candidate’s mouths to their supporter’s ears, and what they say will become fact, regardless of how ridiculous. The undecided will sit in their Lazy Boys and ponder whether they really need to decide at all. I hope they do, but I can see how they might want to turn off the cable news shows and watch some sports....the World Series is on Fox...nope scratch that...we’ll have to wait for that 3 inning spectacle for some night when winter has not made its presence known.

Still, it is our obsession with sports that prepares us to dissect the pre-election data. Every candidate’s strengths and weaknesses laid out like a batter’s tendencies against left or right handed pitching. How many sacks has he endured? How many fumbles? How many home runs? This has in fact been an election with few home runs, McCain was thought to have homered when he picked Sarah Palin, but upon further review, that looks more like a ground rule double...at best. In fact, because of that pick the McCain campaign has apparently started to point fingers. Like the Yankees...all that star power and no playoffs. Or worse, the Raiders....a rudderless ship bouncing from rock to rock in search of a safe place to anchor.

On Election Night, we will have game time. All the stats from the “pre-season” will tell us which states to watch, and we will be familiar with each candidate’s strongest spots on the map. But just like in real sports, upsets occurs. The team with the best quarterback, or ground game, does not always win. Sometimes, the other team just wants it more. Sometimes you play a better game, but don’t score enough points. Sometimes the ref makes a bad call that costs you a touchdown, or perhaps a state like Florida. Sometimes, there is a little known player on the other team, “Hanging Chad” who comes out of nowhere to steal the show.

President Bush came to power under the most suspicious circumstances, and his presidency, in some circles, was played more or less under protest. That it has ended so badly is either his just reward, or a punishment for our country for allowing the election process to be co-opted by those unimpressed by democracy. Beyond any other need, our country badly needs a good positive election...about things that matter, and without a whiff of tampering. We need a president installed by the majority, with a mandate to be above all, successful. To lead us, and restore our faith in the system. At the end of the day, this is what George W. Bush has deprived us of....faith.

There is not much pithy to say about the next week. I fear the October surprise...a tape from OBL, a terrorist plot, another plot to assassinate a candidate. Why can’t we all just get along, I wonder. Too late for that, I guess. So instead....lets not spend time looking for the silver bullet or the “gotcha moment”. Instead, this is a request that the candidates stop talking of their opponent and speak only of what they will do, how they will do it, and why we should give them something as valuable as our vote.

The "L" Word.

George Carlin once uttered the 7 (or 11) words you could not say on television. He of course did so in a mocking monologue about how stupid we were to let words become so fraught with meaning that they can no longer be said among God fearing folk and children. How does a word become profane? Who decides the status of each word and deems it inappropriate? All of the words relegated to late night cable or bleeped out (or both in the case of The Daily Show), have meanings and usages that come up in day to day conversation....therefore, their absence from the permissible lexicon leaves a hole in our ability to converse. We need to be careful about adding words to this list, lest we run out of words and become an entirely mute society.

Happily, sometimes words can be redeemed. When Ronald Reagan was elected to the presidency in 1980, a perfectly reasonable word began the ominous slide into profane status. Sadly, to be attacked with this word was to suffer ridicule and perhaps worse, irrelevance...and yet those afflicted with this status could no more help themselves than they could change the color of their eyes or skin. Can you imagine, being verbally assaulted for something as personal as your hair color, or in this case, their capacity for compassion? To be a "liberal" in this country was to be in effect a person without a country, or so said the numerous babble heads on Fox News.

How could being labeled a "liberal" become such a toxic description...I mean what does the word really mean to begin with? How could it become such an insult?

lib-er-al ; adjective: (from Dictionary.com)

1) favorable to progress or reform, as in political or religious affairs.
2) favorable to or in accord with concepts of maximum individual freedom
possible, esp. as guaranteed by law and secured by governmental protection of
civil liberties.
3) free from prejudice or bigotry; tolerant: a liberal attitude toward
foreigners.
4) favoring or permitting freedom of action, esp. with respect to matters
of personal belief or expression: a liberal policy toward dissident artists
and writers.
5) open-minded or tolerant, esp. free of or not bound by traditional or
conventional ideas, values, etc.
6) characterized by generosity and willingness to give in large amounts: a liberal donor

I am happy to report, though, that that there are signs indicating that to be a "liberal" is no longer cause for shame or banishment to Madison, Wisconsin or forced to pay the ridiculous housing prices in Berkeley. Instead, there are indications that we, as a nation, can now openly become "favorable to progress or reform" and that it will now be acceptable to appreciate "maximum individual freedom" without reprisal. In time, one hopes, we might even be "free from prejudice or bigotry", because instead of parroting the drivel from the conservative talking heads we are becoming "open-minded or tolerant". In the end, don't we all want a nation that is "characterized by generosity and willingness to give"?

Perhaps part of the reason our country has strayed so far from the path is that we lost our liberal voice. Perhaps balance is what has always been called for...to hear, and assign relevance to all of the voices from all over the political spectrum as our nation solves the great problems of the day. The voices that once would make “liberal” a slanderous charge now find themselves feeling the effect of banishment, or at least failing to be re-elected, and yet I cannot help but think that we will need them. To solve the problems this nation faces, we will need the great minds from all over the political spectrum, to sit down, work side by side, without derision or contempt.

I am hopeful that the liberals, having their status restored and no longer treated as if their very opinions are profane or sacreligious, will exercise restraint as they assume the levers of power. The leadership our country needs just now will keep in mind that “favoring or permitting freedom of action, esp. with respect to matters of personal belief or expression” will be what leads us back to greatness in the days ahead.

McCain't

Where is the outrage? Back when the Republican Party handed their nomination to John McCain, I thought they were brilliant. John McCain had a well regarded record as a “tweener”, not closely tied to the ridiculous far right, and enough of a centrist to actually pull votes from the Democrats in a year that Republicans are radioactive. Now, as his campaign twitches involuntarily in the last throes of life, there are many in his own party that want to condemn his campaign staff, his tactics, his running mate....really everything about him....and yet, doesn’t that all but miss the point?

John McCain will not be president of these United States in 2008 because George W. Bush was the worst president in the history of our republic. Do we really need to let history be the judge? Can’t we pretty much close the book on this guy now? Has anything he has done as president left this country better off? Has he succeeded in any small facet of leadership? The failures are underscored more heavily now as we anticipate him riding off into the sunset....during the financial crisis, he has been all but invisible, appearing every now and again to mumble some nonsensical drivel and then sneak away to play pong or Pac Man or whatever he does with his time these days. Then this weekend, he finds time and reason to bomb Syria. Has he no restraint? Do we need to relieve him of his duties before January 20th just to make sure he does no more serious harm?

I will admit when he came to power, my expectations were very low, I felt he was an unintelligent man, with no vision and no real reason to be president other than it was a job others said he should pursue. To his credit, he far exceeded my worst fears.

But there were many that liked this guy...enough in fact to re-elect him (WOW! How crazy is that given a few years of context?) I can assure you I had nothing to do with his re-election...but I am constantly surprised by the lack of outrage by his supporters, and by the nation in general. If we impeached Bill Clinton for the rather trivial offense of a misdeed of the flesh, what might the punishment for a president who led us into two wars (one unnecessary and contrived), and who failed to act responsibly to pay for said wars in a logical matter. He ran up a debt heretofore unimaginable under a Republican administration. We could talk about all the other blunders and missteps made by the administration, but the list would take up far too much space.....and the real bottom line is that despite the simmering dislike in the form of low approval ratings and such, where were the folks on the right now calling for McCain’s advisors to be fired? They let Bush slide, and now they act surprised by the results. The Republicans brought this on themselves because they let their clueless leader lead them to the edge of a cliff and like lemmings they followed right along over the edge. Republicans don’t believe in dissent. They find it un-American. And now, they find their quiet compliance to be a ticket out of Washington. A little outrage folks, might have kept you around....

Damn Yankees.

Is it just me? I really can’t stand the singing of “God Bless America” during the 7th inning of major league baseball games. Does anyone actually like this song? Isn’t “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” a much more appropriate jingle? I realize this gesture started in the aftermath of 9/11 and for some reason it still seems oddly appropriate if done at Yankees games, particularly Yankee playoff games...but since there do not seem to be anymore Yankee playoff games in the offing, this “tradition” has spread to places not directly affected by the attacks. I say we should put a stop to it, now.

The song itself is a behemoth, made famous in some way by the bombastic Kate Smith in a generation far, far away. If we are going to demonstrate passive patriotism via a ritual song, then I’d suggest “America the Beautiful”, though I’d far rather listen to Ray Charles sing it than a throng of beer soaked fans-- Ray Charles made it his own, and in so doing, showed that even songs we have heard hundreds of times could be made new again. JImi Hendrix did the same thing with the “Star Spangled Banner” but for some reason, it never caught on with a certain segment of the population.

I think standing at the outset of an event, hats off, or a hand upon our heart is enough of a symbolic gesture to accompany our leisure activities. “The Star Spangled Banner” is a high risk endeavor. Not easy to sing. The risk of complete failure adds a certain zest to the proceedings...But, the 7th inning stretch should be a time to take stock of the circulation in our legs, perhaps grab one last pretzel, or simply sing along casually or gleefully to the best song ever written about our national pastime. Why clutter it up with a lapel pin moment?

The Calendar Says "October"

The leaves are starting to turn...the night air is cool, and though the daytime sun is still warm, it lacks the vigor of summer. No doubt about it, just a few pages are left on the calendar, until the end of the year and it got me to thinking....just as we near the end of the year, I wonder, where are we on the ‘calendar of our nation’? Near the end? Just getting started? Are we truly still in an unending state of “Morning in America”?

Surely if a politician suggested otherwise, his or her career would be over. No one can openly admit that perhaps America’s best days are behind us. But it still seems worth considering. Was the 20th century the American century? If so, do we get two centuries?...in a row? And if this is not our century, whose is it?, and what does that mean for us? American’s have a name for second place.....losers.

Ronald Reagan told us, with enough assurance that we believed him, that our best days were yet to come. As the 20th century wound down, we had successfully fought two world wars, and our economy was the envy, if not the engine, of the world. We were riding a pretty good winning streak. Sure there had been stumbles. Vietnam was surely not our finest hour, and then there was Nixon, and Agnew, and Kent State. But there was also Apollo, the Beach Boys and Willie Mays. It was pretty bold to predict that even better days lie ahead.

And yet, to say otherwise implies...what? Decline? Tough times? The end of US dominance in the world economy and as the only remaining superpower....shudder the thought! Even writing the words raises the hair on the back of my neck. Nope, we Americans will accept only top billing...but I wonder what happens when the rest of the world no longer sees us that way....self delusion can only last so long. What was Reagan saying when he said our best days were in front of us? Perhaps he meant the Clinton Administration....those were pretty good days until the whole “bang the intern” thing got rolling...and even while we considered semen stained dresses and the meaning of the word “the” , the economy was good, our stature in the world was never better, and we were number one...no one argued with that! And besides...the bad stuff all had to do with consenting adults having sex...how bad is that, really?

I wonder where we are today, on the calendar of our nation. Surely we are well past January. If we consider Reagan’s Morning in America; I guess we were all sipping our national cup of coffee (Starbucks one can only assume) and still anticipating the warmth of the sunny days ahead....it must have been about February or March, and clearly the calendar had many pages left on it. So, where are we now?

Clearly, the Clinton days felt like spring. Sex was everywhere....from the White House to the home front! I was a father for the first and second time. Everything seemed to have a fresh coat of paint. Cars were new and shiny, and clearly a drive in a convertible was not out of the question. We were like a nation of colts, finally gaining control of our long, strong legs. We were magnificent. I’d guess it was April in America

Where are we now? Do we feel magnificent? What has the Bush Administration left us with other than a bunch of pages ripped hastily from the calendar to go along with all the bills scattered about and left for us to pay. Is that what the last 8 years have been? An accelerated aging that robbed us of the sweetness of summer...the cold lemonade enjoyed under a bounteous apple tree. Did we somehow trade in what could have been the glorious days and warm summer nights of May and June, for the bitter-sweetness of August and September. We never bothered to go skinny dipping in the pond or run naked through the woods with our friends. Instead we covered our bodies ashamedly as we aged, and wrinkled and instead of fireworks on the 4th of July, we got missiles and bombs over Baghdad. Instead of laying beside a pool, we hide our skin from the sun, fearful that the broken down ozone layer would not protect us from the cancerous rays...we lie awake fearful of enemies both real and imagined....We long for morning, but we know the nights are getting longer.

Now we await the harvest of the seeds planted over the last few years. Will the harvest be bountiful? Will we have enough food to eat? Will there be any left over to share with those less fortunate? Could we use some of the crop to trade with others to get supplies we might need. It seems uncertain just now. It just seems that there are only a page or two left on the calendar, and that seems pretty scary.

The chill in the air...could it really be just the last shiver as spring yields to summer, or is it perhaps the warning of winter oncoming?

Yep.

From Mike Allen’s Playbook at www.politico.com/playbook/:

“Sen. John McCain on Wednesday blasted President Bush for building a mountain of debt for future generations, failing to pay for expanding Medicare and abusing executive powers, leveling his strongest criticism to date of an administration whose unpopularity may be dragging the Republican Party to the brink of a massive electoral defeat. 'We just let things get completely out of hand,’ he said of his own party's rule in the past eight years. In an interview with The Washington Times, Mr. McCain lashed out at a litany of Bush policies and issues that he said he would have handled differently as president, days after a poll showed that he began making up ground on Sen. Barack Obama since he emphatically sought to distance himself from Mr. Bush in the final debate. ‘Spending, the conduct of the war in Iraq for years, growth in the size of government, larger than any time since the Great Society, laying a $10 trillion debt on future generations of America, owing $500 billion to China, obviously, failure to both enforce and modernize the [financial] regulatory agencies that were designed for the 1930s and certainly not for the 21st century, failure to address the issue of climate change seriously,’ Mr. McCain said in an interview with The Washington Times aboard his campaign plane en route from New Hampshire to Ohio. ‘Those are just some of them,’ he said with a laugh, chomping into a peanut butter sandwich as a few campaign aides in his midair office joined in the laughter.”

Hard to add anything to that assessment...Thanks Senator McCain and to all the congressional Republicans for providing such great oversight during the Bush years. As you wander around looking for new jobs, maybe you should consider including on your resume that for the last 8 years you leaned on a shovel smoking cigarettes while our democracy crumbled.

It's Black and White...

It’s time to grow up, America. We are about to elect an African-American president....and just like many of our other cultural heroes, someone who is not white will be at the top of the charts. The sporting world was the first to embrace such a sea change....we looked up to, at first grudgingly, and then admiringly, numerous stellar African Americans...from Jackie Robinson and Jim Brown, to Wilt Chamberlain, Elgin Baylor and Michael Jordan. Jordan in fact became an icon of commercial success. Indeed, everyone wanted to “be like Mike”...black or not. Tiger Woods has become so utterly synonymous with the “white” world of professional golf, that they can barely stage a tournament in his absence. And frankly, not much is made of his color, at least so it seems...mostly, he is regarded for his ability to simply kick ass on all the other golfers....My point, though, is not to minimize the struggles that all of these people of color have gone through. No, in fact, I am trying to look beyond race...what kind of a world it would be when skin color was regarded in the same vein as eye or hair color....that black people can root unabashedly for white people, and white people can cheer on their black brothers without interference from lunatic fringe racists.

I sat, at times in horror, this past summer, as people I otherwise admire spoke in fearful tones about the possibility of a an Obama presidency. Even before I heard it from the national media, there were fears of radical Muslim leanings discussed as if they were proven facts as opposed to lies and propaganda uttered by clown boy Rush Limbaugh. But I found it hard to argue with these folks....they fell into that category of “unpersuadable” I am sure we all have friends who’s views are simply not altered by facts or reality. I think in some circles, they are called “ditto heads”...and they think I am just as crazy as I think they are. It is my sincere hope that after a successful Obama presidency, they will be better able to accept those a bit different than themselves with a bit more open mindedness, and leave the vitriol for the media mouths that stir up hatred where there should be hope.

In the end, there is one thing I’d like to know: Why is Obama always viewed as “black”? I mean, isn’t he half white? And doesn’t that make him uniquely qualified to lead a country that is a little of this, a little of that. Just like the country he is about to lead, he is of mixed race...and perhaps in time we will all come to agree that instead of regarding him as black, or white, we can regard him as American....and maybe then, (and certainly not before) we will be as well.

When did I become "un-American"?

Dear Republican Surrogates...

If you believe patriotism is only found in blind allegiance to what our government feeds us, you are sadly mistaken. This great country, my friends, was born out of dissent. Your party, and its "leaders" have had the reins of power for 8 years now. You have blown it, and we doth protest. We despise your unnecessary war, we scoff at your allegations that we spend money unwisely, when it is YOU that live in a very fragile glass house. Each and every time one of you call us un-American because we do not like your failed president, and his criminal understudies, you be-little yourselves. We wish only to dispatch your candidate as Bush's successor to the ash bin of history, along with his cynical vice presidential candidate. We do not seek to question his patriotism or his loyalties, only to rebuke his methods.

You however cannot exit with grace it appears. You must slander those who feel maybe it is time for the government to work for it's citizens as opposed to imposing it's will around the globe-- while ignoring pressing needs like alternative energy, healthcare for those left behind, and a crumbling infrastructure. Calling us un-American because we oppose YOU casts you in the same light as McCarthy. The tactics are not unlike a certain German leader in the middle of the last century. You should be ashamed of yourselves, and next time you place a flag pin upon your lapel, or hang a flag beside your front door, consider the lives given in support of freedom, and understand, please, that to be free is not the same as to be sheep. I am proudly American, and yet I am ashamed by the tactics of the right. If you cannot defend your candidate with dignity, then shut up.