End of an Error…

…and the start of correcting those errors.  President Obama, having taken the oath of office minutes ago, begins the herculean task of giving this country an enema. Flushing out the policies, wars and programs that have plugged up this country to the point we’re about to explode.  

In doing so we wave goodbye to the worst President we’ve had the misfortune of being run into the ground by. We also say goodbye to the era and errors of corporate greed, unrestrained business policies, and the lies of war that caused needless deaths and perhaps irreperable harm to our status in the world. 

President Obama’s innaugural speech wasn’t especially uplifting, indeed there was a somber tone to it. It was also exactly the right chord. This is not the time for a warm Clintonesque speech; not when we’re in deep shit, piled up in large part by eight years of crap hurled at us by Bush and his cronies.  It was important he recognize and remind of us where we are. He reminded us why we hired him. And that’s what we did, we hired him. Not everyone of course, McCain still had the ignorant right wing on his side-but their days are done. All we have to show for their work is a war in two countries, sky rocketing unemployment, record levels of foreclosures and bankruptcies, and a deep mistrust of any form of government.

In his speech, Obama made a comment about his critics arguing about how everything would be paid for, how it would be implemented. “They have short memories.” he said, and he’s right. some of the greatest programs and strengthening of government being done in the great depression, after the assassination of JFK and the start of the Vietnam war.  Great things CAN be accomplished, and government CAN help. However, government can never be the entire answer. Sadly, for 8 years it was never more than a slap down than a hand up. And still there are people so oblivious to the truth of this (Alkilyu among them),  who think Bush was the greatest thing since sliced bread.

The good news is, President Obama is their President as well. He even mentioned me, the first time I can remember a President mentioning the unbeliever. 

I have great hope for this Presidency, great hope for this country, and most of all great hope for each and every one of us.

Politics as Usual

With the election only 30+ days ago, and the IL senate seat vacant, Gov. Rod Blagojevich, decides the best way to fill the seat is to the higest bidder. I have no doubt these things occur all the time, for all kinds of vacancies, be they political or in an office; however this is utterly despicable. To so blatantly pimp out a seat for money is unconsiounable. Hell, I even had to look up the word so I knew how to spell it correctly. 

It saddens me that it’s a Democrat, but let’s face it, neither side of the aisle has ever had clean hands. But the fact Blagojevich was so damned blatant about his intentions is what makes it all the more infuriating. the fact he is recorded on wire taps saying “Fuck him,” when referring to Obama and filling the senate seat says more about the man than anything else.

Not a politician; not a trusted servant,; but a hack opportunist, who would turn tricks behind the governor’s mansion for 5 bucks a pop if given a chance.  This is not someone who belongs in politics, and will forever be an embarrassment to the Democratic Party. Good riddance to that piece of crap, and may he serve a long prison sentence with a nice, friendly cellie.

The Right Direction

Relief. The election’s over, and Obama has won. 

I’m sitting here, completely and utterly exhausted, wracked with nerves all day, about whether the rest of the country would see this election as I do. From Maine to California, from Florida to Minnesota voters did agree.

And race didn’t matter. When young adults are being fed into a war machine; families of all colors are being foreclosed on, being fired, and trodden on, we, as a nation, did the right thing. 

For the next four years, our country will become a shining beacon once again, not the dark tower that is full of corruption and arrogance. We won’t have to worry about a hothead wanting to dig his heels into the sands of blood and death. Nor a vice President who is dumb beyond words can describe.

I can hold my head high, and once again say I’m proud to be an American.

The Countdown Begins

In 36 hours or so, we’ll have a new President. Or President-elect if you want to be technical. After one of the longest campaigns in memory, I’m ready for it to be over. I’m exhausted from talking heads, maps, debates, mud, name calling, racism, et al.

Enough. And yet, as tired as I am, I feel compelled to urge each and every one of you to make your voice heard and vote.

It’s the single most important thing you can do. Next to reading this blog, that is.

7th Inning Stretch

It’s over. Not only the debates, but, I think the election. Barring some unforseen miracle, this was the final nail in McCain’s coffin. Where he may have thought he was coming out strong, Mac, simply came off mean, bitter and a bit whiny. Rather than answer questions directly, he chose to play the “Let me tell you what He’s gonna do!” game.

It’s never a good idea, when your down by double digits in the poll, your party is looking at a historic drubbing, to try and smear shit on the other fellow; it only sticks to your fingers and makes people wonder what the stink is. 

Bob Schieffer brought up the Ayers ads, McCain seized it, and Obama grabbed it away and swatted Mac on the nose. It has always been a nonissue, and Obama made that point tonight. ACORN came up, and, well just rinse and repeat. Where Mccain attacked, Obama remained calm and shot down the assaults with no more effort than swatting a dead fly. Perhaps my favorite moment, is when Mccain once again asked how much a penalty Joe Plumber would pay for not insuring his workers, and Barack answered “Zero”.

McCain’s incredulous, “What?” was priceless. Republicans may praise Mccain for his attacks, but it didn’t work. It came off as snide, and condescending.  And that’s McCain’s biggest problem; POW status aside, he’s not likable and comes off like a smug prick. The only time he didn’t have that smarmy smile is when he was asked if he thought his running mate, was fit to take his place. Once he answered, it was everyone else’s turn to smile and laugh.

Congratulations President Obama, don’t let us down.

“That guy.”

In the first debate, pundits said, since it was on foreign policy, it was in McCain’s favor. They were wrong. For the second debate, it was a townhall meeting, a Mccain specialty, he’ll do well. Again they were wrong. Now before everyone thinks I’m not going to critisize Obama, I will. I thought he could have done better. There were a couple of questions I thought he could have answered with more specifics, and managed to avoid another couple of others. Still, with that in mind, McCain was completely off his game. 

His biggest gaffe, which will be replayed ad nauseam is referring to Obama, as “that guy”, giving a little jab in Barack’s direction, without so much as a glance. At the end of the debate, he avoided a handshake and then left the building less than 5 minutes after the debate, while Barack stayed for more than half an hour. 

John, when you have a room of undecideds, it’s bad form to leave. Perhaps, he knows he’s the captain of a sinking ship and is only going through the motions of being in control, until Nov 4th when he can finally retire to one of his 7 homes and drive one of his 13 cars. When someone says, (as McCain did), he would freeze government spending and then suggests the government buy up the foreclosures, all you can do is go, WTF? Has he been taking speech lessons from Nikita? McCain really needed to overwhelmingly win this debate in order to stay in the race.

• But he didn’t. In fact, given his performance, he didn’t even seem to care. Well, if he doesn’t care, then why should we? 

Round 3

Another shameless plug for the mudflats live chat tonight that can be joined, here: http://themudflats.blogspot.com/ at 5:45 PM PST. I’ll once again be one of the moderators, and it should be a lot of fun.

Sharp readers may notice, that it’s a different site, than what I’ve posted inthe past. While www.mudflats.net gets some bugs worked out, blogspot is the only place that can utilize the chat program. As always, I’ll be posting my thoughts on the debate here, once it’s over.

The Keating 5-About Damn Time

As an AZ resident since 1981, I’ve been around to see Mccain’s rise to the Senate, and remember all too well his association with Charles Keating. Why, I’ve wondered, as the twin towers of finance were brought down by wall street terrorists, hasn’t Obama brought this up? This would once and for all put to rest, the fact McCain is anything but a sham. Well wonder no more; here is a 13 minute video of the story of Keating and why Mccain shouldn’t be trusted with OUR money.

Signs, signs, signs

I’ve been meaning to blog about this for awhile now, but haven’t been able to get to it until now. About 3 weeks ago over on the mudflats.net website, one of the regulars talked about how not one but two Obama signs had been stolen from their yard. So her son, 16 year old Preston Fossback put a webcam in the window and created a sign watching site here: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/obama-sign-cctv-1. Little did anyone know know that sign watching would take the world by storm.

Yes, the world. Sign watchers come from all over the globe, from Europe, to China to Japan. We all gather to watch the sign and talk about, what else, Obama. On any given day, at any given time, hundreds of people log in to the UStream to watch the sign, chat and support one another. It’s gotten coverage in the Wall St Journal as well as a local news show. A link to the segment featuring Preston (affectionately known as signkid) can be viewed here. http://www.divshare.com/download/5516977-7c4.

With all the mudslinging and ugliness in this election, it’s nice to see, someone, a 16 year old in particular, bringing the world together.

Round Two

Not only did I watch the VP debate tonight, I also moderated the live chat with regular mudflats regulars for about 2 and a half hours. At this point, the question isn’t who won, but does it matter?

With Obama leading in many of the battleground states, McCain pulling out of Michigan, and new drama over troopergate (A judge refused to toss out the lawsuit within the last hour) Palin could have pulled rabbits out of her ass and it wouldn’t change a thing. 

Yes, she did better than I expected. By that I mean she didn’t fall off the stage, hit her head on the microphone, or perform as horribly as her interview with Katie Couric. She didn’t however, perform well enough to sway undecided voters. Where Joe Biden came off as intelligent, knowledgable and gentlmanly-Sarah came off as superficial, a walking barbie doll that could only repeat talking points. Her game plan seemed to be say a lot of words nd hope some make sense. Kinda like Pacione’s writing. Yet as we all know Nikita’s writing never makes sense. 

And neither did a lot of what Palin said. She has mastered the wink and perky grin (and I swear if I see one more wink from her-she’s being sued for sexual harrassment) as well as the lie and smear tactics that grampa Mac taught her. She was style (barely) with no substance. However for all her snark regarding Biden talking about the past (re: Iraq, the economy, etc) she spent even more time talking about being governor and mayor. Seems it’s okay for her, but no one else. 

No, she made no major gaffes, yet there was nothing there. Like McCain in his debate, it was talking point after talking point. Biden, consistently gave out facts, actually answered the questions and at one point choked up when he talked about seeing his child lay in the hospital bed not knowing if he would live or not. His son I mean, not Biden himself. He displayed the wit, intelligence and passion that this country desperately needs. 

Biden won this debate, no question about that. The fact Palin held her own, as best she could, simply wasn’t enough to ressurect the McCain decline.