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Labels: Barack Obama

In thanks for Mother Bethel's new pastor, Mark Kelly Tyler (who has a blog, for goodness' sakes), I offer Ephesians 4: 10-16 -

10 He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe.) 11 It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, 12 to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

14 Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. 15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. 16From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.

I recall her class, and the conversation, but not her name. Whatever my seventh-grade English teacher's name was, she taught me one hell of a lesson.

Shortly after class, she and I were talking. Thinking back, I'm surprised that I had time to chat. I remember that the walls were blue, and that I was holding my copy of Cry, the Beloved Country - but the particulars of how we got on the topic of our fathers and war remains fuzzy, as this occurred over twenty years ago. How the chat ended stands out like it happened yesterday.

When I remarked that my Dad and I could talk about anything, she sounded a note of caution. "Don't ask him too much about war", she said. Why not, I asked. I then wondered aloud if my father had killed anyone in 'Nam. "I asked my father that question," she said. She told me that she'd done so when she was a pre-teen, like me, wide-eyed and curious. Her father sighed, and replied solemnly,

"Yes."

"And then he said not another word", she recalled. Neither did I, for that matter.

Largely because of that conversation, my father and I haven't talked much about his "time in the service", as he termed it. He was an Air Force radar operator in Vietnam, but I never found out really what that meant. He would talk about his time stationed in places ranging from New Orleans to Laos, but I never asked for dates or details. He'd let me walk around the house in his old fatigues, but never talk about the sweat he surely put into them. He'd show me the faded burn scars on his right forearm, caused by fresh M-16 shells - but I never dared asked him the when and where.

In fact, the only detail I ever really learned was that his rank and classification (which I've since forgotten), when I applied for a Child of a Vietnam Veteran scholarship to a summer college program at Oxford University. I would go to Oxford at 16, while around my age, my dad would be preparing himself for war.

My father graduated from high school in 1964, so he knew damn well what was awaiting him if he enlisted. His older brother joined him, and eventually became a paratrooper. I knew them as completely different people, and still am left longing to know the men they were. But even if I only know what my father did in an abstract sense, I know that his service opened the door to his becoming the great, imperfect man he is today. I really wouldn't have it any other way, and I guess that today, that is what I'm most thankful for.

The man pictured above is not my father, but it might as well have been. He has the same clean-shaven face filled with possibility, a face that I'd never seen before. (My father has had virtually the same beard all my life.) That's a young man I'd like to know. But I'm thrilled to know the old man I know today.

Yes, part of me would like to ask my father about his service, get to know the details. But I'd much rather talk to him about the election, the newest Bond flick and LeBron James. Surely, you'd be correct to assume that I've made assumptions about what my father had to do, and what now has to live with. However, if I can spare my father the pain of remembrance, I have done him a service.

There's no need to ask our veterans about every detail. If you're in doubt, and as conflicted as I was twenty years ago...just do as I did today, in a phone call to my father.

Just say thanks, and leave the rest alone.

Labels: Veterans Day

Only one verse, for a historic week. Job 5:16:

16 So the poor have hope,
and injustice shuts its mouth.

Normally, there's a gospel tune here. But only one song, by one man, fit:



If only Ray could have been here for Tuesday. If only.

Labels: Barack Obama, Ray Charles

New York City.

I'll keep posting these as long as they keep popping up.

Labels: Barack Obama

Rachel has to just cherish moments like this:

Do yourself a favor and read about Eugene Allen.

Man, that has a nice ring to it. His first presser, live from Chicago:



Nate Silver and Sean Quinn at 538 live-blogged the event. Silver's conclusion:

That was pretty impressive. Obama was charming and assertive, and the campaign has a real knack for ceremony and staging (e.g. the phalanx of economic advisers standing behind Obama). The press corps is going to love him, at least for the first several months.

Greg Sargent:

Obama balanced gravity and a sense of appropriate seriousness with an occasional effort to lighten the mood with some easy banter, striking a tone that will probably turn out to be a hallmark of his presidency. He asked Chicago reporter Lynn Sweet why she had her arm in a cast. And he referred to himself as a "mutt" at one point with some self-deprecating humor that, given that he's just been elected president, risked sounding insincere, but somehow didn't.

The low point of the presser came when a reporter asked Obama to respond to the fact that Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmedinejad has written him an unusual letter congratulating him for his victory -- a frivolous waste of time given the big issues Obama is confronting.

Joe Klein:

Unlike his immediate predecessor, he seemed completely in control.

Labels: Barack Obama

Shanikka at My Left Wing counters Coates, saying blaming Black folks for Prop 8's failure is racist:

I am working too hard. I have no time to write diaries. Yet between yesterday afternoon, when I'd finally read one hateful racist fingerpoint from a white gay person too many here and elsewhere on the internet, I'd had enough. I therefore blew off work that needed to get done and still needs to get done to try and put to rest, once and for all, this virulently racist idea that Black people are to blame for the passage of Proposition 8 here in California. It is an idea grounded in utter myth, a complete lack of knowledge about anything related to Black people's presence in California, and just plain old scapegoating.

Hoepfully, this diary will help put all that to rest, and we can get back to work trying to beat back the hateful results of Tuesday's vote.

She really breaks it down. Read the whole post. I think she and Ta-Nehisi both have valid points: while there may not have been enough Black folks in California, among other things (I'm going to fact-check that), that doesn't excuse even one California voter from voting for this bigotry.

Black folks (and non-Black folks) need to move past homophobia. Wake up.

(H/T: Jack Turner.)

Labels: Homophobia, Prop 8

Now, I just said that I like to run up the score. I wanted the Dems to get the 60 Senate seats, the filibuster-proof majority. What I didn't want was for them to get to a point where they hung by the thread of 60 votes, with Traitor Joe's finger at the kill-switch.

Lieberman's status in the Democratic caucus hangs by a thread - a thread attached to Harry Reid's finger. Yesterday, the two met, and it seemed Reid would put Lieberman over his knee at that point. It's known that Reid holds Lieberman in high personal regard, despite the shiv he put into Barack Obama's side in the form of a disgusting speech at the Republican National Convention. Lieberman also went well beyond the personal conviction of supporting his friend John McCain: he campaigned for Republicans in other races. His behavior demanded more than Reid's milquetoast statement today:

"Joe Lieberman has done something that I think was improper, wrong, and I'd like if we weren't on television, I'd use a stronger word of describing what he did," Reid told CNN's John King. "But Joe Lieberman votes with me a lot more than a lot of my senators. He didn't support us on military stuff and he didn't support us on Iraq stuff. You look at his record, it's pretty good."

Greg Sargent may consider that "ratcheting up the rhetoric", but I only see it as another shadow punch by one of the sorriest leaders the Democrats have ever had.

That said, Lieberman has outdone him. The Connecticut "independent" actually threw down an ultimatum:

"Senator Lieberman's preference is to stay in the caucus, but he's going to keep all his options open," a Lieberman aide said. "McConnell has reached out to him and at this stage his position is he wants to remain in the caucus but losing the chairmanship is unacceptable."

"Unacceptable"? Let him keep his chairmanship of his committee, or else?

Need I remind this dude that he has no leverage? His guy lost! He turned his back on Obama, who'd campaigned for him against Ned Lamont in 2006, when Lieberman was fighting for his political life. What possible motivation should the Democrats have for not only keeping this guy in the fold, but caving to his demands in order to do so?

I never thought I'd say this, but the Democrats need to get in Joe Lieberman's face, if they can stoop that low, and...quote Dick Cheney.

By this, I don't mean take away his chairmanship and let him take his ball and go home. Kick his ass out of the caucus.

Josh Marshall spells it out:

...the simple fact is the Democrats don't need Joe Lieberman. He's not in a position to call anything 'unacceptable'. The Democrats didn't get to 60 votes or at least it now seems highly unlikely -- which was his only hope to have any continued relevance or position to bargain from. And the truth is that filibuster-busting votes are often made on an ad-hoc basis rather than on a party line. In any case, there'd be no more reason to trust he'd be there as a 60th vote as a Democrat than as a Republican.

If he pulls a Zell Miller, fine. His credibility is shot, and he cannot be trusted. Why would you want to depend upon someone like that? Let him accept the Republican invitation, sit on the other side of the aisle (with no chairmanship, by the way) and defeat him along with the rest of them. And there's no way Connecticut re-elects this cat. Why play yourself in the meantime?

As Marshall says, Reid and the Dems need to make it absolutely clear to Lieberman that this is not a negotiation. They should go Michael Corleone on him:

[Geary is demanding a large bribe for a gaming license]
Senator Pat Geary: I want your answer and the money by noon tomorrow. And one more thing. Don't you contact me again, ever. From now on, you deal with Turnbull.

Michael Corleone: Senator? You can have my answer now, if you like. My final offer is this: nothing.

Labels: Barack Obama, Joe Lieberman

In the aftermath of the Browns' second consecutive crushing loss (but good job, Brady!), I have to say this offered some relief.

Personally, I love it when my team runs up the score. I know that may not seem terribly mature, but when you grow up rooting for the teams that I love, it's such a rare occurrence that I don't believe it qualifies as unsportsmanlike.

So perhaps that's why I love that not only did Obama turn North Carolina blue for the first time since 1976 and Indiana for the first time since Lyndon Johnson did it 44 years ago. Just to pile on, he also won Omaha's electoral vote, making it the first time in four decades that a Democrat captured any of Nebraska's electoral votes. That puts him at 365 electoral votes.

Get Missouri, too, while you're at it. (Unlikely, I know.)

Labels: 2008 Election, Barack Obama

It seems the Army has a new hustle.

Brandon Friedman, an Iraq war veteran, on VetVoice:

Well that didn't take long. Polls across America had been closed for less than 24 hours and Army Career Counselors were already exploiting Barack Obama's victory in an effort to recruit former soldiers back into units. This email was forwarded to me by an Iraq veteran and former Army captain who received it on Wednesday:

Did you catch the sales pitch?

By that time our new President will have gotten us out of these other countries.

Friedman continues:

But larger questions become immediately apparent: Was this career counselor told to use this tactic by his chain of command or not? Is this going to be a shift in recruiting Army-wide? Is the Army going to use President Obama as a recruiting tool? If so, this would symbolize a stunning--if not totally rational--renunciation of the Bush administration and its handling of the military. If this becomes an Army policy, it represents a true "ding-dong the witch is dead" moment for the service.

It very well may be policy soon enough, if I read New York Times piece correctly. We all knew Obama's victory likely meant that (pardon the expression) our imperial Iraqi adventure is in its last throes, but it appears to already be impacting our policy in the region:

Iraqi Shiite politicians are indicating that they will move faster toward a new security agreement about American troops, and a Bush administration official said he believed that Iraqis could ratify the agreement as early as the middle of this month.

“Before, the Iraqis were thinking that if they sign the pact, there will be no respect for the schedule of troop withdrawal by Dec. 31, 2011,” said Hadi al-Ameri, a powerful member of the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, a major Shiite party. “If Republicans were still there, there would be no respect for this timetable. This is a positive step to have the same theory about the timetable as Mr. Obama.”

Labels: Barack Obama, Iraq

In her latest ESPN column, Jemele has a very good argument for why Detroit will be good for Allen Iverson:

Rasheed Wallace sounded a lot like Iverson when he came to Detroit four years ago. Sheed was consumed with a hunger that was identical to Iverson's. He also was considered a selfish cancer who didn't know how to win. Sheed turned out to be the reason the Pistons won a championship in 2004 and why they've been at the upper echelon of the Eastern Conference for much of the millennium.

Sometimes an organization rubs off on a player, not the other way around.

I disagree with her assessment for two reasons (and none of them are the fact that I'm a Cavaliers fan): a) the guy Detroit just traded, Chauncey Billups, was a distributor who can score. Iverson is a pure scorer who has to be reminded to distribute.

But mostly because b) Jemele's theory about why Detroit could be good for Iverson and vice versa is based wholly on conjecture, and not in the history of Iverson's career and behavior. It's based on hope, not evidence. Now, as anyone who reads this blog regularly know, I have asked folks to believe in hope, and in the future. But this is basketball, and it is wholly different. I find it difficult to believe that he'll be in any way different on the court than he has been in the past just because he's in a different (and admittedly, smarter) organization.

As much as Jemele lauds the Pistons' discipline and team-first attitude, they are getting older, and quickly. Iverson doesn't help them get any younger. Also, in the trade, they lost their best big man off the bench, Antonio McDyess.

As a writer, I am willing to stand corrected, but as a fan, I hope I'm right. Change may have been good for Iverson as far as his overall championship prospects, but it's not necessarily what the Pistons needed to get them over the top.

Read my mind:


(AP Photo/Mark Duncan)

Ta-Nehisi Coates on Prop 8's unfortunate passage:

Still on a gut, emotional level, this makes me sick. If someone wants to give me a reason why gay people shouldn't be able to marry that doesn't, at its root, boil down to "yuck," I guess I'd love to hear it. But really that isn't the point. I've always maintained that you don't have to like black people to do the right thing. Same thing here. I'm not very interested in folks's homophobia. I'm interested in why they think they should be in the business of dictating terms of love to two consenting adults. It's disgusting. And we need to let this shit go. There may be great, sound reasons beyond--the blacks are pathological!!--to explain this. But there are no great, sound reasons that excuse it. Cut this shit out. We know better. Even if other people didn't.

I thought I'd lost every ounce of respect for Ralph Nader. The 2000 nonsense cost him most of his capital with me, and in 2004, he lost even more for running so plainly not for the people he claims to represent, but for his own glorification.

But now, it's all gone.


Jimi Izrael:

Holy Jesus on The John. There's context, yes, but that was the best literary allusion he cold muster?

Already, it starts.

I understand that Nader has an almost pathological need to discuss issues related to poverty. However, that would require us to somehow ignore the fact that this has really, now, become all about him. For all of Nader's self-aggrandizing runs of the presidency haven't made one fucking dent in the causes he supposedly believes in. The undeniable proof of his lack of effectiveness lies in this interview. If you're reduced to pulling stunts to garner attention from a media that learned long ago to ignore you, racist stunts that shock even Fox News, what is left for you?

And keep in mind that this isn't even the first time he's pulled this shit.

Perhaps the saddest part of all this is that Nader himself is an assimilated minority - son of Lebanese immigrants - that has more or less "passed" as White for years. He has some nerve accusing others of "talking White" and being an Uncle Tom. Some real damned nerve.

Ralph Nader can go to hell, as far as I'm concerned. But perhaps I'm just taking his bait. The better place for us to send him might very well be off of our news pages, and out of our national consciousness. That would really piss him off.

OH, HE DID DO SOMETHING CONSTRUCTIVE?

A commenter in Matthew Yglesias' thread sums up Nader's career well, with my links:

Taking republican money and accepting republican assistance to further republican electoral victories.

But hey, he did something or other to GM fifty years ago. And he started the PIRGs! Those are awesome. Awesome guy. High fives all around.

Labels: Barack Obama, Fox News, Ralph Nader

I remember the first time I ever saw Barack Obama's name. I remember laughing.

I was riding in a friend's car in Chicago five years ago when I spotted a navy billboard alongside the freeway, well-lit and well-juxtaposed in front of the Second City skyline, topped with small white type over huge block letters spelling out a name I'd never seen before.

O-B-A-M-A
I'm no etymologist or anthropologist, so I didn't know what the origin of the name was. Truth be told, I thought it was Japanese (and I guess I had good reason). I asked my friend, with an immature scoff in my voice, "Who's that?" I was told that Barack Obama was an exciting local politician who was "someone to watch".

I learned more about him, and began to follow his race for the U.S. Senate from afar. It was a contest missing any sense of drama (as long as you don't count Alan Keyes). I recall a growing admiration for him, rooted in a perceived commonality with his life experience. But while every home I grew up in was within a five-mile radius of the other, this Obama was a citizen of the world.

Still, as he marched to victory in that 2004 Senate race, I had the feeling I was witnessing a preview of a bright future. Best way to sum it up? Without waxing too poetic, I can best compare it to this: a sailor lost at sea suddenly spots a lighthouse, a safe haven that though far away, offers promise of salvation to come.

Even in 2004, we were a country that needed saving.

At the Democratic National Convention, we saw the future for the first time:


As a Christian with an Arabic name, my ears perked up when Barack Hussein Obama spoke of his name, and how his parents believed that in America, one's name would not be a barrier to success. I shot out of my seat when he spoke of the United States of America, and the prayer that we all had a place in that America. And after he was done, I sent up thanks, sharing a thought and dream with so many: that this 43-year-old Illinois state senator would someday be the first African-American President.

Even as we wallowed in silent disbelief after John Kerry's loss, there was the promise of salvation to come. Barack Obama's victory in his Senate race served notice that a day like November 4, 2008 could come. Only I thought that it would come in 2016, at the earliest. No way could we elect a Black president. Not this soon, at least. Not when this "skinny kid with a funny name" still looked, well, like a kid. If Barack Obama was to move into the White House, he'd have to wait.

Besides, Hillary Clinton was next in line. John Edwards was still out there, and not found out. There were other contenders for barrier-breaking: Clinton, Bill Richardson. (The latter was actually my bet; if there was any chance for a person of color, it was a Hispanic guy with an Anglo-Saxon last name that didn't look particularly "ethnic".)

No way could we elect a Black president. Not this soon, at least.

Fast-forward to February, 2007. Despite the catcalls he knew he'd hear - "he's too young!"; "he's too inexperienced!"; "he's too...uh, presumptuous!" - the junior senator for Illinois had announced his candidacy boldly and without any hint of wavering. Obama wasn't in this to be a symbol, or to make a stand on a particular issue of interest. He was in to win.

But he knew that his oratory would not carry the day. If so, 2004 would have been more than his moment of anointing. Kerry likely would have won. His loss proved to the Democratic Party and to Obama that there'd better be more meat on them bones. He couldn't just be the beacon off in the distance.

And then, last night arrived. I could wax on about how I wished my great-grandfather, who fled Mississippi lynch mobs at 15 and came north, were here to not only to see this day, but have had the chance to press one of the fingers on his leathered, massive hand to a button inside a voting booth. But to me, after writing incessantly about this man and his message, I finally got it.

As the announcement came through my series of tubes at 11:00pm Eastern, my girlfriend leaped up and started shouting.

"OH MY GOD!"
Over and over, the lady I pray one day will be my wife was screaming and crying with happiness, and I held her tightly as I heard the Grant Park crowd matching her pitch. This was happening. Now. Past was suddenly prologue to a future that I looked forward to with a new fervor, a future with a wife and kids who, from the day they enter this world, officially have no restrictions on their dreams.

I have Obama to thank for that. While America's obsession with Obama's racial first further proves that there's nothing "post-racial" about his victory, the greatness of the moment was encapsulated in the man's face as he emerged to speak.

Obama approached the microphone with a sobriety and focus that proved once and for all the source of his victory - his temperament and wisdom. Surely the lessons of our horrible American record on race informed that countenance, perhaps even weighing his smile down. He knew that his speeches were the beacon, the light that shined so brightly in our eyes that we had no idea how close salvation could be.

His election does not guarantee that we will be saved from the maladies of the Bush years, and I will take a cue from Obama's own measured nature and others that warn against the romance of politics, criticizing him when deserved. But as I finally collect myself and wipe away the last tear, I find myself finally grasping what Obama's been trying to say all along.

Past is prologue. This is about the future. And the only hope I have for Barack Obama is that he seizes the moment, and helps guide our lost America back to shore.

(Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images.)

Labels: 2008 Election, Barack Obama

Labels: 2008 Election, Barack Obama

Labels: 2008 Election, Barack Obama

Labels: 2008 Election, Barack Obama

I sent the following to Andrew Sullivan this morning. I know this is long, but I wanted this documented for perpetuity:

I live in Germantown, a Philadelphia neighborhood northwest of the city, about 15 minutes from the Art Museum and its famous steps. It’s a neighborhood that’s largely working-class African Americans. Lucky for me, I was a mere 500 feet from my polling place, the church on the corner.

The first thing I noticed was the box of magazines. I’ve never seen things like that at a polling location before – only at places where you expect the wait to be interminable (dentist’s offices, etc.) But the location was even more telling – it was outside, about 50 feet from the entrance. The line at 8:10am was coming out of the doors and just about reached the box of magazines.

I prepped myself for a long wait and was about to reach for a magazine when I was approached by one of two polling supervisors (not sure if that’s the proper term, I can’t recall). Wearing a tag indicating that she was associated with the Obama campaign, she asked me which precinct I was in, then directed me inside to where there was a completely separate area for my line (I was in the 22nd, the line outside was for the 21st.) Saved me a bunch of time.

Getting inside, I got into a line that was about 50 folks long. There was a TV there with fuzzy reception, broadcasting CBS. (During my time in the line, I noticed the recent 527 ad about Obama and Wright – “Too Radical…Too Risky” – and wondered how people could be harassed for wearing an Obama t-shirt or button while that kind of filth could very easily have influenced a vote in a less reliably liberal area. Careless on the election workers’ part.)

That aside, the place was running like clockwork. All of the election workers were very good at expediting folks into their proper lines (A-L, M-Z) and getting them into one of the two booths allotted for each of the two precincts voting in the church. I felt there was something somehow poetic that I’d be casting a vote for an African American for president in a church, thereby answering so many prayers of those on whose shoulders I’ve stood.

Slightly behind me in line was an elderly African American woman who’d anticipated a longer wait: she had a Philadelphia Tribune and a walking stick that could collapse into a chair. I first struck up conversation with her after I heard her discussing dirty campaign tactics with a young brother in line and referring to a “her” all the while – I wasn’t sure if they were referring to Hillary or Palin. They did get on to the Palin-Sarkozy prank call, and to say that she was horrified would be an understatement. It wasn’t going to sway her vote, which was already Obama’s. But it did give me a strange sense of relief that after today, all the bollocks would come to a close.

I’m a devout Christian, but for whatever reason, prayer has never come naturally to me. But before my finger pressed the button next to Obama’s name, my hands came together firmly. I imagined later that the ghosts of the trailblazers held them together, knowing that my heart would know what to do next. I sent thanks up to my forebears, the Black (and White) freedom fighters without whom there would have been no opportunity for me to vote at all, let alone for a man that looks like me. Then I pressed the button.

After finishing the ballot, I said “thank you!”so loudly that I’m sure everyone in line heard me. Never has the phrase in Maya Angelou’s “Still I Rise” been more salient:

“I am the hope and dream of the slave.”

I was done at 8:42am.

Labels: 2008 Election, Barack Obama

Labels: 2008 Election, Barack Obama

Give Sarah Palin credit - she's a non-conformist.

When every candidate on a national ticket has seen clear to release their medical information to the media, and through them, the public - even if you count John McCain's double-secret probationary period that docs had to review his (no copies!) - Palin gave America a distinct and unmistakable with the distinct possibility of a second to follow.

In what can only be termed as an Election Day dump (pardon the scatological pun), Palin and her advisors submitted a letter from her now somewhat infamous physician, Dr. Cathy Baldwin-Johnson, saying:

"Governor Palin is in excellent health and has no known health problems that would interfere with her ability to carry out the duties and obligation of Vice President of the United States of America."

Yeah, America! What the hell was the big deal, anyway? Sheesh.

Sullivan has an idea:

Releasing this letter one hour before polling day begins and refusing to provide any actual documentation is not an answer. We need documentation to verify the last pregnancy: the amniocentesis results with Sarah Palin's name on them, for example, would be readily available and easy to disseminate, and would help raise awareness of Down Syndrome. So why not give us something? All we have in this literally last minute letter is Baldwin-Johnson's name. We had that already.

Labels: Sarah Palin

From TPM's Genghis:

Contrary to President Bush's assurance, he is not the Decider. We the People are the Deciders. Mr. Bush is a temporary employee to whom we have granted provisional authority to govern on our behalf. We the People make such Decisions infrequently but regularly--every four years. And now it is again time for us to Decide.

Sometimes the Decision may seem inconsequential, a choice between equals, but the consequences of our Decisions inevitably prove that the differences were starker than we imagined. The authority that we grant to these individuals is of such magnitude that even the small choices that they make--the words they choose, the people they hire, the favors they grant, the priorities that they pursue--have great consequences. However much Mr. Bush seemed like Mr. Gore eight years ago, he has led the nation down a very different path than Mr. Gore would have done. The difference cannot be measured by any single policy or historical event. It consists in the accumulation of policies, priorities, appointments, speeches, favors, initiatives, and other actions that Mr. Bush has executed under the authority that we have twice granted him.

The Decision is always a gamble. We can never know how a person will exercise the authority we grant to him or her. The best candidate may be the worst president. Like poker players, we can only make educated choices based on the hands we've been dealt. A low pair will sometimes win; four aces will sometimes lose. But we can play the odds, and we can maximize our chances. What we must not do, if we value the welfare our nation, is to Decide for the wrong reasons. We are not choosing a policy, a friend, a hero, a judge, or an entertainer. We are choosing to hire someone who will make innumerable decisions on our behalf, someone who will affect the lives of billions of people in our country and around the world.

This year, we must do better. We cannot know for certain whether Mr. Obama will be a more capable leader than Mr. McCain, but we have many reasons to believe so. Over the course of his career and in this campaign, Mr. Obama has demonstrated solid temperament, sound judgment, a deep and nuanced intelligence, strong leadership, and broad appeal. He aims to right the errors produced by Mr. Bush's incompetence: the imprudent war that killed millions, cost trillions, and produced little; the tax cuts for the richest among us that have exploded our deficit and amplified the economic inequalities that divide us; the politicization of our government; and the secrecy meant to hide choices we abhor.

In contrast to Mr. Obama, Mr. McCain has been erratic, often confused, prone to anger, and out of touch. The policies that he has favored committed us to the terrible war, bankrupt our government, and undermined the "fundamentals" of our economy. The people that he has hired, most notably Ms. Palin, have exhibited notable incompetence. He has belied a reputation for integrity and substance with a campaign that has exploited our worst instincts and sought to distract us from matters of importance.

It is time to Decide. We can be guided by our fears and prejudices and bet the weak hand. Or we can place our bet on the man who has given us so many reasons to believe that he will work effectively on our behalf to improve our lives and make our nation greater. We the People are responsible for our future. We are the Deciders.

Labels: 2008 Election, Barack Obama

The second Troopergate report will be released tonight. Hoo-boy:

Timothy Petumenos, an independent investigator hired by the Alaska Personnel Board, says he will release the report during a news conference 7:30 p.m. EST Monday.

A separate legislative panel earlier found that Palin, the Republican vice presidential nominee, abused her office by allowing her husband and other staffers to pressure the public safety commissioner to fire a state trooper who went through a nasty divorce from Palin's sister. She fired the commissioner, but denies it had anything to do with the trooper.

AND WHAT A SHOCK.

The probe that Palin initiated to probe herself exonerates...herself:

"There is no probable cause to believe that the governor, or any other state official, violated the Alaska Executive Ethics Act in connection with these matters," Timothy Petumenos, the Anchorage lawyer hired to conduct the probe, wrote in his final report.

Zachary Roth at TPM takes this apart.

Labels: Sarah Palin

Yesterday, many sounded the clarion call. Today, it was actually answered:

The Browns have confirmed that Brady Quinn will make his first NFL start Thursday night when the Browns host the Broncos.

Quinn, the second of the team's two first-round picks in 2007, will replace Derek Anderson.

'bout damn time.

Labels: Brady Quinn, Cleveland Browns

From Ben Smith:

Barack Obama just completed a conference call African-American leaders around the country, the end of which my colleague Glenn Thrush was able to listen to, and he sends over his notes.

The 10:15 call featured Oprah Winfrey, Sean "Diddy" Combs, Donna Brazile, House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn, and Rev. Joseph Lowery, as well as Obama himself.

Obama, according to a participant, talked talked about the election in the context of history, and what it would say to the world to see his daughters play on the South Lawn of the White House.

Oprah called on those listening to get out the vote, to not let up, and to make America "truly one nation indivisible."

The call is another mark of Obama's broad, if low-profile, effort to drive historic black turnout.

Labels: Barack Obama

Barack's "Toot" has died:

It is with great sadness that we announce that our grandmother, Madelyn Dunham, has died peacefully after a battle with cancer. She was the cornerstone of our family, and a woman of extraordinary accomplishment, strength, and humility. She was the person who encouraged and allowed us to take chances. She was proud of her grandchildren and great-grandchildren and left this world with the knowledge that her impact on all of us was meaningful and enduring. Our debt to her is beyond measure.

Our family wants to thank all of those who sent flowers, cards, well-wishes, and prayers during this difficult time. It brought our grandmother and us great comfort. Our grandmother was a private woman, and we will respect her wish for a small private ceremony to be held at a later date. In lieu of flowers, we ask that you make a donation to any worthy organization in search of a cure for cancer.

In a presidential campaign, we the voters can have a false sense of intimacy with people that we don't know. We fight for them, we volunteer for them, we advocate their causes. But we don't know them. That said, many of us, myself included, know the pain of losing a grandparent. I know the sadness of knowing a grandmother did not live to see your life unfold. At the precipice of the moment which could change Barack Obama's life forever, at which he can attain heights that you and I could only dream about, we have never had more in common with him than today.

I send my prayers to Mrs. Dunham on her ascent, and my sincere condolences to her family left behind. Mahalo.

Labels: Barack Obama

That despite his insistence to the contrary, Joe Scarborough can't help but be a sniveling troll for the Right:


I agree with Matthew Yglesias:

The description of Krugman as “hateful” has a nice straight outta 2003 quality to it. Of course there is some hateful political rhetoric out there. But the effort to stigmatize all strident political commentary as “hate” is annoying, and the effort to exclusively stigmatize strident liberal political commentary as hate is absurd. And this — rather than, say, regular appearances by Nobel Prize winning economist and hugely popular political columnist Paul Krugman — is what we get on our terrifyingly liberal MSNBC.

The Krugman column that has Scarborough in such a snit is here. In case you weren't able to stomach actually watching the clip above, here's the best excerpt:

I’m not saying that the G.O.P. is about to become irrelevant. Republicans will still be in a position to block some Democratic initiatives, especially if the Democrats fail to achieve a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate.

And that blocking ability will ensure that the G.O.P. continues to receive plenty of corporate dollars: this year the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has poured money into the campaigns of Senate Republicans like Minnesota’s Norm Coleman, precisely in the hope of denying Democrats a majority large enough to pass pro-labor legislation.

But the G.O.P.’s long transformation into the party of the unreasonable right, a haven for racists and reactionaries, seems likely to accelerate as a result of the impending defeat.

This will pose a dilemma for moderate conservatives. Many of them spent the Bush years in denial, closing their eyes to the administration’s dishonesty and contempt for the rule of law. Some of them have tried to maintain that denial through this year’s election season, even as the McCain-Palin campaign’s tactics have grown ever uglier. But one of these days they’re going to have to realize that the G.O.P. has become the party of intolerance.

Labels: 2008 Election

Were the Dems better off losing in 2004? Kevin Drum dares to ask.