I Get to Cast My Vote Twice

According to the directions of the live-outside-of-the-country-absentee-ballot process, if you don’t receive your ballot in the mail within a reasonable amount of time before the election, then you can do the write-in thing.

Eager for my New York vote to be counted even though it won’t matter given the dark blueness of the state, and due to a lack of faith in the mail systems of Australia and the U.S., I filled out and mailed posted my write-in ballot the day before yesterday. And yesterday? I received my absentee ballot. So I get to vote again.

The rules also require that you do this, and assure you that only the actual ballot will be counted. So not only did I get to physically write Obama’s name, now I get to fill a bubble and do it again. Not such a hassle.

Rebroadcasting Barack

You know when you’re walking down the street and a big gust of wind picks up the dirt from the street and one particularly sharp little rock pierces an unsuspecting eye? Or when you’re cutting onions and your eyes burn? Or when the subway careens through underground tunnels, screeching to halt after halt?

And you know when you feel you have to act fast to get the shit out of your eyes or cover your ears for fear you might, like, die or something?

I have that feeling now that the RNC has ended. Now that John McCain and Sarah Palin, and Joe Lieberman, and Cindy McCain and Rudy Guiliani have all stopped talking — for now. After listening to the lies and the laughter aimed at community organizers. After the stiff performances in front of teleprompters that flashed words with no meaning. After listening to the media gush.

After all that, I just felt like watching for the second time Barack speak to a crowd in Denver at the DNC so I could try and put things right in my mind.

Campaign Nausea

I’m watching John McCain and I’m trying to keep my salami sandwich in my stomach. Let’s begin, because I don’t want to regret staying out of it.

I wonder how many black faces they’ll find in the audience?

The green screen? Really? Again? Because it worked so well the night Obama won when McCain spoke to a small crowd straining to applaud.

Damn, Momma Mac stood up. So did Palin’s family. And everyone else when they were mentioned. I seem to remember not many Dems doing that.

Mac tells Obama that he’ll attack the shit out of him in the next two months, but for now, just know that I love you, man.

Protesters! Protesters! And Mac seems to be laughing at those who just engaged in their Democratic right of free speech.

He found just the right partner to shake up D.C., he says, and he just happened to have met her. She’s from the great state of Alaska, he says, seemingly unaware that she wanted to secede from the Union. Yes, that’s the party of Lincoln.

He’s proud he introduced Palin to the country. He can’t wait to intro her to Washington. How about, “I can’t wait to meet her myself?”

Change is coming. Really. He mocked Obama and his change. How come the repugs keep using the word then?

To the Latina daughter, he says. We’re all god’s children and we’re all Americans. Except, of course, for the Latinos who want to move to the States to improve their lives and make some money but who are systematically rounded up like animals in order to be herded back across the border.

Mac can’t talk to a crowd without looking like he’s going to fall over. I feel that the telemprompter uses italics or something like [put emphasis on the following line], and he fails every time.

He’ll help people find jobs that won’t go away, until he gives the tax credits to companies who send jobs overseas.

Shake up failed schools? How about paying teachers the money they deserve. And how about instead of increasing competition, improve the schools that already exist? Why is this so difficult? Why is he threatening teachers? Improve the schools that already exist, you idiot. Respect the teachers.

And he can’t read a telemprompter!

This “drill, baby, drill” line is astounding. Anyone paying attention to the people who know stuff, knows that drilling won’t do shit in the shortterm and by the time the longterm comes around, won’t yield much.

Another black person in the audience.

And about that background. It started as green and now it’s blue. I thought they were going to go through all the primary colors, but it’s stuck on blue. Like, technicolor blue.

Can I just say that I hate the pronunciation of Vietnam with a short “a”? Just saying.

This is painful. He turns from one teleprompter to another just like his wife did. Just like they’re mannequins in the display windows of middle America JC Penneys.

Again and again he’s worked with members of both parties. He will reach out to anyone who will get this country moving again. He did reach out to anyone. Palin. Didn’t even know her. And again and again he will flip and flop this way and that as long as enough people put him through in November. Say anything. Do anything.

In the next two months, Barack, it’ll be tough, Mac says. But I respect you. Well, the next two months just started.

He liked to pick fights. He’ll admit it. Hey, here comes the POW stuff he doesn’t want to talk about. He talks openly about it. Talks of two Americans who helped him. And I remembered an article I came across in Military.com by Phillip Butler entitled: “Why I Will Not Vote For John McCain.”

(I just got a little distracted because I couldn’t get to the article at first but I found a way.)

Okay, it’s all over. And they’re all just “Raising McCain.” Another country song. Jesus. If the media say this was a good speech, I am going to chew my lips off.

Harriet Tubman at the DNC

I was a tad nervous when Hillary Clinton started talking tonight.

Would she stand up there on a stage during a moment that is highly anticipated and throw her previously underwhelming support Obama’s way? Would she stand there, still bitter from her tough loss, and speak her words with no energy, wishing it were Thursday night and she were the one accepting the party’s nomination?

It turns out that she wouldn’t. It turns out that she blew it up.

There were some not-great things about her speech.When she said “I ran for president, because…” I imagined the 18 million Hillary voters got all pissed off again, reminded that Clinton had run for president and had lost. And “to my sisterhood of the traveling pantsuits” was a bit gag-inducing, but the people — Bill included — quite enjoyed it.

Gag reflex aside, there was quite a lot that was great about it. This sound bite for sure: “No way. No how. No McCain.” And the image of the Supreme Court being caught in a “right-wing headlock”
was also good. And this zinger had some rhythm: “With an agenda like that, it makes sense that George Bush and John McCain will be together next week in the Twin Cities. Because these days they’re awfully hard to tell apart.”

These were good for sure. But I’ve saved the best for last.

It was when she mentioned Harriet Tubman, a runaway slave who contributed to the success of the Underground Railroad. The crowd’s applause grew louder and became more raucous at the end of each line. No doubt they, like I, responded to the imagery the following words produced (text from AP):

This is the story of America. Of women and men who defy the odds and never give up. How do we give this country back to them? By following the example of a brave New Yorker, a woman who risked her life to shepherd slaves along the Underground Railroad. And on that path to freedom, Harriett [sic] Tubman had one piece of advice. If you hear the dogs, keep going. If you see the torches in the woods, keep going. If they’re shouting after you, keep going. Don’t ever stop. Keep going. If you want a taste of freedom, keep going. Even in the darkest of moments, ordinary Americans have found the faith to keep going.

Harriet Tubman

It’s Biden

I was watching the mind-numbing four o’clock hour of the last day of the Olympics when an Oliver Willis Tweet alerted me to the decision that those of us who watch the news could probably already knew:

Senator Barack Obama has chosen Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr. of Delaware to be his running-mate, turning to a leading authority on foreign policy and a longtime Washington hand to fill out the Democratic ticket, people told of the decision said.

Mr. Obama’s selection ended a two-month search that was conducted almost entirely in secret. It reflected a critical strategic choice by Mr. Obama: To go with a running-mate who could reassure voters about gaps in his resume, rather than to pick someone who could deliver a state or reinforce Mr. Obama’s message of change.

I don’t claim to know much about vice presidential politics. But I think those of us smart enough to want Obama in the White House can see that his choice of Biden reaffirms the man’s belief in his platform to bring change to America, as well as the confidence that he will win. Presidential candidates might sometimes choose a running mate based solely on the presumption that it would help him carry a state he might have trouble winning. In this case it would have been Delaware. But Obama already had Delaware and so made his choice based on the credentials and knowledge of the man himself.

So who is Biden? I have a very small idea. In an op-ed for the NY Times, David Brooks offers some biographical information to point out why Biden would be the right choice. He even mentions Biden’s penchant for saying the wrong thing:

Biden’s weaknesses are on the surface. He has said a number of idiotic things over the years and, in the days following his selection, those snippets would be aired again and again.

But that won’t hurt all that much because voters are smart enough to forgive the genuine flaws of genuine people. And over the long haul, Biden provides what Obama needs.

And the other day, I caught The New Republic’s own push for the choice, where it offered the video (below the quote) showing Biden’s style:

The clips below, from an MSNBC debate during the primaries, provide a really good sense of Biden’s style. He’s aggressive, passionate, and usually very effective. Even nuanced answers come out with force and emotion. (See, in particular, his answer to the question of whether he’ll let Iran get a nuclear weapon.) Of course, you get the feeling that he’s always on the edge of saying something imprudent. Like I said above, if Biden is the choice, the Obama communications staff will have many anxious moments.

I can’t wait to read the fallout. And I can’t wait till Biden verbally rips his counterpart to pieces during the debate on October 2 in St. Louis.

From VP Candidate to ‘Prick’

The The Associated Press posted a story this morning on Barack Obama’s upcoming vice presidential pick. There’s no news here, actually, because, well, of course he’s gonna pick one soon given that the convention starts next week.

So the rest of the story goes on and on about this pick and that, the benefits of that pick and this. And it covers McCain’s options. Whatever will he do? In discussing Joe Lieberman, the AP had this to say:

Less traditional choices mentioned include former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge, an abortion-rights supporter, and Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman, the Democratic vice presidential prick in 2000 who now is an independent.

Thanks to Progressive Puppy for pointing out the AP’s apparent error. Oops.

A Cuppa Obama Joe

It seems as though Barack Obama has reached every imaginable corner known to a political campaign. I had thought so until the other day when the girl alerted me to one I hadn’t considered. If you happen to be in Australia, you can get a little bit of him in your morning (or evening as the case is with me) cup of coffee.

Campos Coffee is pushing its “Obama Blend,” a renamed combination of flavors taken from places that (hopefully) most of us know have a claim on his name. The Obama blend, according to its Web site, has:

Great depth of character, strong, and eloquent. This very appealing blend unites coffees from Africa and the Americas to produce a cup which has gotten us excited. Formidable middle palate flavors, syrupy with an uplifting finish. Excellent drink for going forward.

We walked the couple of blocks to Campos yesterday, and after a little confusion, which I found out was due in part to my accent, we purchased our pound. It’s not too bad, either. Brisbane’s Street Editors have more. I’m gonna alert the campaign now. I wonder if they need editors.

Moveon.org’s Ad For Obama And a Shout Out to Lincoln

It was pretty sweet to see one of the finalists in Moveon.org‘s Obama ad contest take us back to almost 150 years ago when another guy became the unlikely presidential nominee. The spot finished second in the contest, which was judged by a bunch of well-known lefties such as Michael Franti (find his music and listen to it!), Julia Stiles, Steve Buscemi (he rides the F train), John Legend, Lawrence Lessig, Oliver Stone, Markos Moulitsas (Daily Kos founder), and Matt Damon.

The Obama-Lincoln ad:

The other finalists are on Moveon.org. The next step in this process is to raise enough money to run the ad on the airwaves at the right time.