Off the trail and into the danger zone

This was where I thought John McCain might just win this election. As General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker came before the US Senate, I thought John is going to look good. Very good. After all, he has just spent the last week on the campaign trail reminding Americans that a precipitous drawn-down of troops would be foolhardy. And now we have Dave Petraeus in those hallowed halls recommending a 45-day halt to the modest drawn-down that the Administration had promised us. McCain was golden. And he certainly looked the part: calm, even-tempered, but tough––a warrior. That was, until he tried to get the General and the Ambassador to talk about the imminent threat of al-Qaeda. Well, a threat, sure. But not the biggest bogeyman in the region. But they are a threat? Sure. Sorta… They were really trying to give McCain the answer he wanted. He was “Mr. Surge,” after all. But McCain would not let go. He keeped on blabbing about al-Qaeda, like it was the key to this war. The word that strikes terror in the heart of John Q. Public. And then, he did it. He called them Shi’a again. Doooh! Solider Johnny fumbles the globe, once more. Not good. Then Senator Clinton steps to the plate. She is cool, articulate and forceful. This is when I start thinking: This may not be where McCain shines, this may be the forum where the junior senator from Illinois is going to look very…um…junior, I think is the word. I bite my lip hard. My palms begin to sweat. Finally, it’s Obama’s turn. No speechifying is going to save the boy tonight. This is where we see if he is truly a match for these two seasoned Senators. And this is where we got to see Obama at his best. No flowery prose. No retrofitting stump speech bullet points. Instead, a respectful, but tenacious, line of questioning concerning the metrics of success. The question that no one has answered for the past five years. A question that few have even asked. And a question that betrayed something I had yet to notice. Obama has actually thought this thing through. He actually appears to have a plan. A messy one, no doubt. But a plan, nonetheless. And it was pretty clear that this big-eared rookie had just won the day.

“My bad”

She just keeps doing it. Confusing speech facts with real facts. Once again, Senator Clinton’s fond recollections of her “experience” were contradicted by the reality of that “experience.” No sniper fire this time, at least. While campaigning in Oregon, the senator from New York invited the crowd to check the record. If they do so, they were confidently assured, they would see that her opposition to the Iraq war actually predates Barack Obama’s opposition. Of course, it doesn’t. You may recall she voted to authorize this war. So to make the fact check work in her favor, she added a very curious parameter. If you check the record since January 2005. Why January 2005? That’s when the junior senator from Illinois actually came to the Senate. The junior senator who warned that invading Iraq would be a giant mistake back when Senator Clinton was actually voting to authorize the President’s grand adventure––that junior senator. You see, if you do that, Hillary said, she actually was against the war first. The only problem is even when you do the math her way…Obama still comes out ahead. Oops. At least, she can say that she is currently against the war she was formerly for: you may remember how well that line of argument worked for Mr. Kerry, (AKA: The Flip-flopper).

Torture is our friend

That’s right. Waterboarding may look barbaric, but it is actually the CIA’s most effective weapon against terrorism. And George W. Bush is making darn sure that it stays legal. It’s just amazing the crazy stuff we can get these detainees to admit to mid-drowning! Golly, it’s effective! Yessir, the Spanish Inquistion has nothing on us. By, the way I’ve heard burning people alive can also work its magic. You know, something we can fall back on when there’s water rationing or something. Just a thought.

The death of conservatism

William F. Buckley, Jr. Conservatives adored him. Liberals admired him. He was described by many on the right as their cause’s most articulate, erudite voice. Translation: he uses a lot of big words, talks in long, twisty sentences and we can’t make heads or tails of what he is saying. But sometimes Buckley got right to the point. Simple, direct statements. Like his view that the war in Iraq was an imperialistic train wreck. And that if we had a parliamentary government Bush would been gone long ago. Pundits say that the passing of Buckley marks the death of the conservative movement. I don’t think so. Buckley’s conservative movement died the moment the neo-cons made imperialism a conservative value.

Osama Obama

A picture is worth a thousand words. So, still don’t think this Obama dude is a stealth muslim? He’s got the hat, for crying out loud! What more proof do you want? And watch his eyes at these rallies. I am pretty sure he is blinking in Morse code. The guy is sending messages to sleeper cells. For the love of Hillary! Can’t you see what is going on?

Maverick? What maverick?

John McCain. Straight talker. Maverick. His own man. That’s what we love about him, right? That’s what Limbaugh hates about him, right? For instance, he’s not afraid to take a bold, balanced ––albeit, unpopular–– position on illegal immigration. Again, he breaks from the pack and takes a brave, outspoken and biographically-consistent position against torture. And against his party. He stands his ground. He tells it like it is. Well… apparently, Johnny has finally drunk the GOP Kool-Aid. This week, he did a complete one-eighty on his position against torture and voted against the Senate torture bill. This, only days after his pansy-pants promise to the GOP base that he will now be revising his unpopular position on immigration. Uh, huhhh. So, that thing that we love about John McCain? Yeah. Pretty much over. Hey, more independents for Barack, right?

I am woman

One Democratic candidate has insisted this presidential campaign is not about race or gender. The other has insisted that it very much is. And her palpable insinuation is, “Girls, you know what you must do.” The results have been pretty predictable. The candidate who reaches across the racial chasm, across the gender gap and across party and regional lines is starting to see that he can attract voters of all races, all genders, all ages and all stripes. Today in Virginia exit polling, he’s even shown that he can reach that most narrow-minded and stubborn of niches: the left wing female baby boomer. The group who have fought their whole life for equal opportunity, equal pay and a sort of equal consequences for reproductive activities. The group who came into this political cycle believing that the 2008 election was about crashing through the glass ceiling and putting someone with ovaries in the Oval Office. But then something happened. These feminist stalwarts––these pioneers of female liberation–– got over the initial euphoria, the momentary giddiness, of knowing they had a bona fide, qualified, sure-thing candidate and looked at a bigger world torn apart by sectarian hatred and a country torn apart by partisan bickering. They looked at how a planet where every group thinks only in terms of their own race, their own clan, their own class and their own creed ultimately implodes upon itself. And maybe they recognized that it is that sort of thinking that is root of the problem. And certainly not the solution. And perhaps, they looked at the last seven years of a narrow-minded administration and realized that this is not the time for more narrow thinking and mindless, lockstep solidarity. It is time that all good women do what all good women have always done best: Set aside their personal agenda and effect the greater good.

Hope is for sissies

The Straight Talk Express goes viral. Enjoy.

Dreamers vs. Doers

Staying on message is important in politics. And Senator Hillary Clinton is doing her darnedest. But gaffes happen. Like saying that Dr. King was a good little orator, but it took a Lyndon Johnson to give the Civil Rights Movement its traction. Yeah, not exactly the way you want to head into South Carolina. But despite how she mangled that moment––and mangle it she did–– her message is clear: Obama is a lovely symbol; Obama is an inspiring little speech maker. But the Presidency requires an entirely different skill set. Obama is a dreamer. Clinton is a doer. While Obama was off making prescient speeches against the war, she was in the Senate voting on important legislation. Like, you know, authorizing that…um…war. Which is how drawing this contrast always has a way of backfiring. (You know, like saying anything that diminishes a martyred MLK.) It always brings it back to what the doer has done. And in this case, the doer helped to do the invasion of Iraq. The thing that said doer keeps laying at the feet of this Republican President. Which inadvertently, seems to make the said dreamer a bit of a prophet. Which is a whole ‘nother kind of gaffe. For it seems to me, it leaves her audience with the absolute wrong message: Which do you want, electorate? A dreamer of big dreams or a doer who is asking for a do-over?

Man Crush

Andrew Sullivan is a complicated guy. Gay, Roman Catholic and a politically conservative libertarian. Right. It makes my head explode, too. And his recent article in The Atlantic further complicates this man. Because his take on Obama is not only fascinating, it’s practically idolatrous. And maybe a little gay. Read it and see what you think.