Passing Comments

There’s a telling anecdote early in “The Audacity of Hope” by Barack Obama. Obama has just described what he calls the drubbing he took when he lost badly in the 2000 election after challenging the Democratic incumbent for his congressional seat:

A year and a half later, the scars of that loss sufficiently healed, I had lunch with a media consultant who had been encouraging me for some time to run for statewide office. As it happened, the lunch was scheduled for late September 2001.

“You realize, don’t you, that the political dynamics have changed,” he said as he picked at his salad.

“What do you mean?” I asked, knowing full well what he meant. We both looked at the newspaper beside him. There on the front page, was Osama bin Laden.

“Hell of a thing, isn’t it?” he said, shaking his head. “Really bad luck. You can’t change your name, of course. Voters are suspicious of that kind of thing. Maybe if you were at the start of your career, you know, you could use a nickname or something. But now…” His voice trailed off and he shrugged apologetically before signalling the waiter to bring us the check.

I’m about two-thirds of the way through reading Obama’s 2006 book. Essentially a political document, as a New York Times review describes it, the book primarily lays out Obama’s political ideas. He recounts some of his experiences in elective political office, and reflects on what he has learned from them. Whether you are a supporter of Obama or not, the book is helpful as a compact refresher course in some basic history about American government and how it came to be.

The book is also a primer on the realities of how the political system functions today. As most of the world now knows, Obama subscribes more to the glass half-full philosophy than the glass half-empty. I find it one of the most admirable things about him. I admit, though, that while reading his detailing at times of the hard, complex dynamics of how the government actually functions, I myself have to resist mightily seeing the glass as dry as a bone.

It may be for this reason that the anecdote above that he related is staying in the forefront of my mind as I continue my reading of his book. I ask myself what I or someone else might have done if, in similar circumstances, life had dished up the same ridiculous name blame game. Talk about a clear cut challenge of how to view that proverbial glass!

You’ll have to read the book yourself to find out how Obama confronted the situation. On the other hand, it’s now kind of obvious, isn’t it.

You can read an excerpt of the book here.

It’s been a a few decades since the Smothers Brothers starred in their own television show, a weekly satirical skewering of, among other things, politics and politicians. Earlier this month, the duo appeared on a late night comedy show hosted by Craig Ferguson:

See Laughs along the U.S. Presidential campaign trail (I) here.

Today, the country’s premier newspaper The New York Times (aka The Gray Lady) endorsed Barack Obama for President.

Excerpt from the endorsement:

Mr. Obama has met challenge after challenge, growing as a leader and putting real flesh on his early promises of hope and change. He has shown a cool head and sound judgment. We believe he has the will and the ability to forge the broad political consensus that is essential to finding solutions to this nation’s problems.

In the same time, Senator John McCain of Arizona has retreated farther and farther to the fringe of American politics, running a campaign on partisan division, class warfare and even hints of racism. His policies and worldview are mired in the past. His choice of a running mate so evidently unfit for the office was a final act of opportunism and bad judgment that eclipsed the accomplishments of 26 years in Congress.

If you want details about the candidates and their differences, the editorial’s got ‘em in full — the endorsement runs to three pages. If there is still anyone out there who says he or she doesn’t know who Obama is, you have to wonder what planet they live on.

Election day, November 4, is less than two weeks away. Finally! A good interval in which to begin sharing some comedy from the political battlefield, it seems to me.

Yesterday, Obama popped in (via video) for a surprise, just-for-laughs visit on the popular daytime program, The Ellen DeGeneres Show. Topics covered include dancing, Halloween costumes and George Clooney:

Yesterday Michelle Obama sat down for an interview with comedian Jon Stewart of THE DAILY SHOW. An early comment she makes is that she and Barack have been campaigning for 20 months - so for those who feel as if this U.S. Presidential electoral process seems endless, I think she might agree with you.

Part I (04:14) intro blurb
Michelle Obama knows there are some people who will never vote for Barack Obama, but most Americans want a leader who will find solutions that make sense. See video here.

Part II (04:28) intro blurb
Michelle Obama puts herself in the position of a voter when she listens to her husband speak. See video here.

UPDATE: On the same day, Michelle Obama did another major interview, this one on The Larry King Show. Here she talks more seriously about various aspects of the campaign and the Obamas’ home life.

Upon viewing some of the morning-after reviews of the vice presidential debate:

Spunkiness! Apparently, that’s pretty much all it takes — a perky jut of the chin, a few winks of the eye, and some clicks of the tongue to win some people’s (and some of the news media’s) thumbs-up for your candidacy to land an office in the White House.

These who jab those thumbs upright would have us think that it doesn’t matter what your position is on Iraq, tax cuts for the haves versus the increasingly have-nothing-at-alls, or Roe versus Wade, or gay marriage, or global climate change or energy policies. No, it’s not whether you’re yea or nay or even undecided on these issues that will earn you votes, it’s just the mastering of that cute Gidget goes to Washington attitude that matters.

We’ve come a long way, baby! Wink.

If you want to see the debate and the vote today in the U.S. House of Representatives as it returns a second time to Treasury Secretary Paulson’s $700 billion plus bailout plan for Wall Street, click on to C-SPAN, the only news media organization that regularly televises the legislative proceedings of the U.S. House and U.S. Senate.

The deliberations begin at 9 am Eastern Standard Time (USA).

The high marks Barack Obama receives in the arena of world opinion have been noted fairly often in the media. Now The Economist magazine has created a feature that allows its international readers online to vote for one of the two major U.S. Presidential nominees (”Global Electoral College — What if the whole world could vote” Oct 1, 2008).

The voting feature is interactive and includes a world map that allows the viewer to scroll over particular countries and see a pop-up displaying respective voter results. Of special interest, Economist editors have designed the feature to function in the same way as the actual Electoral College institution in the U.S. — you can see an explanation of how it works here.

Small hint — someone is winning by a landslide.

R.E.M. - Man-Sized Wreath (2008)