MeetObama08
Learn more at MeetObama08.com
Please enjoy "Thoughts From Kansas"
I recently discovered Joshua Rosenau's blog, Thoughts From Kansas, another great contribution to Scienceblogs. As Joshua's profile says, "When not modeling species distributions or battling creationists, he writes about developments in progressive politics and the sciences." Enjoy!
Obama!
Sen. Barack Obama tonight:
"It's not change when John McCain decided to stand with George Bush 95 percent of the time, as he did in the Senate last year. It's not change when he offers four more years of Bush economic policies that have failed to create well-paying jobs. ... And it's not change when he promises to continue a policy in Iraq that asks everything of our brave young men and women in uniform and nothing of Iraqi politicians."
From the Associated Press:
In a symbolic move, Obama spoke in the same hall where McCain will accept the Republican nomination at his party's convention in September. Campaign officials, citing the local fire marshal, put the crowd at 17,000 inside the eXcel Energy Center, plus another 15,000 outside.
Obama for a more perfect union. Obama for a patriotism that begins with caring about one another. Obama for protection and empowerment of the middle class. Obama for a new respect for voters as more than simply "liberals" and "conservatives," "blue" and "red." Obama for turning the page on the failed policies of the past 8 years.
(Photos: Sen. Obama (and wife Michelle) in St. Paul, Minnesota, on June 3, the evening of the Montana and South Dakota primaries when Obama claimed the Democratic nomination for President.)
Things thought in Maine
As a pig to truffles, so I am to the nibbly bits of wisdom from Bill in Portland Maine. Some recent highlights....
On Scott McClellan: "That's the trouble with being two-faced. It doubles your chance of biting yourself in the ass."
Take note:
Percent of Senate votes by John McCain in 2008 that have supported President Bush's views: 100% (95% in 2007)
(Source: Think Progress)
Oh Mac, say it ain't so! A McCain campaign bigwig---part of the D.C. lobbyist bloc the "maverick" swears he hates---resigned for unconscionable skullduggery. And then another resigned. And another. And another. And then yesterday...another. Which, if my math is correct, leaves McCain with exactly one person left on his senior campaign staff: his mom.
John McCain is who George W. Bush would look like today if he gave a damn about the magnitude of his failures.
It's of grave concern when a Democratic candidate is tagged as an elitist for having an Ivy League education, but when someone points out that many Republican candidates are themselves ivy-league graduates with large houses, summer cottages, fancy cars and closets full of designer dresses and crisp tuxedos, it barely warrants a shrug.
Democratic candidates have to reveal their spouses' tax records going back many years. Republican candidates don't.
Democrats have a conservative wing. Republicans don’t have anything even remotely resembling a liberal wing.
(Image: Called the great seal of the state of Maine. Yet it shows a moose. Above the moose sits the Soviet star and the state motto, "Dirigo," which is Latin for, "There he goes." The seal also depicts Death as a middle-aged man and Buster Brown with serious bling.)
Gore Vidal interview on DemocracyNow
Amy Goodman recently interviewed Gore Vidal in his L.A. home. The topic: George W. Bush's presidency. More on Vidal here.
Second half of Edwards' speech endorsing Barack Obama
Hat-tip to NCDem-Amy on DailyKos.
Obama's speech
Obama is giving a great speech. Despite not mentioning the LGBT community, of course. Oh well, there's lots of folks he didn't and needn't to have mentioned.
Obama takes advice offered. The Advocate interview.
Sen. Barack Obama was encouraged at a recent LGBT fund-raiser in NYC to grant more interviews to the LGBT press. It seemed he wouldn't follow the advice when he failed to given an interview to Philadelphia Gay News. But he recently granted an interview to The Advocate, a national LGBT publication.
From the interview:
[The Advocate:] I think the underlying fear of the gay community is that if you get into office, will LGBT folks be last on the priority list?
[Sen. Obama:] I guess my point would be that the fact that I'm raising issues accordant to the LGBT community in a general audience rather than just treating you like a special interest that is sort of off in its own little box -- that, I think, is more indicative of my commitment.
.....
An area that I’m very interested in is making sure that federal benefits are available to same-sex couples who have a civil union. I think as more states sign civil union bills into law the federal government should be helping to usher in a time when there’s full equality in terms of what that means for federal benefits.
Hillary follows good advice given to Obama. He doesn't.
Hillary Clinton has said in an interview with Philadelphia Gay News that she will defend and expand gay rights. Her Democratic rival for the presidential nomination, Barack Obama, outlined similar support in an open letter to the LGBT community recently, in which he offered a more complete reversal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell than Sen. Clinton favors, but
Obama and Republican John McCain declined the newspaper's invitation for an interview. The paper criticized Obama and highlighted his refusal to talk by leaving a blank space on the front page where his interview would have appeared.
Sen. Obama was just this week given some good advice by an acquaintance of mine at a fund-raiser: You need to do more interviews." To which Sen. Obama is said to have replied, "You're right, absolutely. We do need to do more with the LGBT press."
Sen. Obama said that Corey was right. So why didn't the senator do the right thing?
The Obama campaign did take full page ads in LGBT newspapers in Ohio and Texas. Clinton's campaign has advertised in LGBT newspapers across the nation.
In Hillary's interview, she offered this program:
*Eliminate disparities for same-sex couples in federal law, including immigration and tax policy.
*Eliminate "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."
*Use financial assistance and other leverage to prevent the killings ("executions") by foreign governments of their gay citizens.
*Support gay youth services.
*Attend gay pride celebrations, to the extent that security would allow.
Both Sen. Clinton and Sen. Obama oppose marriage for same-sex couples.
Obama gets good advice at Manhattan LGBT event.
Kudos to Corey Johnson, who was on NY's Dem Primary ballot back on Super Tuesday as an Obama delegate, for some prudent advice to Sen. Obama during a recent LGBT fund-raiser (cost to attend: $2,300) in New York.
From the article:
As Sen. Obama made his way to the door, Johnson said he asked the senator directly to do more interviews with the gay press, citing the fact that he has conducted only one interview with an LGBT outlet during his presidential campaign. 'I said, "Your speech tonight was so moving to all of us, the way you spoke about our community. You need to do more [interviews]," recalled Johnson. "And he said, 'You're right, absolutely. We do need to do more with the LGBT press.'
Corey's spot on. He's also right to ask for something specific and doable. But, I'll ask anyway, for something a bit more vague and more ambitious: Why can't Obama speak on LGBT issues, especially if he does so so movingly, even beyond the LGBT press to non-LGBT audiences? Maybe when and if he becomes President he will, which is arguably when such statements to larger audiences would have the most effect anyway. Of course, for similar reasons, Sen. Clinton's campaign probably has the same strategy relative to speaking about LGBT issues to wider audiences.
And an LGBT event in NYC is nice, but . . . Okay, I'll ask: What about LGBT events in, say, Austin or Columbus, which could probably provide more inspiration and motivate more LGBT voters than a high-priced, Manhattan, elbow-rubbing gig? Maybe there's the issue of how much such LGBT events--which is to say, coverage of them in the media--might hurt Obama's chances in the state as a whole. I think they would not hurt his changes, actually, given that gay marriage isn't an issue likely to motivate much of the GOP base in 2008. (There's even good evidence that it didn't motivate voters in 2004 nearly as much as is often assumed. And how would it motivate GOP voters now anyway when it's been outlawed pretty everywhere at this point?) Of course, by similar reasoning, Sen. Clinton's campaign probably has the same strategy relative to keeping the lid on, or avoiding altogether, LGBT events in states that aren't sure wins. In the case of Obama's campaign, maybe they just assume that in urban places with big gay populations, but in less "blue" states than New York, they have the LGBT vote locked up by virtue of the fact that such places tend to be college towns, and Obama's big on campuses already. Also, for all I know, Obama and Clinton have both done great LGBT events--but successfully "kept them quiet"--in states where the stakes are higher for local LGBT communities. (The fundraiser that dare not speak its name? Jeez.)
So, if it's to be a New York LGBT event ... Okay, I'll ask: How about an LGBT event that doesn't feel clandestine? Again, time for some realism, I guess: New York is a state any Democratic candidate would easily win in the General Election and isn't a contest state in the Democratic Primary season anymore. So the Obama campaign is unlikely to prioritize NY events in general--be they in NYC or anywhere in the state--and unlikely to spend time and energy on big events especially. They'll hit up The Money; that's about it. Of course, by similar reasoning, Sen. Clinton's campaign probably has the same strategy relative to NY events. (In Obama's case, maybe there is also a consideration right now that small high-end events avoid antagonizing the many NY pols who support Sen. Clinton, including nearly all of the LGBT ones. I don't know. That's a guess.)
One thing isn't a guess though: Democratic presidential campaigns, because New York is so "blue," don't spend much time here; they generally treat New York as only New York City and New York City as only its high income earning population, which they then use not unlike an ATM. Whether or not the candidates themselves wish it were otherwise, it's hard to truly know.
