Category Archives: Essays

February 19, 2008 · 1:03 pm

How Dumb Are Americans?

Yesterday I read an article in the Washington Post by Susan Jacoby called “The Dumbing of America“. The article argued that video, the Internet, the fact that people don’t read any more, and the culture of anti-rationalism have all (further) reduced the limited attention spans of Americans.

This got me thinking about how the candidates and the press treat us like we’re dumb and how we often fall into the trap. They tell us about themselves and about the other candidates, and we believe them — especially when they repeat the same stuff over and over again. Hillary is the perfect example of how using quick and repeated sounds bites work even though her words are empty of any real foundation in fact. And now that she sees herself as losing, she is getting even worse and even more sketchy.

Personally, I find her cheap attacks on Obama offensive to my intelligence. But the question is, just how dumb does she think Americans are, and just how dumb are we? Continue reading →

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February 19, 2008 · 10:38 am

Fidel Not Seeking Re-election

In a bold and historic move, Fidel Castro has decided not to seek re-election. After only 49 years as president of Cuba and after discussions with his family and close friends, Castro resigns and will not seek a new term. Because elections in Cuba are typically highly contested and competitive, now its anyone’s guess as to who will be the island’s next commander-in-chief. My guess, and this is only a guess, is that Raul Castro is in the best position to take over.

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February 18, 2008 · 4:00 pm

The Tragic Irony of the Clinton Legacy

As people go, Americans are incredibly uptight. We’re puritans and naive. We don’t want to hear bad words on TV or, God forbid, see a stray nipple. We want our politicians to be moral leaders, good Christians, good family men, and corruption free. Before the presidency became a reality show, Americans (and the press) simply ignored their presidents’ personal lives and pecadillos. Call it willful blindness if you like, but nobody was looking. Then came Nixon and Gary Hart and then . . . Bill Clinton.

Bill Clinton seemed to have been born for scandal and scandal mongers — what the Clintons called the “vast right wing conspiracy” and “politics of personal destruction”. Although the Clintons bred the 90s culture war and Clinton-hate was probably a central factor in the development of the Christian right (aka the “Moral Majority”), Bill Clinton did play an incredibly important role in positively changing American innocence and how the country viewed its president on a “human” level. Continue reading →

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Tagged as Bill Clinton Legacy Scandal American Culture Hillary Pu

February 18, 2008 · 12:51 pm

Obama’s Superior Executive Skills and the Challenges Ahead

Last Friday I wrote about Hillary’s lack of a track record and how her campaign has been everything but impressive. As discussed yesterday on Meet the Press, this campaign is the biggest thing that any of the candidates — Hillary, Obama or McCain — have ever run. The three are senators and lack real “executive” experience. What’s nice about this election is that we are watching in real time how the three are executing their campaigns and showing their “day one” preparedness. Continue reading →

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Tagged as Barack Obama Hillary Clinton John McCain Green FON

February 15, 2008 · 2:48 pm

Clemens: Who F-ing Cares?

I don’t follow Major League Baseball, and I am not following the recent Roger Clemens “controversy”. But as my bro, ReWrite, very accurately pointed out to me in an email minutes ago:

every newspaper cover says something like ‘who is the liar’ or ‘who is lying’ … someone should have the balls to write ‘who cares’.

Word!

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Tagged as Robert Clemens steroids Who Cares MLB

February 15, 2008 · 11:17 am

A Proven Track Record of a Poor, Scrambling Campaign

In listening to Hillary’s repetitive rhetoric about her “proven track record”, experience, and day-one readiness, I keep wondering what she is talking about. As I have noted before and ad infinitum, Hillary’s experience/readiness argument fails simply because her campaign stragegy has been failing. Regardless of whether she wins in the end, we have seen her scramble to change her message, voice, and staff.

Does a president who is ready on day one lose her numbers one and two managers before day one? Isn’t choosing your team one of the most important things that a president does? If we practice the way we play, won’t we run a presidency the way we have campaigned for it? If the candidate with all of the solutions has trouble grasping her own message after 35 years of experience, then how will she resolve America’s problems on day one?

The fact of the matter is that Hillary is scrambling and is not ready. With the top politicos in the business on her payroll, you’d think she’d do better than ever-redefining Al Gore. Continue reading →

John.he.is and Political Parodies

After the popularity of the “Yes We Can” video by will.i.am, now there’s a new John McCain parody video. Then there is always the Onion: Continue reading →

Obama’s Potomac Sweep and the Race Fallacy

Obama has swept the “Potomac Primaries” consisting of my hometowns: Virginina, Maryland and the District of Columbia. Not only did Obama win by large margins in all three jurisdictions, he has also proven that there is no “race card” or ethnocentric voting imperative. The only voters who overwhelmingly sided for Clinton were middle aged women, and there is nothing to indicate that their votes for Hillary was a personal or racial rejection of Obama. They simply preferred Hillary. Everyone else voted for Obama or were equally divided between the two. Continue reading →

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Tagged as Obama Potomac Primaries Maryland DC Virginia Hillary Cl

February 11, 2008 · 4:45 pm

Now and Forever: Bill Clinton

This weekend I was listening to Bill Clinton defending himself with that self-righteous wagging finger so characteristic of Bill assuming the “self-defense” defense. According to Bill, in relation to his pro-Hillary at-any-cost support, he had done and said nothing wrong. He had said things about Obama that were “factually accurate” whereas others had said things that were “factually inaccurate”.

This was a flashback to Bill and his use of language to exculpate his use of other language. What your meaning of “is is”, not having “sexual relations” with “that woman”, smoking but not inhaling are all sad reminders of how a talented politician can waste so much potential as he tangles himself in his own web of slim.

This got me to questioning the 1990s and what I had once perceived as very good years and, despite Clinton’s holier-than-thou liberal condescension, a relatively successful presidency. But when you really concentrate on those years, I think you’ll find that they were definitely not positive for the Democratic Party (of which I am not a member) and for the U.S. in the mid to long term. Continue reading →

Obama’s Contagious Hope, Hillary’s Contagion: Part II

I know I now sound like a senile broken record, but the saga continues. Each time I run into the “Hillary experience” or “proven track record” arguments, I get nausea. Hillary’s only track record is in the Senate, and her Senate record is very Bush, very hawkish, and very careful in preparations for a presidential bid. Even if we conceded, for the sake of argument, that she was a co-president from 1992-2000 (and don’t care about the constitutional smell-test), playing behind the scenes president doesn’t count because you’re ass isn’t on the line. But all of the voice-finding, shfits in campaign strategy, misinterpreted statements by Billary, and today changing her campaign manager in mid-game, don’t seem like examples of someone who is “ready for day one” or whose track record is proving reliable.

Meanwhile, Obama’s positive messages and excellent results in Washington, Nebraska and Louisiana highlight that Americans just may be better people than the Clintons have calculated. As so, here is another good New York Times by Frank Rich keeping the Billary contagion in perspective: Continue reading →

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Tagged as Obama Billary Hillary Elections