Every superhero needs a theme song, and now Obama has one... [youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHA_ZTvOgUM&NR=1] Yes We Can! (Via DipDive.com, with a hat tip to Andrew Sullivan. NOTE: YouTube link updated. Original link was taken down for some reason.) * Yes, that's Kate "Dr. Addison Montgomery-Shepherd" Walsh in there! :-)
I honestly didn't think either of them would make the 66% threshold but Obama nailed it: In a resounding vote today, MoveOn.org Political Action's members nationwide voted to endorse Senator Barack Obama for the Democratic nomination for President. The group, with 3.2 million members nation-wide and over 1.7 million members in Super Tuesday states, will immediately begin to mobilize on behalf of Senator Obama. The vote favored Senator Obama to Senator Clinton by 70.4% to 29.6%. This is a pretty significant endorsement with Super Tuesday looming as it represents actual elbow grease as opposed to ephemeral influence. As OpenLeft's Matt…
It was a surprisingly substantial, mature discussion of actual issues between two very Presidential candidates with minimal interference from the moderator, who turned out to be Wolf Blitzer, not Anderson Cooper as I’d thought it would be.
Highlights:
Both candidates avoided any major gaffes or faux pas, going out of their way to be as cordial and respectful as possible, to the point where I can almost see myself shifting back towards being relatively comfortable voting for Clinton in November if she ends up being the nominee. I still don’t see an Obama/Clinton or Clinton/Obama ticket happening, though.
John McCain apparently landed a devastating 1-2 punch with his victory in Florida Tuesday night, not only knocking the clueless Rudy Giuliani out of the race but also effectively knee-capping Michael Bloomberg’s oft-rumored, self-financed Independent run:
Senator Lieberman says the increasing likelihood that Senator McCain will win the Republican nomination could keep Mayor Bloomberg on the sidelines of the presidential race this fall.
“My feeling all along has been that if he ran, it would be because he had a real reason to run, and frankly, he and John McCain have a lot in common,” the Connecticut senator said in a telephone interview this afternoon. “So if John gets the nomination, I would guess it’s less likely the mayor will run for president.”
While I think there’s enough of a distinction between McCain and Bloomberg that a McCain/Clinton race would still make him a viable third candidate, I suspect the combination of [relative] moderates like Lieberman and Arnold Schwarzenegger endorsing McCain means he’d risk being cast as the Republican’s Ralph Nader and simply ensure an easier path to victory for Clinton. McCain/Obama would be even more problematic for him as Obama’s already secured the “change” mantle and offers a much starker contrast to the 71-year-old McCain than Bloomberg ever could.
Interestingly, one of the key figures behind the Draft Bloomberg effort here in NY, Karin Gallet (whom I interviewed for Spindle last year), has given up the cause:
“He’s not running. He’s convinced me… Even his good buddies are backing McCain. I think they would know if there was a reason to hold off on an endorsement. McCain is MB’s base, so the opportunity has faded. And besides, even with the best effort of the big bad unity 08 boys, we’ve not seen any significant pop support, none of that lefty groundswell ala Clark.”
Last year I was invited to join Amazon Vine, the online behemoth’s slick new marketing program that enables publishers (and other companies) to provide free review copies of their books (and other products) for a group of Amazon-selected reviewers, pretty much ensuring a lot of independent user reviews for the participating products. The program lets reviewers select up to 2 products from a pretty varied list each month, and you cannot have more than 2 unreviewed products at any time, so while there’s no guarantees (or requirements) that the reviews will be positive, the setup ensures that the products are actually getting some buzz for the effort from “influential” users.
I’ve been casually reviewing things on Amazon since 2000, breaking into the top 5,000 a year or two ago — which is where I was when I got the invitation — and am currently ranked #3,872 for my 103 reviews and the 782 helpful votes they’ve received.
So far, I’ve reviewed four books through the Vine program — two very good and two not at all — all but one of which I chose primarily on the basis of the marketing copy and/or subject matter:
Gods Behaving Badly by Marie Phillips (2 stars)
“Sitcom approach ruins intriguing premise”
Lush Life: A Novel by Richard Price (5 stars)
“Vibrant, compelling read”
Hundred in the Hand by Joseph M. Marshall III (4 stars)
“Excellent, despite a couple of missteps”
Franklin the Fly by R.O. Blechman (2 stars)
“Pretty pictures can’t save too slight story”
[via Bloggasm, with a hat tip to Nick Mamatas] If you’re reading this and you’ve experienced any of the things on the list below, your account may be in need of deletion: 1. You rarely log in to Myspace except to delete spam friend requests from nude webcam girls. 2. You spend five minutes writing a wall post only to hit an error message when you try to post it because of all the website glitches. 3. You’re a girl who constantly gets marriage proposals from random men in the middle east. 4. You visit someone’s Myspace profile only to…
The most difficult aspect of writing, for me, has always been the self-discipline required to write every day, no matter what. I simply don’t have any. (Not just for writing, either, but that’s a whole other post!)
There are a number of legitimate reasons excuses I could put forward to explain why it’s so difficult to find the time to write on a regular basis, not the least of which are family and work obligations as well as my ruthless internal editor, but even if I won the lottery tomorrow and didn’t ever have to work again, I would still probably lack the self-discipline to stick to a regular routine of writing. (Blogging doesn’t count.) I envy those people who can wake up early in the morning to get a couple of hours of writing done before they start their day, but that’s not an option for me as my weekdays start at 6am without any writing, and staying up late comes with its own obstacles, not the least of which is sleep deprivation doesn’t make for very good writing.
I especially envy the old me who used to crank out at least one new poem each week, slam it at the Nuyorican on a Wednesday night (or later, read it every Monday at 13), and then move right on the next one, rarely looking back. Most of those poems weren’t very good, but the gears were always turning and I’d eventually revisit a few and edit them into something good whenever I hit a dry patch. Most of that writing was done at Botanica, a couple of nights each week after work, usually before the Nuyorican on Wednesdays and Fridays.