Politics

Commentary (and rants) on national and local politics.

Read more about the article The Mind Reels

The Mind Reels

With only a few days remaining for last-minute surprises, 2008 has been one for the books on so many levels — personally, professionally, globally — the mind truly does reel.

And reels, and reels, and reels… perhaps somehow what I imagine bonefishing might be like?

(h/t to one of my newfound loves of the year, Garden & Gun.)

But I digress. Kind of.

On January 1st of this year, I posted a brief recap of 2007 and a to-do list for 2008, the latter of which I predictably missed the mark on by a mile. Perhaps because 2007 had been a year defined by so much transition, my focus was more internal, and nowhere on that list is there any hint of what 2008 actually had in store, from becoming a new (first-time) homeowner to taking two huge steps forward in my career.

In the midst of it all, this blog went from an intense flurry of passionate political punditry to a, once-again somewhat unfocused and occasional mix of publishing, poetry, politics and pop culture. Plus, I attempted to add a more personal, anonymous blog to the mix to talk about our life as new homeowners which I’ve discontinued and rolled into this site. (“Bloomfield” tag will get you all of them.) I’m okay with that, though, as my primary goal for this blog has always been more selfish than anything else, a place for me to keep the creative juices flowing in the most rudimentary of ways by offering an outlet, when necessary, for whatever’s running through my head, and my intent at the beginning of the year was to consolidate my “platform” anyway.

But I’m rambling again…

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Continue ReadingThe Mind Reels
Read more about the article Game Changers

Game Changers

Photo by Damon Winter/NYT, via Good
Photo by Damon Winter/NYT (h/t Good)

Pictures are very often worth much more than 1,000 words, and something about this one, as the rumors of Clinton being on the verge of becoming Obama’s Secretary of State appear to be true, is oddly reassuring.

Despite all the heated rhetoric of the primary season, I share Sullivan’s slightly cynical take on it:

The differences between Clinton and Obama were always exaggerated; and we need all the talent we can get. I defer to no one in Clinton Derangement Syndrome, which is why I believe it’s good for them to have their hands full and to be kept under surveillance.

I didn’t like the idea of her as President (or Vice President), as much because of the question of Bill as her own deficiencies as a leader — which in some ways are directly related to each other — but I kind of like the idea of her and Obama becoming the new faces of the US abroad. It’s a powerful symbolic combination for a country that purports to be dedicated to the idea of all “men” being created equal.

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Continue ReadingGame Changers
Read more about the article A Beautiful Day

A Beautiful Day

This morning's sustained exhilaration has been tempered somewhat by the remnants of intolerance as it appears California has narrowly passed Proposition 8, stripping gay couples of the right to marry, largely on the strength of opposition from blacks who voted for it by more than a 2:1 margin. Arizona and Florida passed similar bans, the latter by a depressingly wide margin. As Obama said last night, "the road ahead will be long." The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep. We may not get there in one year or even one term, but America - I have…

Continue ReadingA Beautiful Day
Read more about the article This is the moment

This is the moment

[Liveblogging throughout the day, because I want to remember as much of this as possible…]

11:45pm: Wow. President-Elect Barack Hussein Obama. Drop the “elect” and it rolls off the tongue. I’m kind of speechless, actually. It’s all over but the big speech; a speech that, after a string of amazing speeches, will be the biggest speech of Obama’s life. And, perhaps, ours. So far…

11:30pm: Graceless idiots in the audience aside, McCain’s concession speech was a welcome return of the principled statesman I imagined I might be able to cast a reluctant vote for back in the Spring. Palin looked crushed, though, while Almost-First Dude looked ambivalent. In a just world, they’ll slink off to Alaska and not be heard from again, unless, of course, she decides to hold an actual press conference.

10:46pm: Switched from MSNBC to FNC to see what they’re saying and they’ve called Virginia for Obama and the mood of the pundits is rather somber as they’re discussing Obama policies as if he’s already won. Which he has, I guess, but I’m still waiting for it to be called officially.

9:52pm: Obama won New Mexico and is handily winning the Latin vote in Florida by double-digits. Remember, way back during the primaries, that meme about Latinos not voting for a black man and Clinton was the only one who could deliver Florida and Ohio? Hope trumps fear.

9:30pm: OHIO!!!!! This just might really happen…

7:30pm: I can’t stand it anymore! I’m turning on the news.

7:00pm: It hit me earlier this afternoon that, because Salomé and I had registered so recently here in New Jersey, we might not appear on the registered voter list and have to vote via provisional ballot, and that’s exactly what happened. It was more than a little anti-climactic and disappointing, but even as I’m typing these words, it’s settling in…

I JUST VOTED FOR BARACK OBAMA
TO BECOME THE NEXT PRESIDENT
OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA!

That’s the kind of huge my mind just can’t fully grasp at the moment.

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Continue ReadingThis is the moment
Read more about the article Apology Unnecessary

Apology Unnecessary

The K Chronicles: Tales From the Campaign Trail
The K Chronicles: Stories From the Campaign Trail

There’s a bit of a tempest in a teapot happening over at Montclair State University thanks to a “controversial” episode of the Keith Knight comic strip, The K Chronicles, that was published last week in the student newspaper, the Montclarion, and included the word “nigger”.

Twice!

Well, kind of…

Seemingly lost on most of those in a tizzy over the strip (reading some of the comments is just one more reason to not take anything for granted before the election results are in and officially certified) is the fact that Knight was simply repeating a story told by a canvasser in Western Pennsylvania, where conventional wisdom has it that people are simply too racist to support Obama, as evidenced partly by Hillary Clinton’s thumping him out there during the primary.

It’s a story that’s been referenced in several places over the past week or so, and Knight’s take on it was simply addressing what has become one of the more fascinating sub-plots of this election as the economy has taken center stage and helped turn John McCain’s ill-conceived selling of his soul campaign into a sputtering hot mess: Racists for Obama.

“I wouldn’t want a mixed marriage for my daughter, but I’m voting for Obama,” the wife of a retired Virginia coal miner, Sharon Fleming, told the Los Angeles Times recently.

One Obama volunteer told Politico after canvassing the working-class white Philadelphia neighborhood of Fishtown recently, “I was blown away by the outright racism, but these folks are … undecided. They would call him a [racial epithet] and mention how they don’t know what to do because of the economy.”

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Continue ReadingApology Unnecessary
Read more about the article Election 2008: D&D Style

Election 2008: D&D Style

This might be one of the funniest — if narrowly targeted — spoofs of the election I’ve seen so far:

HILARY: C’mon you guys, I’ve been playing this shit since Gygax was in eighth grade.  Why can’t I be the party leader with the magic sword for once?

MCCAIN: Because no one wants to see you in a bronze bra.

OBAMA: Oh dude, BURRRRRNNNN.

HILARY: SCREW YOU, Grandpa. I will so kick your ass.

MCCAIN: Yeah?  Bring it!  I didn’t spend 3 years in the Abyss with Githzerai hooking my nads up to a car battery to get beat by some Wellesley girl.

HILARY: WHATEVER, you can’t even lift your arms over your head.

RON PAUL:  I brought my Planescape character!

OBAMA: Dude, we’re playing Forgotten Realms.

RON PAUL: I rift in from Sigil!  I’m a Chaotic Neutral Tiefling Barbarian/Monk/Rogue!

MCCAIN: DUDE, that is not even LEGAL.

RON PAUL:  Ronpaul the Barbarian say: suck it!  Guns and abortions and weed for everyone! WHEEE!

PALIN: Hi folks!  Sorry I’m late!  I brought caribou burgers.

HILARY: Who the HELL is this?

(more…)

Continue ReadingElection 2008: D&D Style

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