Here and There

Happy 200th birthday today to Charles Darwin and Abraham Lincoln, two men who did so much for our understanding of how we got here, and how we should handle this thing we call “life,” and, you know, “each other.”

Oops, wrote this a couple of weeks ago and forgot to publish it:

I never expected to find this, but Muammar Qaddafi has penned an editorial in The New York Times that really resonated with me. I’ve often wondered why this one-state solution was never pursued. I mean, yes, I know why, but that short-sighted thinking, that Jews and Muslims could never live together in so-called harmony, is exactly the mindset that has brought about more than 60 years of non-stop conflict.

And I’m sure there are plenty of logistical problems with Qaddafi’s plan, but he’s at the table, offering up ideas. That’s more than can be said for many supposedly democratic leaders.

Sometimes, reason appears where you least expect it.

Standing in line at the Castro Theatre to see Milk, realizing that this is where I ended up Election Night, post-victory, only to find out that Prop. 8 was passing.

Crossroads of history, indeed.

(review of the movie TK)

I’m not Michelle Obama, so I have impunity in saying it: I am ashamed of my country.

I mean, what do I have to be proud of? Our record on international relations? Our economy? Our entertainment industry? Our environmental record? Schools? Banks?

I used to be okay with the United States. The 1990s were, taken as a whole, pretty great. There were plenty of bumps in the road, but income disparity shrank, innovation exploded, and we were well-liked the world ’round. Work was easy to find, and Seinfeld was on.

Now, what?

Anyway, the way I’m feeling about the upcoming election hinges on this question of pride and shame. If Obama-Biden pull it off (or, more accurately put, if the American voting public pulls it off for Obama-Biden), pride will be restored. It would be a mea culpa, a rejection of the bad policies and divisiveness of the last eight years.

But for McSame-HockeyMilf to win would serve as a stamp of approval for the dismal job Bush-Cheney have done. I cannot be proud of that, and instead, my shame will only harden. It may become permanent.

I mean, they found Bigfoot the other day, didn’t they?

Matthew Yglesias » Worst President Ever

I don’t know. Yglesias is really only thinking domestically. Bush has let a major U.S. city disintegrate, overall infrastructure deteriorate, drastically increased the disparity between rich and poor, and plunged the country into massive amounts of debt after years of surplus.

He’s helped the international community slide into chaos, invaded a sovereign nation for virtually no reason at all, snubbed international legal and environmental treaties, and presided over perhaps the most drastic fall of the U.S. dollar in history. He’s allowed (possibly knowingly) the U.S. to torture prisoners, when he wasn’t farming it out. I know I’m forgetting plenty here.

This is no statistical analysis, mind you. Nor am I anywhere near as versed in history as Yglesias. And I agree: Buchanan was abysmal. I just think he’s giving Bush too much credit here, or not holding him as accountable as he should.

Needless to say, count me in that 42 percent that thinks he’s the worst. I think he’s a great candidate for it, anyway.

I know that no president has won without winning Ohio in like 3,000 years. But I have to wonder why it’s so significant.

Still, encouraging that Obama is solidly ahead there.

File under: Landslide.

I just welt up watching snippets of Obama’s speech.

I think that when that happens, my mind begins to drift from the uplifting rhetoric, and I start to imagine this country really achieving the greatness it’s capable of.

I’m also reminded that, for the vast majority of my 34¾ years on earth, as I’ve learned of great people throughout history, people who braved odds and made a difference, I’ve wondered whether there would be someone like that in my lifetime. I grew cynical thinking the great days of humanity were over, save the brilliance of scientists.

But Barack Obama, I realize now, is that person. He is the single greatest inspiration to many individuals such as myself, to communities, to this nation, and to the world.

Do not give a misbehaving child what (s)he wants.

And with that implicit analogy, this blog now turns its full attention toward taking down John McCain. Reader submissions are accepted.

The aim will be to expose John McCain for what he is — an old-school politician, beholden to special interests with deep pockets who play by their own rules. The arguments about approach to government are tired, but must be hashed out. The real question is who these candidates are, what they represent, and how they will lead and represent the United States of America at home and to the world.

Given these tenets, the choice should be pretty clear, methinks.

The thought occurred to me today that maybe former press secretary Scott McClellan looked at Bush’s disapproval ratings (between 63 and 70 percent in most recent polls) and thought, I want to sell my book. What if I join this “Bush is a moron” chorus? I’m sure that’ll sell.

Maybe he never bought it all, but also never saw what an enabler, or, at least, accomplice he was. The dots were never connected between message and mouthpiece.

Either way, he’s sure to sell enough books to live handsomely for some time.

It’s a great way to spend the afternoon.

The New Republic’s John Judis dismissively compared Barack Obama’s campaign to George McGovern’s in 1972, saying that the coalition Obama has put together is primarily kids and minorities. Judis claims that the results from one state bear this analogy out.

Horse shit.

But I find these comments by McGovern himself (a Clinton backer) amusing and enlightening:

• On the coalition: “Obama has organized a much wider political coalition and thus a greater chance of electoral success.” (paraphrase)
• On party infighting: “After I had the nomination won and everything except the crowning at the convention, the other candidates that I had defeated in the primaries and the caucuses ganged up on me and spent the next month just bad mouthing me around the country. And, of course the Nixon people used some of the quotes and threw them back at me in the general election.”

So, yes, John Judis, in a way, you’re on to something. But mostly, not really.

Thx: Sullivan

Thx Andrew Sullivan: