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Update: Just spent a little while with J outside in the drizzle, celebrating with neighbors. We cheered cars that drove by, and they honked and waved back. A random group of revelers was celebrating in front of the Tivoli. A group of younger folks down the block actually broke into song, Give Peace a Chance, and a bunch of those who planned ahead are setting off fireworks. The next 4 years are going to be fun here in DC, starting with the inauguration!
- Mood:
jubilant
For President: Senator Barack Obama, of course. The only question in DC is will he break the 90% barrier?
For DC Council At-Large: Anyone but the Marion Barry-endorsed Michael Brown, whose robo-calls have hit us several times during the dinner hour. I'm leaning towards voting for Patrick Mara, the socially liberal (pro-gay marriage, pro-choice) Republican who lives around the corner here in Columbia Heights, who could be good for our neighborhood, and Kwame Brown for the other open seat. As you know, a certain number of seats on the Council are set aside for non-Democrats for some reason.
Shadow Senator and Shadow Representative: I'll vote for the incumbents in these largely
ANC Representative: Rather than endorsing someone for our local ANC seat, I urge everyone within earshot to write in something like "none of the above". William Jordan, legendary local conspiracy theorist and listserv spammer is unfortunately running unopposed. He will join Frank Winstead as an example of what's wrong with the entire ANC system.
- Mood:fretful
One of my (many) worries about the upcoming election is that Democratic voters will be turned away in large numbers because they're wearing Obama tee shirts. The issue hasn't really come up before, because typically you don't get a ton of people wearing tee shirt supporting presidential candidates, but this election is different. With Obama being the first African-American candidate running for president, the black community is enthusiastic about him to the point where a cottage industry has arisen in Obama tee shirts and other paraphernalia. Anecdotally, I see more people walking around in Obama-attire than in all previous elections combined. Obama tee shirts are all over DC.
The catch is that wearing such tee shirts is not allowed in the polling places, as it is considered the same as waving around a campaign sign. That seems fair, but the federal and local governments should make sure they get the word out about the rule, so that thousands of African-American voters aren't turned away, disappointed, on election day. It would be horrible if the election turns on a strictly enforced interpretation of this rule. I hope that others will help spread the word: it may seem a good idea, but do not wear your Obama tee shirt on election day.
- Mood:
worried
With the latest Republican attempt at "Swiftboating" Obama, and the Supreme Court hanging in the balance, it's time for the Obama campaign to take the gloves off already. As usual, the sleazy attacks are exaggerated and untruthful, with a wink towards the big lie that Obama is a Muslim terrorist. Sarah Pain has been slamming Obama as "palling around with terrorists" because a former member of the Weather Underground was on the same charity board he was on. The details really don't matter, as all the people like my dad, who suspect Obama of being a Muslim radical, will say "see, I told you he was pals with terrorists." It's ridiculous.
It's very frustrating to me that the Democrats don't fight back on equal terms. They think they're adhering to a higher standard, sticking with semi-legitimate attacks related to the economy, and refraining from personal attacks. That's why you lost in 2000 and 2004, dumbasses. We need a Democratic Karl Rove or Dick Cheney somewhere behind the scenes, in the heart of the Death Star, directing the Obama campaign. It's time to take the gloves off. Biden should be out there repeating how old McCain is, that he had cancer, and his chances are pretty good of dying in office and leaving the country with Sarah Palin as President. Bring up how he dumped his first wife for a younger, richer, more attractive woman - that might take some of the bloom off of their hockey mom supporters.
And where is Hillary Clinton? She should be out there every day speaking out against Palin, and pointing out to all of her supporters that Palin is far-right on the issues, diametrically opposed to Clinton's positions. Obama should be hinting that Clinton will end up with a nice cabinet position if she wants, in order to woo her former supporters.
Once in office, I of course would hope that the Democrats would reach out to the Republicans and work across party lines to make progress on all of our many problems, but they need to get into the White House first. Sad to say, they need to get a little down and dirty!
- Mood:impatient
On the subject of the Democratic primaries, I've given a great deal of thought to the issue, and will be casting my ballot for Barack Obama. While I see little difference among the candidates, and will definitely be supporting and voting for the ultimate Democratic nominee, I think Obama has a slightly better chance of beating whoever becomes the Republican nominee.
Also, looking past the election, I think Obama would have the best shot at building a little bipartisanship in the government, and would be allowed a longer "grace period" than Hillary Clinton. While it's unfortunate, if Clinton were elected president, right wingers like Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, the Washington Times, and Fox News would go berserk. The knee-jerk hostility towards Hillary Clinton by something like 45% of the population is troubling, and would lead to a Hillary Clinton administration being continuously under siege, unable to make any progress towards their goals. The attack dogs would dredge up Whitewater, the travel office scandal, why didn't she divorce Bill, "Hillarycare", with the prevailing undertone being that she's a Machiavellian "shrill bitch" with a fake laugh. At least Obama would be able to avoid some of the flak thrown up by the Hillary-haters. I'm not saying it's right, just being pragmatic here.
If the Democrats win, they should forget about making any progress towards party goals for awhile and just concentrate on un-doing 8 years of the incompetent Bush-Cheney administration. They'll need to go through everything from day one, and work like mad to undo the damage, from logging roads in national parks, to funding for programs advocating birth control, rebuilding America's shattered image abroad, strengthening and re-equipping our armed forces, and revitalizing the EPA. I don't envy the next president, because they're going to be blamed for a lot of the fallout of the Bush administration, but someone's got to clean up the mess, and hopefully Obama will be the person to do it.
- Mood:
anxious
