i am writing from los angeles, california to tell you why i support barack obama and why you should vote for the only candidate worthy of being the next president of the united states.
for the past several years, i have grown increasingly disillusioned, angry, and ashamed to be an american. i have watched our fascist leader ignore the will of his people and command an imperialistic march into and through a part of the world we should be approaching with diplomacy, kindness, and tolerance. i have referred to myself as, "an ex-patriot in the making" and have meant it as i opened my eyes to other parts of the world i might someday call home.
i am now beginning to reconsider my position. barack obama has inspired me to hope. he has inspired me to believe, to believe that i have the power to fight for the america i knew as a kid, and he has even inspired me to give up a lucrative law-firm job to join the campaign and do what i can to secure a brighter future for america - with obama at the reigns.
because of obama, i believe in america again and i want to follow his lead and do my part in making america great again. i hope you will do the same. all you have to do is believe...
YES WE CAN!
15 February 2008
14 February 2008
hillary's solution business
though i think it will ultimately fail, i also think it was a smart move by camp clinton to force obama into having to answer to them. the problem is that he won't run and hide, he will come back at them with the very answers they claim he doesn't have. and in addition to solutions, obama's got something more powerful than camp clinton can compete with.
it is the hope obama inspires and his opponent's assertions that it doesn't matter that will damn and destroy camp clinton. if more americans begin to feel as i feel, a great day in america is but a few elections away, an america where public service is given in exchange for an affordable education, where green collar jobs create a whole new industry that will revolutionize the world, an america that fights for injustice instead of money, an america that inspires pride in americans and people around the world. these are the things america needs right now and that's not what clinton can deliver.
it's like the naysayers are completely oblivious to the reality that obama is winning people over with every inhale of breath and exhale of hope. when he campaigns and gets out to meet and greet, he inspires us -the disillusioned, angry and ashamed, to believe that we can love america again. when he does that, he wins over lots and lots of the inherent clinton votes - the ones she possesses before the strategic campaigning begins. clinton has history, recognition, familiarity. she's a symbol for what we remember as a better time. those votes are hers to lose and she's losing them because she's not right for the future and america sees its brighter future with obama at the reigns. sure, he's the media's darling story, but it's one we all keep tuning in to hear more of and the one that has us rushing to the polls.
in the end it's all going to come down to whether or not enough people get high on the hope obama touts and enough people believe that america can be better if we make it better. when that happens, it's over for clinton. and it's certainly over for mccain. and for america, a bright new day will dawn.
it is the hope obama inspires and his opponent's assertions that it doesn't matter that will damn and destroy camp clinton. if more americans begin to feel as i feel, a great day in america is but a few elections away, an america where public service is given in exchange for an affordable education, where green collar jobs create a whole new industry that will revolutionize the world, an america that fights for injustice instead of money, an america that inspires pride in americans and people around the world. these are the things america needs right now and that's not what clinton can deliver.
it's like the naysayers are completely oblivious to the reality that obama is winning people over with every inhale of breath and exhale of hope. when he campaigns and gets out to meet and greet, he inspires us -the disillusioned, angry and ashamed, to believe that we can love america again. when he does that, he wins over lots and lots of the inherent clinton votes - the ones she possesses before the strategic campaigning begins. clinton has history, recognition, familiarity. she's a symbol for what we remember as a better time. those votes are hers to lose and she's losing them because she's not right for the future and america sees its brighter future with obama at the reigns. sure, he's the media's darling story, but it's one we all keep tuning in to hear more of and the one that has us rushing to the polls.
in the end it's all going to come down to whether or not enough people get high on the hope obama touts and enough people believe that america can be better if we make it better. when that happens, it's over for clinton. and it's certainly over for mccain. and for america, a bright new day will dawn.
13 February 2008
love in the time of myspace
one of my best girlfriends called me earlier this week and said, “i changed my relationships status”. she started dating a new guy a couple of months ago, it started getting pretty intense a couple of weeks ago, and since they met on myspace, it only seemed fitting that their first step as a couple would be to “change their relationships status” and let the whole world know that they are now boyfriend and girlfriend.
i remember the days when that conversation would finally spring to life. it would begin innocently with an anecdotal monologue about not wanting to see other people and then without asking permission it would walk straight into the question, "will you be my boyfriend?" with a demand for finality. the conversation was scary (it's still scary) because it was (and is) much like walking naked through the hallways of school. it’s putting everything out there, hoping and praying for reciprocity in feeling, but not knowing if it’s all just a few definitive words away from ending, “i don’t really feel that way,” or “i’m not in a place where i can give you what you want,” or some other excuse that ends in heartbreaking disappointment. the most inevitable of questions in a new relationship now seems to revolve around some arbitrary electronic signal to the world.
don’t get me wrong. i’m a huge fan of myspace. i think it’s great. it’s the way i keep in touch with the friends and family i long ago left in the midwest for the greener, er dirtier, pastures of city life. but it doesn’t mean i don’t look back at the days of “pinning” or wrapping boys’ class rings with nostalgic predilection.
aw yes, the good ole days. i remember when my high-school boyfriend gave me his class ring as a sign of his devotion and his desire to see only me. it was a beautiful moment and my first serious relationship (though in retrospect, it was hardly serious and a whole lot naïve, but lovely nonetheless as it was my first bout with love). i spent hours wrapping his ring in colorful threads, sealing it with layer upon layer of clear fingernail polish, only to unwrap it and start all over with a new color every week or two. it was a symbol of my pride to be his girlfriend, a symbol of my mounting responsibility as someone’s lover, and a symbol of my commitment to only him. and the whole world knew what that ring on my finger meant.
nowadays, however, such isn’t the case. we have found ourselves living and dating in an electronic and unpredictable world. we meet our dates online, we talk to them online (instant messaging, e-mail, myspace messaging, etc.), we even date them online (sometimes). on a recent first date of mine, we talked about how crazy it is to have nearly unabridged access to the innermost caverns of a courter’s soul before even the first date. and while this is not a bad thing at every level, it does seem to negate some of the magical escalation in getting to know someone through long conversations in the wee hours of the morning, looking across the table at one another over coffee long gone cold, and falling madly and deeply in love by simply being with one another.
my friend and her new beau would likely disagree with much of my cynical sentiment. she says this is the most wonderful new beginning she’s ever shared with a lover. because their “meeting” was so happenstance and at a time in my friend’s life when a relationship was neither sought or even considered possible, she says the honesty from which this began is unparalleled in her experience. neither of them had anything to lose and their early exchanges were unwary, long, and candid. they hid nothing from one another because this was a friendship developing from nothing and probably going nowhere. they were friends in a cyber world without any real connections, until they did connect and fell in love with one another’s simple verity and acceptance of a world of beauty most don’t dare imagine.
even though i may seem a little cynical, i am a believer. i do believe in love and its wondrous power to conquer almost everything (i mean, i am divorced so it clearly doesn’t conquer everything). and i believe love can be found in all shapes and sizes and in all mediums and forums. i think the modern day of myspace dating has opened up the doors to grander possibilities in our quest for love, sex, companionship, whatever, and i do believe that magic follows wherever love blossoms. but it doesn’t mean i don’t or won’t let my mind wander back, sheepishly or otherwise, to revel in those awe-inspiring days of pins, letterman jackets, and thread-bound class rings over the clickety-click of today’s electronic status change.
i remember the days when that conversation would finally spring to life. it would begin innocently with an anecdotal monologue about not wanting to see other people and then without asking permission it would walk straight into the question, "will you be my boyfriend?" with a demand for finality. the conversation was scary (it's still scary) because it was (and is) much like walking naked through the hallways of school. it’s putting everything out there, hoping and praying for reciprocity in feeling, but not knowing if it’s all just a few definitive words away from ending, “i don’t really feel that way,” or “i’m not in a place where i can give you what you want,” or some other excuse that ends in heartbreaking disappointment. the most inevitable of questions in a new relationship now seems to revolve around some arbitrary electronic signal to the world.
don’t get me wrong. i’m a huge fan of myspace. i think it’s great. it’s the way i keep in touch with the friends and family i long ago left in the midwest for the greener, er dirtier, pastures of city life. but it doesn’t mean i don’t look back at the days of “pinning” or wrapping boys’ class rings with nostalgic predilection.
aw yes, the good ole days. i remember when my high-school boyfriend gave me his class ring as a sign of his devotion and his desire to see only me. it was a beautiful moment and my first serious relationship (though in retrospect, it was hardly serious and a whole lot naïve, but lovely nonetheless as it was my first bout with love). i spent hours wrapping his ring in colorful threads, sealing it with layer upon layer of clear fingernail polish, only to unwrap it and start all over with a new color every week or two. it was a symbol of my pride to be his girlfriend, a symbol of my mounting responsibility as someone’s lover, and a symbol of my commitment to only him. and the whole world knew what that ring on my finger meant.
nowadays, however, such isn’t the case. we have found ourselves living and dating in an electronic and unpredictable world. we meet our dates online, we talk to them online (instant messaging, e-mail, myspace messaging, etc.), we even date them online (sometimes). on a recent first date of mine, we talked about how crazy it is to have nearly unabridged access to the innermost caverns of a courter’s soul before even the first date. and while this is not a bad thing at every level, it does seem to negate some of the magical escalation in getting to know someone through long conversations in the wee hours of the morning, looking across the table at one another over coffee long gone cold, and falling madly and deeply in love by simply being with one another.
my friend and her new beau would likely disagree with much of my cynical sentiment. she says this is the most wonderful new beginning she’s ever shared with a lover. because their “meeting” was so happenstance and at a time in my friend’s life when a relationship was neither sought or even considered possible, she says the honesty from which this began is unparalleled in her experience. neither of them had anything to lose and their early exchanges were unwary, long, and candid. they hid nothing from one another because this was a friendship developing from nothing and probably going nowhere. they were friends in a cyber world without any real connections, until they did connect and fell in love with one another’s simple verity and acceptance of a world of beauty most don’t dare imagine.
even though i may seem a little cynical, i am a believer. i do believe in love and its wondrous power to conquer almost everything (i mean, i am divorced so it clearly doesn’t conquer everything). and i believe love can be found in all shapes and sizes and in all mediums and forums. i think the modern day of myspace dating has opened up the doors to grander possibilities in our quest for love, sex, companionship, whatever, and i do believe that magic follows wherever love blossoms. but it doesn’t mean i don’t or won’t let my mind wander back, sheepishly or otherwise, to revel in those awe-inspiring days of pins, letterman jackets, and thread-bound class rings over the clickety-click of today’s electronic status change.
12 February 2008
is hillary losing her mojo?
yeah, it's been a tough week for hillary clinton. i wouldn't want to be in her shoes, after the weekend sweep and losing virginia and dc (and about to lose maryland) today. that has to hurt, even after winning big in california and new york on super tuesday. the angst is in her voice, as well as her actions. it's in her speech tonight. even my favorite part of her stump speech, "green collar", is a teensy less enthusiastic.
further complicating things, hillary got rid of her campaign manager this week (though it's no surprise after the iowa debacle). the recognition that she needs to change the direction of her campaign, mid-campaign, with an upward moving barack obama looking back at her plateau, is a telling tale of the doubt plaguing that campaign.
and camp clinton should be scared. team obama is all the rage for a nation desperately wanting to believe in hope again.
further complicating things, hillary got rid of her campaign manager this week (though it's no surprise after the iowa debacle). the recognition that she needs to change the direction of her campaign, mid-campaign, with an upward moving barack obama looking back at her plateau, is a telling tale of the doubt plaguing that campaign.
and camp clinton should be scared. team obama is all the rage for a nation desperately wanting to believe in hope again.
11 February 2008
shut up about florida and michigan already
the democratic national committee, along with the support of all the democratic nominee hopefuls, told michigan and florida that their delegates would not be counted if the states chose to hold their primaries before the dnc's rules permitted (january 5th in michigan and and january 29th in florida). break the rules, you big dummy states, and you suffer the consequences.
in honoring the dnc's punishment, obama wasn't even on the ballot in michigan. in florida, where none of the candidates campaigned, clinton won. of course clinton won. she's got the institutional vote and when obama doesn't give the people a chance to know him, he's not going to get the votes. and now clinton wants to retroactively count those votes, cuz she sees a big fat losing streak in her rearview mirror.
with a race that continues to tighten, the candidates are scrambling for any and all delegates they can scrounge, and camp clinton is making noise about wanting at least florida delegates counted. the media, too, is somehow choosing to forget about everyone's earlier agreement to side with the dnc in order to find a way to count delegates. what the fuck? am i the only one who feels like this is cheating of some sort or other?
forget about michigan and florida. they wanted to be all cute and funny and get to participate in the process at a time when it'd actually matter (i.e. before super tuesday). when if they'd just held on, they'd've been able to really participate in what can only be described as the most exciting primary season in history. so fuck them. good things come to those who wait and karma craps on the rest. so long florida and so long michigan. maybe next time you'll see fit to follow the rules...
in honoring the dnc's punishment, obama wasn't even on the ballot in michigan. in florida, where none of the candidates campaigned, clinton won. of course clinton won. she's got the institutional vote and when obama doesn't give the people a chance to know him, he's not going to get the votes. and now clinton wants to retroactively count those votes, cuz she sees a big fat losing streak in her rearview mirror.
with a race that continues to tighten, the candidates are scrambling for any and all delegates they can scrounge, and camp clinton is making noise about wanting at least florida delegates counted. the media, too, is somehow choosing to forget about everyone's earlier agreement to side with the dnc in order to find a way to count delegates. what the fuck? am i the only one who feels like this is cheating of some sort or other?
forget about michigan and florida. they wanted to be all cute and funny and get to participate in the process at a time when it'd actually matter (i.e. before super tuesday). when if they'd just held on, they'd've been able to really participate in what can only be described as the most exciting primary season in history. so fuck them. good things come to those who wait and karma craps on the rest. so long florida and so long michigan. maybe next time you'll see fit to follow the rules...
07 February 2008
almost the biggest douche in the red-zone bows out
good move for romney and his millions. bad news for america. now it's mccain vs. huckabee. making matters even worse, the media is beginning to tout a "mccain huckabee" ticket this november. my greatest fear, as i've probably mentioned, has been clinton and whoever vs. mccain and whoever. now my fear has risen to a new level with clinton and whoever vs. decrepit mccain and dogmatist huckabee. let's just suppose for a moment that mccain and huckabee defeat clinton and whoever (not a stretch). then let's suppose that mccain dies in his first year as president (also, not a stretch). america would be left with a president who wants to amend the constitution to reflect the word of god. even worse than that (though i know how hard it is to imagine that anything could be worse than that), "president huckabee".
need i say more?
really?
need i say more?
really?
21 January 2008
dirty dems debate
the dems met tonight, in anticipation of south carolina's primary election tomorrow. the fact that today is martin luther king day (and a misquote by cnn, as well as hottie dan abrams, that today is mlk's birthday (his actual birthday was january 15th)) came up a hundred times, almost as often as the concept of change itself. tonight's was probably the most interesting debate of the season, for a lot of reasons, but mostly because it was either really boring or really dirty (and i thought cnn and wolf did a crappy job of coordinating and moderating the event).
youch! i'll tell ya, barack and hillary really went at it. they spent the majority of tonight's standing debate slinging shit at one another, while desperedwards sat in the corner wishing for some airtime. punch for punch, i thought barack and hillary were pretty even, but i thought barack took the beating much better than hillary. she did not keep her cool very well and often looked and sounded condescending. despards (desperedwards is just too long to keep typing) did a pretty good job of taking advantage of the bickering candidates to show himself as the only grown up, but it did nothing for me. i still think the debate would have been more interesting had he not shown up at all. and i sorta hope he drops out before the next one because as unlikely as it is, a barack vs. hillary showdown is must-see-tv at my house. i want to see them go at each other again, and this time without the white guy in the corner. considering that this entire campaign revolves around the candidates as people (the differences in their solutions to our problems is so slight, it barely matters), i'd like to see our front-runners go head to head, but with a moderator with the balls to handle it.
It's interesting to listen to the candidates spin their responses. i never feel like they've answered any of the questions asked, but have instead skipped their way to the most applicable stock answer they've been practicing. i thought hillary did a great job of standing strong and sounding good on the economy, healthcare, and god i love it when she says, "green collar", but she has a real problem keeping her cool (and that is something she's going to have to work on). barack didn't seem to be very focused and i didn't know what the hell he was talking about or why, at least half the time. further, barack is really going to have to work on better responding to the issues that concern americans. believe me, i'm hope's biggest advocate and the world's best advertisement for the sale and use of rose-colored glasses. even i realize that hope can only carry us so far. at some point, he's going to have to show me why i should keep hoping with him.
youch! i'll tell ya, barack and hillary really went at it. they spent the majority of tonight's standing debate slinging shit at one another, while desperedwards sat in the corner wishing for some airtime. punch for punch, i thought barack and hillary were pretty even, but i thought barack took the beating much better than hillary. she did not keep her cool very well and often looked and sounded condescending. despards (desperedwards is just too long to keep typing) did a pretty good job of taking advantage of the bickering candidates to show himself as the only grown up, but it did nothing for me. i still think the debate would have been more interesting had he not shown up at all. and i sorta hope he drops out before the next one because as unlikely as it is, a barack vs. hillary showdown is must-see-tv at my house. i want to see them go at each other again, and this time without the white guy in the corner. considering that this entire campaign revolves around the candidates as people (the differences in their solutions to our problems is so slight, it barely matters), i'd like to see our front-runners go head to head, but with a moderator with the balls to handle it.
It's interesting to listen to the candidates spin their responses. i never feel like they've answered any of the questions asked, but have instead skipped their way to the most applicable stock answer they've been practicing. i thought hillary did a great job of standing strong and sounding good on the economy, healthcare, and god i love it when she says, "green collar", but she has a real problem keeping her cool (and that is something she's going to have to work on). barack didn't seem to be very focused and i didn't know what the hell he was talking about or why, at least half the time. further, barack is really going to have to work on better responding to the issues that concern americans. believe me, i'm hope's biggest advocate and the world's best advertisement for the sale and use of rose-colored glasses. even i realize that hope can only carry us so far. at some point, he's going to have to show me why i should keep hoping with him.
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