o brave new world: Blog

Reflections on the Fourth, two takes

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 19:05:54 GMT

Too amusing to pass up on the Fourth (via Cogitamus): "1776," a satire of "300," among other things.

Not much to synthesize here, though I suppose we could also think about patriotism in a more serious fashion:

- dave//

del.icio.us Tags: patriotism,satire,Obama,July 4

Original derivations

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 00:48:19 GMT

Blogs are often completely derivative. One person somewhere writes something original, whether in the form of a blog post or an article or editorial that appears on some news site, and then bloggers pick up on it, whether directly or from other bloggers they happen to follow who find it first. Either the derivation will be a simple sentence pointing readers to the original with maybe the addition of a quotation or abstract (the kind of thing Ben Smith seems to like to do almost exclusively), or it will be a "riff" on the original, adding additional color or perspective, or simply providing a contrary opinion.

I myself tend to prefer a synthetic approach, pulling together different things I've read on a topic into a theme, drawing connections or contrasts where I see them, then providing a personal spin on it. No big surprise or mystery there, I suppose; originality isn't really my goal with this medium, but if I can add something to the discussion and offer at least an original synthesis, I feel like I'm being creative and perhaps even useful (though, to be sure, I have no illusions about the breadth of my readership or the influence I might have on those who do stop by from time to time, whose interest in my occasional blog expositions never ceases to amaze me).

Take this, for example: Al Giordano's recent post on McCain's trip to Columbia. What Al does with this piece is a bit of semi-original opinioneering based on a relatively idiosyncratic review of source material, synthesizing an interesting and compelling perspective on the news, one that you don't get just anywhere, least of all in the MSM. I count no fewer than 17 "link citations" in this particular piece, to sources including the IHT, the Huffington Post, MSNBC's First Read, the AP, and Wikipedia, as well as the author's own writings and related posts. This is one thing that makes Giordano so interesting: his eclectic interests and research which he builds on in the creation of original syntheses of material. Whatever you may think of his perspective, you could hardly say he's a lazy blogger, just regurgitating stuff that others have published: he thinks, takes his time, applies an original point of view, and produces something that a lot of people apparently find compelling, judging by his traffic numbers and authority ranking, to say nothing of his active, prolifically commenting readership (just check one of his posts: he gets not dozens of comments, but often even hundreds of them).

Although this isn't quite what I had initially envisaged doing with Al's piece on McCain in Columbia, it does demonstrate the point well enough. It's interesting what you can do with blogging when you put your mind to it.

- dave//

del.icio.us Tags: blogging,Giordano,politics

Impeachment manager speaks!

Sat, 28 Jun 2008 05:37:56 GMT

Will wonders never cease? Remember Barr's assholic persecution of Clinton as one of the House's "impeachment managers"? Agree with Noam Scheiber over at The Stump that this Bloggingheads' sequence w/ Bob Barr on Bush and Clinton is rich. Rich, I tell you!

I remember well that period: late '98, early '99, when I had just come back from Switzerland after breaking up w/ my ex-wife for the first time. I was riveted by the whole scene and just livid that the whole thing was happening in the first place. That was when MoveOn.org was born, and that was perhaps one of the key moments in our glorious "politics of personal destruction" of the past 20+ years--the very politics that Obama strives to put in our collective rearview mirror. Seems just insane that Clinton would be impeached for his peccadilloes and lame-ass prevarications, and here we are with a President who's run wholesale roughshod over the Constitution, as if it were a half-crumpled McDonald's bag discarded into the road by a passing motorist.

Ok, the metaphor is a bit overwrought, but what the hell: you get the point.

- dave//

del.icio.us Tags: politics,Bob Barr,impeachment,Constitution,Obama,Clinton

UPDATE: At least we can say this about Barr: there's a certain perverse consistency in his view of the "rule of law"--that hammer that he, Asa Hutchinson, and the other managers used over and over again in their prosecution of Clinton. I just have to wonder, now that he sees what true "crimes and misdemeanors" really look like in the slaughterhouse of the Bush presidency, whether he feels any shame at all about his petty, sanctimonious grandstanding against Clinton back in the '90s? Still, you have to revel in seeing this old cast of characters from that time playing out their internal and external conflicts on the stage of the 2008 elections. Makes for some often very ironic political theater.

Of mice and men

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 04:26:58 GMT

Gnawing, always gnawing at unexpected corners and with preternatural vanity: Nader, dismissing Obama as too white/black. Reminds me of a certain Geraldine. Amazing.

And now, look over here: counter-intuitive delusionals looking forward to an Obama presidency. As long as they keep it to themselves in that perverse echo-chamber of theirs.

- dave//

del.icio.us Tags: politics,racism,Obama

Gasoline on the fire

Sat, 21 Jun 2008 01:48:53 GMT

So I'm trying out the new corporate bus system, partly to save on some gas and also to alleviate some of the stress of my commute from Ballard to Redmond and back, which typically hits 50 mins to an hour each way. If I didn't have regular off-campus appointments during the week, I'd have long been a regular rider. In fact, this very post I'm doing on the bus right now, jarring bumps notwithstanding. One of the nice features of the corporate bus line is that they have these things equipped w/ wi-fi; makes either work or casual browsing pretty easy to do in transit.

Anyhow, so I was thinking: the last tank of gas I filled cost me north of $60.00 for the first time. Although I've got a small car, I'm constrained to use premium. If I manage to do the bus a couple times a week, I'm liable to save some 1/3 of my petrol outlay, which begins to be significant, week to week, month to month. And that's fine. I should do more, though. I have this idea that my next car will be the Great Leap Forward in automotive technology--some mass-market incarnation of today's lithium-ion powered prototypes. We'll see if I make it that long; it could be a very long wait before we get there.

Or not. It depends on what kinds of choices we make as we twist and squirm under the squeeze of skyrocketing oil prices. Do we buy the line that somehow we just need to produce more oil by drilling offshore or in ANWR, and maybe, in 5 years time, see a blip in increased domestic oil production that will have already been offset by increased consumption? Do we continue to stick that black needle in our arm and expect somehow that we won't crave more next time? Do we grovel and whine, shake and groan, imploring our dealers to please just give us one more fix to tide us over?

Or do we say, no, enough, it's time to change. Time to stop opting for the easy fix. Time to change the world by changing ourselves first, rather than somehow always, unfailingly expecting that it needs to happen the other way around. Imagine what the world might be like, how different it would be, if we could break the most destructive of our habits...

Ah, I see my bus stop is coming up. Some busses you need to get on and stay on for a while, others, well, you just need to get off, otherwise you'll go around and around and around and never get anywhere.

- dave //

A little perspective

Sun, 15 Jun 2008 19:37:23 GMT

No doubt there will be a lot of noise, hand-wringing, worry-warting, and other acts of carrying on about the race recently enjoined for the General Election. To be sure, there's a lot at stake, at home and abroad, depending on who comes out on top in November. Of course, much work must still be done, voters must still be registered, and votes gotten out between now and then. I don't need to belabor the obvious.

But think, just think: the economy is tanking, W. is the most reviled of presidents in the history of polling, we're still ensconced in a tragic misadventure in Iraq that the American people want only to end, our Constitutional liberties are in dire peril, etc., etc. The odds are EXTREMELY LONG for McCain to prevail in these circumstances; if history teaches us anything this election year, it should be that the party in power is quite likely to be booted from the White House, whether the standard-bearer is an actual or perceived incumbent.

And this doesn't even begin to take into account the glaring weaknesses of the Republican standard-bearer himself, whose mealy-mouthed mish-mash of contradictory policy positions, lobbyist-enamored ethical lapses, and tone-deaf, scratch-your-head-in-disbelief-at-the-utter-ineptitude politicking should put many an anxious Democrat's mind at ease. Green-screen amateur hour, anyone? Here's a, um, somewhat abridged version of that speech courtesy the JedReport:

What's more, it is only by the skin of his teeth that McCain has the support of the Republican conservative establishment; what motivates them is not a positive support for McCain and his policies, but rather a desire only to see that the Democrats don't win. Without an energized base and positive message, they can only get so far this year on fumes of negativity, particularly in the face of an extremely energized, forward-looking Democratic party. And don't believe for a moment this ridiculous narrative that Clintonian dead-enders are flocking to McCain en masse and that the Democrats are hopelessly split after a hard-fought, dare I say, "bitter" primary season.

Simply put, this one's ours to win.

- dave//

del.icio.us Tags: McCain,politics,Obama

A long train of abuses and usurpations

Sat, 07 Jun 2008 22:54:50 GMT

Over the past 5 months, I've been following the Democratic--and to a much lesser extent, Republican--nominating process, state by state, statistic by statistic, key talking point by key talking point. According to some who are close to me, I may have been following it a little too closely--perhaps obsessively. It's been hard not to, in my view, given everything at stake this year, and our need for a major realignment of our political culture, values, and policies.

Let me try to spell out as clearly as I can what I mean here.

We simply cannot ignore, ever forget, much less forgive the crimes of these past 7+ years committed against the People and Constitution of the United States by the administration of George Walker Bush--as fate would have it, the boy-king installed illegitimately by a decree of the Supreme Court and sustained in power through a cynical and relentless exploitation of the fear and loathing of the People. Where we fail to today, posterity must assuredly condemn our 43rd president for these offenses among many others too innumerable to recount here:

The corruption of the solemn meaning, profound obligation, and unique opportunity of 9/11 by a band of ruthless neo-con ideologues operating darkly behind the throne, which succeeded only in squandering the sympathy of the world for all time and hobbling for years to come our moral authority to rally the world to causes of global impact, like trans-national terrorism, climate change, genocide, and world hunger.
The perversion of intelligence by politics, the deceitful manipulation of public opinion by means of bald-faced lies and propaganda worthy of none other than Joseph Goebbels--and the concomitant acquiescence of reason and morality by those who knew better and failed in their duty to protect and serve and uphold the Constitution--that led to the invasion of Iraq and the bottomless human tragedy ever since.
The illicit outing of a covert intelligence officer whose husband's inconvenient regard for the truth about WMDs challenged the fundamental premise for war, and the cover-up at the highest levels which to this day, though widely known, has not substantially been called to account as our law affords and our consciences must demand.
The blatant disregard for the public welfare and the plight of the underprivileged as demonstrated to an appalled nation and world in the wake of Katrina--wrongs still, to this day, not righted, but further compounded by the rapacious profiteering and bureaucratic bungling in the aftermath that have sickened and defeated her long-suffering victims, depriving whole communities in the Gulf of the energy and life needed to move forward, rebuild, and at long last recover.
The constitutional depredations of a "unitary executive" theory of power, which has, in practice, circumvented the will of the people as expressed by acts of Congress through the application of extra-legal signing statements far more numerous and overreaching than any administration's in history.
The subversion of Justice from impartial executor of the nation's laws into a political tool for enforcing loyalty to the chief executive and justifying the means for the political ends of the President and his administration, whose disdain for law and the Constitution has nowhere been more evidenced than in the dismemberment of habeas corpus and the embrace of torture as a legitimate weapon in the so-called "war on terror."
The mismanagement of the federal budget to the outrageous benefit of the rich, powerful, and venal--including profiteering oil companies, no-bid and unaccountable contractors like Halliburton and Blackwater, and the rest of the military-industrial complex about which Eisenhower warned us nearly 50 years ago--which has hamstrung domestic spending programs for decades to come and effectively bankrupted the national treasury, adding trillions of dollars of new debt for future generations to assume.
The amateurism, cronyism, and thoroughgoing disregard for basic standards of professional conduct that have resulted in a post war management team with no real policy talent, cultural depth, or institutional support to deal with an insurgency as it was taking root, an Iraqi society that was fracturing predictably along ethnic and religious lines, and all the Iraqi and American dead that were accumulating in the streets and markets of Baghdad, day-in and day-out; in the investiture and unquestioning support of high-ranking public officials with no shred of integrity, intelligence, or shame; and in the arrogant, mocking, unapologetic disdain for moral or intellectual consistency and honesty in all matters of policy and public concern, including the integrity of science, the importance of education, the key threats to public health, and the management of the nation's economy.

How many more abuses must we recount to justify our outrage? How many more crimes must be brought to light, substantiated, and added to the list before we should be bold enough to act? Any one of them should be enough for us to take action and vigorously hold accountable those responsible to the full extent of the law. But here, after more than 7 years, the offenses continue to pile up, the next upon the last--and still nothing is done to assure the just redress of our grievances. Are we so numbed to reality or punch-drunk from the battering we've taken that we are no longer capable of acting?

Our founding documents provide the guidance we need for the crises we face even today. Let us recall Thomas Jefferson's exhortation in the Declaration of Independence (emphasis mine):

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security.

What choice do we have but to advocate and fight for the kind of revolution envisioned by the Founders? (Or, failing that, what then?)

For these reasons, I see the movement to elect Barack Obama president as perhaps the last, best hope we have for effecting the change we so desperately need, for arresting and reversing our precipitous decline before it's too late-- before the American Experiment should fail and the Republic might fall.

- dave//

del.icio.us Tags: politics,Bush,constitution,Thomas Jefferson,Declaration of Independence,Obama

Come together, right now

Thu, 05 Jun 2008 16:20:41 GMT

As she will suspend her campaign on Saturday and endorse Obama as presumptive nominee, we can all breathe a sigh of relief. Perhaps that will signal to enough of her hardened supporters in Hillaryland that they can soften and begin the process of reconciliation and acceptance of the new kid in town. And it will also begin to lay to rest this notion that a so-called "unity ticket" is not only desirable but necessary; in any event, there's no way either Hillary or her wayward spouse will submit to the vetting process and muzzling that will be required of them in order for her to be on the ticket.

It's clear enough to anyone paying attention that this is a monumental achievement by almost any count, whether you attempt to include popular votes or not in your analysis (and, for the record, I don't: it's a specious metric). You better believe that millions of us are going to do everything we can in the months ahead to bring fundamental change to our domestic and international politics and policies, starting with the election Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States.

We know that the world is watching and waiting. Time to come together.

- dave//

del.icio.us Tags: Obama,Clinton,nomination,politics

Seeing clearly now

Wed, 04 Jun 2008 06:40:26 GMT

Skies are clearing. Don't pay too much attention to the clouds that linger; they'll soon pass. Via Al:

(Fwiw, I thought that Hillary's speech was obnoxious and ungracious in the extreme, but as my GF said to me more or less, it wasn't much of a surprise--at least she's consistent in that regard. Thing is, you just hope for a hint of grace in defeat so you can get that elusive emotional property referred to as "closure." Guess that would just be too simple and convenient this year, now wouldn't it?)

Anyhow, O's speech made the two that preceded it seem absolutely juvenile and petty by comparison. Admittedly, I'm biased--but, hey, can you blame me? At least, so far this year, I've tried to back up my convictions with the courage of my actions.

While I'm on a bit of a hiatus from political activity this summer, I promise byall that I hold dear that I'll be reengaging in the combat in the fall. And I'll bring reinforcements.

Yes. We. Can.

- dave //

del.icio.us Tags: Obama,presumptive,Clinton,politics,primaries

Calling the bluff on MI & FL

Fri, 23 May 2008 13:55:50 GMT

Excellent breakdown of the numbers (via the Jed Report) which prove that Obama can call Clinton's patently ridiculous bluff on MI and FL, and simply have them be seated at full strength. The little known gem spelled out in this diary:

Now, everyone knows that there were 55 uncommitted delegates in Michigan. But what few seem to realize is that on April 19 in Michigan, the district conventions were held and Obama claimed 31 of the 36 uncommitted district-level delegates. He already has them. Here, look at the comments in this Bowers Open Left diary back from April 20th to get specific names. Or this diary. It's slightly painstaking, (here are 27 names, here are 3 more, here's where emptywheel cites 31) but they clearly exist. Plus the 67 Florida Obama delegates mean that there are 98 living, breathing pledged Obama delegates from those two states.
There is no such thing as a scenario where Obama gets 0 delegates in Michigan (and DCW should really do away with Scenario 5 because it is no longer operative). Chris Bowers has been writing about this for a long time.

Time to take out the trash.

- dave //

Technorati Tags: Obama,Clinton,delegates,Michigan,Florida

How big an underbelly?

Tue, 13 May 2008 14:17:09 GMT

Hard not to sit up and take notice of stories like this from the Washington Post (via MSNBC). Given the apparent antipathy of Appalachia and the Rust Belt (see, e.g., DHinMI's post or Al Giordano's before it), which the Clinton campaign hasn't shied away from stirring up--with nods and winks and sometimes even bald-faced race/racial-baiting--I just wonder how much more shrill such voices will become in the months ahead. Hate, especially the insidious and dormant kind, when woken up and cornered, can lash out in unpredictable ways.

Let's all keep an eye on this; it, too, is still very much a part of who we are, Obama's conciliatory eloquence notwithstanding.

- dave //

del.icio.us tags: Obama, race, racism, racial, campaign, Clinton

Moving goalposts, indeed

Tue, 06 May 2008 19:53:58 GMT

No wonder Hillary has lately found common cause among anti-intellectuals: people who think have a nasty habit of paying attention to those annoying little things called 'details' and tend to find bald-faced contradiction and hypocrisy anathema. Thanks, Keith, for telling it like it is.

"But, eh, what can you do?" so the argument goes. "All politicians engage in convenient prevarication and hyperbole, no?" Actually, no: not all politicians are made of the same stuff. I reject the argument of equivalence between Obama and Clinton unequivocally.

Renewing my commitment

Thu, 24 Apr 2008 15:49:17 GMT

I've been in a bit of a blogging funk.

Really, I have. It's had something to do with my fatigue with the Democratic primaries. It's had something to do with being busy with work and love.

That's more or less why I've been gone for the past month or so.

Somewhere along the line, as I focused on organizing the 36th district Obama supporters for the district caucuses, I just found myself running out of gas. And, once elected to the congressional district level, as things turned to what leaders around the CD were doing/going to do for the CD caucus coming up on May 19, I got a strange taste in my mouth that no amount of mouthwash could wash away.

What was it? I think it's that I was not having fun with it anymore. Things started to become narrowly competitive as well-meaning folks began to campaign for themselves for those coveted few slots at the national convention. I was suddenly unsure that I wanted to do anything more to organize the get-out-the-caucus effort, along the lines of what had been proven so successful in the 36th. People started to turn aggressively to self-promotion, and I wanted none of it.

So I'm going to do something different, whether or not I decide to put my name forward and make a speech at the CD caucus. I'll let you know what that is as soon as my plans gel, which should be within the next few weeks.

In the meantime, if you're wondering still why this election is so freakin' important, consider what Al has to say. His recent post lays bare the rot in our system--and in our souls, if I may go so far: we are all responsible, ultimately, for continued tolerance of the racist underbelly of this country, which the Clinton campaign has shown little restraint in exploiting (and I can guarantee you, the GOP and the right will show NO restraint in exploiting).

Consider it long; consider it deeply. Things like this are what propel me on.

- dave //

del.icio.us tags: Obama, volunteering, community, campaign, grassroots

Fair and balanced

Mon, 17 Mar 2008 23:16:02 GMT

Guess Lorne Michaels wanted to show that he isn't a total Clinton partisan: amusing Tracy Morgan "Weekend Update" commentary sent to me by Jack (thanks, Jack!).

- dave //

del.icio.us tags: Obama, SNL, humor, video

Riot act

Thu, 13 Mar 2008 13:39:10 GMT

Olbermann on Clinton: scathing.

- dave //

del.icio.us tags: Clinton, Ferraro, politics, racism, Obama

True colors

Thu, 13 Mar 2008 00:13:50 GMT

This whole business w/ Geraldine Ferraro is utterly stupefying--my brain is so completely scrambled by the relentless, toxic inputs from unexpected quarters that I'm rendered speechless. I'm dismayed to say the least to see what some of our Democratic Party establishment players are really made of when power and privilege are really on the line.

We're seeing that the unseemly underbelly of American politics is fundamentally bipartisan. Many of us are having to come to grips for the first time, really, with the uncomfortable truth that the sickness of our politics isn't just a disease of the Republican right; it belongs also to the Democrats, even among those we're long used to calling our friends. We have met the enemy and (s)he is us.

I won't get into the toxic complicity of the Clinton campaign ... nope, won't even go there right now. I'll leave that to Olbermann's Special Comment tonight, and the incisive satire of this little video:

- dave //

del.icio.us tags: Obama, politics, Clinton, video, racism

The sky is falling

Mon, 10 Mar 2008 15:06:28 GMT

My dad sent me a message yesterday about how things have unfolded this past week for the Democrats and how "the McCain campaign must be very, very pleased." What follows is my take on it all, which comes off as something of a rant, but I hope also brings it around to something a bit more positive.

My sense is--and this may be more wishful thinking than anything--is that the Obama campaign is busy retooling and refocusing, trying to figure out how to thread the needle of, on the one hand, shutting down Clinton's trash-talking prevarications, and on the other, making sure that Obama himself doesn't compromise fundamentally who he is. I'm amazed to see the extent to which the main-stream media is buying into Clinton's various bullshit theses, whether about Obama or about their supposed serious shot at locking up the nomination. It's as if, all at once, they fell out of love w/ Obama, rediscovered their awe of the Clinton "not until the last dog dies" mystique, and threw away their brains and balls to boot.

It's worth bearing in mind that Obama actually won Texas in the math that matters (delegates); but the political spin cycle currently belongs to Clinton, and she can for the moment lay claim to winning Texas based on 2/3 of the equation and conveniently ignoring the other third that doesn't suit her narrative. It's frustrating to say the least that a say-anything, do-anything approach to politics still holds such power that everyone's legs immediately go wobbly when the ugly beast rears its head (as it always does). Can't tell you how irritating it is to see how seriously people are taking this ridiculous meme about just giving it to Clinton so that Obama can be VP and we can all congratulate ourselves on getting the best of both worlds somehow... As if the clear frontrunner would just say, "Ah, hell with it, I'll just settle for 2nd place for the good of the party and become an enabler of everything I hold in contempt, even though this whole notion of 'what's good for the party' is completely concocted by the campaign that's losing by all objective criteria." How the hell Obama can keep his head on straight with all the knee-jerk punditry, facile analysis, and rampant chicken-littlism is beyond me.

And yet, at the end of the day, Obama will still have a majority of the popular vote, a majority of states, and a majority of pledged (and super) delegates. We just have to be patient until the tables and media perceptions turn again. And, finally, on the good side, what doesn't kill him will make him stronger, and the continued campaigning helps broaden Obama's exposure while at the same time serves to build up party infrastructure in every state of the country, which in the end will help make a difference in the fall.

As crappy as this past week has been for Obama, there is indeed a silver lining.

UPDATE: And here, from the man himself, a stinging rebuke of this idiotic Obama-as-VP idea.

- dave //

del.icio.us tags: Obama, politics, media, Clinton

The ones we've been waiting for

Fri, 29 Feb 2008 16:17:09 GMT

Expect a split decision on Tuesday, but a delegate win for Obama. Unlikely to be enough to end it, unfortunately.

In the meantime, there's this:

This is the sort of thing that makes this year different. Is it enough? No, not by itself, but it speaks volumes.

- dave.i.am //

del.icio.us tags: Obama, politics, video, will.i.am

'Missing the mark'

Thu, 21 Feb 2008 18:25:27 GMT

When John McCain attempts to inoculate himself against the kinds of things that are besetting him now with his self-serving admissions that he's a "flawed" servant in humble service to his nation, I'm reminded of this notion of the "tragic flaw" in Greek tragedy.

The Greek word of origin is "hamartia," which has come to be (mis-)translated as "tragic flaw," as if to say that tragic figures such as Oedipus or Agamemnon had flaws in their characters that, because of their lack of self-knowledge and their inability to correct their ways, precipitated their doom. These characterological, psycho-analytic notions were actually alien to the Greeks themselves. "Hamartia" really means something more akin to "a missing of the mark"--that is, not seeing things right and as a result making all-too-human errors at critical moments. The idea is that the events of the world present opportunities to make choices, and because of the limited ability of mere mortals to discern what's really at work in the harsh reality of a universe run by capricious and deeply mysterious gods, their own native blindness is what causes them to trip up. The fault is really a generic kind, and has little if anything to do with personal or individual failings.

In the modern age, post Freud, we tend to see things in terms of the inner dramas that punctuate and inform our psyches--thus, the "tragic flaw" meme--leading us to make good choices one moment, and poor choices at another. However you want to look at what's unfolding in the arc of the McCain "hero" story, you can't help but marvel at the inner and outer forces at work that have put him in such a compromised position.

Because of the choices he's made along the way, we can rightly call him to account for his errors in judgment that undermine the self-aggrandizing, sanctimonious narrative he wants us all to buy into. (This is fundamentally why I think this is very much a big deal and is unlikely to go away anytime soon.) We can also take a wider view and recognize that McCain, like many politicians, is also a product of a fundamentally corrupt--dare I say, flawed--system that rewards money and the power it represents with undue influence over our political process.

Do I think that Barack Obama is the anti-McCain who can save us all from ourselves? No, not really. But I do believe that, of anyone I've seen on the national political scene in a long, long time, he stands the best chance to restore some integrity to a broken system, where the power of lobbyists and moneyed interests is so completely intertwined with the business of governing, that even a supposedly reform-minded "maverick" can't tell where the line of propriety is drawn and, with his errant actions, keeps tripping over his mismatched rhetoric. The fact that he has missed the mark repeatedly tells us a lot about who he is, but given the fact that he's still standing and even has a shot at the Presidency, it also tells us something about ourselves and how cynical we've become, that all this somehow seems like "business as usual," that to many should be seen as "no big deal."

I disagree that it's not a big deal. Enough already. It's time to clean house.

- dave //

del.icio.us tags: Obama, politics, McCain, scandal, corruption, tragedy

The Justice of Zeus

Thu, 21 Feb 2008 05:31:41 GMT

Hillary has lately been getting plenty of payback for the deals she's done with the devil over the years, with her "inevitability" shattered since February's onset and her campaign now in tatters.

O'Reilly now seems to be self-destructing, as his "lynching" comment just might be the straw that broke the big bigot's back.

And then McCain, whatever you may think about the nature of his relationships with shady characters like Keating and other lobbyists who did business with his committee, may have finally gone a hypocritical bridge too far.

Add to all that a lunar eclipse tonight, and you just have to wonder: What ever could be next on the horizon?

- dave //

del.icio.us tags: Obama, politics, McCain, Clinton, O'Reilly, Apocalypse

You can't make this stuff up

Thu, 21 Feb 2008 03:46:25 GMT

So here I am, minding my own business, procrastinating a bit when I should be working on ... well, work, and checking out some blogs. And this comes across my pixelized field of vision: McCain Bombshell. And now look over here, too. I find this observation really wild from the former:

For what it's worth, my first thought upon reading this was: "Blaire Hull" and "Jack Ryan." In addition to being a phenomenally talented politician, is it possible that Obama's the luckiest man in the history of civilization?

I'm not usually the kind to pass these kinds of posts along--makes me feel just a little bit unclean and part of the dirty politics machine I want to vanquish--but you must admit, this is just too rich.

First, consider the idea that Senator John "Ethics" McCain has apparently had a very hard time observing proper political and moral boundaries when it comes to his ties with lobbyists. We knew about his Keating Five involvement all those years ago, and now we hear of this questionable relationship with an attractive, strangely Cindy-like woman 30 or so years his junior who had regular business before his committee...

Second, add to this the report (or rather, rumor, to be fair?) that his marriage to his proud patriot of a wife is a sham built on a pretense of propriety...

Third, paint both against a backdrop of McCain's reputation as a young man with a penchant for hard-drinking and fast women, and his occasional high-profile lapses in judgment as a man of experience and influence, and you can begin to see a picture emerging of a man who is, to say the least, "conflicted."

And lastly, how can our jaws not drop in utter incredulity at the converging storyline of our man Obama, whose path to power has been paved with the political carcasses of opponents (how about that for alliteration?) who self-destructed, whether justly or no, over allegations of sexual misconduct? Men who were, in the very least, guilty of making bone-headed decisions and looking like the hypocritical, self-serving, self-absorbed asses they surely were?

Seriously, you cannot make this stuff up. Here I was worrying about how Obama was going to get past Hillary's own brand of self-delusion and denial (reinforced by that band of sycophants of hers seemingly so hell-bent on taking their hybristic vision to its ultimate, destructive conclusion)... and now this drops out of the sky as if to say, "you know that nasty, belligerent old man who lives just down the road from here? You know, the guy who did the deal with the 'W' back at the crossroads of 2000? Who's never met a lobbyist he didn't like in private? The one who keeps calling you a naive whelp and an upstart to your face, and a closet Muslim and Jihadist-enabler behind your back? Well, don't you worry too much about him; we've got your back--just like before."

What an election year. I just have to laugh; I know the gods are.

- dave //

del.icio.us tags: Obama, politics, McCain, Clinton, scandal

Why not dream big?

Thu, 14 Feb 2008 01:10:22 GMT

Now, I've already told you why I'm motivated by the Obama candidacy; I've hit on some of the developments in the campaign as fancy has struck; I've also reported on my experience of the Washington state democratic caucuses. I'm reading blogs and following the news almost obsessively now, the truth be told. Many signs point to an Obama nomination after his blow-out victories on the Potomac, but I admit I'm practically holding my breath waiting for the other shoe to drop: some unexpected resurgence of the Clinton candidacy that somehow throws it all into doubt. Aye, she's a wily one.

Sometimes, however, I can't help but let my imagination run wild. The thought occurs to me, for example: what would happen if Obama actually won the Presidency? How would we react as a nation? How would the world respond? Just think of the symbolic impact of an Obama inauguration: new, fresh face; new agenda; a reinvigorated body politic; a chance to "begin anew"; an end to the quasi-tyranny of the Bush years; the strong potential for a salutary correction to the extremes of the past 20-30 or more years; the very embodiment of MLK's dream in a person of remarkable intellectual, political, and rhetorical gifts. (And what a speech he would give!)

An idea begins to take shape in my head that I'm working hard to suppress (no no: can't go there yet; can't put the cart in front of the horse--it's just CRAZY!).... What the hell, why not indulge in a little fantasy among friends?

Here's the thought. What if we found a way to signal as a community--however large we can make it--our celebration of the event? What if, for example, we managed to get everyone, at an appointed hour to turn on their car headlights and honk their horns for 5, maybe 10, minutes? What if we managed to get churches everywhere to ring their bells? What if we somehow managed to enlist the world in such a celebration? Hmmmm. Can you just picture what that would be like? How that would feel?

Forgive me my moment of self-indulgence, here; I'll think about it some more. In the meantime, we still have a nomination to win and months to go before we can even think about how we might celebrate "our moment."

- dave //

del.icio.us tags: Obama, politics, hope

Out here in The Field...

Sun, 10 Feb 2008 20:52:46 GMT

Well, I'll be damned. Al Giordano is back! Guess reports of his demise (from the man himself) were greatly exaggerated.

- dave //

del.icio.us tags: Obama, politics, Al Giordano

Not an empty suit

Sun, 10 Feb 2008 19:50:19 GMT

Obama has been calling from the Mountaintop; many of us have heard that call and have been moved quite deeply by his messages of national unity and healing. His soaring rhetoric has opened him to the criticism that he's all talk, no action; light on specifics; inspirational, hopeful, but lacking in the pragmatic and hard-nosed sensibilities needed to get things done in Washington. This has been and continues to be the specious argument of the Clintons and their surrogates, as they scramble and sputter in a to-the-death nomination battle they never expected to have to fight.

Obama has done a decent job of countering this view, stating, for example, with his inimitable lyricism that "in the unlikely story that is America, there has never been anything false about hope." It's worth noting, however, that he's beginning to tack now toward a more pragmatic appeal, with a harder edge that puts the lie to the notion that he's somehow "too nice" to win and drive real change. This is good and necessary; there's no mistaking the strategic and tactical gifts of this candidate. He's putting together a message, bit by bit, state by state, that's making a stronger and stronger case for his candidacy on multiple levels, as he introduces himself to new audiences, while carrying along and keeping energized those he had won over long ago.

He won me over a little over a month ago; seems like it's been ages already.

- dave //

del.icio.us tags: Obama, Clinton, politics, rhetoric

View from the trenches in Washington State, caucus day

Sun, 10 Feb 2008 07:19:07 GMT

The experience today in the trenches was unforgettable and exhilarating.

I helped organize a team of captains over the past month that numbered at our height (today) about 30, to cover 97 precincts and 11 caucus sites. I'd like to think that our efforts helped deliver Ballard to Barack; in fact, I'm sure it did: the dedication and passion I saw in our team was the very embodiment of the Obama message that "we are the change we've been waiting for." Whether our efforts had that much to do with it or not, some 3-4 times the number of expected caucus-goers showed up. The facility I was in, Adams Elementary (about a block up from where I live), was overwhelmed.

An interesting and emblematic observation: Clinton supporters showed up and out-postered us by 10-1 and then were nowhere to be seen; we stayed, connected the best we could with the streams of people coming through the school doors, explained to them politely and clearly what they needed to do and where they needed to go, and let the process work. We stepped in as needed for points of clarification, offered what help we could, and supplied extra voter registration forms and sign-in sheets to the Democratic Party officials who were running the show when their supplies ran out. I know of some captains who stepped up to become caucus chairs, tally clerks, or secretaries, and who were able to do so because they had adequate preparation and a stunning and life-affirming will just to try. We came to realize that where we were short on posters and swag, we could make the difference with our people. In the end, it was all about the people; and in the end the margin of victory at my caucus site was something like 3 or 4-1.

Across Ballard, the story was much the same, as my captains reported in to me spontaneously throughout the afternoon: victories on the order of what I experienced at Adams. Even where we had to improvise, the outpouring of interest and enthusiasm for Senator Obama was irrepressible and the efforts of Ballard caucus site and precinct captains were instrumental in channeling it and helping the community determine its consensus.

To be clear, I don't claim credit for what happened today, and I know my team doesn't claim credit for it; but I do know that we all felt like we made a difference, because we cared and because we understood fundamentally the "fierce urgency of now." True credit belongs to the thousands of people who heard the call and cared enough to show up, stand up, and be heard today.

- dave //

del.icio.us tags: Obama, politics, Washington, caucus

And damnit, I just found this guy

Thu, 07 Feb 2008 18:20:45 GMT

Al Giordano, sadly, unfortunately, goes back to his day job. I was just getting to know him and his perspectives on the campaign, looking forward eagerly to his next post for some insightful comment or bit of news. I feel like we were just starting to date, things were looking promising, and then--bam! out of nowhere--he tells me he just can't give me the attention I need and he has to let me go. Sigh. Sometimes everything seems like dating.

Stability in the blogosphere there ain't.

- dave //

del.icio.us tags: Obama, politics, Al Giordano

On hero worship

Thu, 07 Feb 2008 00:42:21 GMT

Came across this post on how "Obama is not Jesus."

I think it's worth bearing in mind that we don't need to be saved by anyone; we need to save ourselves if anything. This is how I understand Barack's position, anyway, that "we are the ones we've been waiting for."

It's not about him, ultimately; it's about us and what we choose to do for each other and, by extension, for our country.

Just my 2c.

dave //

del.icio.us tags: Obama, politics

View from the Front Lines

Sun, 03 Feb 2008 03:41:00 GMT

This morning, after precious few hours of sleep, I got up and brewed the first of 3 pots of coffee for the canvassing teams due to show up at 10:00.

Sometime late last night, I was wondering why the hell I was doing all this stuff for the campaign, fighting with the Votebuilder tool, cutting up turf, and printing up the coveted "walk lists." I just wanted to get to bed (but it's just as well I didn't bother, since I was still quite jacked on caffeine).

Then it came at 1 am. A mail on one of the Obama listservs:

YES WE CAN!
And this new video by the lead singer of Black Eyed Peas is unbelievable!!!
EVERYONE, PLEASE WATCH THIS VIDEO AND SEND IT TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW! It's inspired by Barack's speech in New Hampshire.
Please get this video to go viral
Link
YES WE CAN!!!

I must've watched it five times, the printer making that shook-shook-whiz sound in the background all the while.

And it suddenly didn't matter how late it was, it didn't matter that I got my car into a freakin' wreck in the afternoon, and it didn't matter that I had to break off a great getting-to-know you conversation with a beautiful young woman earlier in the evening because I had to go get the canvass materials ready.

So what do you think this is about? Just another political fad that will dissipate in a month or two?

Yes, YOU can, too.

- dave //

del.icio.us tags: Obama, politics, caucus, canvassing, video

On momentum

Fri, 01 Feb 2008 19:20:18 GMT

Hard to read the tea leaves of national and other polls, even harder it is to put much faith in wishful thinking on the part of lots of pro-Obama analysts and bloggers. Nonetheless, the Hillary camp must be worried at trends that show Obama taking off with endorsements, donations, a persuasive debate performance, and traction in key "Tsunami Tuesday" states and constituencies (like the Hispanic vote). Nonetheless, much as in any sport (like baseball), momentum can very easily shift and the back and forth, up and down of it could continue for quite some time. Risk there is a protracted struggle can play into the hands of the GOP, which appears to be gelling around McCain. Watch out for how the "superdelegates" break after Tuesday.

And indeed, what about Gore?

- dave //

del.icio.us tags: Obama, polls, endorsements, Gore

what you can do for your country: why it's Obama

Tue, 29 Jan 2008 07:11:32 GMT

For me, there are several reasons I've decided to actively support Barack, beyond a basic agreement with his policy positions. It has to do, for me, with Obama's ability to inspire in ways that other candidates simply can't or don't. I think it says a lot about him that he's been very clear that his campaign would not be about the kind of slash-and-burn, Machiavellian politics that the likes of Roger Ailes and Karl Rove have unapologetically advocated and pursued in recent years.

Obama's messages of inclusion, hope, and unity I feel are the necessary antidote in the body politic to the poisonous policies and politics of the past 20+ years, in particular the past 7 (I can't even begin to describe how angry I am at the damage that the Bush Administration has done to the health of the republic). With his sometimes soaring rhetoric Obama can evoke like no other the deeply held beliefs we have of ourselves as a nation of fundamentally good and compassionate people, grounded in our shared regard for human rights, political equality, economic opportunity for all, the right to privacy, freedom of expression and other personal liberties and limits on government enshrined in the Constitution and Bill of Rights.

I think many of us feel that, in losing sight of who we are as a people and what truly makes this country great, we've lost our way and have been quickly losing hope. Obama's message of change and hope, to me, comes at just the right time and is way more than a catchy campaign slogan. And it just seemed so fitting to me that this message comes to us from a man whose father was from Kenya and mother from Kansas, who was both a child of divorce (my own parents divorced when I was 8) and a student of the world, who both figuratively and literally embodies the diversity and promise of the American experience.

This view of Obama and the importance of his candidacy crystallized in my head as a result of a speech he gave in November, which I found on You Tube after reading about it in a David Broder column. I showed this video to my folks over Christmas, and they, too, were floored; my dad's remark was that the last leader on the national stage to have this kind of rhetorical power was John Kennedy (consider, now, Caroline Kennedy's recent endorsement). It was clear to me then that there was something special about this man and it was time for me to get off my duff, get engaged, and help him build the coalition for change that we are all so hungry for.

- dave //

del.icio.us tags: Obama, politics

California on verge of flipping... maybe

Tue, 29 Jan 2008 06:56:22 GMT

Interesting note on California poll numbers, with plenty of extrapo-interpolation by blogger Al Giordano on what the real story is more likely to be (so much speculation, so little time!).

- dave //

del.icio.us tags: Obama, Al Giordano, polls, politics

And so it happens: man is, after all, a political animal

Tue, 29 Jan 2008 06:50:17 GMT

According to Aristotle, at any rate.

So with this post begins the conversion of this blog into a political vehicle. If y'all don't mind too much, that is.

So here we are. Post South Carolina, post Kennedy endorsement of Obama. I'm now in the unexpected position of being a district captain for the Obama campaign, and the story is only going to get more exciting from here.

First thing's first.

Here's why I'm for Obama, in a nutshell:

Why Obama is the right messenger: Video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tydfsfSQiYc | Article http://www.thestate.com/opinion/story/293153.html
Why Obama's message is the right one: Video http://youtube.com/watch?v=Kf0x_TpDris | Article http://www.thenation.com/blogs/thebeat?bid=1&pid=273319
Why this is the right time for Obama and his message: Article http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200712/obama

(And if you're looking for inspiration through music, check this out: http://www.myspace.com/bergevinbrothersmusic.)

- dave //

del.icio.us tags: Obama, politics, media

all that you can't leave behind

Sun, 18 Nov 2007 19:33:53 GMT

Transitions, transitions. Seems that there's very little in this digital, online world of ours that is constant and stable; the only constant seems to be change. What respite we have in a period of relative stability is really just that: a moment of rest along the way to someplace, something else.

In the last 6 months my job has changed and so has my personal life. (In fact, as I write this, my girlfriend is moving out with the help of her parents.) It may have something to do with turning 40, but somehow I doubt it. In any event, one I suppose unfortunate result of all this upheaval is that my blog has languished. I have no idea how many readers I have nor how many (if any) would really care. But at least, I feel that in having started something like this blog and having seen it through some of its own transitions to the point that I began to feel comfortable with the whole notion of public journaling and even began to derive some satisfaction from the activity, I would be sorely remiss were I to let it go forever.

This blog was really only incidentally about the things I've been working on at that place we call "work." The real point of the blog, as it evolved over the past year or so, only became clear to me I'd say in the last few months: the point isn't the technology or social networking or this project or that project. It's about my--and by extension, perhaps, our--human experience with those things or in the context of those things. I think that's why I came to rename my space "o brave new world" and its blog "the bnw blog." I was very purposefully thinking of Aldous Huxley's novel of the same name, a book I had read eons ago in the pubescent murk of high school. I was also thinking, a little more distantly, of the lines from Shakespeare's Tempest that inspired Huxley's choice of title:

O brave new world
That has such people in't!

I think one thing that resonates for me about this is that the marvel of the "new world" is tempered in particular by an ironic regard for the people who have made it and live in it, proponents and malcontents alike. I just find the irony in the sentiment altogether too fitting... My own experience of modernity, whether defined in the work world or my personal life or whatever is left in the space between the two, has been quite a journey of abrupt departures, strange turns, and a gradual, sneaking suspicion that destinations are just waystations, "end goals" (other than the one that awaits us all) are just illusions.

And I'm gradually becoming ok with that. What really is left for me to do but try to find meaning in all the absurdity and maybe connect with some of my fellow travelers along the way and laugh about it over a beer or martini?

I've had to rethink what I'm doing with this blog and what kind of energy I want to put in it. It's clearly not something I feel I can (or should) leave behind, in the dustbin of ones and zeros that is all too often what happens with our words and deeds online. While this blog will be much more of a personal blog from here on out, my theme remains mostly the same: my experience of technology, living in this world today, and wondering from time to time about where it's all headed and what my place should be in it. From time to time, I may talk about things outside or beyond those core concerns, but I think by the very nature of this medium, anything I'd have to say wouldn't be very removed from them.

(For more professional stuff, you can now find me blogging and publishing and building customer connection programs for the System Center marketing team. It may not at first blush seem like it, but it's all related in the end.)

- dave

Understanding the Benefits of Social Media

Wed, 29 Aug 2007 01:42:29 GMT

Or, It's the People, Stupid

Just stumbled across this as I was browsing around looking for something interesting: Charlene Li's post "Web 2.0/social computing explained, thanks to Common Craft."

The video itself I think hits the right notes in terms of demonstrating the value of social media, such as bookmarking tools, to the uninitiated. If I had my druthers, I'd put together something similar in rolling out a suite of social networking services in support of enterprise communities, whatever the context.

Strikes me, too, that in this Brave New World of ours, we've got to break the mold of corporate-speak and do what we can to humanize, as Josh Hallett suggests elsewhere, the ways that companies relate with their customers. The long-term impact on the "bottom line" could be enormous, if we really begin to think about business in terms of relationships where both parties benefit not just from the primary business transaction itself (item or service bought/sold), but also from how they connect as people, whether on a professional or personal level.

Malcolm Gladwell of Tipping Point and Blink fame illustrates this point well. He asks, who do you think gets sued more often for malpractice? The doctors who make the most mistakes? In other words, those who are technically the most incompetent? Nah. It seems that when physicians err or are perceived to err in their practice, the most important factor that separates the sued from the non-sued is whether or not their patients like them. Yes, that's it. It seems that people like to be heard, like it when doctors take time with them, and like to feel like they're understood and cared for. Imagine that people could have such an expectation!

Now abstract this observation and connect it to the software business. Surely, if we want to talk seriously about "winning the hearts and minds" of <insert audience here> or changing perceptions about <insert product or company name here>, it doesn't take much effort to see how important it is to focus in on creating real and meaningful relationships with and between customers.

Of course, you may say, no company of Microsoft's size, for example, can scale in such a way as to have "meaningful" relationships with every single customer. That could mean hundreds of millions (if not more) individual connections. But here we can benefit from network theory--that is, the power of human, social networks to make a difference in people's lives, or more aptly, in the way they connect with the companies whose products or services they buy and/or use.

We are at Microsoft some 80,000+ employees worldwide, per the latest figures I saw in the newspaper or perhaps in Directions on Microsoft. Each one of us is surrounded by a web of connections, some personal, many professional; some very close, others more like acquaintances. Each one of those people is connected to their personal and professional networks.... and so on, until eventually, it becomes possible to be virtually connected to everyone on earth, in varying degrees--"six degrees," by some measures.

We don't have to know, nor should we even try to know, more people than we as individuals have a capacity to know without losing all value in our relationships because we have too little to give any one of them. We've only got so much energy to spread around, after all. But with what energy we have, we can have a personal (albeit indirect) impact on many, many more people by virtue of the interconnected networks that extend outwards from each of us individually. Add to it the influence and impact that all of those people can have on one another, and you begin to get a feel for the potential of business strategies that make community engagement and relationship building--not just "customer relationship management"--ineluctable components of success.

I think that if we take the time to build relationships with our "patients" and help them help each other and themselves, in the long run it will be the greatest of differentiators in the marketplace.

- dave

del.icio.us tags: social_media, Gladwell, network_theory, social_networking, marketing, relationships