OK, American readers: You voted, right?
What did you think of the results?
Quite a mandate, electorally speaking, wouldn't you say?
I had a thought as I watched the speeches by both McCain and Obama a few hours ago; and it was not so much about the speeches themselves as the audience. McCain's speech had the kind of tone, substance, and delivery that he should have given to his speeches before the election. It brought out his integrity. The election could have been much closer if he and his campaign team had presented him as such for the past two months. His emotional mention of the passing of Obama's grandmother, just the day before the election, exhibited honest empathy, compassion, and caring for Obama and others who have to deal with such tragedies.
The audience exhibited almost none of the qualities McCain was displaying on stage. At the mention of Obama's name they booed loudly, forcing McCain to gesture them to stop. The look on his face was scolding. It looked as if he would verbally reprimand them. It showed that McCain is not what is wrong with the Republican party, but its members and supporters. They are the high school bullies, the partisan ones, the ones who refuse to see America change to face the challenges of the realities of the new world economically, politically, socially, and environmentally.
Surely Obama crowds booed McCain, you say. If they did, I am unable to find any recorded evidence of it through internet searches. Page after page of search results are all McCain crowds booing and then booing McCain himself when he tells them to be respectful. Republican crowds are like unruly, problem children.
Surely, they received a message tonight. But will they remember it tomorrow? Do they even realize they are so on the wrong side? And no, I'm not talking politics here! I'm talking respect.
R-E-S-P-E-C-T
The crowd at Obama's speech in Chicago's Grant Park politely applauded when Obama spoke of McCain.
What's the deal? Well, certainly it is easier not to react inappropriately when your candidate wins, but it goes deeper than that I think. Perhaps it is because of what I said at the beginning. McCain's concession speech tonight had tone, substance, and delivery. Obama has been consistent throughout his campaign in his message, style of delivery, and behavior. His audiences listen, pay attention, and absorb the message. His speeches inspire and his supporters come away with a sense of renewed purpose, of hope, and a desire to make a difference for the good of their home, neighborhood, city, or country. To McCain's supporters, it was all like a high school sporting event. Whooping, hollering, the empty chanting of "U-S-A, U-S-A..." normally heard at Olympic hockey games, and even people shouting that Obama should be killed.
It is the Republican party and its supporters that are truly frightening, ugly people. Their behavior has exhibited the worst of America. In a last-minute act of desperation on the morning of elections in Miami, they had robo calls going out to the Cuban communities saying Fidel Castro had endorsed Obama!
Ugly.
McCain ought to join his friend Joe Lieberman as an Independent, leaving the party of Lincoln (which no longer represents much of what Lincoln upheld).
That would be truly Maverick. It would also crush the party. But maybe that's what is needed to bring it back to some sense of respectability. It would cleanse it of the greed, corruption, lying, hypocrisy, and contempt for the law (US and international) it has come to represent. And maybe (just maybe) they could teach the party members some manners and respect along the way.
Showing posts with label Barack Obama. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Barack Obama. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Where'd Jay Go?
Jay's been right here in Makati.
I haven't really gone anywhere or done much of interest lately.
Edson spent September 6th-12th in Dubai for work. I remained here while a typhoon dumped large amounts of rain each night for 3 days straight, followed by a constant 24-hour+ rain and over 40 hours of gray skies that made for some weather ideal for wrist-slitting.
Equally dreary was the news of hurricane Ike in the US. Fortunately, people I know in Texas were not affected. Ironically, my family and friends in Ohio were.
So most of my time has been spent with news, chats with friends, and organizing future photo projects.
And speaking of news: even here people talk about John McCain's appearance on The View and how Barbara Walters and Co. grilled him unlike any other newspeople. Why is it the US leaves programs like The View and The Daily Show to do the work reporters are supposed to be doing? What is that all about? A usually polite morning chat show and a comedy show ask the questions ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, MSNBC (Keith Olbermann excepted), and Fox won't or can't.
I'm at a loss to figure out why he insists the obvious lies his television ads spreads are not lies.
He insists the economy is sound as one iconic financial institution after another collapses, people lose homes at record rates, and energy prices will force more out of their homes this upcoming winter. He also advocated privatizing social security. If it had happened, all the money Americans were depending on for their retirements through the system would have been lost in the past couple weeks!
Of course, Sarah Palin, his running mate still insists she never promoted earmarks for Alaska and opposed the infamous "bridge to nowhere" despite incontrovertible evidence to the contrary. She also claims she's a Christian who never lies. I'd also like to know how it is the Christian Evangelicals have ignored the story of her underage daughter, the willing(?) victim of statutory rape by her boyfriend, and carrying his child. If she had been a seventeen year-old daughter of Obama's, they'd have her pilloried and a media frenzy would continue unabated right up to the November election, demonstrating how amoral liberals are, and certainly playing the race card at the same time.
Not that Palin's tart of a daughter should have any bearing on an election to begin with...but we know the media is looking for these stories to distract people from any hint of a message either McCain or Obama could possibly have to share. Of course, if she'd had the sex education Obama supports (which McCain's ads lie about), maybe she wouldn't be pregnant in the first place!
So, it is obvious to people here, the UK, Canada, and...well, any country with a television set, that McCain is desperate. I read a poll (I believe from the NY Times) that, among many other things, found that almost 70% of Republicans feel his choice of Palin was to ensure his chances of being elected, but that it was not the choice that should have been made for the good of the country. Over 60% of Republicans feel Obama's pick of Joe Biden to be the better choice for VP. Of course, Palin is someone voters "can identify with", who feels like their neighbor, so they like her. They liked David Archuleta on American Idol because he was like the boy-next-door and they "could identify with" him as well, but we're not talking American Idol here. The 2nd-highest position of power in the United States should not be based on whether or not you "can identify with" someone who seems like your neighbor! As nice as many of my neighbors have been throughout my life, I would NEVER consider them vice-presidential material. After all, it's no matter Palin doesn't know what US foreign policy has been for the past eight years; she's a mom who shops at Wal*Mart.
All I can say is I look forward to a day when the US government hands each candidate an allowance for a certain amount of money and they have to limit themselves to that. No fund raisers. No special interest groups allowed to air any ads for them or against them. No lobbyists. Just $100 million split between the two of them.
That'd keep them on message! It'd be boring, that's for sure. But the people of the US might elect someone based on substance rather than name-calling and lies. It could also keep completely irrelevant issues like family values (as if who is president has anything to do with family values) out of the election.
We all know change is coming to the US in November. Let's hope it is for the better.
I haven't really gone anywhere or done much of interest lately.
Edson spent September 6th-12th in Dubai for work. I remained here while a typhoon dumped large amounts of rain each night for 3 days straight, followed by a constant 24-hour+ rain and over 40 hours of gray skies that made for some weather ideal for wrist-slitting.
Equally dreary was the news of hurricane Ike in the US. Fortunately, people I know in Texas were not affected. Ironically, my family and friends in Ohio were.
So most of my time has been spent with news, chats with friends, and organizing future photo projects.
And speaking of news: even here people talk about John McCain's appearance on The View and how Barbara Walters and Co. grilled him unlike any other newspeople. Why is it the US leaves programs like The View and The Daily Show to do the work reporters are supposed to be doing? What is that all about? A usually polite morning chat show and a comedy show ask the questions ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, MSNBC (Keith Olbermann excepted), and Fox won't or can't.
I'm at a loss to figure out why he insists the obvious lies his television ads spreads are not lies.
He insists the economy is sound as one iconic financial institution after another collapses, people lose homes at record rates, and energy prices will force more out of their homes this upcoming winter. He also advocated privatizing social security. If it had happened, all the money Americans were depending on for their retirements through the system would have been lost in the past couple weeks!
Of course, Sarah Palin, his running mate still insists she never promoted earmarks for Alaska and opposed the infamous "bridge to nowhere" despite incontrovertible evidence to the contrary. She also claims she's a Christian who never lies. I'd also like to know how it is the Christian Evangelicals have ignored the story of her underage daughter, the willing(?) victim of statutory rape by her boyfriend, and carrying his child. If she had been a seventeen year-old daughter of Obama's, they'd have her pilloried and a media frenzy would continue unabated right up to the November election, demonstrating how amoral liberals are, and certainly playing the race card at the same time.
Not that Palin's tart of a daughter should have any bearing on an election to begin with...but we know the media is looking for these stories to distract people from any hint of a message either McCain or Obama could possibly have to share. Of course, if she'd had the sex education Obama supports (which McCain's ads lie about), maybe she wouldn't be pregnant in the first place!
So, it is obvious to people here, the UK, Canada, and...well, any country with a television set, that McCain is desperate. I read a poll (I believe from the NY Times) that, among many other things, found that almost 70% of Republicans feel his choice of Palin was to ensure his chances of being elected, but that it was not the choice that should have been made for the good of the country. Over 60% of Republicans feel Obama's pick of Joe Biden to be the better choice for VP. Of course, Palin is someone voters "can identify with", who feels like their neighbor, so they like her. They liked David Archuleta on American Idol because he was like the boy-next-door and they "could identify with" him as well, but we're not talking American Idol here. The 2nd-highest position of power in the United States should not be based on whether or not you "can identify with" someone who seems like your neighbor! As nice as many of my neighbors have been throughout my life, I would NEVER consider them vice-presidential material. After all, it's no matter Palin doesn't know what US foreign policy has been for the past eight years; she's a mom who shops at Wal*Mart.
All I can say is I look forward to a day when the US government hands each candidate an allowance for a certain amount of money and they have to limit themselves to that. No fund raisers. No special interest groups allowed to air any ads for them or against them. No lobbyists. Just $100 million split between the two of them.
That'd keep them on message! It'd be boring, that's for sure. But the people of the US might elect someone based on substance rather than name-calling and lies. It could also keep completely irrelevant issues like family values (as if who is president has anything to do with family values) out of the election.
We all know change is coming to the US in November. Let's hope it is for the better.
Saturday, August 30, 2008
At Home and Abroad
I just read that Barack Obama's speech accepting the Democratic presidential nomination Thursday was watched by 38.4+ million people in the U.S., making it one of those rare times more people have watched an event of substance than a finale of American Idol. Aside from myself, I know of two others here in the Philippines who also watched the speech...and they aren't Americans. It was truly a worldwide event, and this generation's equivalent of man landing on the moon.
Of course, the most important aspect of this is that it shows that at last people are truly interested in an election, in what direction the US will take for the upcoming four years and beyond, and the sense that they must be a part of it. Almost as if people are (*gasp!) working together!
Perhaps Obama is a twenty-first century JFK.
After eight years of a stubborn stumblebum and the prospect of electing a once-respected maverick-turned-Stumblebum Jr., I guess the voters want to be sure they don't make the same mistake they've made twice already and hear as much as they can from the candidates. Well, we'll see next week after McCain's Nielsen ratings are tallied whether people want to listen to what he has to say.
Meanwhile, while reading and watching this on-line, I spotted this very disturbing ad:
How a pregnant woman drinking wine helps sell automobiles is beyond me!
Number 1: Isn't it verboten for pregnant women to drink?
Number 2: Isn't drinking and driving both dangerous and illegal?
Number 3: When was the last time you saw a sexy pregnant woman beside a car on the cover of a car magazine?
Number 4: Who is it they are targeting here? The unwantedly pregnant? Britney Spears, or those who look to pattern their lives after hers? Alcoholic Soccer Mom's Anonymous (ASMA) members?
This whole image is just, as I said, beyond me!
And, speaking of images, during Obama's speech, did any of you happen to notice the eerie resemblance of some of the audience members in Mile High Stadium to the passengers aboard the Axiom in the movie Wall-E? Just an observation...
Of course, the most important aspect of this is that it shows that at last people are truly interested in an election, in what direction the US will take for the upcoming four years and beyond, and the sense that they must be a part of it. Almost as if people are (*gasp!) working together!
Perhaps Obama is a twenty-first century JFK.
After eight years of a stubborn stumblebum and the prospect of electing a once-respected maverick-turned-Stumblebum Jr., I guess the voters want to be sure they don't make the same mistake they've made twice already and hear as much as they can from the candidates. Well, we'll see next week after McCain's Nielsen ratings are tallied whether people want to listen to what he has to say.
Meanwhile, while reading and watching this on-line, I spotted this very disturbing ad:
How a pregnant woman drinking wine helps sell automobiles is beyond me! Number 1: Isn't it verboten for pregnant women to drink?
Number 2: Isn't drinking and driving both dangerous and illegal?
Number 3: When was the last time you saw a sexy pregnant woman beside a car on the cover of a car magazine?
Number 4: Who is it they are targeting here? The unwantedly pregnant? Britney Spears, or those who look to pattern their lives after hers? Alcoholic Soccer Mom's Anonymous (ASMA) members?
This whole image is just, as I said, beyond me!
And, speaking of images, during Obama's speech, did any of you happen to notice the eerie resemblance of some of the audience members in Mile High Stadium to the passengers aboard the Axiom in the movie Wall-E? Just an observation...
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Congratulations
All around me last week people were congratulating me. They'd just come up and say congratulations!
I'd look at them stupefied, wondering what I had unknowingly won or done to elicit such warm praise.
It turns out it isn't anything I did (well, in a way I did...I'll get to that later), but rather what occurred last week that mattered so much to them that they came to me to congratulate me.
Hillary Clinton suspended her campaign to be the Democratic Party's presidential candidate.
Barack Obama had effectively won the nomination.
Even the leader of Germany's Social Democrats broke with custom and publicly declared his hopes the US elects Obama president in November, noting the whole world will be the better for it. He, of course, isn't one of those who congratulated me; but the reaction is the same.
People everywhere are happy about the news Obama has won and all want him as the next president of the US.
I think that in the many social challenges the US and rest of the world are facing and will face, he is the better choice and I did support him in the primaries.
I am still struck that people congratulate me, though. One really doesn't fully realize how much the US presidential elections mean to the world until you see how the world reacts to them...
...and at this point he is only a candidate!
I can only imagine what the reaction will be like in November if he is elected.
I'd look at them stupefied, wondering what I had unknowingly won or done to elicit such warm praise.
It turns out it isn't anything I did (well, in a way I did...I'll get to that later), but rather what occurred last week that mattered so much to them that they came to me to congratulate me.
Hillary Clinton suspended her campaign to be the Democratic Party's presidential candidate.
Barack Obama had effectively won the nomination.
Even the leader of Germany's Social Democrats broke with custom and publicly declared his hopes the US elects Obama president in November, noting the whole world will be the better for it. He, of course, isn't one of those who congratulated me; but the reaction is the same.
People everywhere are happy about the news Obama has won and all want him as the next president of the US.
I think that in the many social challenges the US and rest of the world are facing and will face, he is the better choice and I did support him in the primaries.
I am still struck that people congratulate me, though. One really doesn't fully realize how much the US presidential elections mean to the world until you see how the world reacts to them...
...and at this point he is only a candidate!
I can only imagine what the reaction will be like in November if he is elected.
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