The Inauguration Benediction

I'd like to point out my favorite part of the inauguration ceremony yesterday: Dr. Joseph Lowery's benediction. He gave a wonderful and thoughtful speech/prayer about the need to be aware of the continuing injustices in our country, capped off by this delightful section, which apparently some ridiculous people are calling racist:

Lord, in the memory of all the saints who from their labors rest, and in the joy of a new beginning, we ask you to help us work for that day when black will not be asked to get back, when brown can stick around, when yellow will be mellow, when the red man can get ahead, man; and when white will embrace what is right. Let all those who do justice and love mercy say Amen. Say Amen. And Amen.

I Amen-ed at my TV screen. Watch it here:

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Hail to the Chief

I know millions of blog posts will be written today, and I know that mine won't add anything special or unique to the rest, but I feel the need to get my (moderately cliched) thoughts down.

I'm ridiculously optimistic right now. This feeling will likely become more tempered as the days and weeks go on, but right now, I'm caught up in the euphoric wave of it all. For my entire adult life, George W. Bush has been president. Although I remember championing Bill Clinton in elementary school, I've never been in a position to truly feel good about the person who is running my country. I was devastated in 2004, when in the first presidential election I could vote, I saw America endorse another four years of division and ignorance. But now, it seems like we're in a position where we can start turning things around.

I'm going to try not to get too swept up in this rush - we have to remain critical and aware, even if we have what seems like an ally in office. (Related note: My school had a little viewing party for the inauguration, and it was really cute to be in a room full of people who also felt moved to applaud at mentions of science and the depletion of natural resources.) In my arena, I hope the environmental groups remain vigilant and don't get co-opted into rubber stamping this administration's policies. I hope that new attention is drawn to human aspects of environmental issues as well - now's the time to start getting serious about environmental justice, which we have a largely unenforced Executive Order for already.

But for now, I'm going to bask and smile, and for maybe the first time in my adult life, be truly proud to be an American.

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Some Morning-After Thoughts

I don't need to tell anyone how big of a deal it is that we elected Barack Obama our president last night. Instead, if you'll bear with me, I'm going to engage in some sentimentalism about my own feelings about this election. It may even cross over into maudlin territory at times. Consider yourself warned.

I wasn't on the Barack Obama love train at first. I'm still not ashamed to say that I supported Hillary in the primaries, mainly because I felt that at the time, Obama hadn't really solidified what he meant when he said "change." I think the long primary season actually forced him to hammer down that message, and as we entered the general election, he was a much stronger candidate because of it. Feeling more comfortable that I had a sense of what an Obama presidency would look like, I finally allowed myself to get swept up in the amazing speeches and the excitement of what could really get done if we made this man our president. Shit, I even gave him $25. (That's hard for a grad student!)

So, like so many people did last night, once Barack finished speaking, I cried. (But only a little.) I cried because for the first time in my adult life, I would have a president I could feel confident in. I cried to release all the stress I had put myself through while worrying about the prospect of a McCain presidency. I cried out of joy. But I think I cried mostly because I had convinced myself it couldn't happen. I had told myself that America was too racist to elect any non-white person president, and I thought they wouldn't be able to go through with it, despite all the favorable polling. Hell, if you had told me 4 years ago that in 4 years, we would have a black president, I would have told you that we'd be lucky to have one in 40 years. My mother, born in 1949, thought until recently she would never see a black president. So as it sunk in for me that he had actually won, and by such a large margin, I cried out of extreme satisfaction to know that I was wrong.

Now, that's not to say we've eliminated the racial problems we have in this country, and it's not to say that I'm always going to agree with the decisions Obama makes as president. I'd like to think that I'm going to be able to maintain objectivity as his administration moves forward and truly assess whether he's making the right decisions. But for now, I'm content to revel in this amazing moment.

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Barack Obama FTW

Holy shit.

It actually happened.

I can't stop grinning.

More tomorrow.

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It's About Damn Time

HOLY SHIT.

It's finally Election Day.

Why I need this day to be over:

Stress-eating - I have been a cow this past week. The more fried or chocolatey something is, the better. Once I know the outcome today, I can go back to drinking my stress away.

Nightmares - I actually had a nightmare last night that Minnesota went red. Of all places! I need to not be subconsciously fretting about this election.

Productivity - Who can do homework when there are so many stupid blogs and news stories to read?

ARGH. I'll be back tomorrow to gloat (if this day ever ends, anyway.)

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How Tina Fey is Saving America

We all love Tina Fey's note-perfect impersonation of Sarah Palin. Enough words have been written about how wonderful and spot-on the impression is, so I can't add much but agreement on that front. Instead, I'd like to point something else out to you: Tina Fey is saving us all.



Take a look at this graph of presidential polling. (Click for bigger, natch.) The first Sarah Palin SNL sketch happened on Sept. 13. At this point, McCain was still up by a couple points. In the polling days following the sketch, Obama went from a 47-45 deficit to a 49-44 lead. His lead began to shrink again, but following the Sept. 27 Katie Couric interview sketch, Obama's numbers began to rise again (and McCain's began to fall more drastically.) And then, in the days after the Oct. 4 VP debate sketch, Obama broke 50% for the first time. Clearly, Tina Fey has (nearly) rescued the American people from the horribleness of a McCain/Palin administration.

Now, a critic of mine might say, "But Brian, correlation doesn't equal causation. Plus, a lot of other stuff has been going on. The economic crisis is obviously going to benefit the party not in power, and McCain's been doing just about everything he can to tank his campaign. Besides, the audience for SNL is primarily younger, who are already more in favor of Obama. Isn't SNL just preaching to the choir?"

To that person, I would say, "Shut your face. Tina Fey is an American hero and I want to marry her. We should all watch 30 Rock when it premieres on Oct. 30 at 9:30 on NBC to show her how thankful we are. That's Oct. 30, 9:30, NBC. You can also watch it on hulu.com and nbc.com. Anyway, she's amazing."




God bless Tina Fey.

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Vote for Mange?

No, silly - Vote for Change! At this site (sponsored by the Obama campaign), you can register to vote if not yet registered, and then either find out how to request an absentee ballot or find your polling place. GO DO IT.

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Correct

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Privilege and Politics

Aviva's just full of awesome links - here's a fantastic post about the way white privilege has manifested itself in the presidential campaign. I've excerpted part of it below:

White privilege is when you can get pregnant at seventeen like Bristol Palin and everyone is quick to insist that your life and that of your family is a personal matter, and that no one has a right to judge you or your parents, because “every family has challenges,” even as black and Latino families with similar “challenges” are regularly typified as irresponsible, pathological and arbiters of social decay.

White privilege is being able to make fun of community organizers and the work they do--like, among other things, fight for the right of women to vote, or for civil rights, or the 8-hour workday, or an end to child labor--and people think you’re being pithy and tough, but if you merely question the experience of a small town mayor and 18-month governor with no foreign policy expertise beyond a class she took in college--you’re somehow being mean, or even sexist.


White privilege is being able to claim your experience as a POW has anything at all to do with your fitness for president, while being black and experiencing racism is, as Sarah Palin has referred to it, a “light” burden.


And there's more! This is a must-read.

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You ma'am, are no Tina Fey

Much has been made of the resemblance between professional asswipe Sarah Palin and professional most-amazing-person-ever Tina Fey. (I myself have taken to referring to Ms. Palin as "Tina Fey Gone Terribly Wrong" or, in my bitchier moments, "Busted-Up Tina Fey.") So I was pretty amused by this Think Progress post (sent to me by Aviva) that shows Tina and John on the cover of Life Magazine back in 2004. LOLlerskates.

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Uhh...

Teen Daughter of GOP VP Pick is pregnant

Seriously? This poor girl probably only ever learned about abstinence in school, and as a result, had unprotected sex. Now, she's being forced to keep the baby and marry the guy, mainly as a political statement. My heart goes out to her.

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Uhh...

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Conventional Wisdom

Yay spectacle! I love a good political spectacle. It actually makes for an interesting comparison that the Democratic National Convention is falling immediately after the Olympics, the spectacle to end all spectacles. Personally, I could not have cared less about the Olympics; I see no reason to suddenly take interest in sports I've never given a second thought to, and while the athleticism is impressive, I generally fail to see the overall point (aside from the glorification of drunk drivers.) It's a lot of pomp and showboating with no real purpose.

That's why this is so fascinating for me; the convention is also a whole lot of pomp and showboating, but with a ridiculously high purpose. Underneath all the rhetoric and attacks lies the feeling that the party must unite and rally to elect their candidates, while still trying to sway the undecided who might be watching. This is a delicate balancing act, but I'm mostly quite impressed by the Democrats so far. (Except Mark Warner. He sucked.)



Michelle Obama had a tough task to accomplish on Monday, primarily due to the unfair portrayal of her as an angry black woman by the media. She had to show her softer side while still telling America why they should elect her husband president. Her mission only became tougher when she had to follow Ted Kennedy's amazing surprise appearance. But as far as I'm concerned, she nailed it. (Full disclosure: I FUCKING LOVE THIS WOMAN. I wish she were running.) She did never came off as condescending or elitist, and addressed the ridiculous questions of her patriotism without overdoing the flag-waving. Although some have been complaining that she didn't attack enough, I think it would have been bizarre to hear her attacking John McCain when she was essentially up there as a character witness. Overall, fantastic. (Except the end with the kids. That was awkward.)




While Michelle Obama did a fantastic job, Hillary rocked this shit. She did exactly what she needed to do. Before she spoke, I had a conversation with my mother where I said, "Hillary just needs to go out there and say, 'You say you're my supporter but you're going to vote for McCain? WTF? You want me to have to go work with a Republican president?'" She did exactly this (except much more eloquently - I teared up a bit, I'll confess), and I think we'll hear a lot of the PUMA nonsense go away. As someone who supported Hillary in the primaries, it was kind of hard to watch her up there last night and not think that she would have made an excellent candidate (and maybe she still will in 2016), but I think any Hillary fan who doesn't fall in line after that speech is crazy or wasn't really a Democrat to begin with.

I'm way excited for the rest of the speakers; Joe Biden and Pres. Clinton (who spoke at my commencement!) tonight, and Barack tomorrow. They all have big shoes to fill after Hillary tore the house down the way she did, but I think they'll manage. All in all, I'm loving this convention, and it's having the proper effect on me, at the very least. I'm almost ready to cough up $10-15 for this campaign! Hell, maybe even $20.

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Biden My Time

As I'm sure you've heard by the time you read this, Barack Obama has selected Joe Biden, senior senator from Delaware, as his running mate. Honestly, I'm a little bit baffled, but the more I think about it, the more convinced I am.

My initial reticence stemmed from the fact that when I think of Joe Biden, I immediately think of two things: plagiarism and unfortunate remarks. As many know by now, when running for president in 1988, Biden borrowed words from a speech given by a British politician, leading to his downfall in the primaries. According to Wikipedia, he correctly gave credit to the Brit on all occasions except for one which was videotaped, so I doubt it was intentional, but the story has stuck around enough that a professor of mine related the story as an all-time great presidential campaign gaffe. Similarly, on the day he announced his candidacy in 2008, he remarked that Obama was "clean" and "articulate." Ouch. Again, I'm sure it was an honest mistake, but that's loaded language.

However, upon further thought, I'm reminded of how fantastic he was during the early debates. He's quite witty, and can speak passionately and knowledgeably about important issues (no doubt a result of being the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.) Also, the quickness of tongue that sometimes get him in trouble is pretty great at times. Example: When Pres. Bush was speaking at the Knesset, he compared Obama's willingness to negotiate with Iran to Neville Chamberlain appeasing Nazis. Biden's response? "This is bullshit." Awesome. Since the environment is my top issue, I'm also happy to see that the League of Conservation Voters has lauded the choice; Biden has a lifetime LCV score of 83%, which is pretty bangin', and he's been strong on climate change.

So, I suppose on the whole, I'm cautiously optimistic about this choice. I still don't really see what voters it will help him pick up, but hey, they know more about campaigning than I do. I'm excited for today's rally to see them together for the first time, and looking forward to what lies ahead.

Besides, on an entirely shallow level, "Obama/Biden '08" just sounds good.

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Hilton/Rihanna '08

This is actually pretty awesome:

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Happy Birthday, Barry!

I may not always agree with him (something I'm sure that will be examined in greater detail as the campaign presses on), but hell, he's still pretty great, so today, I would like to put all that aside and wish a happy birthday to the next president of our country. Amazingly enough, he's turning 47, despite looking much younger and prettier.

Edited to add: Apparently, there are plans for a big "money bomb" of donations today as a present to Obama, so if you have the available money, you should consider making a contribution.

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