Full Circle

Last night completed a circle for me. President Obama (huzzah!) was in Beverly Hills for a fundraiser for the DNC, and a lot of grassroots volunteers got to go, both as a way to thank them and as a way to fill empty seats. Fundraising these days is a bitch, as you might imagine, but I won't go into that now. The great thing is that so many people got to see, up close and personal, the flesh and blood embodiment of all of those hours phoning strangers in outlying states, walking precincts in boiling temperatures in the Nevada desert, redeye from inputting data into the wee hours, tabling at every event possible, registering voters everywhere, and god knows what else...those volunteers, the backbone of the campaign, got to see Barack Obama, no longer Candidate Obama, but the very real PRESIDENT Obama. What a ride!

The circle for me began on February 20, 2007, my first volunteer gig at Rancho Park right after Obama declared his candidacy...I got to shake his hand then. Last night, I got to shake his hand again, now as President. My certainty, from Day One, that he would be President was validated, sealed and delivered. It was a transcendent moment, as it was with every successful campaign moment along the way. He gave the usual political pep talk about his administration and how much he had accomplished in just four months, ticking them off one by one, and then he said...which I absolutely loved..."You ain't seen nothing yet!" implying that he had just scratched the surface of his agenda. Thrilling, eh? But, I have to say, the poor man looked tired...when 'we' shook hands, I really wanted to say, "Get some rest, man. Take a nap." but I just said, "Thank you, Mr. President." He wouldn't have heard me anyway above the din.

Ok, back down to earth, he didn't actually look at me either time we squeezed fingers as he floated by to press the flesh of insistent hands out-stretched to touch him, and I wondered if his Secret Service detail carried hand sanitizer for him. You know, swine flu, I mean H1N1, and all. And, hey, remember when George Bush used sanitizer after shaking Obama's hand...and then offered him some? How easily I digress. But it was a wonderful moment. Dreamlike.

The entertainment was stellar. Jennifer Hudson sang with the Crenshaw High School Choir and they were fabulous together, singing, Bridge Over Troubled Water and I forget the other song. And Earth Wind and Fire, just the three front men, really got the audience rocking. The back up band was fab. Also performing, was a talented ten year old flamenco guitar player, Ricardo (damn, can't remember his last name and for some reason I didn't get a picture), whose poise and dexterity astonished the crowd. Later in the evening, when he and his dad were leaving the hotel, we learned more about this amazing kid...he is totally home schooled, never had a tv or a computer, is an aspiring botanist, learning to speak Spanish, built his own pond on the family property, plays a variety of music genres, has a claptrap memory and belies the rubric that home schooled kids aren't properly socialized. He keeps up with the news by reading newspapers from around the world that his father downloads and prints out for him every day. Listening to it all, I suddenly felt like a miserably inadequate mother. Why hadn't I thought about no tv? Moved to the country to get away from urban temptations? Planted a sustainable garden? Taught them Urdu and the sitar? The fact that (I'm going to brag here, which I may have done before...so if you can't stand it, just skip to the next paragraph) my sons graduated from Harvard, Columbia and one's going to graduate school at Princeton, doesn't help to alleviate the thought that I could've, should've done more. God, I hope they forgive me.

All in all, it was a terrific evening, and being that a large grassroots contingent was there, there was lots of talk about how to move forward with OFA (Organizing for America), and brainstorming in general. There is a lot of restless activist energy out there waiting to be tapped in a concrete, strategic way. We just have to figure out the best way to engage it. ONWARD!

A Meditation on The 100 Days and The Vortex of History

Can you feel it? Can you hear it? The titanic, sucking sweep of events drawing us, unwitting spectators whose billions of bodies are flailing helplessly in the swirling corkscrew of economic quicksand, into the vortex of history. We are living in astonishing times.

Forget, for a moment, your miserable unemployed, cash poor self. Forget the tension of living in these remorseless, uncommon times. If ever you wanted to be a part of the history of the world, this is it. History textbooks written about this moment in time will be about you and me and all the citizens of the world, about how we lived, how we coped, how we embraced CHANGE.

This may not seem like the Dawning of the Age of Aquarius that I wrote about back in September, but then again, we haven't yet hit rock bottom. This crisis we're in will, hopefully, work like a global colonic. What an amazing opportunity to cleanse and rebuild. From this front row seat to history, would that we could just enjoy(!) this moment, step back and appreciate where we are, and peer into the future and witness what could possibly be. Will the world break out of its cocoon to become a beautiful butterfly, or remain a stunted caterpillar, not realizing its full potential? If we don't embrace this change, accept the realization that there has been an immense paradigm shift, a global and social power shift, the consequences will be dire.

Will we rise to be our best selves? Will all the cutting back, sacrifices, recycling, backyard gardens, and volunteering invoke sincere politesse and tolerance toward our fellow man? After the shock wears off, can we settle, graciously, into our new way of life? We have to. There is no turning back; no drowning in nostalgia for the good ole days of easy money and easy times. No time for pity parties. We're being tested in many ways, and the jury will be out for quite some time on the results.

This time, too, is an opportunity for reflection on the past two years of the Presidential campaign and the traditional earmark of 100 Days for President Barack Obama. This is something we can relish and celebrate immediately. Who represents a pivotal moment in history better than Barack Obama? And, in just 100 days, he has done much to reverse the violation of the Bush regime that lasted an agonizing 2816 days. Of course, he is not infallible, he is not the Messiah, but he is the right man, at the right time, right now.

We are very lucky to be living in this most interesting time. Yes, it’s scary; yes, it’s unnerving, but now is the time for contemplation about how to embrace this metamorphosis and the adventure of discovery of the unknown…not buy into the fear of what may lie ahead.

This is all so BIG. I can feel the churning cosmos enveloping me.

Note to Obama: Govern Like You're a One Term President

I know we're only 55 days into Obama's Presidency, but I hope that what we've seen from the Administration these past two weeks is not going to be indicative of their process going forward. Yes, only 55 days considering that 8 years of malfeasance was dumped on Obama's desk on Day One, and the gigantic sucking sound as the economic crisis spiraled into a vortex was deafening, Obama, while maintaining his charming Yodaness, appears to be hedging his bets in all directions instead of taking the road less traveled, the one we thought he would take. He promised us CHANGE... and, OMG, the use of it as a promise is becoming so trite...but what we're getting seems to be the 'appearance' of change. Ok, right, he immediately changed/reversed some awful Bush directives, but his handling of this economic crisis is sadly disappointing.

His appointment of Larry Summers as one of the lead architects to handle the economy was incredibly disheartening from the very beginning, and the following petition sent to Obama's transition team, way back when, says it all. I guess you could say it was successful to an extent because he wasn't appointed Secretary of the Treasury, only head of the National Economic Council (NEC). To put a nice coda to that appointment, here's an illuminating note that Summers sent to Ken Lay, of all people, when he was appointed Secretary of the Treasury under Clinton...note the handwritten post script. With regard to Frank Rich's column Has a 'Katrina' Moment Arrived?, it's not a stretch to imagine that Summers might be Obama's 'Brownie'.

But, I digress. Obama's kumbaya approach to bipartisanship has already proved to be woefully misguided. I guess he had to try it to see that Republican snakes will readily bite the hand that feeds them, and it's a waste of time to try and make friends with them. Obama should take a moment, and think about on whose shoulders he stood that hoisted him over the top to the White House. Answer: The grassroots movement made up largely of liberals and progressives. And, I'm going to go out on a limb here and say, that if the progressives didn't support him, we would probably be talking about President Hillary Clinton right now.

If Obama wants to live up to all his promise, and his promises, he would do well to govern like a one-term President, forge ahead without equivocation, and kick some legislative ass. He might even be rewarded with a second term.

P.S. In anticipation of Obama getting his bearings and winning a second term, it's never too soon to get ready for President #45. Join my Facebook group to support Michelle Obama for President in 2016...MObama'16!!

The Year of the Tall Skinny Man

I was at a Town Hall meeting last night in Santa Monica where Gavin Newsom, mayor of San Francisco, spoke about his agenda and his run for governor. Knowing basically nothing about him except for a little scandal or two and his support of gay marriage, I was curious to see him up close and personal. Unfortunately for him, probably 90% of the electorate out there doesn't know much about him either. If last night was any evidence, he speaks like a true progressive, was very well prepared and could go deep into any issue. He was impressive. And, here's a picture of his beautiful wife (always well aware of the camera) and her sister.

So, here are the raw highlights: he has A LOT, no, A TON of hair...admitted to using gel, is very attractive, understands how to move around and where the camera is, is terribly in need of a new suit...his pants were stuck in his crack, needs an antiperspirant...kept his arms close to his body because of large perspiration splotches under his arms. Ok, that's the image, but really he would be the change we need after the miserable failure of the 'Arnold-celebrity-as-politician' experiment.

Newsom is going to be intensely scrutinized, and if the medium is the message, then he's going to have to overcome the many 'messages' on a lot of YouTube videos. For more on the issues, go to his website, and we'll be following him and his message closely as the campaign revs up.

And last but not least, I want to give a shout out to a fellow Obamwoodian, Kelli Dunaway, who made us proud by asking Newsom the last question of the evening about the potential revenue from marijuana sales. Great question. Newsom nervously joked and gagged about it. Nice going, Kelli!!!

In conclusion...so far: Newsom = Obama lite.

Danger in Plain Sight

Early on in the Obama campaign, one of the biggest fears expressed by people as a reason not to support him was their anxiety about him being assassinated. Slowly, the momentum of the campaign and the realization that he had a real chance at the nomination and Presidency, made people put their anxiety on the back burner, while, indeed, never forgetting the dreadful possibility. Threats to Presidents are, of course, constantly being evaluated, and the news today that a mentally unstable person sent HIV infected blood through the mail, addressed to Obama, underscores that threat.

Of course, there is always a risk that some crazed assassin will find a weak link and break through the tight security that surrounds the President; but, lately, it seems to me that potential assassins are really hiding in plain sight.

The more unnerving possibilities come from the opposition: the conservative right. It has always been that way with the right wing, but lately their vitriol spiked by racist undertones is alarming. Starting early on with Sarah Palin's unbridled attacks on Obama's character and patriotism that unleashed a veritable ungluing of the right's racist/hatred simmering below the surface; to Rush Limbaugh's constant underscoring of Obama's middle name, Hussein, and continual agitating of his retard followers' hatefulness; to the recently published ugly cartoon in the New York Post that depicted a chimpanzee being assassinated; to John Bolton's 'joke' yesterday at the CPAC convention about nuking Chicago (Obama's hometown) with the entire CPAC audience laughing their right wing tails off; that represents a hostility that foments what inexcusably could pass as justifiable violence by conservative instigators.

Watching the news about Bolton suddenly rang alarm bells in my head as it occurred to me that these were the people to watch - that these 'righter than right' sanctimonious self-righteous scarily insecure pod people could be the ones to slip beyond the tight security, no doubt in the name of bi-partisanship, and aim to do harm to our President - to Obama who represents everything they cannot be, and will never be; who with their tiny minds, troubled sexuality and existence full of fear may think that there is only one way to rid themselves of their perceived nemesis.

Am I an alarmist? I am generally not a worrier, but you can never take your eyes off the frightened disenfranchised who feel that they are backed into a corner with no foreseeable way out...at least not for the next eight long years. In this case, it is potentially both your 'friends' as well as your enemies who would do you the most harm. Vigilance is the watchword.

Blogger for Sale

In light of the brouhaha about Obama calling on Sam Stein, blogger for the Huffington Post, by the White House press corps, who got their knickers in a twist over the definition of 'journalist', I am revisiting my very first blog - and actually the only one that I wrote for about 3 years(!) - as it is kind of apropos of the White House press corps questioning the qualifications of 'blogger'. Apparently, 'blogger' doesn't qualify to ask a question of the President of the United States since, cause according to the press corps, bloggers are not real journalists. In any case, no doubt the White House corps journalists quoted Obama as per Stein's question all day long. Touchy, touchy.

I think they just got pissed off because Obama didn't ask one of them their obviously more brilliant question. Sam Stein's question was a really good one about whether Obama will go after the war criminals that just left the White House. Obama answered as he had before, about how he is looking forward, not back...huh? I'm just not getting this. There is no excuse for not dogging the Bush Cabal for their reprehensible misdeeds. A crime is a crime. This is so puzzling...what's Obama thinking?

Anyway, here's the original blog...I think it still has some relevance.

Tuesday, January 18, 2005

BLOGGER FOR SALE

Due to recent disclosures of bloggers being paid as 'consultants' for political campaigns and/or various political agendas, I say, upfront, "Why hide?". My blog is as good as the next guy's. Okay, I've never blogged before but I smell opportunity, and the fact that I am new at this, and now a budding blogger, my credibility is unbesmirched, as I have never endorsed a product, promoted an agenda, flogged a book or movie, or even spewed my own self-righteous opinions...yet. My slate is clean, ready to be sullied by capitalism and adaptable ethics. I am up for sale. Following, please find a list of categories for which I will blog mercilessly depending on my consultancy fees. A sliding scale of money-to-blog ratio is available on request. Pro bono services (I do have a heart) are available for those with little or no ka-ching. For pro bono blogging, I will flog your product by blogging within a blog so you can ride on the coattails of another 'enhanced' product.

NOTE: Whatever it is that I am blogging, be it an opinion, an issue, a law, bad-mouthing, an Oscar, whatever, is heretofore referred to as the 'product'. Here are the categories, so far:

CORPORATE: Are you about to be indicted? Does your mother know what you've been up to? Not to worry. I will blog by taking the high ground and cover your ass with all sorts of spin, and even go the extra mile by writing letters to the editor of tipsily ethical publications and newspapers like The New York Times and The Drudge Report. Any photographs of you in handcuffs will be derided as obvious photoshop enhancements.

POLITICAL: Nominees and office holders...escape the brazen plumbing of your inner sanctum secrets by dirty tricksters and ethics hound dogs...I'll flog you're 'character' til the cows come home about the fact that you knew absolutely nothing about anything that ever happened in your entire life. Character assassination is easily overcome by endless blogging and a certifiable case of amnesia. Never lose a confirmation again. (I accept soft money.)

WAR: Do you have a war you want to start? Let me blog it for you. We can brainstorm any number of cockammie reasons and I will blog it to death. No food for blogs on this one, hard cash only.

LEGISLATION: Not quite enough pork in the barrel? I can target-blog Capital Hill like nobody's business. Please do not confuse paid consultant blogging with lobbying...blogging is so much more cost efficient, no martini lunches or Cohibas in the cloakroom, just straight to your target's e-mail. We know legislators are monitoring the pulse of the blogging community as though it were real journalism...as if.

CELEBRITY GOSSIP: Oy Vey. This is a tough one and, as such, may cost a little more depending on whether you want to cover up asinine behavior or correct dastardly misinformation on, for example, above the title credits, pregnancy, rehab, pre-nups, etc. Blogging outright denials of obvious plastic surgery will be charged double. Compromising oneself, for ridicule, is costly. My entrance into the bloggosphere of self-made pundits is now hereby official. I look forward to bflogging (not a typo) undetectable 'studies' to support your product, quoting unidentified expert sources and keeping your product's head above water for the duration of...whatever it is we're bflogging.

Disclaimer: I proclaim total and unqualified innocence of any connection to anybody - at this point...in time. Contact me through posts. Discretion guaranteed.

Obama and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

YIKES! Could it be worse? Two tax dodgers resign from nominations put forth by the super duper vetting machine of the Obama campaign. Wait. Don't forget...there was more. Remember Big Bill Richardson resigned from his Commerce nomination under a scandalous cloud that everybody who was anybody knew about for years. Ok, so it might not have been that exact misdeed, but there were plenty of treacherous alliances, shall we say, that should have raised the red flag. How the hell did he get vetted? Lucky Tim Geithner, for Treasury Secretary, squeaked through with his tax 'mistake' mea culpa. Puhlease.

Okay, everybody cheats on their taxes; everybody hateshateshates to pay taxes, but for crying out loud, if you're a politician, shouldn't you be very, very sure your ass is covered in taxes? Yes, of course, nobody's perfect...least of all the vetting team. Wasn't Caroline Kennedy supposed to be vetting people? Or was that just for VP? Where's Donald Trump when you need to fire everyone?

And, of all the people who have made it through the nomination/confirmation process, the very one you would have thought would trip up enough alarm bells to bring out the Washington Fire Department, our Madam Secretary, Hillary Clinton...of all people...sailed through without nary a hair out of place. Awesome. You go girl! Side bar: I think Hillary will do a fantastic job.

This mess has got to stop. Obama stopped the bleeding and took responsibility for the 'mistakes'...don't you just love that word, 'mistakes'...hey, where were the IRS with these 'mistakes'? I gotta remember that...'mistakes' is the new 'sorry'. Anyway, I hope Obama is leaving his cool at the door and giving his team a piece of his mind. The Red Party must be popping the champagne corks. But really, they are still way ahead of us on scandals and corruptions. Compared to them, this is small time stuff. (I know I'm ranting.) Anyway, Obama had better get his ship in shape. This is beginning to look like the Gang Who Couldn't Shoot Straight.