Here come the Clintons

The recent Obama appointment of Hillary to Secretary of State has been a shock to some and a prediction by others.  I thought this might happen during the primaries.  Remember that “closed door” meeting between the two of them that everyone thought was about super delegates?  Wrong.  It was a “Hey you have no real chance against McCain on your own, maybe you should let me take it from here” “What if I could make you a smoking deal on a 2009 model cabinet appointment, something with all the options and full power, like Secretary of State.”  Sold.

Hillary got to save face with her supporters in Denver.  The same night Al Gore gave the best speech of his life about party unity, it still reminded me of Dwight K Shrutes motivational speech, it even had some podium banging.   After Denver the Ethanol/Biofuel/Hybrid powered Democratic campaign machine made history.  There was no talk in the national media about any sort of deal that might have been made between Obama and Hillary, they kept speculating on possible inner-party fallout.  When the formal announcement was made, people I know had strange reactions.  “That’s not change”, “She’s part of the problem”, “She’ll try to take over”, I would call the reactions mixed at best.

I think Hillary will make an excellent secretary of state.  The former First Lady was quite the diplomat during the Clinton White House years.  Hillary was much more involved as First Lady than Laura Bush, who seemed to be happy stateside focusing on domestic education issues.  Mrs. Clinton might not have came under sniper fire in a chopper, but the way she handles media fire is pretty impressive.  Condi Rice left much to be desired as Secretary of State.  Her knowledge of Russian culture and time spent abroad was meant to be a positive diplomatic resource.  Instead her time was spent saber rattling with countries in the Middle East.

I believe the President Elect knows what he’s doing, I believe Hillary will do a fine job, reguardless of how polarizing people find her.  Sometimes you have to be polarizing to get things done.

Dear Mr. Obama

Hello, my name is redacted.

I have been a fan of yours since you were the junior Senator from Illinois.  I’m a Washingtonian originally from Kentucky.  When I moved to the district in 2004 I rented a flat at the Meridian on Mass avenue, one of the original two new highrises built in the chinatown/gallery place redevelopment.  Residents were buzzing around telling one another that Barack Obama got an apartment upstairs, and we were very proud.  The Meridian had its share of other celebrities, the Wizards team doctor, Shamiqua Holtzclaw, and a couple rappers nobody really heard of; but day the white knight of the Democratic party moved in upstairs, we were in the tank.

We didn’t really see you much because you guys were currently getting served by the republicans on the hill.  Nsa wiretaps, gitmo, cia leaks, they were running away with the country in the name of national security.  The golden days of Bill were gone and Washington was sad and locked down tight.  Barriers of all sorts went around all kinds of buildings, it seemed like any office that was property of the people was off limits via armed guards and blast walls.  Security is undoubetly important, but it almost gave the appearance of marshal law.  We assumed the Bush family would be in for two terms since they had that really effective nationalist approach of keeping people scared.  Kerry was no candidate, and Edwards is an ambulance chaser.

On election night 2004 my friends and I were at the 9:30 club at the Rock the Vote party.  The crowd was full of ambitious progressive young dems hoping to get the worst president ever out of office.  Big tubs of campaign on ice were waiting in the hallway for the moment Ohio would turn blue on the bigscreen.  We fell silent around 2 am when it turned solid red.  A few people actually cried.  It was a tough loss to take, and going home felt like the walk of shame.  Loud republican motorcades were all over the city late that night and It was hard to sleep.

Over the course of the next few days the buzz was that you were suiting up to run in the primary next time around, and that gave us hope.  Hope that somebody would fix the mess and vacate bush policy.  Hope the next president would actually be “OF” the people and “FOR” the people.  Not a rich businessman or a chump that married any heiress.  We wanted a guy who went to the gym at Wash Sports Center Chinatown, and ran his ass off on those stair climbing machines.  If I had went to the gym more often instead of watching daily show reruns I could have worked out with Barack Obama.  You really did a good job of acting normal despite everybody in the gym is looking at you.  No SS troops to keep people from saying hello, when people approached you always said “hello.”  That’s one of the reasons I’m such a fan, you always spoke to me and one once loaned me a quarter at the Gatorade machine because I was short.  Definitely in the tank.

I stopped going to that gym but have told the story many times.  Currently I am a student at the University of Kentucky, I had to leave Washington for a couple years but am moving back when I graduate.  I know most people are having a hard time finding work due to the current economic situation, but if Washington is under democratic control things will improve. I would like to do PR for candidates, maybe become someones press secretary.  Perhaps you could direct me to someone that needs help and actually pays.

You have a big week ahead of you.  You have ran a very honest and sincere campaign and have done a better than average job of explaining what the plan is.  People follow you when you talk, perhaps its the law prof in you, but it works.  This morning on the way to class some people found a chickenshit redneck display of social ignorance, it was a dummy with an Obama mask hanging from a tree.  The school president got all hot and bothered over it and is offering a personal apology to you and your family.  He would really like to tell you in person if the situation warranted.  Frankly I think a speaking engagement at the university would be a wise idea, you haven’t came to Kentucky a single time since you announced your run.  I understand our 8 votes usually turn red weeks before a presidential election, but this place is greatly misunderstood and we have lots of swing voters.  Our voters will vote for a yellow dog democrat if you prop him up, just not usually for a presidential election.  However it could still earn you an extra slate of voters, and send a big “F-you” to the morons that hung up the dummy.

I wish you luck and pray for a fair election.  Please repair the extensive damage done in the past eight years.  You do realize you will have two wars, possible cold war, deficit, bad economy, and shitty traffic around the beltway to deal with before your term would even start.  Don’t forget you are the white knight, and we have very high hopes.  Madeye Moody says “Constant Vigilance” and thats good advice for anybody.  If you win it will show real progress in America, the kind that makes us proud to be Americans again.

Come to Kentucky, I owe you a quarter

Redacted

Found Racism

This is the headline photo from today’s drudge report

The caption: “Landslide like Regan”

A black and white photo with mostly black people in it.

I think they are only using this to create a generally dark image associated with the election, maybe even show a “laying on of hands” as an extremist religion movement.