Words to chew on...
Joanne
Posts: 98
"The indelible memory from last night, for me, will always be the First Family-elect, resplendent in black and red, walking almost a little shyly onstage, as if it was just then dawning on them what has happened, and waving to the delirious tens of thousands in Grant Park. And my son will grow up not thinking it remarkable to have a black family in the White House.
Then Obama’s speech. I’ve never been a fan of “Yes we can”—it’s a rally cheer, not a national summons—and hope not to hear it too many times from President Obama. But the tone and substance of everything he said was proof of the profound change that’s about to take place. We will have a President who can think and feel and speak; we will have a grownup who will treat us like grownups. The Bush era is over. And the Clinton era. And the Reagan era. And the 1960s.
There seemed to be very little euphoria in Obama. He still looks grave to me. And that’s another sign of his maturity.
I’ll be writing more about this theme in next week’s issue of the magazine, but a few days before the election, David Axelrod, Obama’s shlub of a strategic genius, told me:
The irony is that McCain—what strategic mistake did he make? He made a Faustian bargain with elements of his own party to essentially embrace the old dogma, and I think he wound up paying a big price for that. If John McCain had maintained his opposition to the Bush tax cuts and had taken a different posture in this election as to what was needed in terms of the economy, instead of doubling down on the Bush tax cuts, it could have been a different kind of campaign.
McCain must be thinking: Damn you, George W. Bush, you beat me again. It was a little bittersweet to be reminded last night of what I used to like about this man at the very end of a campaign he spent doing dirt on his own name. After losing, he was the soul of graciousness—it’s his inner Robert Jordan, his Hemingwayesque code. Most politicians thrive on overcoming adversity; McCain seems to savor most honor in defeat. So perhaps, in a strange way, both candidates had some happiness last night.
As for his unpleasantly booing crowd in Phoenix, their biggest cheer was for Sarah Palin. None of it bodes well for the immediate future of the Republican Party. "
Then Obama’s speech. I’ve never been a fan of “Yes we can”—it’s a rally cheer, not a national summons—and hope not to hear it too many times from President Obama. But the tone and substance of everything he said was proof of the profound change that’s about to take place. We will have a President who can think and feel and speak; we will have a grownup who will treat us like grownups. The Bush era is over. And the Clinton era. And the Reagan era. And the 1960s.
There seemed to be very little euphoria in Obama. He still looks grave to me. And that’s another sign of his maturity.
I’ll be writing more about this theme in next week’s issue of the magazine, but a few days before the election, David Axelrod, Obama’s shlub of a strategic genius, told me:
The irony is that McCain—what strategic mistake did he make? He made a Faustian bargain with elements of his own party to essentially embrace the old dogma, and I think he wound up paying a big price for that. If John McCain had maintained his opposition to the Bush tax cuts and had taken a different posture in this election as to what was needed in terms of the economy, instead of doubling down on the Bush tax cuts, it could have been a different kind of campaign.
McCain must be thinking: Damn you, George W. Bush, you beat me again. It was a little bittersweet to be reminded last night of what I used to like about this man at the very end of a campaign he spent doing dirt on his own name. After losing, he was the soul of graciousness—it’s his inner Robert Jordan, his Hemingwayesque code. Most politicians thrive on overcoming adversity; McCain seems to savor most honor in defeat. So perhaps, in a strange way, both candidates had some happiness last night.
As for his unpleasantly booing crowd in Phoenix, their biggest cheer was for Sarah Palin. None of it bodes well for the immediate future of the Republican Party. "
We're still making records for people who listen to it all the way through, eyes closed, in that space.
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"Obama's main opponent in this election on November 4th (was) not John McCain, it (was) ignorance."~Michael Moore
"i'm feeling kinda righteous right now. with my badass motherfuckin' ukulele!"
~ed, 8/7