A Samuel L. Jackson ad against California's Prop. 8.

 

This is one of the few occasions I actually wish I still lived back in California.

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Kitten Kostume.

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The Haunted Mansion's theme, as performed by the Dapper Dans Cadaver Dans. Excellent!

 

One of my favorite Disneyland tunes.

(via Disney Blog)

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One of Ronald Reagan's closest aides is voting for Barack Obama.

Former Reagan chief of staff Ken Duberstein told CNN's Fareed Zakaria this week he intends to vote for Democrat Barack Obama on Tuesday.

Duberstein said he was influenced by another prominent Reagan official - Colin Powell - in his decision.

"Well let's put it this way - I think Colin Powell's decision is in fact the good housekeeping seal of approval on Barack Obama."

Powell served as national security advisor to Reagan during Duberstein's tenure as chief of staff.

Duberstein was also interviewed on the subject on MSNBC.

If a man who worked so closely for Reagan, the Moses of the Conservative Revolution, is choosing Obama ...

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The Civic-Minded Two, Woot!

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Call this the governmental version of Anglos who get Japanese or Chinese symbols as tattoos without really knowing what they mean. Or Japanese who wear oddly phrased English t-shirts because the words look or sound pretty.

When officials asked for the Welsh translation of a road sign, they thought the reply was what they needed.

Unfortunately, the e-mail response to Swansea council said in Welsh: "I am not in the office at the moment. Please send any work to be translated".

So that was what went up under the English version which barred lorries from a road near a supermarket.

"When they're proofing signs, they should really use someone who speaks Welsh," said journalist Dylan Iorwerth.

 

Oops.

Apparently the quality of translation in signs from English to Welsh is not an uncommon problem. 

(via Doyce)

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"Mrs." Mayer and Katherine, school Halloween Party.

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This article has a video from the New America Foundation on how investing in infrastructure is not only desperately needed, but is the sort of economic stimulus we pretty badly need. It then follows with excerpts from an interview of Obama by Rachel Maddow.

MADDOW: There may be some policy fights ahead, particularly in responding to the economic crisis that will have both a practical and an ideological component. If we are looking at economic stimulus, is there a possibility that you could see in your first term, if you are elected, that we'd need an economic stimulus program that felt to Americans a little bit like a public works program, a little bit like an FDR-style infrastructure building program?

OBAMA: Well, I've actually talked about this. And I haven't been hiding the ball on this. I think we have to rebuild our infrastructure. Look at what China's doing right now. Their trains are faster than us, their ports are better than us. They are preparing for a very competitive 21st century economy and we're not.

One of the most frustrating things over the last eight years has been the ability of George Bush to pile up debt and huge deficits and not have anything to show for it, right? So, if you're going to run deficit spending, then it better be in rebuilding our roads, our bridges, our sewer lines, our water system, laying broadband lines.

One of, I think, the most important infrastructure projects that we need is a whole new electricity grid. Because if we're going to be serious about renewable energy, I want to be able to get wind power from North Dakota to population centers, like Chicago. And we're going to have to have a smart grid if we want to use plug-in hybrids then we want to be able to have ordinary consumers sell back the electricity that's generated from those car batteries, back into the grid. That can create 5 million new jobs, just in new energy.

But, it's huge projects that generally speaking, you're not going to have private enterprise would want to take all those risks. And we're going to have to be involved in that process.

 

That sounds like a better way to get some money into the economy than (a) sending out another round of stimulus checks to the populace (that will go to pay off debt, mostly), or (b) sending out another round of bailout checks to financial institutions (that will go, apparently, to golden parachutes and dividend payments).

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Tim O'Reilly is a well-known tech blogger, and in this lengthy article he explains why he's voting for Barack Obama.

Faced with these problems, we need a president who can harness the best and brightest our country has to offer, a president who is conversant with, and comfortable with, the power of technology to assist in solving these problems, a president who is good at listening, studying, and devising solutions based on the best insight available, rather than on narrow ideology. We need a president who can forge consensus, not just among the partisans in our own fractured democracy but around the world. We need a president who can inspire our citizens and our global partners to forgo narrow self interest and embrace the possibilities that we can achieve if we work together to build a better future.

I believe Barack Obama is that president. He is a man of intelligence, but also a man whose character and temperament seem suited to the problems of our age: unflappable, optimistic even in the face of adversity, willing to speak the truth about subjects that have long been taboo (I'm thinking of his speech on race, and his speech on fatherhood) and with unscripted reactions that show his fundamental decency (I'm thinking of his reaction to those who wanted to make a campaign issue of Sarah Palin's daughter's unplanned pregnancy.)

O'Reilly's argument is based on the "tech" advantages of Obama's call for connected and transparent government, his handling of financial matters, his stand on climate change, and his support of Net Neutrality. It's a long article, but well worth reading.

(via BoingBoing)

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This looks to be the one Halloween in ten that Denver gets when it would be safe to have a costume that shows any skin -- a stark contrast to the majority of them when it's slog-through-snow or ward-off-frostbite time, which tends to wreak havoc with most costumes (or, as we usually call them, "Okay, I'm going to briefly open my parka and flash you so you can see what I spent so much time putting together" outfits).

This whole week has been quite pleasant and sunny ... which hasn't done our carved pumpkins on the front steps any good. Talk about "frightful."

BD has more ...

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BD passes along this meme:

Copy this sentence into your Livejournal/Blog if you're in a heterosexual marriage, and you don't want it "protected" by the bigots who think that gay marriage hurts it somehow.

Any two or more people who choose to enter into the bonds of a loving, committed relationship in an open, public manner will only make us smile and strengthen our own bond. 

*raises a glass to everyone who's married, whether legally or in their hearts and the eyes of their god(s), everyone who's getting married, everyone who'd like to get married in a legally recognized fashion, but can't because of silly laws--and, for that matter, everyone who's self-aware enough to look at themselves and realize that such commitments aren't right for them at this time or who doesn't feel the need to be so public about it--just because it works for us doesn't mean it's going to work for everyone*

Okay: Any two or more people who choose to enter into the bonds of a loving, committed relationship in an open, public manner will only make us smile and strengthen our own bond. 

Now, not being willing to leave well enough alone, I'll note some caveats and observations:

1. "Loving, committed relationship" obviously excludes age-inappropriate marriages (not to mention a number of other bugaboos of the Right when it comes to same-sex marriage questions). What's appropriate or inappropriate has, of course, varied wildly over the centuries, despite the cry of "eternal standards of traditional marriage" from the social conservatives. There's times I'm tempted to suggest the age of consent for marriage should be raised to thirty ... but that's a topic for another day.
2. "Two or more people" obviously includes polygamy, which is usually one of those slippery slope sorts of arguments again advanced by the Right. Again, a topic for another day, but practical considerations and difficulties for long-term stability aside, it's no skin off my nose; such relations have every likelihood of being as true or truer to the spirit of marriage as some binary man-woman relationships we can point to on a daily basis. That said, current gay marriage struggles are not about polygamy; address that issue when it actually comes up.

The point of this, of course, is that what two other people choose to call their marriage doesn't necessarily affect mine. And happy couples tend to spread happiness. So leave 'em the heck alone, all you Prop. 8 agitators out in California. Concentrate your energies on keeping your own marriages happy and healthy, and you'll probably do more good for yourselves and society than you do trying to keep other folks from having happy marriages.

Mawwiage. Mawwiage is what bwings us togethaw today. Mawwiage, that bwessed awwangement, that dweam within a dweam...

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The 3 Nov. issue of The American Conservative, beyond what Fukuyama writes, includes the following " conservatives, libertarians, and independent thinkers" with endorsements of Obama:

John Patrick Diggins 

I prefer the professor to the warrior.

 

Elisabeth Lasch-Quinn 

Obama’s telling of his—and our—American story rang true to our struggles, ideals, and times, from his opening expression of “deep gratitude for the privilege of addressing this convention” to his closing prayer that out of trouble and cynicism “our country will reclaim its promise.” For living in these times has entailed a growing acquaintance with what Bob Dylan termed “the morals of despair.” From the “culture of greed,” as Kevin Phillips put it, and the obscene rich/poor gap to unilateralism and a deadly and costly war, family and community disintegration, immoral business and political practices, and economic collapse, sources of self-respect and respect in the world are hard to find. Obama echoes the call of some of our keenest social critics for a remoralization of politics and society. Wendell Berry, for one, has emphasized the need for an attitude of “stewardship” as an alternative to exploitation, manipulation, aggression, and selfishness. This message, not traceable to current notions of Republican and Democrat, recalls our commitments to the humbling, soul-leveling inspiration that is democracy, the dignity of hard work, individual and communal responsibility, and unity beyond race and other false boundaries.

 

Scott McConnell: 

For these reasons, I’m voting for Obama. While he doesn’t inspire me, he does impress. His two-year campaign has been disciplined and intelligent. He has surrounded himself with the mainstream liberal types who staffed the Clinton administration. Like countless social democratic leaders before him, he probably was more left-wing when he was younger. Circumstance and ambition have pushed him to the center. If elected, he will inherit an office burdened with massive financial and foreign-policy problems. Unlike John McCain, he won’t try to bomb his way out of the mess.

 

Robert A. Pape: 

I strongly support Barack Obama for president. In the past, I have supported both Republicans and Democrats, choosing the candidate with the leadership qualities and foreign-policy principles most likely to advance the national security of the United States. Of course, we have no crystal balls, but leaders with sound judgment on core policies and courage to look beyond political winds of the moment greatly improve the odds of long-term success. Obama scores uncommonly high on the “judgment-courage” index, qualities that will be needed as our next president seeks to repair the damage from the triple train wreck of our overstretched military, underperforming economy, and floundering international reputation that is now undermining our national security.

 

Of the 18 with articles, five are voting for Obama, three for McCain, four for a third party candidate, two for write-ins, and four are declining to vote at all.

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Francis Fukuyama, conservative historian (The End of History) writes in The American Conservative why he's voting for Barack Obama. (Emphasis mine)

I’m voting for Barack Obama this November for a very simple reason. It is hard to imagine a more disastrous presidency than that of George W. Bush. It was bad enough that he launched an unnecessary war and undermined the standing of the United States throughout the world in his first term. But in the waning days of his administration, he is presiding over a collapse of the American financial system and broader economy that will have consequences for years to come. As a general rule, democracies don’t work well if voters do not hold political parties accountable for failure. While John McCain is trying desperately to pretend that he never had anything to do with the Republican Party, I think it would a travesty to reward the Republicans for failure on such a grand scale. 

McCain’s appeal was always that he could think for himself, but as the campaign has progressed, he has seemed simply erratic and hotheaded. His choice of Sarah Palin as a running mate was highly irresponsible; we have suffered under the current president who entered office without much knowledge of the world and was easily captured by the wrong advisers. McCain’s lurching from Reaganite free-marketer to populist tribune makes one wonder whether he has any underlying principles at all.

America has been living in a dream world for the past few years, losing its basic values of thrift and prudence and living far beyond its means, even as it has lectured the rest of the world to follow its model. At a time when the U.S. government has just nationalized a good part of the banking sector, we need to rethink a lot of the Reaganite verities of the past generation regarding taxes and regulation. Important as they were back in the 1980s and ’90s, they just won’t cut it for the period we are now entering. Obama is much better positioned to reinvent the American model and will certainly present a very different and more positive face of America to the rest of the world. 

(via DftCW and DOF)

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If you spend all day surrounded with photographers snapping your picture, to the extent that they collectively have a "movie" of you in individual frames, sooner or later someone's going to catch a goofy shot of you. I.e., the accompanying pic of Obama. (Folks can't decide whether to call it "Frankenbama" or "Barackula")

Obama's actually usually been fairly photogenic. McCain suffers a bit more (his most recent goofy picture was the marionette-lizard-man from the last debate). 

Choosing pics of candidates is a tough call. Most political ads showing the opposition are usually like the "before" pictures in a diet commercial -- it's the least flattering lighting, the most lifeless or ugly or evil expression on the person's face, etc. Just like those "Eek, that's what Angelina Jolie really looks like" candids that you see on the tabloids as they cross the street or sit on a park bench or pic their nose or are caught in a full photo flash at a restaurant, it's not necessarily a fair representation of what the person looks like (arguably the normal posed picture isn't "fair" either).

So I've tried to refrain from showing pics of McCain or Palin at their caught-picking-their-teeth or bad-gas-attack worst. These things happen, as anyone who takes pictures of their own family knows.

Sometimes they're pretty darned funny, though. If taken as humor, that's fine. If used to make some deep, dark, nasty point about the person, that's probably not.

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DOF summarizes some of the ship-jumping going on amongst some high-profile Republicans, who are choosing to vote for Obama.

Something weird is going on. Conservative leaders like Colin Powell, Chris Buckley, and Ken Adelman are endorsing Obama. 

Conservative newspapers are going for the Senator from Illinois, too. The Chicago Tribune has endorsed their first Democrat in their entire 163-year history. The editor-in-chief of Dallas Magazine now calls himself A Conservative For Obama. The most important newspaper in Alaska is swimming madly for the Obama ship: Anchorage Daily News endorses Obama - McCain erratic, Palin not ready 

Hell, even our own Pantagraph has endorsed Obama. Twice they endorsed Ike over Stevenson, and Stevenson was from Bloomington. And owned half-interest in the newspaper! (In case you think there’s no such thing as editorial independence.)

Is it just petulance or political infighting? No, not apparently.

So I ask again, what the hell is going on? Just this: Obama is a better candidate, and there are still a lot of conservatives out there who will vote for the better candidate, regardless if they have an R or a D after their name. It’s called “thinking”. HuffPost contributor Eric Hirshberg set out to interview some of the thinking conservatives, and found it a moving experience; Conservatives voting for Obama, in their own words. Here’s a sample:

This is what democracy is supposed to be. These people actually listened, considered and were open to the possibility of change. They didn’t support a candidate. They actually chose one. And while I’m happy this year they are voting for “my team,” they also inspired me to be more open in my own political life.

I thought we were making an ad campaign about Obama. But I think we ended up making an ad campaign about the essential ingredient that makes democracy work: an open mind. We don’t belong to our political parties. Our political parties belong to us.

 

"They didn't support a candidate. They actually chose one." That's kind of neat. And it points a way out of the party polarization that the US has gotten mired in.

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Seventy-six (so far) Nobel Laureates in science have signed a letter endorsing Obama for President.

We have watched Senator Obama's approach to these issues with admiration. We especially applaud his emphasis during the campaign on the power of science and technology to enhance our nation's competitiveness. In particular, we support the measures he plans to take -- through new initiatives in education and training, expanded research funding, an unbiased process for obtaining scientific advice, and an appropriate balance of basic and applied research -- to meet the nation's and the world's most urgent needs.

 

There is more to the world than science, of course, and a scientist cannot speak any more authoritatively than you or me about the best presidential candidate regarding foreign policy, or economic plans, or non-scientific matters.

But by the same token I do think they carry some weight when it comes to evaluating the candidate's position on science and research, the innovations and expansions of knowledge that will carry this country (and the world) forward through the 21st Century. I especially pay attention to the phrase, "an unbiased process for obtaining scientific advice," which flies in the case of multiple instances where the current Administration has changed scientific conclusions to meet policy desires.

Another reason to vote for Obama.

(via ScienceBlogs) 

 

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A very nice set of photos of Obama during the primary campaign by Callie Shell -- waiting to go on stage, pressing the flesh, doing a stray pull-up, candid and in media res. Good stuff, and a nice glimpse at the man.

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I've spent a fair amount of time and effort ragging on the GOP ticket this year. There's been plenty to criticize about McCain, and Palin, and their advisors, and their supporters, and just the general goofiness from the Right.

But the fact is, I don't think (unlike some other campaigns) that scaring folks is going to make much difference at this point. Fact is -- most people who have made a decision aren't going to be scared by it. They'll filter out or discount anything negative said about their candidates. And the folks wavering between the candidates aren't going (or shouldn't) be scared into voting for the other guy.

So. Here on out, I'm not going to dwell on why I think McCain is a dishonored, opportunistic, angry, Bush-supporting tool of the Right, or why Palin is a bubble-headed incompetent ultra-conservative ideologue. While I may criticize stuff going on around the election, I'm not going to spend my time dissing the GOP ticket.

Instead, I'm going to try to focus more on making the case for Obama. For the folks not sure, for the folks a bit scared, for the folks who (sigh) still claim not to know "who Barack Obama is" -- I'm going to try to dwell on the positive, on the question of why you should vote for Barack Obama.

I don't know if it will make a difference (I mean, it's not like this is a high-volume blog where everyone is hanging on my every word for guidance and inspiration). But it might change ... one mind? I don't know.

Maybe it will let someone who just cringes whenever I criticize McCain and Palin read something I'm writing about the election.

Maybe it will just inspire folks who are already Obama voters, making sure they get out and vote, and tell their friends. 

Or maybe it will just make me feel like I'm ending this campaign on an up note. Which is pretty worthwhile, come to think of it.

Note: The above doesn't apply to my Google Shared items. There are far too many tales both positive and negative that are far too worthwhile passing along. 

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Solidly, solidly done. High production values, yes, but never feeling too slick or too schmaltzy. Obama managed to talk about the issues, what he wants to do about them, and, at the same time, "who he is" and why he's running.

It all came off as very American, without involving a flag in every frame. It came off as leader-like without screeching at you. It motivated without fearmongering. If it occasionally showed its talking points, it was still inspirational and educational.

I had been concerned that it would turn out to feel too overproduced, too triumphalist. But it wasn't. It was straightforward, moving without being fluff, informative without being pedantic.

And aside from calling for change, it wasn't at all negative. Indeed, it was determinedly optimistic, saying that we are facing problems and tough times, but that we can and will triumph over them. McCain and Palin weren't mentioned, even indirectly.

The full 30 minutes is here:

 

Good work.  "Who is Barack Obama?" Now we know.

I want that man to be my president.

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Margie and Katherine and I had a very nice birthday dinner (as usual) at Pesce Fresco. We ate and drank too much, then rolled home, and Margie and I watched the Obama speech and some Daily Show before dragging up to bed.

(As an aside, while I am not a fan of most "favored" cheesecakes, the dulce de leche cheesecake with cinnamon gellato was superb.)

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Word's come down confirming that David Tennant will leave Doctor Who after all the various 2009-2010 one-off specials.

The Guardian newspaper this evening broke the story prematurely, reporting on their website (in a report subsequently pulled down) that Tennant is “vacating the TARDIS and leaving the BBC’s Doctor Who series at the end of next year. Tennant’s decision brings to an end his popular four-year tenure as the time lord.” The article went on to say that the BBC had confirmed that the actor “would complete the filming of four special episodes to be screened this year and in early 2010, as well as 2009’s Christmas special.”

 

Tennant's truly grown and grown into the role, but it's not surprising he's leaving, especially as the timing and direction (Russell Davies giving way to Steven Moffat) of the series evolves. I'll confess I still prefer Chris Eccleston by a nose (so to speak), but I'll look back on Tennant with great fondness.

No word on who the Eleventh Doctor might be, but there are some interesting rumors.

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HOW CAN YOU NOT KNOW "WHO BARACK OBAMA IS"?

WHAT DO YOU STILL WANT TO KNOW?

ARE YOU ACTUALLY TRYING TO FIND OUT?

ARE YOU EXPECTING BARACK OBAMA TO PROJECT THE INFORMATION STRAIGHT INTO YOUR BRAIN?

ARE YOU EXPECTING GOD TO SUDDENLY APPEAR AND HAND YOU A PERSONNEL FILE TO TELL YOU WHO BARACK OBAMA IS?

WHO COULD DO WHAT TO SOMEHOW EASE THIS GREAT VACUUM IN YOUR KNOWLEDGE ABOUT BARACK OBAMA?

ARE YOU WAITING FOR THE SITCOM? THE STAGE SHOW? THE MOVIE? THE COMIC BOOK?

Barack Obama has been running for president for a couple of years. He's given a zillion speeches. He's written books. He's given eleventy-dozen speeches about what he believes, about where he's from, about what he plans to do. HE HAS A WEB PAGE, FERGOSHSAKES!

WHAT MORE DO YOU NEED TO KNOW, FROM WHOM, IN WHAT MODALITY, BEFORE YOU FEEL YOU KNOW "WHO BARACK OBAMA IS"?

That is all.

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So I'm slogging off the train at the station. I was toward the back of the masses getting off, as I'd been on the front car after rushing to catch it in the first place.

After getting off the platform, I saw there was some guy handing out stuff by the elevators. A quick second glance betrayed the bright blue and red of campaign literature. So I was clearly curious as to who he was shilling for.

As I got closer, I saw it was fliers for Hank Eng, who's running as a Democrat to be our local US Rep.

The Eng story is an interesting one. I've mentioned more than once that this is heartland Red suburbia around here. Our former state senator was John Andrews, former GOP senate majority leader. And our Representative, until this election, has been Tom Tancredo, former fringe presidential candidate and anti-immigrant zealot.

This has been such a secure GOP seat that when Mike Coffman -- our present Colorado secretary of state (who, conveniently, oversees elections) -- declared his intent to run for CO-06, the Dems just sort of wrote the seat off, as they usually do.

Enter Hank Eng. Eng's an interesting fellow. His campaign has been pretty low-key -- no bluster, no wild publicity stunts or wedge issues. He's talked mostly about character and integrity, though he has policies to back that up.

He started the campaign with a shoestring budget, but has managed -- maybe, perhaps, depending on whose polling you believe -- to pull within serious striking range of Coffman, who's been hurt both by the state shifting Blue and by various problems with the voting process and voter purges. Heaven knows I've seen a lot more Eng signs in peoples' yards than Coffman ones.

I was inspired enough to actually go out last night and donate to Eng's campaign for the last few days of the campaign. It's a bit of a forlorn hope, but it felt good.

So I went over toward the guy handing out Eng literature, looked up --

-- and it was, in fact, Hank Eng.

I shook his hand, told him I'd just donated, and wished him the best of luck. He thanked me, assured me that "Together we can make it happen," and I moved on.

So maybe I didn't make it to the big Obama rally in Denver on Sunday, but maybe I got to shake the hand of my next Representative. I hope so.

Local politics are cool.

 

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Just a reminder to all here in the US and associated regions that we shift back from Daylight Saving Time this coming Sunday at 2 a.m. This is the "Fall Back," so we all get an extra hour. Don't spend it all at once!

Our brethren over in Europe shifted back last weekend, which might explain things if you keep having phonecon timing problems this week.

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Of course, Jesus suggested that we judge not, lest we be judged. He also indicated more than once that second-guessing someone else's relationship with God was, um, ill-advised.

Nonetheless, some folks on the Religious Right show no qualms about predicting who's casting a one-way vote for the Fiery Furnace. Like Jane Porter:

To all those who name the name of Christ who plan to willfully disobey Him by voting for Obama, take warning. Not only is our nation in grave danger, according to the Word of God, so are you.

Wow. I've read the New Testament through several times, and I can't say I remember a warning that God calls on us to vote against Obama.

In one week, America will make a choice. And to those who call themselves "Christian" who are planning on voting for Barack Obama, put down the Obama talking points and read God's voter guide before you go to the polls.

Wait -- I know that voting guide. It talks about loving neighbors, feeding the poor, clothing the naked, visiting the prisoner, supporting the widows and orphans. Wait -- is that the wrong guide?

Ah, I do love the ol' "I know who's a real 'Christian' and who's not" routine. It usually ends up being associated with stonings and witch burnings.

The particular theological gist of the article is that (a) Obama is not anti-abortion (thus a vote for him, no matter what the reason, is a vote for baby-killing (which, in terms of abortion, is apparently worse than children being killed by bears or righteous warriors sent by God), (b) Obama isn't rabidly anti-gay (as everyone knows God is), and (c) Obama is a socialist (it's never quite clear how this ties into the Bible, especially given Jesus' message about giving to the poor, but I'm sure my interpretation is faulty because I am, after all, voting for Obama). Thus, Obama is inutterably anti-Biblical, anti-God, and anyone who casts a vote for him ought just as well carve the Mark of the Beast (a backwards "B") on their cheek and get ready for some Chick tract afterworld retribution on their behind.

Obey Him in the voting booth and out of it. If not, do us all a favor and quit calling yourself a Christian.

And some Christians wonder why religious affiliation is flat or declining.

UPDATE: Of course, if you want the above to look relatively calm, considered, and sane, check this out by contrast.

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Interesting story on All Things Considered tonight about how the Obama candidacy and its impending success are dragging the real racists out of the rural backwaters and gangland obscurity. Police are seeing an upswing in hate crimes, both trivial (defacing Obama posters) and not.

Part of the problem is that Obama is playing into the neo-Nazi and white supremacist narrative, said Brian Levin, who studies hate and extremism at California State University, San Bernardino. What the groups were saying — "Jews and blacks coming out of the urban areas are going to take over this white nation of ours" — has occurred, he said.

You only have to look to the Internet to see how white supremacist leaders such as David Duke are using Obama to rally their troops. Duke has called Obama a "visual aid for hate groups." He says an Obama presidency would provide indisputable proof that whites have lost control of America. "This is a cultural and racial battlefront," said Levin. "Barack Obama is symbol No. 1 of the worst the future has to offer."

 

Ironically, the white supremacists are actually divided on Obama's candidacy. Some, for obvious reasons, refuse to vote for him. Others think that a vote for Obama is a positive step toward the impending "race war" due to wrack the country (cf. folks who support Israel as a step toward the End Times).

Me? I think the churning and rising of this sort of overt racism is a positive thing. An Obama presidency forces America to face what remains of racism in our psyche, not just in the reprehensible form of the David Dukes of this world, but in more subtle ways. That can only be a good thing, and if the roaches and other slimy critter pour out from under the rocks in the face of Obama in the White House, that will help us deny that they still live among us, or how their hatred has subtle echoes in our own cultural hearts.

The other thing it will do, directly opposite of riling up the racists, is demonstrate to the vast majority who might be a bit leery, a scosh apprehensive, even if they don't even recognize where that anxiety is coming from, that a black man as President, once you've seen it, isn't all that scary. The best way to combat racism, overt and subtle, is, essentially, to integrate, to let the Other become part of your everyday world. Once you see that a black man on TV every night isn't something to be scared of, all the rants of the David Dukes become all that much more ridiculous.

(In parallel, I expect that as gays become more openly integrated into society -- see California, of course, but also other states where civil unions and even gay marriage have been made legal, and, yet, the societal sky hasn't fallen and civilization hasn't turned into some great homosexual debauch -- the fear of the unknown will, because it becomes known, diminish, and the doom-saying predictions of the Dobsons of the world that things like California's Amendment 8 are the Last Straight Hope to protect our Great Christian Nation will be seen as goofy as people worrying about the dire and apocalyptic effects of giving women the right to vote.)

So even though the NPR story tends to get a bit scarifying at times, nearly blaming Obama for riling up all those racists, I think it's a good thing that the white-first KKK a and neo-Nazi types are creeping out of the woodwork again. Sometimes you just have to turn over some rocks to see what comes scurrying out. Wearing heavy-soled boots, and not being afraid to use them in the circumstance, is highly advised.

Filed under :: Elections 2008 :: ZT & PC
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If the full New York Times magazine cover story "John McCain - The Making (and Remaking and Remaking) of the Candidate" is as fascinating as the NPR Fresh Air interview with the author, Robert Draper, it's must-read of the inside moves, shifts, and re(re(re))narratives woven by the McCain campaign. Fascinating stuff, and not always the answers that either side has assumed.

Filed under :: Elections 2008
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