A Good Day To Be A Blogger

Between Obama's speech



and McCain's VP pick...



it's a good day to be a blogger.

Andrew Sullivan has posted 50 times today and its only mid day.

Main Point Questions

For some obscure reason, on the LSAT reading comprehension questions I can answer almost any question about the passage except, "What is the author's main point?" This is truly embarrassing but perhaps by acknowledging it publicly I will force myself to be able to distinguish purpose from relevance.

In recognition of other's ability to do so I would like to quote Marc Ambinder's compendium of Barack's speech tonight...

Who he is. Why McCain is bad. We need to come together.

I do not posses a talent for pithiness. But I respect it whole-heatedly!

History

Tonight I arrived at Cal Western's student lounge around 2pm. My intention was to study the whole night through, breaking only to watch Barack Obama's speech. But once the buzz began there was no point resisting. I was captivated. What would he say? Would he be aggressive and yet respectful? Would he clearly lay out, once and for all, the specifics of his policy proposals in a distilled enough fashion such that they could still be digested by the electorate at large?

My initial response is... WOW! This is a unique man in history. But it is important to define unique here. Unique does NOT mean special, nor does it mean rare. It has inherent within it a sense of singularity. That there is no one person who is like Obama. Now before someone pulls the Messiah card, it is important to distinguish between the holy and the unique. I do not intend to say that Obama is divine - rather that he is the only person right now who inspires and engages such a disparate and ostensibly mutually exclusive cast of characters towards such collective aspirations.

Many have spoken accolades of Obama's speech tonight but the comments I find most expressive of my thoughts come from Joshua Marshall of TPM...

I thought this was a very strong speech. About exactly what was needed. It was a strong speech. He made the case for himself; he laid out clear policy goals; and he aggressively set forth the stakes of the campaign. He made the case against John McCain while not attacking his character -- which makes a clear contrast with McCain's aggressively personal, denigrating campaign strategy.

I've heard a few people say that he seemed to hold back from giving the soaring speech he might have given. But I suspect that was intentional and I think a good decision. Meta-themes and tonality form the deeper structure of political communication. And the aim of this speech was not eloquence but strength.

I've said myself that Obama's campaign needs to be more aggressive. They need to hold the initiative, and attack, attack, attack. But attacking doesn't mean bludgeoning -- at least not necessarily. It means making the case and defining the argument. Not running a campaign by reacting -- well or not -- to your opponent's attacks. As Paul Begala said in our interview with him a couple days ago, it's not about rapid response but rapid attack. Personally I might prefer an even more aggressive tack from Obama's surrogates. But I think here Obama himself had the balance just right.

Contrary to what might seem as my unwavering support of Obama, there are times when I question whether his actions are are really what this country needs. Tonight I am a proud supporter of Barack Obama.

For further exploration of the accomplishments of Obama's speech tonight PLEASE see Ezra Klein.

Can I Get An Advisor?

First there was Phil Gramm and the "nation of winers" slip. And now this...

Mr. Goodman, who helped craft Sen. John McCain's health care policy, said anyone with access to an emergency room effectively has insurance, albeit the government acts as the payer of last resort. (Hospital emergency rooms by law cannot turn away a patient in need of immediate care.)

"So I have a solution. And it will cost not one thin dime," Mr. Goodman said. "The next president of the United States should sign an executive order requiring the Census Bureau to cease and desist from describing any American – even illegal aliens – as uninsured. Instead, the bureau should categorize people according to the likely source of payment should they need care.

"So, there you have it. Voila! Problem solved."

Ezra Klein scoffs

Yep, problem solved. If you can't afford a doctor, but the census bureau stops describing you as uninsured, voila! Your problem is solved! And if you're getting your wages garnished because you fell ill and had to be rushed to the emergency room but the census bureau puts you in a different category, voila! You problem is solved! And if you have cancer, and you go to the ER, and they refer you to a hospital for scheduled treatment, and the hospital turns you away because you don't have insurance, I bet they can call John Goodman and, voila! Problem will be solved.

This is what we call a Kinsleyan gaffe: A mistake that reveals the truth. John McCain's health care plan is, by the admission of his own advisers, not particularly interested in the problem of the uninsured...

To keep reading Ezra's response click here.

QRM

Today, I unleashed my inner elitist self by ordering a pizza. What was on it? Pears and arugula. And it was good!

Of Course It Was Better

Like many Obama supporters, I have been pretty disgusted with some of President Bill Clinton's remarks over the last year and a half. But, man, can that guy give a speech. Last night Hillary's speech was the best I have ever seen from her. But you can tell that it was the culmination of over a year of stumping all over America and a lot of hard work.

I think for Bill Clinton it just comes naturally. Its not fair. But that's the way it is. He did everything he needed to do without once saying something that he didn't believe. He never said Obama would be better than Hillary. He never even directly said that Obama was ready to be Comander in Chief. But he did say that he is ready to be President and spoke very convincingly so. And he outlined a future for America that was not as soaring as Obama tends to be but just as inspiring (if not more so, shhh). Take a look for yourself...

The Question...

I love regular old common bloggers. Everyone expects something great from the likes of Andrew Sullivan. But when you get something that is truely insightful from an unestablished blogger, the kind who has zero comments on his blogs day in day out, that is fun. John from Talent Earthquake Productions blogs much in the same way I do and seems to gravitate toward the same sources as I do. But I think for the most part he is more insightful. Today he posted his thoughts on what Obama's speech is going to look like tomorrow and suggests a question that Obama should pose that I think would be as wonderful as it is simple.

"[W]hat is [McCain's] plan to restore American greatness?"

I feel this is not something that has really been explored. Obama has touched on it but he should focus more of his energy on it. Its something that almost every American can rally around and is so simple that it requires almost no thinking. Obama has talked a lot about reclaiming America's place in the world. About a foreign policy that enables that while ceding nothing that could compromise our sovereignty. But I have yet to hear anything from McCain that speaks to this issue. What I hear instead is a series of policies that ensures that America is beholden to no one. Being beholden to no one is what North Korea is doing now. But that is something entirely different than restoring America's greatness. So the obvious question is, Do you want to be isolationist North Korea or do you want to engage in and lead a global community of shared responsibilities and shared opportunities?

Actually, President Bill Clinton hinted at this idea of restoring American greatness tonight in his address at the Democratic National Convention in a brilliant and succinct manner when he said "People the world over have always been more impressed by the power of our example than by the example of our power."

This demonstrates that our greatness lies within ourselves. It is something that is manifested not by being better than others but by being our best selves. Now some might try to point to a contradiction in the two statements I have just made - that our greatness depends on our engaging in a global community and that our greatness lies within ourselves. But the two could not be more dependent on each other. America's greatest self is actually realized through its engagement with and providing leadership within the global community.

If Obama can adopt this story line - the one that demands McCain to spell out how he will restore American greatness - he is already perfectly positioned to capitalize on it with predictable results. He has already set the tone for it, his policies are already lined up for it. All he needs to do now is ask the question.

Twitter What?

As I peruse the web, more and more I have been hearing about Twitter. Most of the time I saw in in live-blogging contexts, for example when Marc Ambinder from The Atlantic Monthly twittered the DNC night two...

Live From The Floor
#DNC08 Michael Chabon will be at the Tattered Corner bookstore today. 56 minutes ago
#DNC08 Obama campaign DID review HRC speech beforehand, aides say. about an hour ago
#DNC08 Plouffe says independent swing-voting women are key to Obama election... More on blog later about 2 hours ago
#DNC08 No Springsteen at Invesco Field. about 3 hours ago
#DNC08 Live on Katie Couric's convention webcast: WWE's Battista! about 14 hours ago
#DNC08 Obama "loves" HRC's speech.. Nodding and clapping, per aide about 14 hours ago
#DNC08 HRC "twin cities" line gets loudest applause of convention. about 14 hours ago
#DNC08 about 14 hours ago
#DNC08 "Unity" signs.... about 14 hours ago

So I decided to finally find out what this Twitter thing is all about. Here it is...



Interesting for sure and it seems to be like my QRM on steroids. For now though I am not sure that I need to be spending more time online so I am not sold - although I am sure its great for others!

WOW!

I'm hearing mostly good things about this speech. Personally, I think it was by far her best and I think she said almost everything that she was supposed. The one complaint I have read is that she never explicitly said that she thought Barack was ready to be Commander in Chief - one of her most strident criticisms of him during the primaries. Not sure most people will catch that unless its something that gets heavy play time among the talking heads. Overall, I was more than impressed. But when someone is saying what you want to hear you tend to be so.

(Video found over at Huffpost)

QRM

I'm reverting back to taking two LSAT classes a week instead of four. This should allows me more study time to get my homework done.

House of Cards

Here is a new video released by Radiohead.



The song is titled, "House of Cards" and I think the video does a good job of portraying the sense of frailty and precariousness that its title suggests.

If It's Leiberman...

Ezra Klein speculates that McCain could pick Joe Lieberman as his running mate. If he does, consider the contrast to the election 4 years ago. On the one side you have a centrist Republican who has recently shifted to the right coupled with an historically centrist Democrat who recently shifted (pretty significantly) to the right vs. a quasi-centrist democrat (rhetorically at least) coupled with an intensely devoted leftist. Now compare this to four years ago when it was a leader of neocon ideology propping up a born-again christian vs. an intensely devoted leftist and a social justice advocate (although he was southern).

Initially it seemed to me that McCain's smartest choice would be Lieberman. But think of what this would do to the dynamic of the race. Lines become blurred. And despite the predictable Republican rhetoric we would have a much more nuanced decision to confront. The black and white world of good and evil that has been the foundation of the last eight years of the Bush administration would dissolve. Its tough to say exactly who this would benefit but if I were forced to guess I think overall it would benefit Democrats. In my limited experience Republicans have faired much better when lines are drawn with much greater distinction between "right and wrong," "good and evil," and "us and them."

War Prism

Andrew Sullivan posted the following video today



His post's title was "Noun, Verb, POW" - a play off Joe Biden's humorous criticism of Rudy Guliani and his seeming inability to refer to anything that was not somehow related to 9/11. This meme of noun, verb, pow is starting to take hold in the media. To me, though, a more important point is becoming clear than whether or not McCain is politicizing his experience as a prisoner of war. The more I listen to McCain I realize that he refers back to his POW experience and other military experiences for the simple reason that they have had an obvious transformative effect on him. Rightfully so. And unlike many who returned from Vietnam tragically dysfunctional, McCain has been able to make something quite productive out of his life.

But to ignore the impact that his experiences have had is to ignore something very fundamental about McCain - he would be a war president. The more one listens the more it is obvious that his whole existence is lived through a military prism. I really don't think that this is somehow a relentless attempt to draw attention to his heroism. I think his experiences have had such a profound impact on him that he is no longer able to disassociate military affairs with other aspects of policy.

I do not necessarily mean to imply that one should make such distinctions. I personally feel conflicted as to whether or not one can realistically do so. But it does tell you something about who John McCain is and what to expect from him as a president. If you too believe that all matters have military implications than maybe he is your guy. If not, well, then maybe not.

QRM

Yesterday I took my second diagnostic LSAT test. Today I reviewed it. I have come to the following conclusions:

1) I apparently reason logically or at least have the ability to do so
2) I do not perform well when asked to play games and therefore manipulation of data is not my strong suit
3) What I read I understand, but I am a slow reader (of course I prefer the euphemism "deliberate" reader)
4) While I study there is someone out there surfing

Ahhh... That's Why

Now I think I get it. I kept going over it in my head. Over and over. Why would Obama announce Biden as his running mate on a Friday night/Saturday morning??? BECAUSE... no one watches the news on the weekends and the majority of Biden bashing and a good chunk of McCain's initial response was going to come immediately following the announcement. So they buried it in the weekend news so that after the spewing occurred they would know how to respond once everyone was listening again. At least that is what I think. Already I can imagine the rebuttals to McCain's ad reminding us all of Biden's being unsure of Obama's being ready to lead us from "Day One." Obama has been saying for over a week now that he wants no "yes men" around him. He wants people who are going to challenge him. What better proof than choosing someone who already has. The more I think about it the more I feel happy with Obama's choice. We have had 8 years of conformity. What we need now is intellectually based dissent.

The Beginning

Almost 4 years ago, the following was my plan:

-Finish my year with an international reseller of hardware and software
-Peace Corps for two years
-Return home
-Get my MBA
-Pursue work with an international Ben-and-Jerry's-socially-conscious company

Here I am 4 years later and definitely not heading in that direction. I think the seeds of not heading in that direction were probably sewn in me a while ago but I don't think they pushed through the rough soil of pragmatism until several months into my Peace Corps service.

Why am I writing about this now? I saw a photo on Andrew Sullivan today that reminded me of what first pushed those seeds forth into the light.



This picture was the lead photo of a Newsweek article that I read almost 3 years ago that made me think that it was no longer necessary to try to conflate my honest desire to contribute to my society with a not so sincere business angle. Its not that I am anti-capitalist. Quite the contrary. But we all have your interests - that which drives us. And the article I read in Newsweek that featured the photo above was the catalyst that precipitated my realization that my passions lied outside the corporate realm. Indeed, I think that perhaps the whole reason I felt it necessary to merge such unlikely bedfellows was the commonly shared and nearly ubiquitous feeling that politics was not for people that seriously wanted to see things change. It was a broken system beyond repair in which progress was measured by the blockade of "the other side" and not by the furthering of any specific policy.

But what I saw in the picture above really stirred something inside me. We are allowed to be frustrated with those who see things differently. We are allowed to engage them in heated debate. But always... always, must we comport ourselves with dignity and respect for those with apposing views. This photo embodied that notion - the very notion that led me away from my attempt to conjoin two things - one for which I felt deeply and the other to which I approached tepidly. I realized that both these men - both Barack and John - were willing to look each other in the eye and say, "hey dumbass! lets talk..."

The article I read was not painted with roses and spoke in detail of the differences between these two men but it simultaneously inspired a realization in me that we need not demonize our opposition in order to win. In fact we need not see those with different views as opposition at all. Perhaps we may just yet be able to view others with different views as partners in negotiation. This view does not preclude one from having a particular agenda and pursuing it fervently but it does demand of us civility and scope of perspective boarder than is customary.

I recognize my youth and possible naivety. I hope I am not in error of judgement. I hope that my recent acceptance of politics as a possible arena for civil and constructive debate has not been arrived at in ignorance. This is my starting point.

QRM

Today I was driving to the grocery store - listening to some music. Right as I pulled out of the apartment building complex I heard a cruise ship's blowhorn sound a note that completed the harmony to the song playing on the radio... and it was on beat. It seemed a very metaphysical experience to me and made me happy.

Biden, By Process of Elimination

It appears almost certain that Biden will be Obama's choice for VP. This becomes clear as reports of Kaine and Bayhe being told that they are not "the guy" are skipping around the internet coupled with the fact that Obama has been consistantly refering to his VP with a masculine pronoun thus seemingly ruling out Sebelius. Overall, I think I would have preferred Webb. Then Kaine (what's up with Virginia?). But I like Biden. I'm just not sure he can keep his mouth shut. But maybe that's the point.

QRM

Studied all day today. But, alas, when the day is done I will eat ribs for dinner.

QRM

Sorry for the hiatus. I went to Minnesota for a Peace Corps reunion and then to Seattle to find an apartment and see Radiohead - one of the best concerts I have ever been to by the way.

Today, I am back in San Diego and studied for the LSAT... again... pretty much all day. Happy to feel that I haven't fallen too far behind during my time away.

QRM

Today I tried Huevos Rancheros for the first time. With a healthy dose of Tabasco sauce, absolutely delicious.

A Quotidian Report on the Mundane

A Quotidian Report on the Mundane has been inspired by The Orwell Prize's publishing of George Orwell’s diaries as a blog. According to the site, "From 9th August 2008, Orwell’s domestic and political diaries (from 9th August 1938 until October 1942) will be posted in real-time, exactly 70 years after the entries were written."

I, in no way, am planning on mimicking Orwell's journal style but in reading it I have come to think that there is no reason for something to be important to record it. So the goal will be to have at least one post a day that is most likely of absolutely no consequence.

Today, I studied from 3pm until 10pm in preperation of the LSAT, breaking only to snack, drink water, use the restroom, and of course fold laundry - a genetically inherited, and, thus, involuntary behavior.

Obama Concept Painting

Who has McCain inspired today?

(Painting by Mike Cuffe from The Obama Experiment)

McCain's Action

Today, TPM reported that McCain is sending his own delegation to Georgia saying, "This is quite hilarious." Normally I find myself in agreement with Joshua Marshall but I really don't see what is wrong with this. I don't expect much out of it but overall I think its a great move on the McCain campaign in terms of painting himself as a 'man of action,' especially while Obama is on vacation. It's too bad that it took the pleading of Georgia's president for him to do something but nonetheless I think its probably the best way for him to get a more accurate assessment of what is going on over there (if such a thing is actually possible).

It really irked me when, during Obama's MidEast and European tour people were accusing him of acting too presidential. Is he not trying out for the role of president? Would you really start a college basketball player in the NBA without first putting him in the arena of professional basketball to see how he will perform?

So now McCain is acting presidential. I don't know what he is going to get out of sending this delegation but I don't think the act itself is something to mock.

If I am missing something, please let me know!

What Counts as Reading?

Here is an interesting look into the reading habits of today's children and how they compare with other generations. The question is does online reading really count as reading? Does a non-linear approach to information consumption benefit readers in a non-linear world or does it promote laziness and hamper children with a sense that sustained focus no longer necessary.

My take is that we need both traditional and newer reading skill sets. They are very different forms of information intake and accomplish very different things. Today's pace often requires people to make decisions quickly. My international business professor at Western Washington University often assigned us way more reading that was humanly possible to consume. When we complained that what he had assigned was beyond reasonable, he said, "sometimes it is better to know 10% of 90% of what is going on out there than to know 90% of 10% of what is going on." The Jack of All Trades theory I guess. But I think there is some validity to it.

This is not to take away from traditional reading skills that kids will also need. But these skill sets need not be mutually exclusive and can actually be quite complementary. To be able to quickly get a sense of a topic and promptly provide general feedback on it is a necessary skill to have in the modern workplace. A skill that is particularly well suited to non-linear, online searching. Once generalities have been established you often need to go back and flesh out your understanding of that topic. But the groundwork laid out in advance allows your co-workers to move on once a general direction has been established.

This isn't to say that every thing is just fine. I think we do need to find ways of measuring the effectiveness of children's online reading habits. But overall I think kid's behaviors are a product of our societies dynamic culture - a reaction to an increasingly fast paced world.

(PS - I didn't finish the above mentioned article... it was too long!)