Don't do the Bill Richardson thing. No Hispanic ever found out he was Hispanic. Or he would have done better, at least better than some other single digit people. He sure had an impressive resume. But if you can't even win your own homeground, why will white people - white women - take you seriously? Bill Richardson never was able to get past the Hispanics thinking he is Anglo. His first and last names are Anglo.
I am disappointed Barack as the first nonwhite who has a clear shot at the presidency has not been able to reach out to the Hispanics. Hillary has been striking all the right Democratic notes on immigration, but it is Barack who has been out there on the cutting edge of immigration. Hillary does what is safe, Barack does what is right. And the difference is stark on how the two handle immigration.
But the Hispanics don't know. They are all enamored with the fact that Bill Clinton is not your classic southern white male racist dude. Hillary's name recognition helps her even more among the less well educated Hispanics. They have heard the Clinton name and they like it. There is also some anti-black Hispanic prejudice going on. Curious.
And it is Michelle Obama who has a working class background. If the blue collar workers of America want themselves represented in the White House, you put Michelle there in as First Lady. Hillary has so much money she thinks people making more than $97,000 a year are middle class.
Clinton 2008 peddled lies about Barack's pro-choice position in New Hampshire and successfully so. Clinton 2008 used strong arm tactics in Nevada and successfully so. If they manage to do it one more time on February 4, we are over. If you can't even protect yourself and your image and your record and your campaign, how can you protect the American people from Bin Laden? That is what people end up asking.
Clinton 2008 and shadow forces that have been dishing out viral emails that say Barack is Muslim, they have to be countered.
Barack has to lay claim to the Hispanic vote, and Michelle has to lay claim to her solidly working class family background. Barack will be JFK as president, but he was no JFK as a child or in his youth. For a long time the dude did not have enough money, and he was bumming cigarettes from others.
Bill Clinton Stirs Crowds, Critics on Stump Wall Street Journal For nearly three hours, the former president held sway with a friendly crowd ..... Mr. Clinton can't seem to talk to a reporter these days without getting into a shouting match ..... Mr. Clinton's actions were reminiscent of the late Republican strategist Lee Atwater, known for bare-knuckled politicking. ...... "If you've got to go, please go, but remember I asked for your vote." ..... Obama tries to win the nomination with a novel coalition of independents, Republicans, and Democrats ....... "The whole idea of universal healthcare is such a core Democratic principle that I am willing to go to the mat for it," she said in last night's debate. ..... his campaign is targeting congressional districts in upcoming primaries and caucuses where independents and Republicans carry influence ..... Clinton won Nevada and New Hampshire in part because she beat Obama by double digits among self-identified Democrats; Obama won Iowa by barely edging Clinton among Democrats but racking up big margins among Republicans and independents. Battle to win reverses Clinton, Obama rolesBoston Globe Tired Bill turns off angerChicago Sun-Times spent three hours answering questions about his wife Hillary's policies on Social Security, health care, Iraq and the environment. ...... that Hillary's father was an "old rascal" and he dearly would have loved to see Hugh Rodham's face when he learned "his little girl was running for president." ...... On Wednesday, Bill Clinton lashed out against CNN's Jessica Yellin, who raised questions about Barack Obama's claims the Clintons were distorting his record. ...... sent a man to the moon and created the Internet. Giuliani faces Florida freefall as campaign plans backfire Guardian Unlimited Giuliani's strategy of ignoring the earlier caucus and primary states and staking everything on Florida is now beginning to shape up as one of the biggest miscalculations in US election history. ...... McCain, who so far has not shown a strong grasp of economics Republicans Focus On Economy And Clinton In Cordial Debate U.S. News & World Report CBS also reported on "the growing annoyance among supporters of the Clinton who is running with the actions of the Clinton who is not." ...... we all know that John F. Kennedy chose Lyndon Johnson, but I can't even imagine [these] people coming together ........ Amongst blacks, it's Obama, 59%. Clinton, 25%. Edwards 4%. With white voters, Barack Obama at 10%. Clinton at 35%. And John Edwards with 40% leading the field with white voters in South Carolina. ...... Senator John McCain of Arizona is the only Republican who promises to end the George Bush style of governing from and on behalf of a small, angry fringe. With a record of working across the aisle to develop sound bipartisan legislation, he would offer a choice to a broader range of Americans than the rest of the Republican field. ...... The next president needs to start immediately on challenges that will require concrete solutions, resolve, and the ability to make government work. Mrs. Clinton is more qualified, right now, to be president" despite the "enticing" upside of a Barack Obama presidency. ..... Jay Leno:"Did you all see 'American Gladiators' the other night? Not the NBC show, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama." ..... Jay Leno: "Rudy Giuliani and Mike Huckabee are both asking their staffs to work without pay. They want them to work without pay to help them get across their message, 'I'm the best one to fix the economy.'" India to join nuclear mainstream Aljazeera.net expected to spend an estimated $30 billion on defence purchases over the next five years. ... France was the second largest arms supplier to India after Russia but has now been overtaken by Israel. .... Sarkozy will be the guest of honour at India's Republic Day celebrations Saturday. Clinton, Obama Back Off AttacksWashington Post Clinton retreated first. ..... Even former president Bill Clinton -- the catalyst for much of the heated rhetoric between the two campaigns this week -- toned down his comments in a series of town hall meetings that saw the return of his political alter ego, the policy wonk. ...... "I'm just a hired hand here, and I work for nothing" .... "I don't feel the candidates are being bloodied up," Obama said. "This is good practice for me so, you know, when I take on these Republicans I'll be accustomed to it." ...... "Black voters shouldn't blame Senator Clinton for running a vigorous campaign against me," he said. "That should be a source of pride. It means I might win this thing. When I was 20 points down, I was a 'person of good character' and my health-care plan was 'universal.' The fact that we've got this fierce contest indicates I'm doing well, and I don't think there's anything wrong with that." Poll: Clinton, McCain Hold Primary LeadsThe Associated Press Clinton's 24-point lead shrunk in the past month to 15 points as Obama picked up support. Clinton still leads among women and men, liberals and non-liberals. She holds a 3-to-1 edge over Obama with Hispanics. Michelle Obama Finds Her Voice Too TIME This week, for the first time since Barack Obama launched his campaign 11 months ago, Michelle Obama has left the couple's two young girls at home with her mother and hit the campaign trail full-time. While she's no Bill Clinton, Obama does have sharp elbows. One of her more pointed remarks is about how "things have gotten continually worse over my lifetime," implying the Clinton era did little to help "regular folks" like her and her family. ....... The only amazing thing about my life is that a man like my father could raise a family of four on a single city worker's salary. ..... growing up between Hawaii and Indonesia, to which few of his supporters can relate. ..... the story of my father is the story of America, I don't care what color what folks are, I don't care if they grew up on a farm or in the inner city ..... how a "little black girl from the south side of Chicago" could be "the next First Lady" ...... You're too tall," she said as the audience chuckled (Michelle is 5'11") ..... "Each and every one of you here has heard and felt those ceilings, somebody pushing you down, defining your limitations ....... From her shy, awkward first months in a role that she talks frankly about not wanting, Michelle Obama is finding her voice. How An Italian Government Falls Obama wins endorsement of largest South Carolina newspaperBaltimore Sun Clinton, McCain win New York Times endorsementsReuters the depth of her knowledge, by the force of her intellect and by the breadth of, yes, her experience Fighting with your spouse can make you live longer: study Fighting with your spouse can actually be good for your health with people who bottle it all up found to die earlier ...... four categories: where both partners expressed anger when they felt unfairly attacked, where neither partner expressed their anger, and one category each for where the wife suppressed her feelings and where the husband did so. ..... if you don't express your feelings to your partner and tell them what the problem is when you're unfairly attacked, then you're in trouble ....... those who kept their anger in were twice as likely to die earlier than those who don't. ...... resentment was the real threat -- and suppressing anger led to resentment ...... it is the resentment that interacts with any medical vulnerabilities a person might have ..... "It's healthy to recognize that you're being attacked unfairly and it's even more healthy to speak up and to talk about it and try to resolve the problem if you want to live longer" Obama Accuses Clinton of Suppressing Nevada Vote AlterNet the Clinton campaign gave precinct captains guidebooks that told them to close the doors to caucuses at 11:30 a.m. a half hour before the party-sanctioned start time. Once the caucus doors are shut, no more participants are allowed inside. ...... Clinton campaign workers also blocked Obama voters from signing in at the caucus -- preventing them from participating, and that some ballot cards given to attendees were pre-marked for Clinton. ....... The letter, by Obama's campaign attorney, Bob Bauer, one of the country's top election lawyers, said the Clinton campaign encouraged its representatives to stretch the rules. ..... more than 1,000 complaints ..... an entire week's worth of false, divisive, attacks
This message is primarily to the women of California, especially white women.
I, as a man, admit to carrying 10,000 years worth of guilt. This is a sexist planet we live on and that has to change for the better. If the race were for president of the world, I would say, let's go for Hillary. We need a woman at the top. At the global level, gender is a bigger issue than race. I would know, I am a Desi, a South Asian. South Asia is one of the most sexist parts of the world.
But in the American context, race is a much bigger factor than gender. Race is the bigger issue to be resolved. And also, a black man in the White House, biracial man, would be a much more powerful message to the rest of the world than a white woman. But I am for putting both, Hillary would be a great Vice President. Barack is JFK. Hillary is Lyndon Johnson.
Let's give February 5 to Barack.
It Is Hillary Or It Is Nobody
(I wrote most of this on November 9, 2007 thinking Barack will be the nominee, and I would want Hillary to be his running mate.)
Bill Clinton came to Yale a year late. He had gone to Oxford. He left Oxford without completing his degree there. He came over to Yale. Hillary graduated before he did, and she stuck around. Bill Clinton graduated and left for home. They were then in this long distance relationship. They would visit each other. Bill Clinton had proposed to Hillary more than once. She had said "No, not right now." Finally Bill Clinton gave up, "When you are ready, let me know." In her mind, Hillary was doing work that spoke to her mother's childhood travails. To Bill Clinton it felt like maybe she is not so sure. Arkansas was too much of a stretch.
After one of the trips Hillary made to Arkansas to visit with her boyfriend and left, Bill Clinton turned to his mother Virginia and said, "Mother, pray for me, it is Hillary, or it is nobody."
Once he ran round and round a field, and lost major weight. He became thinner than he had ever been since high school. Maybe Hillary will find thin attractive. The dude was getting desperate.
If Bill Clinton thinks so very highly of Hillary, that goes into the standard wisdom that she is the smarter in that marriage. What if this had not been a sexist planet? Where would Bill be? Where would Hillary be?
First Sight
I first came across the Clintons in the Time and Newsweek magazine articles at high school in Kathmandu when they first surfaced in 1991. I have not not liked them since, not for one split second.
In my mind, Bill Clinton's presidency has been one of the top five in history.
He made dot com possible. Dot com allowed me to dream again. No thanks to term limits, before I could take any of my concepts to fruition, I found myself facing what is called the "nuclear winter" in the industry.
If you are a progressive, the Clintons are like royalty.
10,000 Years
Men have been ruling for 10,000 years. Now in this 21st century it is about time women started getting into leadership positions in all countries all over the world. Enough.
Women are not unequal - all human beings are equal, equality is a political concept - but women are different, like the Chinese and the British are different from each other, only women are more so different.
I think the Monica thing might have done major emotional damage to Hillary. I refrain from commenting on that issue. It is between two individuals.
Women's participation enriches the overall experience. We are all better off for it.
Men have feared women over the centuries. It is the fear that the powerful have of the powerless. The fear of that which is not understood. Like Freud said, "What do women want?"
I am Madhesi in Nepal. The Madhesi have been outsiders for centuries. When I left Nepal for America, I had the feeling, finally it is over, I am leaving. But years later, I found myself very invested and very involved in the Madhesi Movement in Nepal. I got this very real, strong feeling that unless the Madhesi in Nepal achieve liberation and equality, a major part of me will always feel the bondage, it will keep me pulled down. Getting and staying involved was not social service, it was self interest. I needed it for me.
If Hillary feels the same about the women of the world, that has got to be a major tug down. It must be painful to be aware of all those women who get trafficked like they were so much cocaine.
Lincoln liberated the blacks from slavery. Who will liberate these trafficked women?
Forgiving Hillary On Iraq
What Hillary lacks on the foreign policy front, she more than makes up for on the domestic front. She has encyclopedic knowledge on health care, for example.
She has been wrong on Iraq and Iran. But then she has already paid the price for it by losing the nomination. Now she has to toe the winner's line. But, mind you, you can not blame Hillary for the mistakes of Bush. Iraq has been Bush' war, first, foremost and last.
But don't throw the baby with the bath water. Hillary has much to contribute.
After a decade of Ken Starr and Lee Atwater, no wonder Republicans feel negative about Hillary. I don't. I never bought into their lies. We can't let Hillary's political enemies define Hillary for us. The new kind of politics, the politics of hope that is the Obama brand is about redeeming Hillary's image from the right wing demonizations.
New York, Eliot
If you are going to be competing against Rudy, and the most serious third party ticket ever, possibly of Bloomberg and Arnold, a match made in Omaha, you better have a New Yorker for running mate. The Dems must carry New York. Got to beat the Republican nominee on home turf.
The only other person I have thought of in terms of running mate has been my Governor Eliot Spitzer. This guy is sheer possibility. Spitzer has to end up president, that I know. As to how to get there, I don't know. Will he go there the Vice President route? Or the two term Governor of New York route? I don't know.
I think the two term Governor route might be better.
Spitzer's Daughters
Before Hillary announced she will run, she had a breakfast at Spitzer's residence. She wanted to seek his advice on if she should run.
After Hillary left, Spitzer's daughters saved Hillary's tea bag for memento.
Hillary was a woman. Spitzer's daughters are women. They felt the bond. It is a valid bond. That bond has to be celebrated.
Saving Spitzer For The Next Round
Spitzer is a raging bull. He rams head in. There is no tough issue he is not willing to tackle. I don't see anyone like him in American politics. He is my idea of a progressive. You carve out ground that is right, and then you bring along the people because democracy asks for it.
The vice presidency will kill Spitzer's spirit. It is too national, too second in command.
After eight years, Obama-Clinton will be over. Clinton will likely retire like Cheney. She will be almost 70. And then Spitzer bursts onto the national scene like he had been in the opposition all along. He has tackled all the tough issues in New York in eight years, including gay marriage and total campaign finance reform. Then he will be ready. When he comes from that angle, he will be able to go in for eight years. Coming in as Vice President, he might get only four.
Spitzer, Watch Out For Bobby
I have a feeling Spitzer and my fellow Indian Bobby are going to collide. I do take ethnic pride in Bobby. I am one of those who do not think an Indian has to be Hindu to count for Indian.
Bill Clinton, Back In The Ring
You buy Hillary, you get Bill free.
Anyone can do AIDS, even Bill Gates can do AIDS. But only Bill Clinton can do Palestine. Send him out to create Palestine. A separate state, a model democracy. And once he does that, give him the Nobel.
Palestine really is the thorn. You can't imagine peace in the broader Middle East without the creation of Palestine. A democratic Palestine will also create a tsunami for democracy in the Arab world, the only true cure to the problems arising out of that region, all the numerous headaches.
Bill Clinton, Global Citizen
This white guy from the South has done enough for the world that he has made serious amends for the racial sins of his South. Let him do more. The South has sinned plenty.
60 Is Not Old
The Clintons will live to be 100. They are only half way there.
(January 8, 2008)
Gender, Race
I am not American. I was in my early 20s when I came to America. I could have told you minute details from the lives of Lincoln and MLK before I ever got here. But that was intellectual knowledge. I lacked emotional knowledge of personally experiencing racism in a persistent fashion, although the British had given me a good headstart right there in Nepal, but there it was mixed up with ethnic prejudice of the most serious kind. In Kentucky I got it unfiltered.
My point being Hillary's understanding of global sexism is primarily intellectual. Pound for pound gender is 10 times bigger than race as an issue, globally speaking. America's wealth is a veneer. America is not that less sexist than India as it might like to believe.
My mother's cousin was Education Minister of Bihar, India's second most populous state and the state with the most imponderable brand of politics. My mother has had six years of schooling. I think the only institution she really understands is the family. That makes for some really interesting conversations. For example, she does not recognize the institution called the US embassy in Kathmandu.
You can't badmouth sexist Indian men enough for me. And they exist right here in America. There is an organization called Sakhi run by the wife of my good friend Sree, dean of the Columbia Journalism School, the most networked Desi I know in this country. That is what women friends call each other, sakhi. A lot of Indian women come along to the US as tag-alongs. Sometimes they find that leads to major abuse. Major, mainstream emotional abuse because you are so dependent on your spouse. What is your Plan B? You got no Plan B. You are in America. What could you complain about? People back home will not understand why you are in America and complaining.
The idea that you can't badmouth sexist Indian men in my presence because I am Indian and male, makes me wanna puke.
If not now, then when? If not Hillary, then who? I just read in the news two men in New Hampshire went into an anti-Hillary chant in her presence: "Iron My Shirt!" How would you like to shove that shirt up yours? That is your Plan B for ironing your shirt. Those two guys just helped me cement my resolve that it is Hillary or it is nobody. Bug Hillary for her Iraq vote, not for being a woman. If you like men, who is your man? Huckabee? Chuck Norris? McCain is kind of good looking. Rudy? Romney is rich. Do you like rich men?
It is Hillary or it is nobody.
Beijing, Boston
Hillary's Beijing speech was far superior to Barack's Boston speech. But Monica messed her up big time.
I am not in the same league as Hillary, nowhere close. I am a nobody. She is somebody. But I relate to her in a very personal way.
When she was working on health are in 1993, there was so much sexism out and about. Newt Gingrich said to Robert Reich, "Tell the president, we like him, but his wife should not be making policy." Her response was to produce a 1300 or 13,000 page document. She thought if she could only prove she is smart, the sexism will go away. Not true. You don't make progress on gender by talking about the weather, or health care.
Within six months of landing, I broke all college records at the number one liberal arts college in the South to get myself elected student body president. In office, when I got hit with my first bout of racism, my response was to socially cut myself and to dig deep and to try and come up with the most dazzling policy proposals possible. I was naive too.
Every sexist man out there who wants to go after Hillary can find at least one, usually more than one woman suffering from internalized sexism who will happily talk more sexist than the men: they will badmouth Hillary. I know how that works all too well. Race and gender and all the ISMs come with triangles. There are three angles: the racist, the anti-racist, and the internalized racist. The racist and the internalized racist exist in a seeming happy equilibrium. Together they always outnumber the anti-racist. And their bonding is often intense, dense. Same applies to gender. I have experienced on ethnicity and race what Hillary has on gender. I know how Hillary feels when the internalized sexists badmouth her.
Maybe he will just be a wonderful Attorney General at the federal level after having served two terms as Governor of New York, I don't know. How would that be a bad thing? I need him to turn Albany around, from being America's most dysfunctional state capital to being its most functional.
Albany's dysfunction: it is racism. The upstate whites have so far managed to deny one person one vote democracy to the state because they don't want the nonwhite big city to take over the state. New York state has so far treated New York City like it were constipation.
Citizen or noncitizen, give everyone a right to vote in this city. If you pay a utility bill in the city, if your landlord certifies you are a tenant, you should be able to vote. That would be the best, cheapest way to spread democracy into all corners of the earth.
Reorganize the Senate and the House. Let the Senators be elected through a fully proportional election system. How many seats are there? 50? Then a party must get at least 2% of the votes to get recognized as a state party. And each state party must get state funded. And you are looking at the existence only of state funded parties. No more fundraisers. And all parties must keep their bookkeeping totally transparent and online. For the House, you go for multi-member constituencies. That happens to be the most popular form of elections in the world. The Governor would be directly elected, of course, and must get at least 50% of the votes or there would be a second round between the top two.
Transparency, democracy, transparency, democracy.
Bloomberg
You think he is running for president? No. He is running for Governor. He wants to run for president and lose and then cash the national name recognition two years later to unseat Spitzer. Not happening. Bloomberg does not get Albany. But Spitzer sure has his work cut out for him.
Nobody Quite Like Bill Clinton
He is going to be a progressive inspiration globally for the next 40 years. This guy never accidentally does something. There is always, always a method to the madness. He is Pele, he is Michael Jordan, he is Elvis, he is one of those guys. Get him back in the ring. This horse is not done running yet.
When the Monica thing first surfaced, and I mean no disrespect to the two Clinton women, my first reaction was, this guy got sick and tired of Ken Starr. This was Maradona taking the ball from the midfield to scoring.
Mark Penn
I don't know what he looks like. I have never seen his photo. Perhaps he is a shy person.
A Personal Message To Hillary
Guys on your payroll messed you up. At some level they were never able to imagine you as president. Sexism runs deep. I never met a man who is not sexist. It is just that some are less sexist than others.
I think you are overqualified to be Vice President, but you should take it nevertheless to make it easier for the next woman who might give it a shot.
Damned If You Do, Damned If You Don't
I be damned if I believe a word of what the cons have to say about Hillary. Her negatives are high for a reason. If someone spent a few hundred million dollars to paint me as a bad guy, I would also start looking like a bad guy. But I am not a bad guy.
I am not listening to the cons and the sexist Dems on Hillary. I have a mind of my own. I had read a ton about her before I got to meet her in person twice. She is real. She is substance. She is ready to lead.
There is nothing status quo about a woman holding the second most powerful office ever invented. You know why? Because it has never happened before. And if it does not happen this time, we might have to wait decades more. Why wait? Hillary is available and she is ready to lead.
Smarter Than Bill
She got better grades at Yale. What more is a woman supposed to do?
Hawk
As long as Barack is president, actually it is a good thing that Hillary voted the way she voted on Iraq and Iran. There are bad guys out there. Evil does exist. You need a hawk in the wings just in case.
Iraq: Not Hillary's War
W misused the authorization. He was supposed to let the inspectors do their work first. If you are going to blame Hillary for the mess in Iraq, you are also going to have blame her for the trillion dollar tax cuts, and W's broken English and half brain.
She Has Good Judgment
I have always thought Bill stands out in how he can shake so many hands and learn so many names. I have also always thought Hillary is such a better judge of character than Bill.
Act 1, scene 1. 1991. Little Rock, Arkansas. Bill Clinton has invited over George Stephanapoulos, a DC guy, a whiz kid. It is Hillary, Bill in his underwear and Boy George. That was a bad idea by a smart but desperate, insecure Southern governor. Don't show your underwear to someone you can fire at any time, technically speaking.
Scene 2. A few years later. His mother has just died. He is grieving. He is on a conference call with his First Lady wife and Boy George. The debate is should or should not Ken Starr be authorized to start investigations. Hillary says a firm no. Boy George says a big yes. Boy George wins. Bad idea. Very bad idea. The single biggest mistake of the Clinton presidency. George acted Judas. That was evil on his part.
Hillary can smell rat. Bill has a running nose. This woman's got something up her sleeve.
The February 5 states have been holding up. There is some movement as Obama gains in name recognition, but otherwise the February 5 states are acting like the January states don't matter. Howard Dean might just have managed to scuttle the importance of the early states in the nomination process.
Clinton, California
I am impressed with Hillary's strength in California. It has largely sustained. If she carries New York and California by a decent margin, it is over.
500 Years, 10,000 Years
White folks carry 500 years worth of guilt. Men carry 10,000 years worth of guilt. I think it is inevitable by now that both Barack and Hillary are going to end up on the ticket. It is just that people like me hope it is Barack, and Hillary supporters support Hillary. We are all Democrats, we are all progressives. This is our year.
Hillary's Gender Card
It worked great twice. She cried in New Hampshire. She talked Monica in Nevada. Expect her to play the gender card again on February 4.
Could Barack Turn It Around
I think he could. He has to address the race issue head on, or the racial polarization from his South Carolina victory will hurt him on February 5. Barack has to tackle race and gender.
I think we are at an amazing point in history when we find a black dude and a woman are going to be on the same winning ticket. The collective guilt on race and gender has hit tipping point. And these are two amazingly talented people. If you are a black guy, and if you are a woman, you necessarily have to be extra smart to get to the top. These two are extra smart.
Gender
There are so many women out there. And gender as it might play out in relationships, and career challenges, they are all over the place. I can see why women might identify with Hillary. They might feel like, finally, after a lifetime of getting gender-skewed by the social reality. They might also feel like if not now then when. It might be a long time before another viable woman candidate shows up. But if Hillary becomes Vice President or President, I think that will begin a new era of women rising up in politics, in this country and in most other countries.
Bill Clinton Is Loving It
He is one of those guys born for retail politics. He is loving it in South Carolina, pressing the flesh.
Tough to Campaign for Hillary, Bill Clinton SaysNew York Times campaigning for his wife was much harder than campaigning for himself ...... “When I was running, I didn’t give a rip what anybody said about me. It’s weird, you know, but if you love somebody, you’d think they’d be good — it’s harder.” ...... But Mrs. Clinton is back in South Carolina today, and it will be interesting to see how much attention shifts back to her. WRAPUP 1-Obama dips but still has big South Carolina lead Reuters Clinton, McCain Top US Presidential Campaign Polls Voice of America Obama takes on the black community's homophobia Guardian Unlimited Times poll finds Clinton holding on to leadLos Angeles Times Clinton maintains a solid lead in her party's presidential race among Democratic voters nationwide ....... Clinton was preferred by 42% of the likely Democratic voters polled, and Obama by 33% -- a significant increase for the senator from Illinois since a similar poll in early December, when he was the choice of 21%. Support for the senator from New York remained virtually unchanged over that period. ...... a pronounced racial divide among Democratic voters: About two-thirds of black respondents said they would vote for Obama, whereas only about a fourth of white respondents said he was their choice. ....... slightly more Edwards voters leaned toward Clinton than toward Obama ...... Most Clinton voters said they would like to see their candidate choose Obama as her running mate. Most Obama voters said they would like to see him choose Clinton for the second spot. ....... Obama's lead fell 3 points overnight to give him a 39 percent to 24 percent edge over Clinton in South Carolina ....... Edwards, a former senator from neighboring North Carolina, climbed four points to reach 19 percent -- within striking distance of Clinton and second place. ........ "Since the debate, Obama and Clinton have dropped and Edwards has been rising," Zogby said. ........ Support for Obama, an Illinois senator who would be the first black U.S. president, fell from 65 percent to 56 percent among African-Americans ...... Edwards held a slight lead over Clinton among likely white voters at 35 percent to 32 percent. Obama had 19 percent. ..... "If the trajectories continue, it's within the realm of possibility that Clinton could come in third," Zogby said. Giuliani's Florida Win Appears in Danger The Associated Press Obama Gains on Clinton, McCain Moves Ahead as Giuliani Stumbles Bloomberg voters say they want both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama on a national ticket ...... Three out of five supporters of each candidate say they would like Clinton or Obama, if nominated, to choose the other as a running mate. ...... no contender in either party can claim the title of front- runner ..... ``She's really intelligent and straightforward and she's a good problem solver. He lifts your imagination.''
I had an appointment with someone in that building earlier in the day. After that was over, I decided to walk north. By the time I was done, I was at the northern tip of Harlem, by the water. I was wearing my new shoes, decent leather, otherwise I had been wearing my funky pair that I had bought for five bucks: Third World pride. I took the three train back. It is like you put on a white shirt for an event in a black neighborhood, you put on funky shoes for an event in Manhattan.
Bye Bye Drinking Liberally
Rudy's is not going to work for me.
Obama 2008
I go to Obama 2008 events. I participate more, learn names, engage in more talk, build social muscles. That will be better. You also end up with varied locations, a few different boroughs.
Justin Krebs
He obviously does not feel the Harvard thing for Barack. He instead feels the white guy thing for John Edwards and Chris Dodd. That is not Jewish angst, that is white guy angst.
Martha Kenton
When I crunch the numbers I realize I have spent more time in Kentucky than in the village I call my homevillage, kind of. But Berea and Lexington are night and day. Berea is Bible Belt with a strong small academic town feel. Lexington is a cute city, cosmopolitan. Martha is from Lexington. She knows the street I lived on for about six months after Berea, less than six.
She gave some time to when Cesnik ran for City Council. He had also been a Deaniac from 2004.
I think I have a lingering interest in the committee she is on, Women's Issues. If you are into group dynamics, gender is a goldmine as a topic. The first meeting I mostly listened. My enthusiasm for 2.0 might not have been shared though. Most people are like, I am here to socialize, and if I am here for an hour, that is all the time I have for it, not before or after. Understandable.
I guess I come from a little more hard core political action angle. NYC is the progressive capital of America and the world. If you are a group of women in NYC gungho on women's issues, I think you have an audience out there in small town America. Got to reach out to them.
But it's a free country, and I should put out my ideas in person at a meeting, and if the idea is rejected, I should just accept it. I think there is some discomfort among some people about putting your photos and videos online. Some people feel uneasy, maybe even a little unsafe: privacy issue.
At this last meeting, one person present said, "This is Hillary country."
I said, "I am a hard core Barack Obama guy in the city, but the good news is I am rooting for Hillary for vice president."
Martha stepped in saying she was supporting Edwards out of "Southern pride." She did that for the only man present. Only women do things like that, at least most of the time. Guys don't even notice half the time.
It was curious to me though as to why the meeting was at what would be church time. Was there a method to the madness?
I am still undecided about this next event of Martha's committee. Is this one where you get to meet local women politicians? That would be great. Like that woman who beat Cesnik, for example.
At some level I feel this committee might also fizzle out for me. I have no interest in event planning. There might not be enough policy talk. Or the chemistry might go awry: that is always the interesting part. Or I might not even show up. Or Martha might try to act the bridge back to DFNYC. That is always a possibility.
DFNYC
I am surprised that organization has not endorsed Deaniac Barack. Caputo
I see a few different organizations in the rear view window. DFNYC, MYD, Drinking Liberally, and DL21C. Although Martha's committee is affiliated with DL21C, it is a satellite to the planet.
Somewhere along the way it struck me of all the people at all the organizations in the city, perhaps Caputo is one who might run for office at some point. Or maybe not so. I would still bet on it, but running for office is one of those things noone can decide for you. My judgment comes from a five second snapshot here, a five second snapshot there. But then all that might be rearview window stuff by now. I find that curious.
She has a way of wielding power, an instinct for it.
One
I got to know so many people running so many organizations, I have been to so many events, including Obama events. Caputo stands out as major office candidate material like nobody else. That is just a statement my political eyes want to make as if to show off my political instincts.
She could be the woman Barack.
Or I might be totally off the mark. Politics might just be a good, nice thing to do on the side.
My Hood
You walk one way and it is a Hasidic neighborhood, you walk another way and it is Little Bangladesh, best of both worlds. Yesterday evening I went to a local eatery and struck a conversation with a random Bengali over tea. I face a language barrier. I understand very little Bengali, and speak none at all. And we could barely follow each other's English. But it felt good afterwards, like nourishment.
Free Hand Exercise
It can feel like meditation. I am lucky in the slim department, the high metabolism department. The free hand exercise is a core component to building social muscles.
Clubbing
That would be the nonstructured way to do it. Meet people, build social muscles. I like big, rowdy kinds. Not small, gentle kinds. Opal and Red Lion are good stuff.
Street
I will take a street parade over some event at some bar any day. That is why summer is so much fun. I remember this parade I went to in the Bronx. Uh, that was so amazing.
Street Food
Street food makes you street smart.
Never A Corporate Job
I have never held a corporate job in America. I think the number one reason is I find it eery that so many people end up with this very narrow range of expressions on their faces. Easy, careless, smiles, loud laughs, mischievous looks go out the window. I have seen it happen to a high school classmate of mine who is a Citi guy.
So it gets unnerving when a political organization starts acting like it were some kind of a corporation. No, political events are like going clubbing. That is as far as I am willing to go.
Cloud Group Dynamics
That is what it was for Nepal work, for Obama work, and the young tech startup is an extension.
I love New York City, but I have to think Global South and so my career necessarily has to be online. I have to think of my people, my Global South people, in an active way, on a daily basis.
New York City
This is one place in America where it is the world at your doorsteps. If you are someone of my background, the outer boroughs are so very endlessly fascinating. It is like going on a world tour.
There is rest of America, and there is New York City. It is as if NYC were a different country altogether.
When I walk the streets, the city gets me. I see the full spectrum in my mind, from my homevillage to Times Square.
Third World To Times Square
My village I am going to call the center of the unknown universe, because it is your typical Third World village. Times Square claims to be the center of the known universe.
You get to call me Global South.
Spitzer
I was thinking about him today. He is a little bit in the doldrums right now. This guy is high on intellectual intelligence, relatively low on emotional intelligence. He is right, the point is not that he is not right. And he likes to take on big issues.
I have met Paterson in person and of course Pollak. These two are smart people, sure, but they happen to be high on emotional intelligence, both. If Spitzer were to form a close troika with these two - closer - I think these two will more than compensate in the emotional intelligence department.
But then nobody thought Bill Clinton was low on emotional intelligence, and the dude had rough years in 1993 and 1994.
Christianity, Buddhism
In the Christian worldview, it is your one soul, unique to eternity, it is one way street. In the Buddhist worldview, things get recycled endlessly. I think the two worldviews collide in social settings. In one worldview, you have hit the wall, crossed the line, in another you take what you take, you throw away what you throw away, and you start all over again, you recycle. It can feel like a culture clash, or it can feel like a power differential. I have the power to say I am done with you. Now, here I go off to eternity.
Observations like these on culture are also what get me about gender talk. They are fascinating to watch unfold. Women are hardwired different, and I mean in the mind. They see richer textures on the face. They bring different perspectives. And the gender power differential in general out there in the world is something to look at.
Bank
NYC thinks like a bank. From here to Silicon City is to be a major cultural challenge. You are trying to change the culture. The bank culture asks for a 50 page business plan. From there how do you move on to ideas scratched on napkins?
Amardeep Singh: Tunku Varadarajan: on Amartya Sen, Racial Profiling Mr. Sen, now a professor at Harvard, was awarded the 1998 Nobel Prize in economics for his contributions to the field of welfare economics. He has a CV so seriously good that everyone, surely, knows of his being (in his previous post) the Master of Trinity College, Cambridge, the apex of the British academic pyramid. Everyone, that is, except a British immigration official at Heathrow Airport a few years ago who, on looking at Mr. Sen's Indian passport and then at his home address on the immigration form--"Master's Lodge, Trinity College, Cambridge"--asked whether Mr. Sen was a close friend of the Master. This question made Mr. Sen enter into a private contemplation, rather self-indulgent in the circumstances, of whether "I could claim to be a friend of myself." As the seconds ticked away without answer, the immigration officer asked whether there was an "irregularity" with Mr. Sen's immigration status. And can you blame the man? Yet Mr. Sen--in his amused-but-chippy recall of the episode--says that the encounter was "a reminder, if one were needed, that identity can be a complicated matter." Well of course it can, professor. But in the 700-odd years of its existence, Cambridge had never before had a nonwhite head of college. Cannot immigration officers be just as empirical as economists?
Time: Tuesday, February 5 at 7:00 PM Duration: 4 hours Host: katherine bernhardt Location: cafe enduro (Brooklyn, NY) 51 lincoln road Brooklyn, NY 11226 Directions: take the Q train to Prospect Park station, exit Lincoln road. cafe is just to the left.
Time:
Thursday, January 24 at 6:30 PM
Duration:
7 hours
Host:
Martin Sutler
Location:
Madame X (Upstairs Lounge) (Manhattan, NY)
94 West Houston Street (between LaGuardia and Thompson) Manhattan, NY 11217
When Bill Clinton called Barack "the biggest fairytale I have ever seen," he meant the totality of Barack. The person, his lifestory, his candidacy, his blackness, his whiteness, his Boston convention speech, everything, the package deal.
Then the remark backfired a little, especially among leading African Americans across the country, especially after Hillary went right ahead and belittled none other than MLK himself (And The British Left India On Their Own), and she topped it off with her use of the word "slum" to describe a black Chicago neighborhood. And Bill Clinton backpeddled. I just meant his Iraq War thing, he said. As in, his image of being an anti-war person is a fairytale.
Fairytale, now that is a loaded racial codeword. Suggestion: don't take this guy seriously. People who don't take my blog seriously call it The Onion. If once in a while I am funny, I am glad. But this blog is no Onion. There is some cutting edge stuff going on at this blog.
Bill Clinton has not backpeddled enough. He needs to go ahead and eat his words. When Bill Clinton is talking about Barack and Iraq, he is lying. Again. Is there anything Bill Clinton has not lied about over the vast expanse of his career? He probably calls it political skill. I call him a guy who just does not get it. He does not get the politics of hope, the new kind of politics. What Barack is preaching is a new religion, and Bill Clinton has not the slightest clue. Bill Clinton is acting like a holdover from the 1990s that he is.
Barack's new kind of politics is a foreign language to Bill Clinton, he does not get it. Hillary is the same way, she must be married to Bill: she talks derisively of "false hopes" and "hoping for change."
Barack's hope message is not one that is naive, it is a muscular message that will deliver as many states to him in fall as Reagan managed in 1984, his muscular hope is the kind that can take you to the moon. This is not a weak hope of hoping the computers crash at the credit card company headquarters and all your credit card debt goes away. This is the kind of hope that ends slavery, the kind of hope finds the polio vaccine, the kind of vote that takes you to the moon.
This is also the kind of hope that ends a war that should never have been authorized - Hillary? - and never have been waged. Bush?
Barack was a staunch Dean 2004 person. When that organization became Democracy For America, it got behind the Senate candidate Barack Obama. Today Barack is the most prominent Deaniac there is.
Guess what defined Dean 2004 more than any other thing: Howard Dean's anti-war stand. If anti-war is cool today, all the credit goes to Howard Dean. Barack took the right anti-war stand in 2002, but he did not have Howard Dean's clout at the time to go national with it.
Howard Dean made anti-war cool in 2004, Barack Obama gave the Dems a big victory with it in 2006. Dean was anti-war 1.0, Barack was anti-war 2.0 in 2006. The Dems took the House and the Senate in 2006, thanks to Barack.
To doubt Barack's anti-war stand is to doubt Howard Dean's anti-war credentials. That is like saying George Washington is not the Father of the Nation, Ernest Hemingway did not write The Old Man And The Sea. It really is that basic.
Barack was anti-war in 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 and this year too. Barack will be anti-war in 2009 as president. Barack will stay anti-war until the war is over, until he brings it to an end as president.
Barack was the most sought after Democrat during the 2006 election that turned the tide for Democrats in this country after six lonely years. The anti-war plank is what got the Dems the victory in 2006 and there was general consensus that Barack was the mascot nationally for that anti-war theme.
So how do you explain a few things?
Why did Barack say right before the 2004 convention that he did not know how he might have voted on the war if he were Senator in 2002? Duh. He was trying to enhance the chances of the Kerry-Edwards ticket. Both Kerry and Edwards had voted for the war, but now they were the candidates who were going to end it. So if your goal is to end the war, you do all you can to enhance the chances of a Kerry-Edwards ticket. So Barack said what he said. That was still an anti-war stand. Don't you get it?
And why has Barack voted to fund the war? That is what any responsible Senator would do. You don't say because I am opposed to the war, now I am going to cut the funds to starve the American troops out in that desert.
You still want to end the war, and you take the necessary political steps. It was not the mistake of the armed men and women who have done everything that has been asked of them. It was the mistake of George Bush, it was the mistake of the Republican Party.
And so Barack took the political step of being the most visible Democrat in the country for the 2006 elections. Victory came along, but he realized that had not been enough to end the war. So he changed his mind on not running in 2008, and he ran. He ran to end the war.
So, if a guy was anti-war in 2002 when he was a nobody trying to be a somebody and anti-war was not how you became somebody in 2002, if a guy was a Deaniac in 2004, the most prominent Deaniac in the country, and the guy was The Anti-War Mascot Of The Democratic Party for the 2006 elections, and the guy became the only prominent Dem running in 2007 who had actually opposed the war from the very start, what I would like to know is when did he become not anti-war.
I respect and admire Bill Clinton. He gave good eight years. Personally I am thankful for the dot com boom. So I will give him the benefit of doubt. It might have happened in 2003. 2003 is the year that escapes attention. Barack might have made a pro-war lapse as a desperate nobody that year. Somebody go do the digging on this one and help Billie Clinton out.
