Obama in Primetime

I hurried home today from my brother’s house to watch Barack Obama’s 30-minutes primetime infomercial…I even clocked myself going 85 mph on Highway 512. I had no idea what to expect, and was a little afraid it was going to be a 30-minute indictment against John McCain. I don’t know what I was thinking, considering the fact that it is McCain that has run the most vile campaign I’ve ever seen (well, except for GOP nominee Dino Rossi, who just compared Governor Christine Gregoire to a dirty diaper). What I saw was a thoughtful, concise, and specific explanation of the problems that Americans are facing and what Obama will do to fix it. It was really that simple. It was incredibly effective, and McCain can do all the whining he wants…there’s no way in election hell that he could ever had afforded to buy this airtime.

Obama spoke to a national audience and directly addressed the things that concern us the most. He talked to an older man whose pension was eaten up by his irresponsible former company, now bankrupt. He introduced us to a couple with no health insurance, with the husband coming out of retirement at the age of 72 to work at Wal-Mart. We met a family who is struggling through tough times because of cutbacks and layoffs at their Ford factory.

I’m lucky enough to be escaping the worst of the financial crisis right now, being a full-time student on financial aid, with no retirement fund to worry about. My parents, however, are not so lucky. My dad is a successful lawyer (not a rich one) who has worked hard and sacrificed his whole life, not only to give my brothers and me the best opportunities, but because he wanted to ensure that he and my mom would enjoy a secure retirement that would not mean a strict downsizing of their lifestyle, but simply a chance to finally enjoy the success he’s worked so hard to obtain. Instead, he’s been forced to cash out his 401(k) after losing a huge chuck of it…six figures’ worth. He’s about to turn 62. The idea of a McCain presidency, which would most likely dig us deeper into this hole, not only scares me, but angers me. It was the deregulation of the financial institutions, championed by the Republicans, that got my honest, hardworking parents into the situation they’re facing now. McCain does not inspire any confidence that he will be any different than Bush in his economic policies. Obama is the one with the plan to not only heal our nation, but on a personal note, he’s the only one I trust to give my father back his feeling of security, something he deserves more than anyone I know.

Utter Randomness

I was pleasantly surprised today to be tagged by Sabrina over at Pagan Dawn. Thanks, Sabrina! So, here are the rules:

~ Link back to the person who tagged you.

~ Post the rules. (That’s an obvious one.)

~ Post six random things about yourself.

~ Tag six people, and let them know.

~ Let the tagger know when you’ve posted your answer.

Sound easy enough? Well, it’s not. I’ll bet anything I’m going to be sitting here for about twenty minutes, trying to think of six, not so boring, random things about myself. Well, here it goes:

1. I believe in fairies. OK, I WANT to believe in fairies. I’ve been fascinated by fairies since I was a child. My parents have a wooded ravine behind our house, the kind of place where you can get lost for hours. When I was young, I used to pack up a lunch, and go tramping in the woods, looking for fairies, elves, pixies, or whatever they were called. I’m a bit more knowledgeable now and have done some amateur study…but I’ve yet to see even one!

2. I’ve been with my boyfriend for ten years now, and we’ve lived together for seven years. At this point, we have absolutely no plans to get married, and I can’t see any plans being made within even the next five years. Of course, we’ve talked about it, but that’s mainly because we’re feeling pressure from my family. If we want to stay together, we might have to take the plunge for convenience purposes, but it’s not a high priority. Many people are shocked and angered by this attitude…they think I don’t respect myself enough. Well, to hell with all of them, I say!

3. I am a college student getting my BA in Humanities with a concentration in English. And I’m doing it all online. I took a lot of online classes when I was finishing up my two year degree at a community college and really liked the format. I’m much more comfortable writing out my thoughts than raising my hand in a class full of strangers. It’s also taught me to be much more self reliant and disciplined, something I lacked before. And the best thing is, my degree is from a regular “brick and mortar” school (Washington State University), so no one has to know…there is still a stigma against online education.

4. My favorite season is autumn. I love any change in the season, and I tend to dislike bright sunshine. I love the crisp air, the brightly colored leaves, and the coming of the holidays. Halloween is this week, and even though I’m well past the age of dressing up, I’m so excited. There’s something about the season that makes it seem as though the earth is resting, and come spring, will burst forth again. But I don’t feel restful…I feel energized!

5. I love the sound of the rain. This kind of goes along with number 4. No matter the temperature outside, if it’s raining, I’ll open up a window just so I can listen to it. Well, now that the temp is hovering at about 50 degrees everyday, I might just choose to simply sit closer to the window instead. Anyway, the sound of rain falling is just about the most soothing thing I can think of. I guess it’s a good thing I live in Western Washington!

6. Right now, my car is locked inside our garage, and I need it to go and take a proctored midterm in Tacoma. The only snag here is that I don’t know how to work our overly garage door lock, only my boyfriend does, and he’s sleeping. I know he’s only barely gotten to sleep, so I don’t want to wake him. This will be the problem I puzzle out for the next hour or so. How’s that for random?

Now I have to tag 6 people, so here are the lucky ones:

Kate over at Kate’s Blog

Rosie at Corners of my Mind

Kell at Life gets in the way…

Michelle at Sitting on a Cornflake

Nici over at Something in the distance

ii at Walking on thin ice in high heels

Great…I have a disease now?

So….OK, this is embarrassing, but for the past 2 or 3 years, I’ve been dealing with a constantly dripping nose. Almost the first thing I do in the morning is blow my nose, and I have to do it throughout the day. The weird thing is (as if this wasn’t weird enough) is that it gets about 10 times worse if I eat anything. I’ve Googled the problem, and most people complain about their nose running when they eat spicy food. Well, my nose runs if I eat toast, or a bowl of cold cereal, or pizza. Still, from what I can tell, this is something called gustatory rhinorrhoea. Sounds gross, right? It could be worse, though…I saw a post on a health discussion board that suggested that anyone who suffers from this could have bird flu. I figure the bird flu would have killed me by now. So, I guess I’m off to the drugstore now to buy some nasal spray, or I’ll just keep making sure I have extra napkins at the dinner table.

Not Quite Ready to Jump Off the Cliff

Democrats and other Obama supporters everywhere are feeling the same way I am right now, 12 days until election day, with Obama up by double digits in some national polls and widening his lead in the crucial swing states: don’t plan the victory party just yet! After being bitterly disappointed in the last two presidential elections, after finding our hopes dashed in spite of having every reason to feel confident, we can’t afford to be over-confident now. I have spent too many election nights feeling scared and disbelieving to let go of my caution now.

But, we have those reasons to feel good now, too. General Colin Powell, former Bush Secretary of State, and Scott McClellan, former Bush White House Press Secretary, both high profile Republicans, have endorsed Senator Obama. The latest CNN poll has Obama up by 8 points nationally, and up by double digits in Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Ohio. And the McCain campaign continues to run itself into the ground, with today’s two top stories being the unstable McCain volunteer carving a “B” into her own face and blaming a gigantic African-American Obama supporter, and the 911 call that McCain’s brother made complaining about the traffic jam he was in. Oh…and his running mate was off being deposed in her home state’s Troopergate investigation.

It’s easy to feel confident and declare the race over at this point. I mean, how much ground can Senator McCain really make up in the last week and a half of the presidential race? But he continues to compaign hard in swing states and is getting an enthusiastic response by his supporters. Political analysts are saying that he could win this election if he wins Pennsylvania and hangs on to the traditionally red states that Obama is trying to steal. Think about it…John McCain could be our next president. Obama definitely does not have this race locked up. But my confidence grows every day. Obama is also working hard, and his poll numbers are climbing in areas no one expected. But I’ll be holding my breath until election day!

Colin Powell Endorses Barack Obama!

This morning on NBC’s Meet the Press, former Secretary of State Colin Powell told America that he would be voting for Senator Barack Obama. But this isn’t the thing that has me jumping for joy this morning. It’s the fact that General Powell also vehemently opposes the way that Senator McCain has been running his campaign, especially the negative tone its taken. He expressed his disappointment in the way that McCain is trying to distract voters from the issues that actually concern them with things like the ridiculous accusations about William Ayers, the former 1960s radical.

It’s very important to note, however, that General Powell isn’t endorsing Obama just because he’s angry at McCain. He and McCain have always been friends, and it’s obvious that they respect each other. He’s endorsing Obama because he believes that Obama is the right person for the job of president of the United States. With only 16 days left in this campaign, the endorsement of a well-respected former secretary of state and chairman of the Joint Chiefs may just give Obama even more of an edge over McCain and can help usher in the new direction this country so desperately needs.

The Spiral Downward

The last ten days or so in American politics have been the most strange I can remember. It started when Republican VP nominee Sarah Palin accused Senator Barack Obama of “pallin’ around with terrorists” at a campaign rally. This line of attack caught everyone off guard, as it seemed to come out of left field during a time when everyone else was preoccupied with the failing economy. The attack refers to the slight connection that Obama has with 1960s radical William Ayers. Obama and Ayers served together (along with several other people) on the board of a charity many years ago, and Obama once attended a political meeting at Ayers’s home in Chicago…no, he did not “launch” his political career in Ayers’s living room.

This one attack could have just remained a simple question of Obama’s judgment in choosing his associates, but instead, it has become a rallying point for the most ignorant in the Republican party. There have been shouts of “terrorist” and “treason”, and even “kill him” when Obama’s name has been mentioned at McCain-Palin campaign events. Senator McCain and Sarah Palin seemed to ignore these outbursts, or at least never mentioned them, and continued their negative attacks on Obama’s character. They ran ads in swing states that portrayed Obama as a dangerous friend of terrorists, someone the American people should be afraid of. They declared that they wouldn’t talk about the economy anymore, but instead focus only on Obama’s character. Although the McCain-Palin campaign has denied that their strategy is racially motivated, it seems clear that they’re trying hard to establish that Obama is not American, and to make people afraid of him. It’s also clear that they need to stay away from real issues…real issues make them look bad and only highlight the fact that more people favor Obama’s policies.

This is just an extension of the “us vs. them” mindset that plagued American for so many years. The idea is that Barack Obama is not “one of us”. What’s interesting is that it doesn’t seem to be because he’s African-American. People are being confused into believing that he’s an “Arab”, as one woman called him at a McCain town hall meeting on Friday (McCain was forced to correct her). They believe that he’s a Muslim and someone who is friendly with terrorists. I know that this is simply a product of fear, but I can’t help thinking that the McCain campaign’s strategy has uncovered some latent racism that has existed under the surface of the Republican party. If it has, then the strategy is incredibly irresponsible. The tone at almost all the McCain-Palin campaign events last week was incredibly angry, and who is to say that some nut won’t take it upon himself to do the “patriotic” thing and try to assassinate Obama?

McCain has been telling people for days that Obama is dangerous and not to be trusted. At that event on Friday, however, the anger and fear of his supporters finally boiled over and McCain was forced to deal with it. When that woman called Obama an “Arab”, McCain corrected her, saying that Obama is a decent family man. (This in itself is disturbing – how is being “decent” the opposite of being “Arab”?) When a man told McCain that he was afraid of Obama, McCain told him that he has nothing to fear from an Obama presidency. Um, excuse me? Then why has he been trying to convince everyone that they <em>should</em> be afraid?

Obviously, the McCain-Palin people know now that their negative attacks on Obama aren’t working. Not only is it making them and their supporters look bad, but Obama is still widening his lead in the polls. McCain didn’t accomplish anything except offending lots of people and making it seem OK to use racism against Obama. McCain is back to talking about the economy and is trying to attack Obama’s economic policies (one in which I can expect a tax break…oh no!). McCain’s campaign is continuing its spiral downward, and it’s very doubtful at this point that he can make a turnaround.

In the Wee Hours Again

My state of mind is very confused right now, probably due to the fact that I went to bed “last night” at 8:00 am, and got up this evening at 7:00. I’ve been dealing with a lot of late nights writing papers and reading textbooks, and exhausting Wednesdays babysitting my nephew, and all of that combined has completely screwed up my inner clock. I’m also freezing cold and hungry. I’ve been wanting to blog about the VP debate and the economic situation (or what I understand of it), but apart from homework, I can’t concentrate on much except the news. But I’ll try my best to say a little about my impression of the VP debate, which more people watched than the presidential debate last week.

First of all, Sarah Palin did not completely embarrass herself. I will give her that much. However, she came across as so folksy, winking at the camera constantly and saying things like, “Doggone it,” and “You betcha,” that I honestly was distracted away from what she was actually saying. Which wasn’t much, I’m afraid. She repeated the word “maverick” so many times, that now it has completely lost all meaning. She tried to claim over and over that she and John McCain are mavericks, but couldn’t effectively defend McCain’s record against Senator Joe Biden’s attacks. He said that John McCain’s record is just like that of President Bush’s, and she changed the subject. She also stated flat out that she would not answer questions the way Biden or the moderator, Gwen Ifill, wanted her to. So much for the straight talk, huh?

I was also disturbed by the fact that she did not respond when Biden got choked up talking about losing his wife and daughter, and almost his sons. It was a highly emotional and painful moment for him, and instead of addressing it, even to say, “I’m so sorry for your loss,” she just looked into the camera and said that John McCain is a maverick for like the 10th time. As a candidate who prides herself on connecting with people, that show of insensitivity seemed to show that her attempts at connecting with people are purely political.

By the end of the debate, I was impressed by Joe Biden, of whom I had known little, and disappointed in Sarah Palin, partly because she didn’t dissolve into incoherence, which I admit would have been fun to see, but also because she didn’t show one ounce of substance the entire time. She never strayed from her talking points, which I’m sure had been drummed into her by the McCain staff, and she even made several factual errors, like getting the name of our military commander in Afghanistan wrong. She has simply proved yet again that she does not have the experience or knowledge to be vice president, which is even more important now that she said she wants more power as VP than the Constitution allows. American, and the world, can’t afford it.