I found this old video of Obama poking fun at Rahm Emanuel, years before he was appointed as Chief of Staff. Some of the jokes require a bit of political savvy, but overall I think it’s easy to see Obama has a sharp wit. (Ah, yes… just one more thing to love.)
If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible; who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time; who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer.
Those are the opening words of Obama’s speech on Tuesday night- a victory for him, the nation and the world. I fought back tears of joy, along with millions of others, as he spoke of change, of unity, of hope. For the first time in a long while, my inner cynic was silenced. I finally felt a surge of pride in my country and hope for the future.
I wanted to savor that moment, to celebrate the victory along with millions of others, because I knew the pangs and pains of reality would quickly shake that feeling from me. And it did.
As I turned to California’s election results, I found less hope and pride. Both Clean Energy propositions (including Prop H in San Francisco and Prop 10 statewide) failed. All but one Clean Energy proposition in the nation fell to the same, dismal fate.
The failure of prop H was disappointing on two levels:
Still, in spite of these and other disappointments in life, I found a renewed sense of hope by Obama’s victory and his assurance:
There is new energy to harness and new jobs to be created; new schools to build and threats to meet and alliances to repair.
The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep. We may not get there in one year or even one term, but America I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there. I promise you we as a people will get there.
Well folks, it’s finally time to say good-bye to the campaign season… I’ll really miss the cute videos and parodies that were inspired by this madness. The comic relief I’ve found through skits from SNL and sites like 23/6 or Funnyordie.com have really sustained me these past few weeks. And from looking at the polls, it seems I should be ready to celebrate…
But honestly, I’m sort of frightened for this country’s future. The main reason I chose to support Obama this election was because he has so masterfully inspired millions to hope for a better future. While a part of me would like to believe that hope will remain strong, I’m too much of a cynic to ignore the reality of recession, bigotry and secular elitism that runs rampant throughout this country. Do I dare hope for a better future despite the reality of despair? Even in an Obama administration, will this country be able to heal?
I couldn’t help thinking of this song as I read Factcheck’s analysis of the Obama/Ayers smear:
In a TV ad, McCain says Obama “lied” about his association with William Ayers, a former bomb-setting, anti-war radical from the 1960s and ’70s. We find McCain’s claim to be groundless. New details have recently come to light, but nothing Obama said previously has been shown to be false.
In a Web ad and in repeated attacks from the stump, McCain describes the two as associates, and Palin claims they “pal around” together. But so far as is known, their relationship was never very close. An Obama spokesman says they last saw each other in a chance encounter on the street more than a year ago.
McCain says in an Internet ad that the two “ran a radical ‘education’ foundation” in Chicago. But the supposedly “radical” group was supported by a Republican governor and included on its board prominent local civic leaders, including one former Nixon administration official who has given $1,500 to McCain’s campaign this year. Education Week says the group’s work “reflected mainstream thinking” among school reformers. The group was the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, started by a $49 million grant from the Annenberg Foundation, which was established by the publisher Walter Annenberg, a prominent Republican whose widow, Leonore, is a contributor to the McCain campaign.
(FactCheck.org, which is nonpartisan, also receives funding from the Annenberg Foundation. But we are in no way connected to the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, which finished its work long before we came into being in late 2003.)
Maybe I’m a bit twisted, but I find it strangely amusing to think that McCain throws out this ad hominem attack- knowing full well that he’s guilty of a more dangerous association. Granted, if you spend any time in politics- and among politicians- you’re bound to cross the path of at least one shady character. But come on. The Ayer’s attack is hardly as damaging as McCain’s involvement in the Savings and Loan Scandal. He even confessed, back in 2000, that this “will probably be on my tombstone”. To be fair, though, the Senate Ethics Committee found McCain to be guilty of nothing more than “poor judgment”. No big deal, right? I mean, we’ve had plenty of politicians and presidents exercise poor judgment. And it’s not like THAT could hurt us…
