The blogs and comment lists are still crowded with the Get Even topic. Some are just now realizing that "Change" means Clinton III. I'm onboard with that. Making good use of the experienced in the Democratic Party is smart if the transition is to be smooth.
It will be hard for some to transition out of campaign rhetoric to policy making. Intense emotions are addictive as I said before. The Onion piece was funny because it is both precise and good advice. The more zealous supporters need to accept that the President-elect will be distancing himself from them unless they can start working on a more positive agenda. The Republicans will rail a bit longer but it is expected. Gently and without rancor: Proverbs 16:8 or Superbia ante casu.
Meanwhile, a young Senator is taking on a very heavy load given the drop in the market, the jobless numbers, the auto industry implosion, the sabre rattling from Russia and so on.
Change is not the mantra; S.O.S. is.
And for that load, young shoulders may be exactly the right resource.
Friday, November 07, 2008
Thursday, November 06, 2008
The Onion Strikes Again
Thanks to Rob Koberg for sending this. Much needed laughter.
The Onion Strikes Again!
Obama Win Causes Obsessive Supporters To Realize How Empty Their Lives Are
The Onion Strikes Again!
Obama Win Causes Obsessive Supporters To Realize How Empty Their Lives Are
Longer Boats Are Coming To Win Us
Day 2 of the sigh of relief from the robocalls and the rage producing commercials. Life is good again.
There are mean streets' moments out there but they will pass.
Actually no. We will bring ourselves together or not at all. Don't lay that on him. He will have enough to do.
This one was bitter to the bone. There is no magical manna from heaven to change that. We'll get back to our routines and time does the rest. If the Obama supporters want to make that happen faster, now is the time to drop the stoner rhetoric and get focused on the tasks at hand. Time spent on the Great Get Even is time and resources wasted.
Bottom up systems rely on multiple individuals forming communities and topics of interest to explore problems and come up with the best alternatives. The illusion of the top is the existence of shared values that enable the goals to be selected and shared. If we want this presidency to be about change and restoring our image around the world, pick the one issue for which you have the most passion and knowledge and work with those who share it. Build a longer boat and pick a crew.
Obama doesn't have a mandate or a landslide. He has a clean win of six points. The good news is that stops a repeat of the Bush/Gore let the lawyers decide it debacle. But be smart and realize that a) 47% thought otherwise b) the Democratic blowout of Congress didn't happen and c) the Republican Party isn't going away. Richard Nixon had a landslide and was roasted within two years.
I'm not sure if this is about change as much as getting back to being the country that works together without the demoralizing mind killing fear and paranoia of the last eight years. Look in your hearts and minds and ask if you really do put country first. If you do, drop the partisan rhetoric and pick up an oar and row.
There are mean streets' moments out there but they will pass.
Barack will bring us together
Actually no. We will bring ourselves together or not at all. Don't lay that on him. He will have enough to do.
I don't want no god on my lawn; just a flower I can help along.
This one was bitter to the bone. There is no magical manna from heaven to change that. We'll get back to our routines and time does the rest. If the Obama supporters want to make that happen faster, now is the time to drop the stoner rhetoric and get focused on the tasks at hand. Time spent on the Great Get Even is time and resources wasted.
Cause the soul of nobody knows how a flower grows
Bottom up systems rely on multiple individuals forming communities and topics of interest to explore problems and come up with the best alternatives. The illusion of the top is the existence of shared values that enable the goals to be selected and shared. If we want this presidency to be about change and restoring our image around the world, pick the one issue for which you have the most passion and knowledge and work with those who share it. Build a longer boat and pick a crew.
Mary dropped her pants by the sand and let a parson come and take her hand
Obama doesn't have a mandate or a landslide. He has a clean win of six points. The good news is that stops a repeat of the Bush/Gore let the lawyers decide it debacle. But be smart and realize that a) 47% thought otherwise b) the Democratic blowout of Congress didn't happen and c) the Republican Party isn't going away. Richard Nixon had a landslide and was roasted within two years.
Cause the soul of nobody knows where the parson goes.
I'm not sure if this is about change as much as getting back to being the country that works together without the demoralizing mind killing fear and paranoia of the last eight years. Look in your hearts and minds and ask if you really do put country first. If you do, drop the partisan rhetoric and pick up an oar and row.
Hold on to the shore or they'll be taking the key from the door
Wednesday, November 05, 2008
Miles From Nowhere
It's good to know the endless political commercials are over. It's good to be back to watching programs about UFOs the way a kid watches cartoons. The fun can come back to living without the constant harranguing. There are some people I don't want to see for a few months but then, I don't need to. Life is good.
If there was a real loser by their own hand in the election, it is the mainstream media. Trust in them is now at the same level as Congress.
And that makes what comes next devilishly hard. We are in uncharted waters and blind as a bat.
There are very high expectations for this administration worldwide. It will be best to make the most of those while we can. I don't expect them to last and Obama won with a fragile coalition. No one really knows what he has in mind and he didn't win a filibuster proof Congress. The Democrats are now clearly in the driver's seat but unless their maps are better than what I've seen during the election, we won't know where we are going until we are there.
I've the same advice here as on Taplin's blog: bottom up systems don't work by having a master plan. They work because different people put their hand to different tasks and if they share the right values, the illusion of the top is enough to hold them together.
Otherwise, this moment of drunk exhiliration won't last to Christmas. Find the passion you have and work on that. Some will choose energy, some education, some net neutrality, some world hunger.
Some will make it the full time evisceration of Barack Obama just as the left did to Bush and the right did to the Clinton's.
And that means we go nowhere fast.
If there was a real loser by their own hand in the election, it is the mainstream media. Trust in them is now at the same level as Congress.
And that makes what comes next devilishly hard. We are in uncharted waters and blind as a bat.
There are very high expectations for this administration worldwide. It will be best to make the most of those while we can. I don't expect them to last and Obama won with a fragile coalition. No one really knows what he has in mind and he didn't win a filibuster proof Congress. The Democrats are now clearly in the driver's seat but unless their maps are better than what I've seen during the election, we won't know where we are going until we are there.
I've the same advice here as on Taplin's blog: bottom up systems don't work by having a master plan. They work because different people put their hand to different tasks and if they share the right values, the illusion of the top is enough to hold them together.
Otherwise, this moment of drunk exhiliration won't last to Christmas. Find the passion you have and work on that. Some will choose energy, some education, some net neutrality, some world hunger.
Some will make it the full time evisceration of Barack Obama just as the left did to Bush and the right did to the Clinton's.
And that means we go nowhere fast.
Tuesday, November 04, 2008
Boiling the Barbarian
This election is almost over. No doubt, a lot of people are glad about that.
I didn't support Obama.
I voted for him. I am a Democrat.
I don't like many of his positions, I think his campaign was one of the most mean spirited I've ever seen, and some of his supporters are really ready for Thorazine, but all of that aside, he's our candidate and he will have to step up to the plate now. It is time for a change.
We're a nation of adventurers and gamblers so we roll the dice with Obama and if it comes up snake eyes, we'll try again in four years with Hillary. If we can take eight years of Bush, we can take anything.
From the news:
Wow. Some of you must live in really mean neighborhoods. Here's what is going on in North Alabama:
People started lining up at 5:30 AM. When I got to the polls at 7:20, the lines were long and the cars were parked a mile away. We walked, we talked, we had a good time. In the lines, me and the two black women behind me joked about anyone hesitating inside the polling office (a church) should be immediately taken outside because after two years and a billion dollars, any one who still can't decide is not smart enough to vote.
We voted and headed out to Starbucks, Chick-fil-a, Krispy Kreme and Ben and Jerry's to get our freebies. Now it's back to work and life goes on better than before.
It's a bit of a party down here because everyone is glad it is over and glad to have the right to have our say.
America is Fabulous. Freedom to vote, freedom to be together, and free munchies. It doesn't get better than this.
So put down the bitter butter. You have your moment in the booth and then you have the rest of the day to enjoy it.
Why did I debate his supporters for months on end?
1. It was fun. Because I am a Southern White Male, I've been called names that would mean a fist fight in person. Life in the South is nothing like what the West Coasters make it out to be. After awhile, cultural stereotyping deserves a bit of nose tweaking and toe stomping. Having grown up in a town where only 15% of us were native Southerners and the rest are g---D---- Yankees who call us morons, well it becomes habitual.
Does the phrase "the pleasure of boiling the barbarian" mean anything to you?
2. Only by peering deeply into the darkness do our eyes ever open completely.
But today and for the last nine months, the blacks around me have been walking around with their heads up smiling. Today, I didn't see fear or loathing in their eyes when we joked. There was acceptance.
That can't be anything but good.
Sing it Ray! Let the good feelings wash over you.
I didn't support Obama.
I voted for him. I am a Democrat.
I don't like many of his positions, I think his campaign was one of the most mean spirited I've ever seen, and some of his supporters are really ready for Thorazine, but all of that aside, he's our candidate and he will have to step up to the plate now. It is time for a change.
We're a nation of adventurers and gamblers so we roll the dice with Obama and if it comes up snake eyes, we'll try again in four years with Hillary. If we can take eight years of Bush, we can take anything.
From the news:
BLACK PANTHERS' BLOCK ACCESS TO VOTING STATION
Wow. Some of you must live in really mean neighborhoods. Here's what is going on in North Alabama:
People started lining up at 5:30 AM. When I got to the polls at 7:20, the lines were long and the cars were parked a mile away. We walked, we talked, we had a good time. In the lines, me and the two black women behind me joked about anyone hesitating inside the polling office (a church) should be immediately taken outside because after two years and a billion dollars, any one who still can't decide is not smart enough to vote.
We voted and headed out to Starbucks, Chick-fil-a, Krispy Kreme and Ben and Jerry's to get our freebies. Now it's back to work and life goes on better than before.
It's a bit of a party down here because everyone is glad it is over and glad to have the right to have our say.
America is Fabulous. Freedom to vote, freedom to be together, and free munchies. It doesn't get better than this.
So put down the bitter butter. You have your moment in the booth and then you have the rest of the day to enjoy it.
Why did I debate his supporters for months on end?
1. It was fun. Because I am a Southern White Male, I've been called names that would mean a fist fight in person. Life in the South is nothing like what the West Coasters make it out to be. After awhile, cultural stereotyping deserves a bit of nose tweaking and toe stomping. Having grown up in a town where only 15% of us were native Southerners and the rest are g---D---- Yankees who call us morons, well it becomes habitual.
Does the phrase "the pleasure of boiling the barbarian" mean anything to you?
2. Only by peering deeply into the darkness do our eyes ever open completely.
But today and for the last nine months, the blacks around me have been walking around with their heads up smiling. Today, I didn't see fear or loathing in their eyes when we joked. There was acceptance.
That can't be anything but good.
Sing it Ray! Let the good feelings wash over you.
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