i got obama fever

I'm excited for the debate tonight. I hope he rises above the fray, nails his policy, and hits her sharply but with typical obama class.

I got this from Andrew Sullivan via a reader:

I just got back from the Kodak Theater to support Barack Obama. It was quite the scene. The place was packed with supporters, and I'd say 1 in 3 had some sort of sign, many of which were handmade. Hillary had her supporters there, but Obama's folks outnumbered them about 4 to 1, I'd say.
The difference in the crowds was startling. Hillary's group was mostly white and latino, women, and one African American that I saw. Once I got settled with my sign and had a chance to see my fellow supporters, I couldn't help but chuckle. To my right, a tall Black man with dreads, flanked by an elderly white couple. To my left, a 15 year old with a yarmulke, an asian woman in her 30's, and an early 20's something Emo kid with died black hair and stretched ear lobes. EVERY lanai had a similar makeup. I stood in the middle, a white man, weeks away from turning 30, and you couldn't have wiped the smile from my face.
In this ass backwards town, in this gaudy tourist trap, I felt something I have never felt before while living in Los Angeles: community.

Fired up - Yes we can!!!!

OBAMA-MANIA

AFter South Carolina and Ted Kennedy, I'm fired up and ready-to-go!

More on Hillary

It seems have become obsessed. I think I may need treatment. There is something quasi-irrational about my pure disgust of Hillary Clinton. It is not a woman thing. I don't think so. It is an honesty thing. It is more general air of "it's my turn" that surrounds her and her candidacy. It is her Rove-like tactics. It is the fact to her and her husband, winning at all costs is more important than fighting for the little guy. It is her divide and conquer methods of campaigning, which works, but leaves a scorched earth and a bitter electorate.

If she runs her campaign the way she runs the white house, it is George Bush all over again. Different policies, but the same shattered and splintered country.

I do know her as a person - no one does. She is not authentic.

I support Obama. I don't know if he's ready. I don't know if he will be the best executive. He could be Jimmy Carter all over again. But, I believe that a vision that seeks to unite and combat the mistruths and lies, the rancor and discord of current American politics is worth a roll of the dice.

I believe the Clinton machine needs to be stopped. It needs to be derailed. for their sake and ours.

Friday night..

I'm tired and bored and watching Kids in the Hall clips on youtube.



This is one of the best - next to "girl drink drunk".

I F"N HATE HILLARY CLINTON

Read this by Maureen Dowd from the New York Times

If Bill Clinton has to trash his legacy to protect his legacy, so be it. If he has to put a dagger through the heart of hope to give Hillary hope, so be it.

If he has to preside in this state as the former first black president stopping the would-be first black president, so be it.

The Clintons — or “the 2-headed monster,” as the The New York Post dubbed the tag team that clawed out wins in New Hampshire and Nevada — always go where they need to go, no matter the collateral damage. Even if the damage is to themselves and their party.

Bill’s transition from elder statesman, leader of his party and bipartisan ambassador to ward heeler and hatchet man has been seamless — and seamy.

I will walk over hot coals to vote against her. I will vote for anyone but her.

My love

Changes

Hillary Clinton - Real Voice?

She said she found her voice - OH GOD - I remember this and how she put on a faux Southern accent to appeal to African-Americans - how pathetic...she is so pathetic.

Bill Clinton - a petty man

Read this! Bill refuses to stand when he is called out by the Atlanta Mayor for his degrading comments about Obama. Oh poor Bill - how sad, how very very sad.

MLK day and more

I know I should stay positive on MLK day. "I have a dream...yada, yada, yada..."

But I'm glad Obama finally decided to take on that liar Bill Clinton. He has mischaracterized Obama from the start and has run against him as if he were New Gingrich. His opportunist and personal penchant for a third term is disgusting and vile and he needs some one to go toe-to-toe with him. I think the democrats will respond.

I love this clip where David Brooks tells it like it is about Hillary

Andrew Sullivan on Clinton on the nevada debate

I just cut and paste from his blog...

Live-Blogging Nevada
15 Jan 2008 11:24 pm
9.10 pm: Did Robert L. Johnson actually say he was "out of bounds" in bringing up Obama's past drug use? That's what Clinton just said. Did she just make that up?
(Update: if you read Johnson's press release, you can see that Clinton was lying to maintain good relations with Johnson. She lied when she said that ayone who did such a thing would be disowned. She hasn't disowned someone who both smeared Obama, then lied about it, then refused to back away from it. So that's two lies. If it were her opponent, you can be sure she'd be taking notes. I'm holding her to the same standards she applies to others.)
9.20 pm: Clinton again said that she doesn't want to inject the gender issue into this race. Again, this is easily disproved by any number of statements she has made over the last several months. She's not as bad as her husband, but she reflexively makes stuff up.
9.30 pm: Just like Bush, she cannot talk about her own weaknesses. In her eyes, her weakness is being too aggressive for change! And then she pivots to exploit Obama's own confession of his personal disorganization. The more you see her, the more calculating she is.
9.40 pm. Obama's showing some sense of humor, which has been lacking in his campaign. Both Clinton and Obama look exhausted.
9.50 pm. Clinton manages to pivot the sub-prime mess to pander to blacks, Asians and Hispanics. But, hey, she doesn't want to inject race into this race. Her tone is a little hectoring as well.
10.03 pm: Clinton uses an opportunity to ask a question to give a speech burnishing her anti-war credentials. Pure old politics. But it works! And she's a pro.
10.24 pm: Panderthon on Yucca Mountain.
10.34 pm: Man, this is boring. The only moments of spontaneity are when Obama says something funny or sharp.
10.43 pm. Guns! Obama tried to bridge the red-blue divide. Good luck.
10.49 pm. Los Angeles, Las Vegas, whatever. Finally, a real moment.
10.54 pm. She's so good at this. She's playing the Rove card, implying that electing someone else would mean that we'd be vulnerable to al Qaeda if one of her opponents would win. Because she's allegedly "ready on day one." In the end, you just drop your jaw at the shamelessness of the Clintons. But they get away with it and grind on. I think Clinton won this debate by utilizing classic old-political tactics. Every answer was filtered through an exacting political filter. No answer provided any potential vulnerability. She is ready on Day One to play the classic political game. That's all. That's her real experience: sliming opponents, rewarding allies, listening to pollsters, tending to her machine.
10.57 pm. Clinton says she decided to run for president a year ago on New Years. She says this with a perfectly straight face. You have to understand that she can tell lies almost as well as her husband. And if you don't know or cannot know the actual truth, there's no way to tell. She's that good.



She is slime!!!!

novel idea...

I've been reading a lot lately for pleasure. I usually try to avoid reading during the school year, because I am so weighed down with stuff. I read 33 Snowfish by Adam Rapp as well as other YA books. My novel is coming along, though I have a bit of a rut.

I'm going to watch the nevada debates tonight and I hope Barack kicks butt. I'm pissed the supreme court left Kucinich out. What's up with our democracy?

I haven't left a poem lately. This one is by Tony Hoagland. It is a great use of metaphor and a wonderful testament to the creative process.

Cement Truck


I wanted to get the cement truck into the poem
because I loved the bulk of the big rotating barrel
as it went calmly down the street,
churning to keep the wet cement inside
slushily in motion.

I liked the monster girth of the torso
and the tilted ovoid shape,
the raised rump with a hole like an anus at the back,
the double-thick tires to bear the weight. I liked
the way that people turned to watch it pass-

because what is more like a rhinoceros or elephant
than this thick-skinned grunting beast
goaded by two smallish men in jumpsuits?
Taking its ponderous time to obey,
drizzling a stream of juice between its legs?

I knew that I might have to make the center of the poem wider
when the cement truck had to turn a corner,
scraping the bark of an overhanging tree,
giving a nudge to the power lines—

then having to turn around again, because
the drivers have somehow gotten lost:
one of them running to borrow a garden hose
to wet down the load again,
one of them cursing and shaking out the map.

I liked the idea of my poem having room inside
for something as real as that truck
and having to get there by two o’clock or else
to pour the floor of the high school gymnasium.

—And I think at this point it would have been a terrible mistake
to turn the truck
into a metaphor or symbol for something else.
It had taken me so long to get the world into my poem,
and so long to get my poem into the world.

Now I didn’t want to go back.
Now I had a four lane highway to drive down the middle of,
and a pair of heavy rubber boots,
and a black rectangular lever just in front of the stick shift.

I wonder what that one does?

GO SEE JUNO

A couple of things - see Juno - so touching and wonderful. Kimya Dawson's music is beautiful. Ellen PAge is a revelation.

What else? Damn Hillary, but Barack's speech both in IOWA and NH was so inspiring. yes we can, barack. A new majority. Goddamn do I love him.

I'm at lesley - chris lynch, one of my author heroes is my advisor - he kept praising my work and saying that I have that something that can't be taught - then told me to rewrite my book - I love it - I'm eating it up.

Here is a kimya dawson video - I think it cuts short



LATER

I know, I know...

I know it has been a played.

update -

Life calmed and went crazy again. My winter break was an east coast tour with no work accomplished - grr. I am left with grading and the start of Lesley tomorrow.

I feel better about my novel - which is great.

I am excited about Obama tonight and hope Clinton gets stopped AT ALL COSTS
I won't go any further - I don't want to jinx it.

I hope to blog more often and feel I need resurrected my bloglife - particularly with campaign season upon us.

Unfortunately, I will be at Lesley this week and do not have the time to focus on the campaign. However, I will be live-blogging my week on my school site - which I will not give out to separate my work life and my personal life.

Don't google me.

-Walsh