40 Years

It wasn't long ago, not more than a few years if that much (it could have been last summer or at Christmas - time seems a little stretched right now), that my father told me he did not believe we'd see a black president in his lifetime.

We still haven't seen one, and we might not yet, but where we are now is beyond where most people I know thought we could possibly be, and beyond where everyone I know of my parents generation believed possible.

I didn't grow up with segregation, like they did. And unlike my parents and those before them, I never saw racism expressed in the open, and egregious, ways of those times. But that doesn't mean that I was without reservation of my own, and I know more than a handful of people my age who would have told you a black president was impossible.

But despite the long odds - minority skin color; a last name that sounds like one terrorist and a middle name that matches another; and what appears to be the greatest challenge in an opponent many viewed as unbeatable, and who is unafraid to burn down every democratic institution in the pursuit of her goals - despite these odds, here we are.

I can't say exactly how we got here. Certainly, Barack's ascendancy owes in part to the general revulsion with our government, and it's clear abuses of the last years. Without the willingness to look to the unknown that has been generated by that grotesque mismanagement, I think many people wouldn't give a young black man with a funny name a second look. And so in a way we can thank the hubris of the Bush Administration, the excesses of the Republican Congress, and the moral failings of the Christian Right for their role in expanding King's dream. We certainly can't thank them for anything else. But that isn't all. A year ago, Hillary Clinton was unbeatable. She was the Alpha and the Omega, and anyone who would challenge her was a foolish and imprudent whelp to be ground in the wheels of the unstoppable Clinton Machine. A year ago, it wasn't uncommon for me to hear my progressive, young, Seattle-ite friends scold me for my foolish idealism. But that was all a year ago. The moment, as King said, is now. And it's here because average people got together and said that they were sick and tired of being told what they could choose. They were sick and tired of Chicken and Fish.

We've still got a long slog ahead of us, as I noted already. But goddamn if we're not a lot closer to there than we thought we were.

King was a lot of things to a lot of people, but the most important thing he was to everyone was the person who told them they could. In a time when the loudest and strongest voices said you can't. In a time when the voices of reason said it wasn't time. That's when King stood up and said that it is always the right time to do the right thing, that it is always possible if you believe you can.

I'm not gonna try to claim that Barack is in any way equal to King. We've got a long way to go before we'll be able to see anything like that. But what I will say is that Barack is where he is because he told people what King told us, what Cesar Chavez told us, what every leader worth listening to told us. Yes, we can.

Below are a couple correspondences I thought relevant to the day, and to the legacy. The first is from a friend on the campaign, who wrote this in response to a call, months ago, for us to share how we got involved. The second is a letter sent to one of my coworkers that I would suspect for a forgery, if I didn't know otherwise. Enjoy.

***********

Nearly a year ago, on March 31, 2007, I gathered with a group of neighbors at a house party in Los Angeles to watch a virtual town hall with Barack (webcast live from Iowa). It was a small, diverse group of about 20 strangers who assembled that day... brought together by the generosity of our host, and the hope that perhaps we had found a presidential candidate who we all could truly believe in and get excited about.

Only a handful of the attendees that day were already "sold" on Barack; almost all of us were merely "leaning" or "interested" in him. Sure, we were drawn by his charisma and his message of unity, of optimism, and of change... yet we needed to find out more before committing... was there substance to complement his style? If elected, how would he be able to actually effect the type of change that we all yearned for and that he so eloquently spoke of?

During the webcast I found myself impressed by Barack's knowledge of the issues and the concreteness of his ideas and solutions. He confirmed to me that he offered more than just beautifully-delivered rhetoric... there was a solid plan for how to achieve change and improve the efficiency of our government to make it work better for all of us... and a wisdom and depth that belied the perception of “inexperience" that some cast upon his fledgling campaign. However, it was 69 minutes into this 75 minute long session (it's rare someone can keep my attention so long, which also tells you something…) that his answer to a question resonated with me so directly and deeply that I was in that very moment convinced to join on to his campaign with all the passion one can muster.

Now, allow me a brief bit of personal background first... I've always been interested in politics, participating in high school groups like Model United Nations, Youth & Government, Junior Statesmen of America, even a summer program one year at Georgetown... and remained politically active during my college years as well. Upon graduation, I accepted my first "real" job at the Congressional Budget Office and headed to DC. Unfortunately, while the work was engaging and my colleagues quite talented and I was excited to be in DC, I quickly became exposed the "less attractive" aspects of politics and become quite aggravated by the process that I witnessed (and in some sense that I was becoming a part of).

And so I left. I retreated to the private sector, a haven of dramatically improved pay and reduced obstruction for a motivated and talented (and humble… ahem) young man like myself. Nevertheless, a part of me has always longed for a way to return to public service, but the misgivings retained from my DC experience have always held me back. The evident and rampant cronyism under the Bush administration these past 7 years certainly hasn't assuaged any of those concerns… in fact, as recent as 12 months ago, working in politics was pretty far from my mind. I was far more focused on more entrepreneurial pursuits.

However, Barack’s charisma piqued my interest just enough to bring me to the home of Mr. and Mrs. Liebermann that warm Los Angeles afternoon. And I has I heard him speak, my once dormant desire to be a part of something greater than myself and give back to this great country of ours was born anew. I saw an opportunity. I felt hope. Most importantly, I realized that if this genuine feeling and this reaction were true for me, it would quite likely hold true for others... and perhaps a national commitment to public service could be rekindled not just for myself, but for an entire generation. Oh my, that suppressed inner idealist was on the loose again… watch out!!! And having come to that realization, it was not sufficient to sit around and see if it would come to pass... I was compelled to play my part to help MAKE it happen (as such is the nature of idealists).

I've kept a transcript of Barack's words on that day, due to the acute connection I feel to this particular passage… and because I can so clearly identify it as "the moment" when I made the decision to completely devote my time and energy to this campaign for however long it should last. The context was Barack's response to the final question of the day: "Do you know enough honest, intelligent people to fill your cabinet when you become President?"

"I do", he replied. "You'd be amazed the number of really smart, good people who would like to serve in government and would take big cuts in pay to serve in government. The problem is that our politics doesn't reward those people and so a lot of those people just feel like 'I don't want to have to play the game' and that's why it's so important for us to change our political culture."

I simultaneously felt as if he was speaking both TO me and FOR me... not in the sense that I’d be a prospective member of his cabinet per se (I do possess at least MODEST amounts of humility it turns out)... but with two simple sentences he managed to succinctly describe my decade-long love/hate exasperation with politics... the same sentiment that I've thus far taken numerous paragraphs to attempt to describe. He continued on, with a very thorough answer... concluding:

"You know, there are important things that we can do together that we can't do individually. And what I want to do is to restore a sense that this government belongs to us, that it's not something that you're just cursing at the TV set and it has nothing to do with you life, that if all of us are participating that we can restore a sense of competence and a sense of honor to public service. And if we do that, then most of the challenges that we face I think can actually be solved."

To me, these words were far beyond well-crafted prose... they were a clear call to action. And so, act I have, to the best of my ability.

My time on this campaign has demonstrated to me that the vision Barack shared in his response to that question is not only possible, but already happening... because it exists right here within the campaign. By working hard, working smart, and proving myself capable, in 6 short months I've progressed from intern, to state staffer, to national HQ staffer. I haven't found myself held back or passed over, I haven't witnessed backstabbing or unhealthy competitiveness... but I have witnessed an uncanny, unspoken, and undeniable bond between everyone working on this campaign... a common belief that the fruits of our collective action outweigh any of our individual aspirations... and a shared sense of awe at how this campaign has metamorphosed into something more… a movement… reshaping the way people think about and participate in their government. OK, so that last little bit was a bit flowery perhaps… but dammit if it isn’t exactly how I feel.

This journey has exceeded any expectations that I had when I embarked upon it, and along the way I have constantly found myself surrounded by brilliant and talented individuals who have worked tirelessly for weeks and months on end, not because there is a big paycheck, not because there is glory or a cushy government job waiting for them if we are victorious... but because Barack, this campaign, and this movement have tapped into their sense of patriotism, their sense of pride... and perhaps even a sense of anger towards the way the values, freedoms, and founding principles of our country have been hijacked, ironically, in our misguided war against terror. I believe that every one of my colleagues realize (as I do) that there is nothing more important we could possibly be doing right now with our time, our energy, our knowledge, and our lives.

I’d say “this moment is huge”, but the word huge actually seems ironically quite trivial and insufficient in this usage. But other than the individual moments one might experience in life; a wedding, the birth of a child, the passing of a loved one; what collective experience could we as Americans possibly share that is any “huger” than the one which we find ourselves currently caught up in?

This is a campaign for the future direction of this country.

We have an opportunity to change the way we as a nation treat the world, and just as importantly the way the world has come to view us.

We have an opportunity for us to move away from the bickering "us vs. them" mentality that has so pervaded our politics in recent history (and no, it hasn't always been this way).

We have an opportunity to once again embrace our role as leaders in the world, rather than as reflexive and reactive agents of fear.

And we have an opportunity to restore the feelings of pride and honor that Americans should have towards the office of President of the United States.

This campaign is a rare opportunity in the long-term view, to form a broad new coalition of people from all walks of American life (and if you've ever attended one of Barack's events in a major city and observed the crowd, you'll know what I mean)... a coalition based on common principles and values rather than uncompromising ideology... policies based on an empirical approach rather than hubris... and a restoration of statesmanship in place of the partisan battles that have become driven more out of habit and resentment than by any sort of constructive or respectful disagreement.

This election isn't merely about changing which party is in power, or moving away from the failed policies from the Bush Administration. It is far more important, meaningful, and proactive than that.

It is about changing political culture... infusing it once again with hope, trust, and dignity. It is about changing the relationship between the government and the governed. It is about sincere (but not blind) love of country and citizens faith in our leadership.

It is why millions of voters (a majority thus far) have caucused and cast their ballots for Barack Obama.

And it is why this spoiled Southern California boy barely even notices the cold Chicago wind blowing as he makes his way to and from the office each day this February.

******************


Good evening again. Thank you for your email and phone call. I completed my registration and will try to make a few calls tonight, then hit the ground running tomorrow morning and just keep at it. One thing I do need is the early Voting Locations. My Precinct is #447.

I have at least one other person who will help make calls starting tomorrow: my daughter. We reside in the same house, so same precinct and she is already an Obama enthusiast. Her friend also wants to help, but does not reside in this precinct. Do you need more info on either of the them (phone/email contact, etc)? They are a part of a fairly extended group aged from about 22 to about 29 and may be able to tap more into that as well.

Also, my daughter and I will be glad to hostess a house party this coming Saturday. Just please let us know the procedures/contacts for that and the time-line you recommend. Signage? Clowns on Uni-cycles?

Since you asked if I have previous campaign experience . . and not to bore you with more email than you need or want to read, I'll confess my first campaign was McGovern (I think I still have the campaign button) . . . off and on in between. My dad's family was always politically active and Yellow-Dog Democrats from way back. So, I've seen a few political discussions.

Frankly, I am more committed than I have ever been to seeing the Democrats re-take the White House AND the Congress. Then, let's get started on Regulatory Bodies and try to restore some degree of credibility to this system that is in critical care mode (in my opinion). I believe Senator Obama is up to the job. I believe it will take every voting Democrat and some cross-overs to get a solid WIN on November 4th.

I have a 27 year old son who just returned from Iraq in October (KS Nat'l Guard) and faces returning before his three-year contract comes to an end ... I have an 83 year-old Dad who fought in WWII and can barely get Veteran's care for the ills that plague him and the fact that he does not have private insurance; I am 57, and (as much as I swallow pride here) unemployed ... no insurance here either ... but, the silver lining here is that I can be a help to my 25 year-old daughter by taking care of my grandson while she struggles to make ends meet as a single mother, again with no health insurance. And; truly I do understand that, not only are there millions with very similar circumstances, but I should daily count my blessings that we have what we have and have each other. So, that's all part of where my motivation comes from.

We'll do whatever and we'll try to get as many others to help as we can. Wish we had $$$ to give as well, but at least not this week. Maybe that will change next week. We can make calls, help get out the vote, and hey, we're great cooks and bakers, so you never know when that will come in handy.

I will plan to see you Wednesday evening there at the office. Thanks for the service you give and the work you are doing.

Yes, I believe We Can!

***************

If that doesn't sum up the spirit of what King tried to tell us, I'm not sure what does. I looked up "Free" in the dictionary, and found, unsurprisingly, 30+ definitions of the noun alone. I thought this one, buried in the high 20s, the most relevant: "that which may be used by or is open to all." Sounds good to me.

Conservative Hypocrisy

By now, we've all seen at least a few of the most egregious of Reverend Jeremiah Wright's statements, whether we cared to or not. And whether or not you believe that the US government created AIDS as a way to kill black people, whether or not you believe that the US has failed to live up to our own noble principles and should be held liable, and whether or not you believe that anyone in the World Trade Center, on those 4 planes, or who died in Iraq or Afghanistan deserved what happened, I think we can all reasonably agree that a church is an inappropriate place for this type of discussion to take place.

Reverend Wright received an unexpected boost from a strange quarter a few days ago, when Mike Huckabee took to Morning Joe on MSNBC and defended not Wright's words, but his anger, saying,

“And I think that you have to cut some slack — and I’m going to be probably the only conservative in America who’s going to say something like this, but I’m just telling you — we’ve got to cut some slack to people who grew up being called names, being told you have to sit in the balcony when you go to the movie, you have to go to the back door to go into the restaurant, you can’t sit out there with everyone else. There’s a separate waiting room in the doctor’s office. Here’s where you sit on the bus.

“And you know what? Sometimes people do have a chip on their shoulder and resentment, and you have to just say, ‘I probably would, too.’”

And the thing to look at as exceptional here is not that Huckabee came to Wright's defense and pointed out the honest truth about the source of Wright's anger, but that Huckabee, a Southern Baptist Pastor, was willing to buck the greatest conservative hypocrisy of the last 30 years.

That hypocrisy can be seen clearly in the one-sided hubbub of the last weeks, the shitstorm swirling around Wright and Barack. In His Op-Ed, "Let's Not, and Say We Did," William Kristol propagates this greatest political hypocrisy. He rightly condemns Reverend Jeremiah Wright's inflammatory rhetoric, but wrongly condemns Wright uniquely, and even more wrongly indicts Barack on charges of guilt by association.

So my question is this: Where was Kristol’s outrage when Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson told us that 9/11 was America's divine punishment for allowing a secular, pluralistic society? Just days after the towers came down, Falwell went on Pat Robertson's 700 Club and said, in front of a massive, nationwide TV audience,

"I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People For the American Way, all of them who have tried to secularize America. I point the finger in their face and say 'you helped this happen."

Did Pat Robertson condemn this? No, he nodded, and said, "I completely agree." And while some Republican politicians expressed mild regret for the comments, all of them continue to make marquee stops at Falwell's horribly misnamed Liberty University when running for office. And when the prodigal sons, those crazy Republicans like John McCain who possess the integrity to condemn Falwell and his kind, come home to beg for benediction and trade conviction for votes, Kristol and his kind invite them in with open arms.

And the conservative literati, the Bill Kristols and Bob Novaks, even the conservative illiterati like Rush and Anne Coulter, where was their dismay at Falwell's suggestions? Where is Kristol's dismay when conservative, white pastors across America advocate replacing the Constitution with the 10 Commandments, and spew hate speech from the pulpit? And where are Kristol and the conservative elites when Republican Candidates pander to these hate-mongers to earn the votes of their congregations?

I will restate, once more, that none of this has a place in the pulpit. Anecdotally, I was listening to NPR several years ago, and a story came on about Joel Osteen. Osteen, it said, was the feel-good Pastor of one of the country's largest Mega-Churches, a best selling author, and generally well known guy. The next morning, lying in bed, I stumbled across Osteen's telecast. I watched for almost an hour. I've watched him a half dozen times since. Osteen never speaks ill of anyone. Never blasts gays, or preaches anger or hate. His oratory seems to follow the ideals of the Sermon on the Mount, and represents, to my limited understanding, the best interpretation of the New Covenant brought on by the sacrifice of Christ, and also embodies the best of America's ideal that anyone can be anything, but that we're all in it together. Joel Osteen, I think, has a place in the pulpit. Wright, Falwell, Haggard, and any other who uses that position to breed hatred, fuel anger, or sew distrust, do not. I don't care how justified the chip on your shoulder, how literal you interpretation of Leviticus, how closeted (and therefore angry) your homosexuality - I simply don't believe that fear and hatred have a place in ANY "House of God."

But we never hear condemnation of the anti-American railings of conservative, white preachers from conservative commentators. And make no mistake, these sermons are more anti-American than anything Wright said. These preachers would have us replace the 10 Amendments of the Bill of Rights with the 10 Commandments handed to Moses on Sinai. They would have us throw the founding principles of this country out the window, decry the very pluralistic principles that allow them the soapbox on which they stand, and replace those freedoms with the carefully chosen parts of Leviticus they can exploit for political power. But instead of treating all unacceptable uses of the pulpit equally, Kristol and his ilk exploit only the distasteful statements of their political opponents, and, in so doing, cheapen the conversation and expose their own willingness to sacrifice principle for power.

Bunnies and So Forth

The first time I was in a Church proper was for a funeral for a friend who killed himself when I was 21. It was February, and I think Easter was late April that year. Not that the situation's relevant to the point. I guess the point I mean to make is that I went a long time without much formal education on religion, you know, in a religious setting. So, like many (even church goers) my understanding of Christmas was that you got presents under a tree and a fat old man brought candy and put it in your socks, and at Easter there was a rabbit that brought you eggs and chocolate. Eventually I found out that it had something to do with the bible (allegedly had something to do with the bible, anyway, and no doubt thanks in large part to St Augustine's doctrine of assimilating pagan traditions into the body of Catholic worship).

As it happens, I always loved Easter, although I think it was more to do with Spring than the bizarre pagan traditions that had been somehow subsumed body and soul into Christian pseudo-dogmatic practice. The chocolate and egg salad helped, yes, but Spring was the main attraction. Now, as an adult with an English degree, I make use of my schooling by grinning wryly at the paradox of Easter's most prevalent side-product (in the US anyway) - the Deviled Egg.

Again, rather irrelevant. But the point is that the Spring is now upon us, Jesus either did (if you believe) rise from the grave and ascend to Heaven, or did not (if you don't believe, duh). I reserve judgment, having yet to be convinced one way or the other. But regardless of your faith, and regardless of Eliot's theories on the relative cruelty of months, it is undeniably about to be Spring, and that should make us all happy. Spring is new beginnings, of course, and therefore, I offer you a prediction of a new vision. That pagan bunny that came to celebrate the resurrection of Christ and the salvation of our souls left this prediction in the form of an egg. Maybe it would be more accurate to call it a divination, what with it seemingly involving the occult. Whatever you call it, how can you argue with an egg left by a rabbit who reminds us of the salvation of our collective souls from the previously unredeemable damnation of Original Sin by hiding hard boiled eggs and marshmallows shaped like chicks in our yards?

A Series of Vaguely Related Events and Thoughts

It turns out that I am not actually on staff with the campaign, but am, in fact, an independent contractor, or "political consultant." Which, of course, means that it is now time for me to make some sort of a) asinine and irrelevant statement that will be taken wildly out of context, b) say something genuinely inappropriate and offensive, c) make a statement that, while true, is unpalatable to the broader public, or d) all of the above. As we all know, the result of this action is that I will be skewered by Howard Wolfson on conference call upon conference call, learn that the candidate denounces, renounces, rejects, objects and vomits as a result of my comments, to be further lambasted constantly by Joe Scarborough, discussed incredulously by Chris Matthews, indefensibly defended by Bill O'Reilly (or, if what I say is un-American, tarred and feathered by the entire FoxNews Ministry of Information), tried and convicted by the PC or Patriot Police (depending on whether I say something racist/sexist, or something unpatriotic, or both), and, finally, I will resign from the campaign under a cloud of shame and infamy that will last until the next advisor says something that falls into one of the categories listed above.

At least, that's my understanding of the role of political consultants. This guy has something worth reading on the subjust, too:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/15/AR2008031501004.html?sub=AR

It's interesting being one of two staff members in a state, and I'll certainly miss my job when someone desperate for a scoop mistakes me for someone who matters and catches me calling someone a bad word.

On a completely, or at least mostly, unrelated topic, check this shit out. It's good times.
http://www.nbc.com/Saturday_Night_Live/video/play.shtml?mea=229454

I was setting up the office the other day for a phone bank. We haven't really used the office since the 20th of January. It was a complete disaster, until some of our volunteers decided to get it cleaned up about 3 weeks ago. It didn't really matter that it was a total disaster, since it was not in use, but we figured we were likely to need it. Now it's usable, but just barely. So I'm setting up for a phone bank, and these two guys walk in, one Ozzie and one Limey. And they're like,
"Hey mate, you got any gear we can get to take home with us?"
And so I'm like, "Um, not really. We don't really have any shirts or buttons or anything, but you can get 'em on the website."
And they started crying (well, not really crying, but they did look disappointed in that really polite, foreign way), so I was like, "but I've got, like, some yard signs, if you want...?"
And then they perked up, and they were like, "Cheerio (no, not kidding), yeah, that'd be brilliant."
So we went back, and they each took two yard signs (one from Iowa, one from Nevada). And then, as we're leaving, I saw a box of these weird posters we had with a painted portrait of Barack that we always called Jesus Barack because there're like sunrays coming out from behind his head and it's all a little religious-y, and I was like, "oh, we've got these posters..."
And they're like, "Oh, those are perfect, like." And they got all goofy and took a small ton of these posters, and went waltzing out the door with a, "thanks so much, mate, this is totally brilliant," and that was that.

Which just strikes me as great. And they also mentioned that if England and Europe got to vote, Barack would win handily. Which has already been polled, but it's always nice to hear.

Ok, dinner time. I hope you've enjoyed this, and somewhere in here I swear I said something that's really horribly inappropriate and not in the spirit of the race, and I'll soon be sheepishly leaving my post with a huge apology.

From the Obama Comms Dept

Something our communications department put together the other day, in response to a memo by HRC's people...

Sent: Wednesday, March 12, 2008 5:37 PM
To: Bill Burton
Subject: FW: The Clinton Memo... as annotated by the Obama communicationsdepartment

To: Interested Parties

From: Clinton Campaign

Date: Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Re: Keystone Test: Obama Losing Ground [Get ready for a good one.]

The path to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue goes through Pennsylvania so if Barack Obama can’t win there, how will he win the general election?

[Answer: I suppose by holding obviously Democratic states like California and New York, and beating McCain in swing states like Colorado, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Virginia and Wisconsin where Clinton lost to Obama by mostly crushing margins. But good question.]

After setbacks in Ohio and Texas, Barack Obama needs to demonstrate that he can win the state of Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania is the last state with more than 15 electoral votes on the primary calendar and Barack Obama has lost six of the seven other largest states so far – every state except his home state of Illinois.

[If you define “setback” as netting enough delegates out of our 20-plus-point wins in Mississippi and Wyoming to completely erase any delegate advantage the Clinton campaign earned out of March 4^th, then yeah, we feel pretty setback.]

Pennsylvania is of particular importance, along with Ohio, Florida and Michigan, because it is dominated by the swing voters who are critical to a Democratic victory in November. No Democrat has won the presidency without winning Pennsylvania since 1948. And no candidate has won the Democratic nomination without winning Pennsylvania since 1972.

[What the Clinton campaign secretly means: PAY NO ATTENTION TO THE FACT THAT WE’VE LOST 14 OF THE LAST 17 CONTESTS AND SAID THAT MICHIGAN AND FLORIDA WOULDN’T COUNT FOR ANYTHING. Also, we’re still trying to wrap our minds around the amazing coincidence that the only “important” states in the nominating process are the ones that Clinton won.]

But the Obama campaign has just announced that it is turning its attention away from Pennsylvania.

[Huh?]

This is not a strategy that can beat John McCain in November.

[I don’t think Clinton’s strategy of losing in state after state after promising more of the same politics is working all that well either.]

In the last two weeks, Barack Obama has lost ground among men, women, Democrats, independents and Republicans – all of which point to a candidacy past its prime.

[“A candidacy past its prime.” These guys kill me.]

For example, just a few weeks ago, Barack Obama won 68% of men in Virginia, 67% in Wisconsin and 62% in Maryland. He won 60% of Virginia women and 55% of Maryland women. He won 62% of independents in Maryland, 64% in Wisconsin and 69% in Virginia. Obama won 59% of Democrats in Maryland, 53% in Wisconsin and 62% in Virginia. And among Republicans, Obama won 72% in both Virginia and Wisconsin.

But now Obama’s support has dropped among all these groups.

[That’s true, if you don’t count all the winning we’ve been up to. As it turns out, it’s difficult to maintain 40-point demographic advantages, even over Clinton]

In Mississippi, he won only 25% of Republicans and barely half of independents. In Ohio, he won only 48% of men, 41% of women and 42% of Democrats. In Texas, he won only 49% of independents and 46% of Democrats. And in Rhode Island, Obama won just 33% of women and 37% of Democrats.

[I’m sympathetic to their attempt to parse crushing defeats. And I’m sure Rush Limbaugh’s full-throated endorsement of Clinton didn’t make any difference. Right]

Why are so many voters turning away from Barack Obama in state after state?

[You mean besides the fact that we’re ahead in votes, states won and delegates?]

In the last few weeks, questions have arisen about Obama’s readiness to be president. In Virginia, 56% of Democratic primary voters said Obama was most qualified to be commander-in-chief. That number fell to 37% in Ohio, 35% in Rhode Island and 39% in Texas.

[Only the Clinton campaign could cherry pick states like this. But in contrast to their logic, in the most recent contest of Mississippi, voters said that Obama was more qualified to be commander in chief than Clinton by a margin of 55-42.]

So the late deciders – those making up their minds in the last days before the election – have been shifting to Hillary Clinton. Among those who made their decision in the last three days, Obama won 55% in Virginia and 53% in Wisconsin, but only 43% in Mississippi, 40% in Ohio, 39% in Texas and 37% in Rhode Island.

[If only there were enough late deciders for the Clinton campaign to actually be ahead, they would really be on to something.]

If Barack Obama cannot reverse his downward spiral with a big win in Pennsylvania, he cannot possibly be competitive against John McCain in November.

[If they are defining downward spiral as a series of events in which the Clinton campaign has lost more votes, lost more contests and lost more delegates to us – I guess we will have to suffer this horribly painful slide all the way to the nomination and then on to the White House.]

On an unrelated tangent

My buddy just showed me this. It's pretty nutso.

http://www.chrisjordan.com/current_set2.php

I personally think the statistics are mindblowing in and of themselves. But the visual references are pretty incredible.

Wild Animals

When the guy approached the gate, I had a feeling about the puppy he had on a leash. It was unusually fluffy, and it walked with a slightly hunched, loping stride unusual to a dog.

When he came into the park, several of the dogs, as usual, ran across to sniff the new arrival. The pup, which couldn't have weighed more than 10 pounds, stood his ground and sniffed back, which gave me a moment's pause, but the reaction of the dogs was unmistakable.

There were four to greet him at the gate: a heavy and tall white and black pit, a large golden retriever, a lab-based mutt of some sort, and a 10 month old doberman. All four of them sniffed, and backed away deferentially.

The wolf pup's eyes had just turned yellow. "All wolves are born with blue eyes," the owner told a curious and clearly nervous woman, "but they never keep them."

The pup wandered around the park, sniffing the fence line, climbing into the rings of cinder blocks set up to protect the saplings, chewing on mysterious pieces of garbage. "He's the least skittish one I've ever had. I've been breeding wolves for 6 years, and I've never seen one like him."
"Are they not usually like that?"
"No, mostly they're quite skittish. If they don't know a person, they'll usually run and hide."
"What about the adults? I mean, once they're full grown. Do they have any value as a guard?"
"No, if a person comes around that they don't know, they'll just hide."

The pup's fur was puffy and looked like a ball of cotton fuzz, but it was coarse and rough to the touch. His ribs were just below the skin. As he wandered around the park, the other dogs mostly avoided him. One would sniff at him, and back away, sometimes following from a few feet for a minute. He took up residence in a small hole, and began tearing the exposed grass roots with his teeth. Other dogs sniffed at him nervously and backed away.

There's an old story, from a Lakota guy called Archie Fire Lame Deer, about a dog and a bear cub. It's in the early part of the 20th, when the frontier was mostly tame but the West wasn't quite won. Being as it's a Lakota story, it'd be in the Dakotas, or Montana, or Wyoming, Nebraska... The bar owner's got a bear cub on a chain, and it's sitting on the bar and doing tricks. The cub is playing with a ball, just sitting next to the bar, slapping a ball around. The rest of the guys are all prospectors and miners and the types who're busy putting the final touches on the once-wild West, and a few Indians busy taming themselves with whiskey. The Indians aren't paying the bear much mind, but the white guys are all looking at this little cub and laughing. And a guy comes in with a dog, a big, muscular bulldog. It sees the bear and snarles. And the guy with the dog kinda laughs and says, "that's a nice bear, but you'd better hope my dog doesn't get off the chain 'cause he'll tear that toy apart."

And then there's a round of yelling and in the end it's decided it'll be a fight to the death and no stopping. And the bartender puts down money on his bear, and the Indians all bet on the bear, but the miners and gamblers and such all bet the dog. And they put the bear down on the floor and he's just sitting there looking around. And the guy lets his dog off the leash, and it snarls and makes a racket, but it stays put until the owner kicks it in the ass. And then it launches itself across the circle. And the little bear just takes one lazy swipe with his claws out. The dog's dead. And the little bear gives his little battle cry "hrnnngggh" and goes back to playing with his ball.

The point is, the dogs at the park were the Indians of the story, or maybe the dog of the story. Even the big nasty pit that's always muzzled stayed away from this little 10 pound wolf pup. You gotta have the sense to know when something ain't quite right, and the dogs knew it.

"They're all born with blue eyes, but they never keep 'em." The pup's eyes were just turned yellow, kind of a dirty amber, really. But in a year he'll weigh 140 lbs, and his eye's'll be yellow as gold, and he'll run with the other 8 in the breeder's pack. The alpha's getting old, he said, 15 now and still strong, but I'd guess this little fellow'll be alpha before he turns a year. Most wolves are too wild, even if they're bred in captivity. They shy from people they don't know, shy from dogs, shy from noises. "He doesn't jump at anything," the guy said, "even gunfire."