baratunde.com

cross-posted to Jack & Jill Politics These frontline experiences of mine are mad long, so I'm gonna split Sunday's Virginia canvassing into several parts. This is part 1. I've written about my solo caucusing efforts in DC on Saturday which consisted of cruising in my Mini Cooper Zipcar and discussing Obama with family and friends. However, I was also in DC to connect with NYC volunteers who had come down to canvass in Northern Virginia. After returning from dinner Saturday, I sent a text message to Beth, our NYC leader, around 9:45pm

This is baratunde. Had a good DC day. What's the meetup plan tomorrow?

Beth got back to me at 1:40am. I was just wrapping up my conversation with "Anita."

Hi! We are going to meet at 6066 Leesburg Pike in Falls Church VA at 10am! See you there!

Sunday morning I crammed down breakfast at Kramer Books and jetted over to Virginia. I arrived at one of the two Northern Virginia offices, this one on the fourth floor of an office building. Inside, I found a room abuzz with the work of about 15 people. Quickly and unceremoniously, I was put on phone duty. There was no, "Hi, how are you? Si se puede!" A man named Al gave me a list of about 40 names, addresses and phone numbers as well as a call script with codes to mark the person's response. I was honestly a bit annoyed and didn't think it was really worth my time to call from Virginia when I could have done that from New York or my bed that morning, but he told me they needed about 30 minutes of calling before they'd be ready to send me out canvassing. The script went something like this.

Hi, my name is Baratunde Thurston, and I'm a volunteer with the Barack Obama campaign here in Northern Virginia. I'm calling to see if you plan to vote in this Tuesday's primary. [with the use of pauses or polite inquiry, I'd try to see if they planned to vote for Obama. If PrObama, then] Great! Well would you be interested in volunteering over the next few days? We could use help through Tuesday.

And if they were down, I'd try to sign them up right then or give them the office number or have someone call them back. After the call, I'd mark the sheet with codes for LM (left message), NH (not home), DISCO (line disconnected - lots of those), then a numerical code indicating their support (pro Hillary, lean Hillary, undecided, lean Obama, probama, GOP). Oh, and I added an extra one: DND (do not disturb). Some people had been called multiple times or just didn't care for the calls at all. There was an Ethiopian woman working the phones next to me who got hung up on angrily at least three times. After the 30 minutes, Greg (also from NYC and working the phones. In fact there were two Gregs, so I'll call this on "Greg X") and I met Beth in the lobby and split into two cars with two people each. (there were additional groups I never met). Greg X and Beth teamed up, and I joined forces with Greg Ross. Beth gave us what are called "turf sheets." The NYC volunteers and others had been up until 4am dividing up Fairfax county into "turfs," breaking the county down into smaller regions. We got a map of our overall turf with targeted houses on them plus sheets showing the addresses and names of the places we were supposed to hit up. The lists are drawn from various voter databases and God knows how many sources, but it was interesting and creepy to see that in a block of 20 houses, we would only be sent to three. More on that later. The general process was Greg R and I would look at the map and find a cluster of houses. I would program it into my GPS, and we'd park at the center of the cluster, handle five houses or so, then migrate to another cluster. Having grown up in DC proper, lived in Boston for 12 years and now residing in Manhattan, I forgot just how painfully un-walkable suburban America is. I came face to face with the jacked up zoning and urban planning which has fed our car dependency and driven us to create a country full of community islands. The air was beautiful and the lawns just lovely, but there was something isolating about knowing that each of these houses attempted to replicate all of society's resources for each individual family. Everybody has their own yard, so there's no need of a park. Everybody has their own car (multiple) and driveway, so why bother with a sidewalk. And you know that inside, everyone has their own 40-inch flat screen television with dolby digital 6.1 surround sound. The closest thing to a market or social center was the gas station or multiplex or fast food joint (there was downtown of course, but most people are nowhere near there). I saw actual McMansions yall! They were like the big mansions but slightly smaller, and they all had the same elements: face brick facade, two car garage, picture window above a wide front door, foyer and a massive yard. Not every neighborhood we hit was this rich. Some were definitely more modest and others more original in terms of architecture, but what was consistent was the extreme individualism. As a small but important example, we would be walking down the street, and nearly every driveway had it's own basketball hoop. Where was the neighborhood court? How can you play as a team when everyone's practicing solo? This level of structural social isolation bothers me. We as Americans pride ourselves on the efficiency of the free market, but there's something highly wasteful about the way our suburban neighborhoods are constructed, and considering the size of the challenges we face, especially with regard to energy, I can't help but feel that we have set a limit on our ability to change. It's not enough to convert all of our cars to hybrids. We need fewer cars, but neighborhoods don't easily allow this. OK, enough philosophizing. If you want to know more about the history and unsustainability of suburbia, check this film: The End of Suburbia. In my next post, I'll get into the details of my door-to-door encounters. Here's a teaser. We visited one house with a Republican couple. The husband planned to vote for Obama. I asked him why. He said, "I'll do anything to keep that bitch out of office." When his wife said she wasn't sure who she would vote for, he interjected, "Don't you dare vote for that woman!" I was just waiting for him to add, "Ms. Lewinsky." stay tuned

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Monday

Feb112008

Frontlines for Obama in the Potomac Primary: Saturday

Monday, February 11, 2008 at 23:56 |

cross-posted to Jack & Jill Politics Years ago, I found myself upgraded for free on a flight from Florida to Boston. The man seated next to me was of the prostelitizing flavor of Christianity. He went on missions abroad and door to door to spread the good word. I asked him, "Why can't you just leave people to their beliefs?" His response: "If you knew this plane was going to crash, wouldn't you try to tell the captain and all the passengers so they could try to correct the situation or at least call their families? Well, that's how I feel about my religion. I know that these people will go to Hell if I don't help them get saved." While I would hardly go so far as to say that those who don't vote Obama are going to Hell, I have felt a sense of mission about sharing the vision of a politically engaged America that Barack Obama's campaign has rekindled in me. I looked forward to moving my words from the computer screen directly to my fellow citizens (blogging in 3D!), and it was with that sense of mission that I traveled to DC this past weekend. My initial mission was to have a face-to-face discussion with the family friend I referred to last Friday, but the trip included so much more. I returned exhausted but also reinvigorated about the potential each of us has to contribute to this world, and I have an increased respect for the value of simple conversation among neighbors. The second mission was to meet up on Sunday with fellow New Yorkers who traveled down to volunteer by canvassing door to door in Northern Virginia. This post deals just with Saturday. Considering how little sleep I've gotten, I can't promise the most eloquent (or spell-checked) tale, but I'll do my best to cover the highlights while only slightly blowing up your computer screen with an insanely long post. Friday night - 11pm-3am: Planning & Packing

burned a couple of CDs with my Obama music to canvas by mix
reserved a Mini Cooper via Zipcar to be picked up at Union Station in DC
downloaded some videos to the ipod including Obama's address to Google where he unveiled his technology plan last November
downloaded and printed Obama's position papers on issues I had never bothered as much to dig into including immigration and homeland security
charged my TomTom GPS
printed some detailed, two-sided, info sheets that friends in NYC had created which described Obama's accomplishments and plans for 11 issues
printed some black and white "Yes We Can" 8.5x11 "posters" on my home printer
sent some color prints to a Kinko's on K Street that would be waiting for me when I arrived. The posters are these "Progress" joints from Obey Giant
printed Krugman's health care critique and critiques (another) of his critique

Saturday - 10am-1:30pm: Meeting A Fellow Self-Canvasser I had the train ride all planned out. I had my downloaded and printed info plus the Google video. I wanted to be prepared for my encounter with the skeptical family friend, and I was going to cram for this exam. But when I got to Penn Station, I saw another self-motivated Obama supporter. She rocked several buttons, homemade posters and info sheets. Her name is Andrea Fazzari, and she's a world-traveling photographer whose work appears in Vanity Fair, Gourmet magazine and others. She has done street canvassing in NYC on several occasions, never at the direction of the campaign. She just felt moved to do it, made her posters, and made her case to strangers. She had a few nightmare stories of encounters with rude Hillary Clinton supporters, including a hilarious run-in with an elderly woman who shoved her so hard she almost fell down. Ah, New Yorkers. Andrea was heading to Baltimore. She had identified a Whole Foods there, figuring it would be a high-traffic location for a Saturday, called them to be sure she had permission, made her posters, printed her info sheets and just rolled out. Han Solo like that. I wasn't the only crazy motivated one. We talked a lot about her travels (especially to Cambodia), why we were supporting Obama and America's challenges with racism and poverty. Yep, just your average conversation among strangers on the train! We also checked out the Maryland resources on my.barackobama.com which is seriously useful. Obama has provided some great self-organizing resources at his site. After Andrea got off the train, I got in touch with a Jack & Jill Politics reader who had reached out via email that morning. She was planning on doing street corner canvassing in Georgetown. We exchanged some text messages and set a meeting place. Saturday - 1:30pm-5pm: Jack & Jill Politics Live! The reader who contacted me is Rebecca Abou-Chedid. We have some crazy cool people as part of this JJP community. Until two months ago, Rebecca was national political director for the Arab American Institute! After pimping out my Zipcar with my homemade posters (here I just mean "pimp" as in "heavily accessorize" not as in "create opportunity for Clinton to yet again play the victim"), I met Rebecca over at Wisconsin Ave & M Street (blasting the mix the entire way). I wish I had video. I think I was born to do this. In college I loved working tables for the student organizations trying to recruit freshmen. Nowadays, every week, I "bark" in Times Square to get folks in the seats of comedy shows. Barking for Barack. Ha. That's what's up! Rebecca and I then headed to unofficial Obama HQ in DC which is Busboy's and Poets at 14th & V St NW (Potomac Primary watch party Tuesday Feb 12 6pm-midnight). It's a very cool spot inspired by Langston Hughes with a great restaurant, bookstore and lots of artist space and performance (Bomani Armah of Read A Book fame is on the board). The owner is Iraqi. Rebecca has worked for O in multiple states including New York, South Carolina and Nevada. She told me Nevada got real ugly, ugly that has yet to be reported and which we didn't have time to get into completely. As one example though, she said the Clinton volunteers's main pitch was to yell repeatedly that Obama is a Muslim whose middle name is Hussein. Ugly and hate-filled. You hear that Mr. Krugman??!! Saturday - 5pm-7pm: Back to the Hood. I drove slowly through my old, now heavily-gentrifying hood blasting the Latin music Obama jams. I stopped by my next door neighbors who immigrated here from El Salvador. None of them can vote because they aren't yet citizens, but William has his interview this Tuesday. He was frustrated with his Latino brothers who were not for Obama. I left him some info sheets though I didn't have any in Spanish. Saturday 7pm-9:30pm: dinner with family friends. no politics talk allowed as it was a birthday dinner and the celebrated one did not want to have people warring. We held our tongues except for brief moments when she went to the bathroom Saturday 10pm-2am: The family caucus This was why I had come to DC, and I was tired as a mug by this point. I ended up talking with two people skeptical of Obama for different reasons. Robby is basically my age. Our mothers were good friends back in the day, and we share a life trajectory. Both raised by strong black women during the crack wars, escaping the city against the odds to be educated at Ivy League colleges, currently employed in stable jobs having avoided both the prison industrial complex and baby mama drama. Robby is cut from a different political cloth. He's basically a libertarian brotha, and despite some frustrating moments when I felt like my two conversion targets were not letting me answer their questions, we had a damn fascinating conversation. Robby actually had four very good suggestions/observations for Obama.

When he comes to DC, he shouldn't just appear in the newly gentrified section. He needs to come to the still-black parts of DC in SE/Anacostia or Benning Rd. etc. It would do a lot for black DC to see that someone who works in their city actually cares about it beyond kickin it on Capitol Hill. Obama does support DC voting rights, but Robby's basic point was that he could get extra mileage out of showing he cares. He reminded me that Bill Clinton marched down Georgia Ave back in the day, and there are still black folk who remember that fondly.
Despite the dogwhistle concerns of a lot of us about the Hussein, muslim father issue, Obama needs to own and advertise the value his heritage and name bring BEFORE the Republicans paint him as a traitor with it. One of my own strongest selling points is that O is uniquely capable of playing makeup with the world after Dubya has taken multiple dumps on it. With family in Kenya and years spent living in the most populous Muslim country in the world, Obama is connected to global poverty (for example) in ways no other president has ever been or will be
Obama has rightly focused on inspiring and motivating the American people, but in order to realize many of his stated goals, he needs to inspire and motivate federal employees. If he can do that, he has a good chance of getting something real accomplished
(updated. just remembered). Can black people criticize or not be for Obama without being considered traitors (similar to the NOW fanatics who call women voting for not-Hillary traitors)? This is a great question, and the answer should be yes. It depends on the nature of that opposition (CBC water-carrying vs. policy/philosophical/fact-based critiques like the Black Agenda Report peoples). It would be a travesty if black people did not feel free to raise concerns about Obama, and I know I have to be careful to check my fervor when confronted with facts. We all should. Blind followership hurts us all.

My primary reason for being there was someone I'll call Anita because I never got her permission to use her name. We talked more about this concept of "who does Obama owe" (and yes I've read your comments that just because a Goldman Sachs employee gives to Obama doesn't make him indebted to global imperialistic finance interests). She is someone who didn't start voting until very late in life because she never had anyone to vote for and considers all politicians to be corrupt. My case to her as I blogged last week was, if that's the case, you should consider Obama the least corrupted for having been in national politics for far less time than Clinton or McCain. After taking some detours through a discussion of DC's mayor Fenty, Anita threw out something for which I was not quite prepared. I had always feared that it was white people who had unachievable expectations of this articulate, educated black man. But Anita works in the city's welfare department. She sees people on a daily basis who lack basic access to services. She nearly cried recalling the times (multiple) she has had to teach 13 year old black children how to write their own names. Her point was that there are many black people expecting the world from President Obama. They see him as someone who can finally bring an end to their suffering, to their broken schools, to their poverty to racism. These people who have no money yet find money to donate $10 to his campaign worship him as a man with a magic wand. Anita's question: what will he actually do for him? Robby and I had similar initial reactions: for people expecting Obama to solve the problems of poverty and racism for them, too bad. He cannot do that. Robby added that it's not even the president's job (Constitutionally) to go lead such interventionist policies. This was not satisfactory to Anita who wanted to see the National Guard sent to inner city schools to protect kids from violence there. "If we can send them to Iraq to protect those people, why can't we send them into the hood to protect ours?" After thinking on it further, I found a better answer to Anita's concerns. I do agree that there's a limit to what the federal government can do for everyone, and that the wheels of government turn slowly, but that's only true to a point. The president (and especially a President Obama) can shine the light of government on society's problems; he can direct certain government resources like the department of justice toward eradicating certain types of ills; he can initiate job programs that re-establish local economies; he can motivate the collective citizenry to invest in changing their communities for the better themselves. And as for the government moving slowly, well that's all a matter of priorities. This government moves very quickly when it comes to war and big money. At points during the conversation I found myself so very frustrated. In part because I was fielding incoming questions, rapid fire, from two people often at the same time. In part because I sometimes felt inadequate to the task. In part because I was mad tired. I almost gave up and called it quits a few times, but Anita, to my surprise, said the following: "You have already moved me more towards Obama, and I'm glad you came down. I still can't say for sure who I'm voting for, but don't you ever give up on him. As long as you have the breath, you go to the floor for him because you never know just what it is that will sway someone." Today, I sent her Obama's urban poverty address from July of 2007. That push, from someone who wasn't even fully down, turned out to be useful advice for my door-to-door canvassing in Northern Virginia the next day. More on that later.

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Sunday

Feb032008

Huckabee To Mitt: "Why Don't You Give It Up And Go Back To Boston?"

Sunday, February 3, 2008 at 21:34 |

C-Span is the greatest. I had it on the background and caught Mike Huckabee absolutely eviscerating Mitt Romney over Romney's suggestion that Huckabee drop out. Here's a quote: "This old Arkansas boy is not for sale. He doesn't have enough money to buy me. I'm not some troubled company that he can buy, sell off the assets and send us home." Everyone seems to really hate Mitt Romney. I almost feel bad for the man. Check this video. It's so brutal.

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Boston in

Comedy,

Election 2008

Tuesday

Jan082008

Reaction to Obama in New Hampshire and Abroad

Tuesday, January 8, 2008 at 8:41 |

From a paper in South Africa: Hope returns: Obama’s victory and global politics

cross-posted to Jack & Jill Politics I would love to be in New Hampshire, on the ground, to get a feel for the environment, and trust me, if I still lived in Boston, I'd do it. Instead, I'm trying my best to tap various networks for some testimony from up North. This isn't in any way scientific, but the vibe looks very good for Obama. Consider the following The reaction of these two New Hampshire women after seeing Obama speak:

I have a tolerate-hate relationship with Facebook, but when I posted a request for New Hampshire stories, I got this from a black man volunteering for the campaign:

There were old white ladies stumping all over town. Some very wealthy, comfortable people who traveled from across the country to volunteer and campaign for this man. His grassroots organizing in rural and urban areas in incredible! I spoke to Republicans yesterday who would stay on the phone asking questions about him, expressing support or simply are intrigued by him. He has an event at Exeter High school today to draw undecided (it is overbooked at the moment with concerns from that Fire Chief on fire evacuation plans!!!)anyways, I can go on and on here. U need to see to it for yourself and it is amazing to watch this as a BLACK man! Because our own internal racism kicks in and we still say but will he win in a general election?? It is similar to the racist critique of the Clintons that he is not prepared. But it is there for black people we are not willing to believe that a black man CAN make it! And the we are only willing to legitimize him because white people want him, so now we are willing to vote for him. There is something going on with Obama which goes beyond politics it is touching our core conscious/unconscious issues as americans, and that is why he will win in November. Another volunteer in NH responding to me via Facebook:

We are making it happen. People are feeling it. I stood on the porch yesterday with a man who told me he feels a positivity about this election that he can't remember seeing before. Record turnout tomorrow. History. Then there's this perspective from the New York Times in its piece, Obama outshining Bill Clinton:

DURHAM, N.H. — Is this what it would have been like had Elvis been reduced to playing Reno?

Former President Bill Clinton has been drawing sleepy and sometimes smallish crowds at big venues in the state that revived his presidential campaign in 1992. He entered to polite applause and rows of empty seats at the University of New Hampshire on Friday. Several people filed out midspeech, and the room was largely quiet as he spoke, with few interruptions for laughter or applause. He talked about his administration, his foundation work and some about his wife. We've written at JJP and readers have been more forceful in their comments, talking about the awkward, possibly jealous feeling older black leaders feel in response to Obama's rise, but I never thought I'd see the day when Bill Clinton failed to light up a room. Obviously, I don't know the Clintons' innermost feelings and motivations, but I can imagine that Bill saw Hillary's campaign having only the upside benefit of extending his legacy and brand. I wonder if he ever imagined the downside risk of accelerating its end? I'm not saying Bill Clinton would not be relevant under an Obama presidency, I'm just saying it's hilarious to me, the idea that Obama has sucked so much air out of the environment, that there are empty chairs left at a Bill Clinton speech. Damn. Oh, and according to Jose Vargas at the Washington Post, it happened at Dartmouth too with kids walking out after 30 minutes. Another observation on Republicans open to the idea of a President Obama. Check this comment from a reader of the NY Sun, a conservative paper:

Thank you for your editorial today (Jan 7) on Obama. As a Reagan Republican, I have marveled at and admired Obama's rise to prominence in the early Democrat primaries. Although his policy views no doubt differ significantly from Reagan's, I could actually see myself voting for the man in November, a thought that would make my skin crawl were Clinton or Edwards the nominee. Other close acquaintances, all conservatives, have suggested the same inclination.

Finally, well beyond New Hampshire, here are some anecdotes about the world's reaction to Obama's Iowa victory: From a friend abroad who recently emailed everyone he knew asking them to donate to Obama:

I have never directly asked my friends for money (well not for politics anyway). But over the last week, as evidenced by the countless Egyptians who shook my hand while pointing to my Obama '08 button and the result in Iowa, I saw that people everywhere are starting to sense that Senator Obama is going to help our country turn a corner and start projecting a new image in the world.

Damn, I love Americans. Just when you’ve written them off as hopeless, as a nation in decline, they turn around and do something extraordinary, which tells you why the United States of America is still the greatest nation on earth. and finally, Iranian bloggers discuss Obama's Iowa victory. That's all for now. We'll see what happens by the end of the day.

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Thursday

Jan032008

Why I Support Barack Obama

Thursday, January 3, 2008 at 9:32 |

cross-posted to jack & jill politics Just before Thanksgiving, I wrote a series of blog posts titled, "Why I Don't Support Hillary Clinton." Honestly, I've been overwhelmed by the number of people contacting me to say how those pieces have influenced them. I was at a holiday party in Columbus, Ohio and an 80-year old family friend was half-excited, half-annoyed that I had upended her presidential choices.

In an effort to clarify my own thinking and perhaps influence others, it's now time to offer the flip side argument on who I do support: Barack Obama.

Besides, as one of 10 black people to have ever visited Iowa, I think I am uniquely qualified to influence caucus voters today. :)

Fellow Jack & Jill blogger rikyrah has already spit a pretty comprehensive post on her endorsement of Obama, dealing with issues of progressive values, electability, the symbolic value of a black president and more. I won't re-tread those fine steps. Instead, I'll try to share pieces of my own Obama story.

The Buildup

In hindsight, I was probably sold during the 2004 Democratic National Convention. I had worked hard to convince myself that I actively supported John Kerry beyond the pro-sanity-anyone-but-Bush wing of my psyche. I watched that documentary about his Vietnam service and was moved. However, the convention was the beginning of the end of my forced love affair of convenience. I was living in Boston at the time, and Obama's speech lit a fire in that city as it did across the country. I remember many conversations with fellow citizens going a little something like this: "Uh, you think maybe it's too late to switch the nominee?" When rumor spread that he would be showing up at a convention afterparty at a spot called Vinalia, the place instantly flooded with people.

How many state senators could have that instant effect on people? That doesn't happen very often.

As the current campaign season kicked off, I watched and waited. Like most black people, I did not instantly decide to support him. As I wrote several seasons ago, I sincerely worried about his safety and doubted his ability to survive, much less get elected. Like a good citizen, I felt a duty to keep an open mind, watch debates, read extensively and survey the entire field.

At the Yearly Kos 2007 convention in Chicago this past August, I had to chance to see him in a small setting and ask a pretty tough question about his support for coal and a Renewable Portfolio Standard. His answer wasn't perfect (we reminded him that all coal is evil), but was was excellent nonetheless. While I don't think he had the best answer on coal as far as my stance, I respect him for actually listening to the question and giving me a direct, complete and thoughtful answer. Watch the video right now. (his answer to my question is about 4 mins long).

And here's a photo from after the event.

I warmed up to him even more by October when he dropped a bomb of an editorial blasting Democrats for the Iranian Revolutionary Guard resolution and was reminded that while his 2002 opposition to the Iraq war looks mainstream from the perspective of late 2007, at the time it showed real risk-taking and leadership during a frightening era in which the White House, Congress and the media made that war seem like the only reasonable response to 9/11. The deal was sealed when I saw him at the historic Apollo Theatre in Harlem.

But wait, there's more.

His Life.

I don't make book recommendations lightly, so please take seriously this one: read Dreams From My Father , a book he wrote after he graduated Harvard Law School and long before he held any public office. It's both an amazing story and amazingly written. I just finished it two days ago, so it's fresh in my mind.

At the young age of 30, he offered an impressive overview of the history of race in America and the history of America in general. In so many ways, his story was my own: warnings from black elders to watch your back (and identity) in college; wrestling with the tug of war between black consciousness and mainstream American culture; experiencing the endless loop of self-important college "activists"; the barbershop!

Through his family history, I felt that I was better able to connect with America and even the world because his experience is worldly, and not in that backpacking-through-Europe with my parents' money sort of way, but more in the living-under-a-corrupt-government-in-Indonesia then talking-to-my-grandfather-about-the-War then reconnecting-with-my-East-African-relatives sort of way.

Those who think of Obama as just another elite member of the political class would gain a lot from reading this book. Granted, he has been influenced by the high octane educational institutions he attended, but he seems to have exited largely intact, having worked in community organizing both in New York City and Chicago when his degrees could easily have swayed him toward Abramoff-Kravis wing of the socio-economic spectrum. Organizing residents of the Altgeld Gardens projects on the South Side is not the standard pedigree of the political elite.

His Policies.

I have not done a comprehensive review of all of his policies, but two specifically excite me.

Obama's plan for driving innovation and openness in our tech/communications infrastructure and the government itself is inspiring as hell. Matt Stoller at Open Left said this:

...Obama has thrown down a big gauntlet, policy-wise. He is pushing to break up the wireless gatekeepers, net neutrality will be a strong priority in his administration, and open government will allow citizens to generate new sources of political power. I don't trust Obama's politics and I find his post-partisan rhetoric problematic, but I believe in organizing, and I believe that if he is willing to put the government on an open level playing field for all citizens while protecting our ability to access it, good things will happen.

Gristmill, a pretty trustworthy environmental site, has a strong endorsement of Obama's energy plan.

In addition, Populista over at DailyKos has a set of insanely detailed and informative diary posts covering "How Obama Will Change The System." This is a great answer to those who consider him a progressive lightweight who is not "serious about change."

Part 1 public financing of campaigns. Highlights: Obama teamed up with Feingold as lead sponsor of a public financing bill; he also promoted the idea in the Illinois legislature
Part 2: media reform. Highlights: through letter-writing, aggressive public statements and sponsored legislation, Obama fought against further consolidation of our media
Part 3: transparency of government. Highlights: has led on the issue of ethics and government transparency for his entire elected career; was lead sponsor of the Google for Government Bill which provides unprecedented public access to information on government contracts. You can play with it now. It's real!
Part 4: election reform and voting rights. Highlights: Obama is against Voter IDs, for restoring voting rights to ex-felons, opposed the nomination of Spakovsky to the FEC, co-sponsored legislation to give full voting rights to my hometown of D.C.

My Fears.

It is almost guaranteed that the systemic disenfranchisement of millions by our political and economic systems will remain largely in place with any of the presidential candidates. This nation requires a war-level effort of sacrifice and innovation to reinvent our energy, climate and food systems.

Our monetary, currency and banking policies would probably be significantly improved if we shifted a greater portion of them to local systems.

While economic growth is sought universally by both political parties, few acknowledge that endless growth is impossible within the closed system that is this planet.

Our military industrial complex has grown far beyond Eisenhower's worst fears. (check this April 2006 edition of my old podcast - I interviewed an Air Force official who oversaw contractors)

And then there are these five issues raised recently by Matt Stoller.

And then there is overpopulation.

Obama is not speaking much about most of these issues, but then again, few presidents ever have. Still, as I pointed out above, he's been very active on key threats to our democracy such as media consolidation, government corruption and campaign financing.

Conclusion

Obama is neither a Magic Negro nor a messiah. He is not Martin Luther King Jr. nor is he Sojourner Truth. He cannot change this country and make it all the great things so many people want it to be on his own. No politician can. No single person can. Anyone who promises that cannot deliver it. What I hope and increasingly believe, however, is that his ability to connect with people, to inspire participation, to transcend some of the more obscene flavors of recent partisanship will encourage us to take a step closer to fixing this country ourselves.

It says something powerful when you have the largest pool of small campaign donors in the history of presidential elections. It says something powerful when you can lure 30,000 ordinary people to a political rally, especially when you do so in a country whose leader doesn't wear fatigues or put his image on the nation's money.

If President Obama can accomplish two or three of the changes that candidate Obama has laid out, that would be a vast improvement for the country. But what I'm really rooting for is that he will help rekindle that spirit of civic engagement and community that is the lifeblood of this experiment called democracy. In the end, it's not about Obama. It's about us!

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Thursday

Dec132007

[NP] Last Gig Before We Break Jesus's Heart

Thursday, December 13, 2007 at 17:59 |

What's going down my people-united-will-never-be-defeated? It's been an eventful past few weeks. Hillary Clinton attacked Barack Obama for wanting to be president when he was in kindergarten. So much for encouraging black children to dream! Screw that little chilluns, just hope to be a rapper or ball player so the big bad calculating witch of the east doesn't smear you 40 years later. Oprah opened for Obama at a stadium in South Carolina. It was a beautiful thing to see, and Oprah was in top form giving the people what they wanted. She screamed and pointed, "Everybody look under your seats and check out your NEW. BLACK. PRESIDEEEEEEENT!!! And YOU get a black president! And YOU get a black president..." It was beautiful. Alan Keyes thinks he's still running for president. And I haven't been fired from the Onion yet. Good times all around. UPCOMING APPEARANCES / COOL EVENTS Tonight I'm doing my last NYC gig before the holy daze. We've got Joe Devito from Last Comic Standing on the bill. Come on down to: Don't Touch the Foot's 25th show! http://donttouchthefoot.com Thursday Dec 13th, 10pm Sage Theatre - 711 7th ave b/w 47th and 48th $10 and no drink minimum and for those i've abandoned in boston... This Friday and Saturday in Boston my friend and fellow comic Myq Kaplan is recording a new comedy CD The Comedy Studio @ the Hong Kong, 8pm PIECES OF ME YOU CAN DIGEST FROM YOUR DESK I continue to wear out the keys on my keyboard with word production. Here are some of the things worth seeing. My Last Weekly Dig Column. That's right. I'm retiring from the Dig. It's pretty hard to write a regular column for a Boston paper when you live in NYC. I tried. Andrew Young, I Hereby Revoke Your Black Card I'm really sick of played out civil rights leaders getting drunk off the haterade and questioning Obama's blackness. Andrew Young is in my crosshairs. Showtime at the Apollo, Featuring Barack Obama My perspective on seeing him live in Harlem New Video on YouTube My Comedy Central Open Mic Fight Regional Semifinal Set One of my most solid shows caught on tape. ATTN: FACEBOOK USERS I'm shutting down my Group on Facebook and replacing it with a Fan Page which oughta make it easier to follow my happenings. EVERYBODY ELSE Always check out baratunde.com for the latest happenings and remember to suggest cities or colleges where you want to see me perform. In January, I'll be in DC a few times and out in Cali at Pomona College! demand me

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(Weekly Dig) My Last Column

Thursday, December 13, 2007 at 1:04 |

This is my last regular column for the Dig, and I'm gonna miss it. I remember when I first fell in love with this paper. I was reading Media Farm, that merciless and unnecessarily rough takedown of all non-Dig media outlets. The paper had done another heinously ruthless attack on the Boston Globe's weekend section. It was mean, but its cruelty was easily surpassed by its hilarity. "These are my people," I thought. "I want to write for them." The first piece of mine that ran was a 2006 year in review of racism. Since this is my 25th and last regular submission, I thought it would be appropriate to end on a 2007 year in review of this very column. They haven't all been gems -- that's nearly impossible -- but I'm proud of some of the moments we've shared. In the beginning there was the MBTA bus driver who repeatedly threatened to kick my "fucking ass" and beat me with a wooden block in front of 20 or so passengers. Despite having lived in Boston for 11 and a half years before this encounter, I didn't really feel like a local until this happened. Thank you, anonymous psycho driver, for teaching me that the best way to make someone feel truly welcome in Boston is to make them feel as unwelcome as possible. For most unlikely situation to end well, nothing beat the 12 hour overnight JetBlue meltdown at JFK. It started with food shortages, dogs pooping on diapers and passengers threatening gate agents. It ended with me getting a free voucher, a good story and a great friend. In politics, I was generally annoyed at everyone, from the people challenging Obama's blackness to the misplaced anger at Imus's wackness. Helping me keep cool was that nice stroll we took together from D&D to shining D&D along the streets of Somerville. On the personal side, I got to share memories of my incredible mother, including the not-so-well-thought-out plan to disperse her ashes in the violent waters of the Atlantic. She didn't live long enough to read my column, but her spirit and memory were strong enough to help write a few. If there's one column I would like to have had the most impact, it's the one about our looming energy supply crisis and peak oil. My once-hysterical panic has been reduced to a controlled alarmism, and I've since taken steps to lower my energy profile, reuse more goods and get to know my neighbors. I hope you'll do the same. In the end, the column returned to its origins in the form of another traumatic T experience, this time not mine but that of the man named Bill who helped liberate so many from a stranded train. This time I wasn't threatened but rather rudely rebutted in the pages of this paper by Joe Pesaturo. It was an honor to do battle with you, sir, especially because your weapons were merely words and not the standard-issue wooden block. Thank you Dig and Dig readers. It's been an honor to share this space with you. BARATUNDE THURSTON WAS A BIWEEKLY COLUMNIST FOR THE DIG THROUGHOUT 2007. HE'S GONNA MISS YOU GUYS.

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