Category: Barack Obama

John McCain’s selection of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, 44, as his running mate makes indelibly clear the Democratic error in not exposing the Republican abuse of power that has flowered since the attacks of 2001. The opportunity for someone as inexperienced and volatile as Palin to exploit these newly assumed powers is all too real. George W. Bush's and Dick Cheney’s quest for the “unitary executive” has lead them to trample on Constitutional protections Richard Nixon only dreamed of violating. And no matter what his claims of being a maverick, McCain has yet to assert that his view of power and how to yield it differs from theirs.

Summarizing reporting by the New Yorker’s Jane Mayer, and Barton Gellman and Jo Becker of the Washington Post, Hendrik Hertzberg wrote back in the July 9, 2007, New Yorker: “... it is now, so to speak, official: for the past six years, Dick Cheney, the occupant of what John Adams called ‘the most insignificant office that ever the invention of man contrived,’ has been the most influential public official in the country, not necessarily excluding President Bush, and his influence has been entirely malign.

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It’s been a long time since I’ve rested as well as I did last night.

Thank you, Bill Clinton, for delivering a ringing, unequivocal endorsement of Barack Obama. Thank you, Barack Obama, for choosing a running mate who is not afraid to speak truth to power. Joe Biden finally confronted the debacle that Republicans have visited upon the American people. And he addressed directly the “issue” of Barack Obama’s patriotism by introducing his great uncle who helped liberate Buchenwald. Nice touch.

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It’s primary time in North Georgia where I visited last week. The signs are everywhere, in store windows, on lawns, on the side of the road, and most prominently, in my hometown of Summerville, on the sides of vintage pickup trucks that have been dispatched in the service of the incumbent tax commissioner.

There are also races for sheriff, county commissioner and state legislators. As in many locales these days, none of the signs designates the party of the candidate advertised. You can’t even find the party affiliation of the candidates in the local newspaper, although I assume that it will appear on the ballot.

So it was interesting when I paid a visit to my brother’s drug store across from the Chattooga County courthouse to hear a man delivering packages raving loudly that he didn’t think much of a community that would let liberals park on its streets.

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This was a difficult week for us progressives who support Barack Obama. Having secured the Democratic nomination in the midst of a volatile economy, Obama proclaimed that he “loved the markets.” And when the Supreme Court struck down the gun ban in the District of Columbia, he said amen, and when it struck down execution for child rapists, he agreed with John McCain that it was a bad decision. And, by the way, Obama’s not in favor of holding the telecoms responsible for infringing on our privacy if the president tells them to.

Then he went up to Unity, New Hampshire, and made nice to Hillary. More importantly, she made nice to him. I just hope that both of them will keep in mind that women are counting on them for their birth control. Because, that’s one of the many things that hangs in the balance in November.

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Out of respect for the feelings of my friends (you know who you are) who supported Hillary Clinton, I’ve suppressed my celebration of Barack Obama’s assuming the Democratic nomination for a week now. I don’t see Obama’s success as a triumph of misogyny so much as a victory over the kind of overly crafted politics that has far too long been the hallmark of Democratic presidential politics.

Goodbye Mark Penn with your micro demographic groups. Goodbye Terry McAuliffe with your money bags. Goodbye Bob Shrum with your advice to waffle opposition to this obscene war in Iraq. Goodbye James Carville with your mean and petty loyalties. Let’s hope none of them finds work at Camp Obama.

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