Less shame (or, how should we react to the election?)

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Thursday November 06, 2008 · 3:21 PM PST

2008/11/06 · 15:21

I got a pretty strong complaint from a buddy about my previous diary. His complaint was basically about why I cared about what Matthews thought about what had happened in the election. The event was what was worth remarking upon, not the response/reading of the event.

What I meant was, however, that it is important that people are responding to this election in such an affective manner. What kinds of celebration are, actually, called for here?

For Matthews, it’s worth celebrating that the US has elected an African-American. This feeling has anecdotally permeated all of my encounters with Obama supporters since Ohio was called. There’s a lot of "it shows a lot that in 40 years..." and the like that I hear from, generally, white yuppie types–including both baby boomers and young hipsters. There’s a lot of self-congratulation, like, "See? We proved we’re not racist! And for our second trick, we’re going to make Crash Best Picture!"

But, look, the point wasn’t to make some kind of gesture about race with this election. The point was to stop the GOP brand of corrupt misgovernance (which is why I think it’s important to realize how full of FAIL Bush’s reëlection was).

Moacir

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Wednesday November 05, 2008 · 11:21 AM PST

2008/11/05 · 11:21

It was kind of fun watching Chris Matthews throw himself into the tank for Barack Obama after the debates. But after a while, it got kind of embarrassing. I could not exactly figure out why it felt so awkward, but finally last night it dawned on me: for Matthews, the possibility of an Obama election would be a way of reasserting American Exceptionalism.

Once it was clear Obama had won, Matthews (and others) began gleefully exclaiming how with the election of an African-American, America had "done it again," showing the world what a real democracy looks like. Matthews crowed that no other Western democracy had succeeded in electing a minority (since I suppose women don't count), but America had proved that somehow, someway, they were able to put racism aside, becoming, once again, the vanguard in equality and the like. (Think to how the whole world was sitting around in "Independence Day," waiting for the Americans to figure out how to kill the aliens.)

Moacir

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Wednesday March 19, 2008 · 9:35 AM PDT

2008/03/19 · 09:35

My friend Summer, in her Facebook status, pointed out the immediate point of interest to a literature person about Barack Obama’s speech: He messed up the Faulkner quote.

In Requiem for a Nun, Faulkner writes, “The past is never dead. It’s not even past.” Obama embellished the quote, saying:

As William Faulkner once wrote, “The past isn’t dead and buried. In fact, it isn’t even past.” We do not need to recite here the history of racial injustice in this country. But we do need to remind ourselves that so many of the disparities that exist in the African-American community today can be directly traced to inequalities passed on from an earlier generation that suffered under the brutal legacy of slavery and Jim Crow.

His embellishment is rather interesting, though, as it expands to describe the unsolved inconsistency in his campaign. Because as much as Obama’s words seem to move toward a radical change in American life, there’s something frozen about his perspective.

Moacir

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Thursday June 08, 2006 · 6:20 AM PDT

2006/06/08 · 06:20

Looking over the comments to Armando's GBCW post, I got increasingly frustrated with them. Armando's own post was (wait for it...) terse. As as a result, a lot of commenters assumed that clients are being shown Armando's posts in an effort to muck up his relationship with them. That may be (part of) what's going on. Armando won't tell us directly, nor should he. Nor am I even particularly interested in that aspect of the affair.

What is important, however, is what precisely the "major Right wing site" is writing in its post that outed Armando. In disclosing past clients Armando has had, the Media Blog is not trying to scare away future business from Armando, but, rather, trying to ruin Armando's credibility HERE AT DAILY KOS. Their post is a challenge to the community: can you rally around someone who has represented, in the past, corporations whom you hate and may even be boycotting as you read this? (Hint: the answer is "hell yes! and stop pestering us!") Read More

ASY Freedom Walk Logo: America Supports Breasts?

Moacir

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Thursday August 11, 2005 · 10:49 AM PDT

2005/08/11 · 10:49

I finally went over to the website for the America Supports You Freedom Walk site. Now I'm wondering if the "You" in the title is the pair of breasts that seem to be bursting out of the zipper surrounding them that is the logo for the ASYFW.

So in addition to clumsy choices for venue (blue as hell DC), purpose (honoring the Iraq dead on UBL's red letter day), timing (Day of Rest), performing artists (Clint Black, hawking his single that makes "Ivan Meets GI Joe" look sincere), sponsorship (the Military-Industrial Complex), and tone (CLAP HARDER!!!), they can't even manage to get a logo together that doesn't bring to mind Daisy Duke? Can this be any more inappropriate?

This hastily prepared graphic might make it clearer:

Debate Preview / Playing Nice and Low Expectations

Moacir

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Tuesday September 14, 2004 · 1:22 PM PDT

2004/09/14 · 13:22

The discussion about the upcoming debates has been distressing me lately, because it seems like it always follows a pattern: someone brings up the debates, saying something to the effect of, "Kerry will totally dominate the debates, and it'll be so awesome." Then someone else invariably adds the "Bush is a good debater" response, and everyone gets angry. In the give and take of an open thread, things get lost in a rush to respond.

I hope with this diary to be able to provide a sort of starting point for a more careful discussion over the Kerry strategy in the debates underscored by his saying on The Daily Show that Bush is "a good debater." Considering the whirlwind of spin that will come up soon regarding debate prep as well as after the debates themselves, I want everyone to remain somehow calm toward each other on this site in the debate fallout.

There's one text of primary importance in trying to imagine both the debates, as well as how the teams are squaring up in the lead up to the first debate. That text is James Fallows's cover story in the July/August Atlantic Monthly, "When George Meets John." It is available for free using EBSCO, and it is also available here, with a bugmenot registration. I encourage everyone interested in this diary (or the debates) to read this article, though I won't be referring to it below the fold, as I'd hoped to. Read More

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Less shame (or, how should we react to the election?)

Chris Matthews and transformative politics via Parliament

Obama, Faulkner, Mark Antony, and Revolution

Armando's cred at dkos, the rightist witchhunt, and Paul de Man

ASY Freedom Walk Logo: America Supports Breasts?

Debate Preview / Playing Nice and Low Expectations