After coming home to central NJ earlier this week from a great trip to Austin to see friends and attend Netroots Nation, I am spending this weekend back visiting my parents in the Philly suburbs. My parents are registered Republicans, but aren't frothing wingnuts and don't like the situation in Iraq, etc. They are still suspicious of Obama, though, especially his "plan to tax Social Security" (which, being retired, is the main thing they talk about).
The American Debate is Dick Pohlman's column/blog in the Philly Inquirer, and it really was a delight to open the paper this morninig and see the columnist's Op Ed about the Maliki situation. Philadelphia is solidly blue, but the coverage, and particularly the letters to the editor of the Inquirer have been tilting negative towards Obama. Although the Inquirer endorsed Obama over Clinton, I haven't seen as much good news in the paper as I would like.
But after this week, and the TIME story, and seeing the paper today, I'm starting to think that maybe, maybe, the MSM is beginning to see the light.
There are big pro-Mumia protests elsewhere but not in Philadelphia. So many claim we are scared of the police or Rednecks wanting blood against someone whose alleged circumstances of arrest wouldn't lead to execution even in Saudi Arabia.
The simple truth is that most Philadelphians want to avoid dealing with tense racially sensitive issues.
For an urban street, it's peaceful and residential. There are lots of cars, dogs, bikes, strollers, joggers and walkers (2 outstanding restaurants are on the corner and there's a dog park across the street), but still, definitely residential.
Better late than never folks. I finally posted some video from my camera phone that I've had since April. I decided to play cameraman and tried to capture most of the events in Center City, Philadelphia that day. I was still kind of giddy from the crazy march that broke out when Obama gave a speech in Philly. I also had a feeling that the local media would not do the coverage any justice. Here's around 50 shaky shots of the wonderful spirit on that day. I promise to be ready with a real video camera when Barack comes back in the General Election.
I did my best to explain what was going on, be sure to expand the descriptions in each video It's helps take the pain away from the shakiness.
While interviewing mayors this weekend at the U.S. Conference of Mayors annual meeting, I asked almost all of them about a particular line in the speech Senator Obama gave to the body on Saturday.
On Tuesday, June 17th, at 1pm, the owners and residents of 1652 Ridge
Avenue will hold a press conference on the western steps of City Hall to
inform reporters and interested parties about the June 13th police
action seizing their property and sealing off their home. Please read
the release below for more details.
Contact: Hannah Sassaman, hannahjs@prometheusradio.org, 267-970-4007
Andy Switzer, andrew_switzer@hotmail.com, 267-269-5448
Please read hers first if you want a great read - but have some tissues handy.
The title of my diary should need no referencing to readers of this site – but if you need refreshing, well, it’s a quote from Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s first Inaugural speech in 1933.
I attended a "Philly Kickoff" rally for Senator Obama at the Electric Factory on May 22nd, 2007.
I had a bag full of my techie stuff - my laptop and a digital still camera - which recorded this postage stamp-sized video of Senator Obama saying much the same thing about the kids in Philadelphia being gunned down.
Some suburbanites might not easily understand what has made John and Flossie Gallagher stay in their Harper Street rowhouse for more than 40 years. Or why 30-year resident Pat Hill spends a good part of her time tending the corner garden oasis she and other volunteers rescued from "dump" status.
They might understand why the Gallaghers and Hill have stuck it out, but it would be harder to comprehend why Suzi Nash or Kendra Gaeta or Matt Wanamaker or Evelyn Sheared - all of whom are young enough to be my children - would choose to live in a rowhouse neighborhood where nonresidents think it's OK to relieve themselves wherever they choose.
Cross-posted by Will Bunch at my Philadelphia Daily News blog, Attytood:
That waddling sound we heard here in the Philly area this afternoon was a quick-in-and-out from America's second lamest duck, Vice President Dick Cheney, who snuck in with little fanfare for maybe the most empty photo-op since Ronald Reagan's handlers invented them. Apparently your federal rebate check may come from here in the Philadelphia region, a fact that hasn't sped the arrival of mine yet:
I just caught the end of a video they're running on CNN. It LOOKED like 12-15 cops pulling 2-3 people out of a car and beating the crap out of them, literally just kicking them over and over. If anyone has any info about this, any useful links, plz post it quickly and recc this so we can get the word out. This is the last thing this country needs right now, a racially charged police brutality case. I hope it's not what it looked like, but I suspect that it is.
(I've never bothered to post at dailykos before, so here's a bit of background: I'm in my mid twenties and have lived in Pennsylvania for my entire life. For several years I had delivered pizzas to McMansions in which I installed the hardwood floors years before. I've never gone to college and I now work as a software developer.)
This past April, I voted in a Democratic presidential primary for the first time. I've been a registered Democrat since only 2007, when I switched party affiliation in order to vote for Michael Nutter for mayor in the Philadelphia municipal Democratic primary. Prior to that, I'd been registered as "non-partisan" and voted in general elections since 2004, while largely ignoring local and state politics.
Pennsylvania says "You're Hired!" to Hillary Clinton
At the Clinton Rally the night before the election, Hillary Clinton told a crowd of 8,000 at Univ of Penn that this was the "longest job interview" anyone has seen. But that was okay because it's for the "hardest job in the world". To paraphrase, she said "If you're still undecided - when you go to cast your vote tomorrow think of this as a job interview and that you are hiring the person that you believe is the most qualified, most experienced and knowledgeable to handle all the problems that we will face in the coming years. And if you believe that I'm the best person for the job and you offer it to me - well - I accept!"
And Pennsylvania spoke loud and clear - they want experience, they want a leader, they want a person that can handle the pressures of the job. Hillary Clinton has certainly displayed the leadership and qualifications to do this.
We keep hearing about how Barack is not getting the white working class vote and that will doom him in November. Yet, nobody has said anything about Hillary not getting the black vote. In fact, she hasn't even come close to getting the black vote.
Working for Obama out of the central Philadelphia office, I was struck by the many mistakes that the organization made. For an insurgent candidacy, the management was top down and highly bureaucratic. There were many mis steps made, some of which I am sure resulted in fewer votes for Obama than he might have gotten, had the staff been more experienced and had they listened to people who knew Philadelphia or had previous campaign experience. I think there are some lessons here for the fall campaign and hopefully someone may heed them.
In a strange turn of events, a short video recorded at a Marin County California (northern S.F. Bay area) fundraiser on the 6th of April was removed from YouTube less than 24 hours later and after being viewed less than 1500 times. It was posted on Daily Kos and Democratic Underground, and was seen by the few who actually got the chance to study it as essential context to the "Bitter Flap" that dogged the Obama campaign in the final week of the Pennsylvania Primary.
The short video clip, recorded on a "point and shoot" camera, was captured on the same day Huffington Post contributor Mayhill Fowler recorded the now infamous snippet in which Senator Barack Obama pointed out the "bitter" feelings held by many small town Pennsylvanians due to declining financial situations and lack of trust in there government.
It must be pointed out that this video, though it may not be from the same event, was recorded during one of a number of fundraisers held that day throughout the San Francisco Bay area.
