(Un)favorability.

The anniversary of his election is coming up, time for a litte Obama related quiz.
A recent poll shows 2 variants of his favorability-unfavorability rating:
a) 28-67
b) 68-23

Guess which rating is for the Southern states.

Via marbury.

Al the Policy Wonk.

I used to be a fan of Al Franken. I enjoyed his "Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them", his appearances on talk shows and even listened to his Air America show once in a while. (Air America is a good breeeding ground for intelligent commentary. If you haven't seen Rachel Maddow before, do so now) I liked his well-researched, intelligent and angry comedy. I did not think he had a real chance to win the Senate seat in Minnesota, but am quite pleased that he did win it. I would've preferred a clear, ealry decision on election day and not a month long battle through the courts, but hey. Anyway, I'm looking forward to his input in the Senate, and am not suprised at all by this comment from Paul Krugman:

Second, Al Franken’s dirty secret is that … he’s a big policy wonk.

I used to go on Franken’s radio show, all ready to be jocular — and what he wanted to talk about was the arithmetic of Social Security, or the structure of Medicare Part D.

In fact, the only elected official I know who’s wonkier than Al Franken is Rush Holt, my congressman — and he used to be the assistant director of Princeton’s plasma physics lab. (The campaign’s bumper stickers read, “My Congressman IS a rocket scientist.”)

So what will Franken do to the level of Senate discourse? He’ll raise it.

President Obama.

Barak Obama is finally sworn in a President of the United States of America. This image from the New York Times, found here, expresses way better than the glossy, celebratory images from the actual inauguration ceremony what I see in him and what kind of President I hope he will be. (Btw: Thought the speech was good, but not breathtaking.)

Now, in regards to his presidency: I fear the worst, hope the best. He will definitely not be able to the expectations - the tasks are just to hard, the expactations to high. But a decent attempt would be great.

Listen!

The greatest thing about the Bush - Obama transission isn't that finally a politician moves into the White House with whom I actually agree on a few issues. I'm especially looking forward to being able to listen to. His speeches. Press conferences. Statements. I don't think I will agree with every single Obama utterance, but it'll at least be bearable again to listen to him (if not even enjoyable). I had a hard time listening to Bush speak - not just because of what he said, but also because how he said it - and that means a limited ammount of first hand information I could base my own opinion on. With Bush, I could only stand the soundbites. With Obama, I'm actually looking forward to the (possible) end of soundbite politics. That's change I want to believe in.

Speaking of speeches: His speech on election night was pretty amazing, possibly historical, also in form, not only content. That sets up pretty high expectations for tomorrows inaugural address. For starters, here is Obama's brief speech during the inaugural celebration concert .

One Last Note on the Obama Thing.

One last post on the whole Obama & Election & pop culture business. I've directed my procrastination effort on other subjects now.
(I actually got down to scribble some poetry ideas a few nights ago. More coming up soon, maybe.)
But I found this list of designer posters for Obama at evasion.cc (via)



(by Jude Buffum)

Yes We Can!?

Yes I stayed up all night to see the election.
Yes, it was a great night
Yes, I'm glad he won!

Yet some of the 'minor' decisions spoiled the blissfulness of election day. The Californian 'Yes' to Proposition 8 for example (more on that here - including a map) This great cartoon by Rob Tornoe sums it up pretty good:

Though it's so great to have a Democrat back in the White House - and especially this one - and a Democrat-controlled Congress, I up to now don't feel like the US acutally suddenly became that much more liberal. I'm still waiting for Change to happen. It'll take a while. Especially as the mess piled up over the last 8 years has to be cleaned up first. I just hope people will be patient enough and there won't be too much disappointment when things don't immediately 'Change'

Oh, and it's so nice that the election and the campaigning is finally over.... Got a bit tired of it in the last stretch.

World Election Final

The atmosphere today on campus was like on the day of the World Cup final, if not even more euphoric. And even more united - everybody talked about it, and really everybody os rooting for Obama. A (non-representative) vote on studiVZ (the German facebook) resulted in a almost unanimous victory for Barack Obama(91,7%) Though the actual race will be a lot closer, I'm pretty sure Obama will win. I'm not sure he'll actually be able to 'change' all that much, but he'll get the chance to.
I hope.
Otherwise I'll change (or at least rename) my M.A. program title...

I won't be doing any live blogging from here - other people can do that a hell of a lot better. I'll be crashing a election party.

What if Hollywood was on McCain's side.

These actually could be John Woo, Kevin Smith or Wes Anderson attack ads for John McCain.
At least almost.



(via marbury.)

I don't care about language, I just want to be president.

Walters then pointed out that he himself had used the lipstick line, but McCain held that Obama "chooses his words very carefully" and the reference was no accident.

(via NPR)

So the ridiculous lipstick-hassle is valid now, because Obama actually thinks before he speaks, but it's not a problem with Mccain, cause he just blurts it out?

Oh boy.

Alaskan women's groups vs. Palin.

via Feministing

Palin hasn't quite arrived.. and should leave asap.

Foxy Fist Confusion

Von HuffPost
Mehr zu der lächerlichen "fist bump" Diskussion, der Geste zwischen Barack und Michelle Obama und der irrwitzigen Anmoderation durch obige FOX-Moderatorin gibt's auf YouTube und HuffPost..

Times: They Are A-Changing

Bob Dylan in einem lesenswerten Interview mit der Times:

"'Well, you know right now America is in a state of upheaval,' he says. 'Poverty is demoralising. You can't expect people to have the virtue of purity when they are poor. But we've got this guy out there now who is redefining the nature of politics from the ground up... Barack Obama. He's redefining what a politician is, so we'll have to see how things play out. Am I hopeful? Yes, I'm hopeful that things might change."

Der wahrgenommene Krieg der Eliten.

Ein sehr interessanter Artikel zu Obama, John F. Kennedy, dem 40 Years War und der Frage, was "elitist" ist - und wieso es als "schlecht" wahrgenommen wird.
America's 40 Years War at an End von Robert S. McElvaine (via huffpost)

Looks like it's over.

Neben den diversen Nachrichtenagenturen und dem (inzwischen) Obama-Jubelsender CNNi berichtet nun auch die NYT, dass Obama der demokratische Präsidentschaftskandidat ist. Auch wenn das Clinton noch nicht so ganz eingesehen hat.
In wilder Assoziation dazu: Frou Frou's Let Go..

Naja, vorbei ist es nicht wirklich. Jetzt geht der Spaß erst richtig los. It ain't over til the fat lady sings...or votes.

"He's an appeaser!"

Manchmal... oft ist der politische Zirkus ein Kindergarten, vor allem wenn ein kleiner Junge mit Dreck werfen will, selbst aber keine Ahnung hat. Folgendes Video erinnert mich irgendwie an so manche Schulhofdiskussion oder Streitgespräch in Internetforen. Schlimme ist nur, dass Kevin James als "talkshow host" sein Geld verdient. He crashes and burns.



via Talking Points Memo

Musik mit Inhalt und Haltung.

Wenn ich mit meinem Vater zusammensitze und wir uns gegenseitig in unserer Begeisterung für Musik mit "Inhalt und Haltung" überschlagen, (read as: Dylan und Guthrie) so kommt doch regelmäßig die Frage auf seitens meines Vaters, ob es denn überhaupt noch richtig politische Musik gibt. Sicher gibt es die - sie verkauft sich nur nicht mehr (so) gut.
Wunderbares Beispiel für die Kombination von Musik mit "Inhalt und Haltung" und dem hippesten Scheiß des Jahrtausends (read as: blog) sind Max and the Marginalized. Jede Woche ein neuer politischer Song. dreht sich meist um amerikanische Miszustände, Musik ist grob gesagt Punkrock. Bisschen wie Antiflag, nur weniger nervig. Zu finden sind sie auf ihrem blog oder per huffingtonpost.com

baba baaa baba baaa

Barack Obama's Kampagne in "Rocky" style.


Und wie Ian bei marbury so richtig anmerkt: It must have been completed before Baracky punched himself in the face." Diese "Bitterness" sache ist verdammt unschön - aber ein nicht zu verachtender Teil meiner selbst gibt ihm ja recht. Und dass Clintion sich jetzt zum "gun lover" macht, macht sie mir nicht sympathischer.

DMX and that dude that asks for change.

Gefunden bei marbury.typepad.com:

yes way!

From an interview with rapper DMX (via The Stump):

Are you following the presidential race?
Not at all.

You’re not? You know there’s a Black guy running, Barack Obama and then there’s Hillary Clinton.
His name is Barack?!

Barack Obama, yeah.
Barack?!

Barack.
What the fuck is a Barack?! Barack Obama. Where he from, Africa?

Yeah, his dad is from Kenya.
Barack Obama?

Yeah.
What the fuck?! That ain’t no fuckin’ name, yo. That ain’t that nigga’s name. You can’t be serious. Barack Obama. Get the fuck outta here.

We're all winners.

Sonntag Abend, 19.00 in der Parteienlandschaft: Jeder hat irgendwie gewonnen - egal was die Zahlen sagen. Die.Linke legt zu, wird aber ignoriert. Die CDU verliert die absolute Mehrheit, hat aber trotzdem gewonnen. Die SPD auch. Die Grüne/GAL eh'. Nur die FDP ist (immernoch) nicht im Senat - aber irgendwie hat auch sie gewonnen.

Vielleicht sollte man diese Taktik des Gewinnens trotz Verlierens das mal Cate Blanchett sagen - aber die ist "immerhin" schwanger. Auch ein Sieg. Oder George Clooney - der "Hillary der Oscarverleihung".

Speaking of Hillary: Um das Ziel, die Republikaner aus dem Weißen Haus zu jagen, noch, äh, spannender zu machen, macht auch Ralph Nader mit. Bin ja eigentlich der Meinung, "the more the merrier"... aber... es gilt doch, die Republikaner zu schlagen, verdammt!
Aber dazu hat Nader einen ganz wunderbaren Satz geprägt:

“Not a chance,” he said. “If the Democrats can’t landslide the Republicans this year, they ought to just wrap up, close down, and emerge in a different form.”

Ach ja, Frage-der-Woche-Wrap-Up: Ihr teilt offensichtlich meine Meinung,dass Liebe nicht schöner wird, wenn sie öffentlich wird.

Michelle und die Patrioten.

Nur ne kurze Notiz am Rande... in der US-pol. Blog(hate)sphere wird gerade mächtig über folgenden Satz von Michelle Obama diskutiert:

And let me tell you something — for the first time in my adult lifetime, I am really proud of my country. And not just because Barack has done well, but because I think people are hungry for change

Wie schon erwähnt, rutscht der Wahlkampf gerade in den Dreck. Klar also, dass jeder Ms. Obama vorwirft, unpatriotisch zu sein.
Aber ist es nicht eine Form des gesunden Patriotismus', gerade nicht "stolz" auf sein Land zu sein, wenn es "Mist baut"?