“ENOUGH!”

Sen. Barack Obama, 8/28/08

     Although this is not the ticket I dreamed about, Sen. Barack Obama won me over convincingly last night with a brilliant, inspiring and uplifting acceptance speech. It gave me chills.
     He showed empathy for Americans whose lives have been upturned by the Bush/Cheney massacre, he showed that he will carry on Hillary Clinton’s goals for universal health care and make it a priority, and he looked like a statesman staring steely faced at the GOP and said I know what you’re going to lob at me so bring it on — your shameful record these past eight years speaks volumes.
     Writing in Hillary’s name on Nov. 4, while it would give me some solace, will not guarantee that the GOP is overturned in what might be a race as close as 2000 or 2004 (God forbid). We simply cannot afford more years of the same! I truly fear it will break America apart.
     When Sen. Obama said that one word, “Enough!”, it was enough for me to embrace his audacity of hope.
     This will be my last post in this blog. Hillary, I am and will continue to be so very proud of you. The class you showed this week, plus your record of service, will continue to inspire. We’ll bust open that damn glass ceiling soon enough!
    

 Go Obama, go!

     Man, after being force-fed heapin’-helpings of humble pie all week, Hillary and Bill deserve a couple tall ones from a bartender with a heavy hand.
     I can’t imagine what it must have felt like for Hillary to give her speech last night, release her delegate votes today, and then have to sit in the audience while her husband had to praise her competitor and his choice of a vice president. Who could take such abuse and keep going with your head held up high? Not me, probably not you. It takes a person of extremely strong character to handle that type of heartbreak.

I know Hillary believes in the ideals and goals of the Democratic Party with all her heart, and all I can say is that they pretty damn well appreciate what this woman went through on their behalf!  

      Of all the speeches so far, Bill and Hillary gave two of the best. I’d add Michelle Obama to that list and, surprisingly, a funny and stinging John Kerry (a side of him we needed to see more of when he was campaigning four years ago).
     I think Joe Biden is a good senator and am happy that after a terrible loss in his life he is realizing this dream of a moment. His speech was OK and when Obama came out as a surprise, I didn’t feel as pumped up as I did when listening to those other speeches. His golden moment awaits tomorrow, though. Delivering his speech of a lifetime on the anniversary of another man and true visionary — Dr. Martin Luther King’s “I Have A Dream” speech could be quite a powerful moment in history. 
     Today made me very sad, though. Dammit, Hillary’s name should have been on that ticket in either spot. As a woman, I think it’s past time that we get what is rightfully ours – equal pay, equal respect and the keys to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. Got to admit, I fought back tears after she released her delegates. It hurt so much.
     In the words of Dr. King, though, I hold tight the dream that we, too, shall overcome one day.

Do yourself a favor and watch the coverage on C-SPAN.
No inane punditry to sully your interpretation of what you see and hear. No Dems-hating Andrea Mitchell taking swipes. No bloviating Chris Matthews spewing Hillary Hate. Amen!

Observations on the opening night of the Democratic National Convention:

• You can’t beat the Democrats’ taste in music. Loved John Legend’s performance. The house band did a stand-up job on hits by Sly and the Family Stone, Alicia Keys, Aretha Franklin and Earth, Wind & Fire. Everyone also seemed to dance better than that other party which is more prone to, as Billy Crystal calls it in “When Harry Met Sally,” the “white man’s overbite.” (I know, I know… excluding Al Gore.)
• Nancy Pelosi set the tone of smoothing the ruffled feathers of Hillary supporters by saluting her early on in her speech (and waiting impatiently for the cheering to subside) and also giving a nod to the Bush administration’s diminishing of the “Clinton surplus” when he left office.
• Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. struck a poignant note when, in referencing the 45th anniversary Thursday of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s ”I Have A Dream” speech to the nomination of Barack Obama on the say day in Denver, he said “America has never rung from a higher mountain top than it does today.”
• How moving a moment it was to see Sen. Teddy Kennedy, with shorn scalp signifying the battle with cancer he faces ahead, speaking strongly and clearly to the original goals of the Democratic Party and how they still should guide it today.
• With all the talk about Sen. Kennedy being a prime mover in the fight for health care for all, I admit I felt a twinge of a sideswipe being taken at Hillary.
• I’m not a woman of color, but I was quite moved watching those in the audience who were. What an important moment this is for them. It’s startling to think that just 50 years ago, a moment such as now was considered a pipe dream, something that many thought they wouldn’t see in their lifetime. I was so happy for all of them. At the same time, I wished I could share in that sense of joy. But every time they’d flash Biden’s face across the screen, I’d think of that old boys club and that damn glass ceiling. ARGH!
• Michelle Obama’s speech was riveting, inspiring and terribly moving. When she gave a nod to Hillary, it felt more genuine than Pelosi. Her speech was all about hope and everyone’s contribution to the future of this nation. I loved her conversational tone. What a superb orator. Why isn’t SHE running for office?!!

Perception
Journalists think I (and many other women I know of similar mind) am likely:

• a bigot
• a crossover vote for McCain
• a blue-collar worker
• a feminazi (as one radio blowhard would phrase it)
• a conservative
• over-the-hill
• a cotton-headed ninny muggins
• to roll over and play dead just because the DNC wants me to

Reality
The truth is, I am (we are)

• open-minded
• never going to cross over to the Land O’ Bush prodigies
• white-collar, management
• believe in the rights of all
• wing balanced
• young enough
• a clear-thinking voter who knows America can thrive again, with proper management
• never going to trust the DNC again after they stole citizens’ votes away from Clinton and handed them to Obama…

Where’s the outrage, America? That’s a Third World tactic!

Somehow, for all the joygerms of unity the Democratic National Committee is trying to spread, they can’t seem to make the media ignore the “elephant” in the Democratic National Convention hall.
That elephant, of course, is that more than a handful of middle- to lower-income blur collar women (as we are being portrayed – LOL) are not thrilled with the selection of Sen. Barack Obama. Ditto that for his VP choice.
Here is a smattering of headlines buzzing across the wires at this moment, a little more than an hour before the whole shebang kicks off:

SFGate.com: Pelosi gets tough with reporters on Clinton (Fave quote: “It isn’t just about my being Speaker of the House and Hillary Clinton going for something bigger, the presidency of the United States,” she said. ”It’s about the doors that are opened for millions of women to reach their aspirations. So let’s not spoil it … and let it stand in the way of what we must do in this country, in terms of public policy, to give these women and all Americans the opportunity they need.” Sorry, but the truth is Pelosi is playing Judas to women’s aspirations.)

globeandmail.com: To Roll Call or Not To Roll Call (Fave quote: “Democratic officials are apparently toying with the idea of starting the state-by-state vote on Wednesday night, but cutting it off after a couple of states, most likely ending with New York, when Ms. Clinton herself would call for unanimous backing for Mr. Obama from the convention floor. That’s nice and everything, but I was kind of hoping for a throw-down.”)

Telegraph.co.uk: Democratic convention: Barack and Hillary Clinton feud (Fave quote: “One senior Obama supporter told Politico that Clinton associates holding negotiations on her behalf had been acting like “Japanese soldiers in the South Pacific, still fighting after the war is over”.”)

NY Daily News, Errol Lewis: Rambunctious Clinton loyalists make antiwar protestors look sober, savvy(Fave quote: from CodePink’s co-founder Gael Murphy “”I believe the Democrats have a much greater problem than the outside activists, who are not allowed in to enhance the debate,” she said. “I think their problem is that they are so busy kowtowing to the status quo – to Republicans, really. It’s unbelievable, the lack of leadership and courage and vision that the Democratic leadership has shown.”)

According to an ABC blog post by George Stephanopoulos, the roll call vote for Hillary Clinton may be nixed.There are concerns that it might be disruptive to the process of the coronation (so OK, I added that last dramatic touch). Boo-hoo!
     Pluhease! Why should she care what those traitors and scalawags think of her. Want me to name them? Here are a few: Bill Richardson, Donna Brazile, Nancy Pelosi and Patti Solis Doyle. The Democratic Party is being run by twits! Why aren’t people incensed that they STOLE VOTES FROM HILLARY TO GIVE TO OBAMA, votes that she rightfully won on her own. Disgusting!
     Sorry, but “Joebama” will falter on their own, without the symbolic gesture at the convention.
     Hillary, dump the DNC and go it on your own!

Michael Calderone over at Politico.com writes about the silencing of Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell Sunday during a panel discussion with the three big media Sunday political talk show hosts.
     Rendell, an ungrateful wretch in their eyes, dared to note that “MSNBC was the official network of the Obama campaign.” Calderone writes, and Rendell added that their coverage was “absolutely embarrassing.”
     The reaction, according to Calderone, was PBS’s Judy Woodruff — moderator of the event — saying “Why don’t we let Governor Rendell sit down.” And her words were “met with applause from the crowd of big-time media figures, which included Arianna Huffington, Gwen Ifill, Al Hunt, and Chuck Todd.”
     Smug bunch, eh?
     Remember that other MSNBC employee, David Shuster, who made the comment that the Clintons had “pimped out” Chelsea to drum up support for her mother’s campaign. Biased? Schmiased!

     So I just found out that Sen. Barack Obama’s team sent out his text message alerts (a several-hour process) starting at 3 a.m. That hour, of course, was notable from Sen. Hillary Clinton’s campaign — an hour that she said she would be the most ready to take the phone call about a national or international crisis.
     The choice of this hour, surely, is not happenstance. I would venture that it was a deliberate slam at Hillary. These people had hours, days to send out this announcement. I find this timing exceedlingly offensive, like a playground bully taunt.
     What a classless, juvenile act.