Reprise: Dick Gregory for President!!

(This is a repost of a previous entry, but given Obama's historic nomination by the Dems, I thought it made sense to give it some more air time)

Given all the hoopla over a prospective Obama presidency, I thought I'd pay a little tribute to some of the previous African Americans who made a run for the highest office in the land. In this post, I focus on Dick Gregory, who ran in 1968 with Mark Lane on the Freedom & Peace ticket.

Dick Gregory was born in St. Louis in 1932. While in the Army, Gregory's commanding officers noticed he was a joker and encouraged him to take his comedic skills to the military talent show, which he won several times. After completing his service, he worked at the Chicago Playboy Club, where Hugh Hefner was impressed by Gregory's ability to wow white audiences. Here was the portion that impressed Hef:

Good evening ladies and gentlemen. I understand there are a good many Southerners in the room tonight. I know the South very well. I spent twenty years there one night.

Last time I was down South I walked into this restaurant and this white waitress came up to me and said, "We don't serve colored people here." I said, "That's all right. I don't eat colored people. Bring me a whole fried chicken."

Then these three white boys came up to me and said, "Boy, we're givin' you fair warnin'. Anything you do to that chicken, we're gonna do to you." So I put down my knife and fork, I picked up that chicken and I kissed it. Then I said, "Line up, boys!"

The Playboy Club launched him to national television notoriety in the early-60s as one of the first comics to find success in front of black and white audiences. In 1964, Gregory published an autobiography, controversially titled, Nigger, which sold 4 million copies. Gregory's comedic and personal style was inflammatory and uncompromising, titillating many, shocking others and angering some. Around the same time, Gregory became active in the civil rights movement and participated in many of the most significant marches and demonstrations of the era.

Here is a speech he gave in Birmingham in 1963 on the day more people got arrested than any other day in the entire history of the civil rights movement: Speech at St. John's Baptist Church, Birmingham, Alabama, 1963

Ultimately, Gregory also became an ardent opponent of the war in Vietnam and championed numerous other progressive causes. In 1967, Gregory ran an unsuccessful campaign for Mayor of Chicago against notorious political boss, Richard Daley.

In 1968, Dick Gregory again tried his hand at politics, this time as the Presidential nominee for the Freedom & Peace Party a splinter group from the Peace & Freedom Party, a party that emerged out of the civil rights and anti-war movements. Interestingly, the Peace & Freedom Party elected Eldridge Cleaver in '68, the incendiary Minister of Information for the Black Panther Party. During the campaign, Gregory supporters at the Operation Breadbasket office in Chicago created fake dollar bills with Gregory's face on them. They are really funny. Here it is (click to enlarge):


Not surprisingly, the feds didn't have much of a sense of humor about the whole thing, particularly after some made it into circulation, but the stunt did gain the activist some easy publicity at a time when many were more than willing to stick it to The Man. It also landed him on Nixon's master list of political opponents! Gregory earned more than 47,000 votes in the election, or .06% of the total, including one from hunter S. Thompson. He finished just behind the Socialist Labor Party candidate, but ahead of Prohibition Party and Communist Party candidates. Sadly, George Wallace, the racist Democratic Governor of Alabama and godfather of modern conservatism, received about 210 times more votes (almost 10 million!) than Gregory...

The same year as the campaign, Gregory wrote, Write Me In! The book is really funny and interesting and worth a read, even today. Here are a few of the things he put forth:

• Gregory argued that the one qualification we should seek in a Presidential candidate is "a sensitivity to human need."

• He encouraged citizens to smash the two party system. Gregory wrote that he did not vote in the 1964 Presidential election because "I refused to be the victim of having to choose between the lesser of two evils."

• In a passage that speaks forcefully to our current international predicament, he wrote, "America speaks with pride of the fruits of democracy and advocates democracy for the rest of the world. Yet we go all over the world trying to force democracy upon people at gunpoint."

• Gregory argued that the U.S. Constitution had never been fully implemented and suggested, therefore, that before we talk about changing it we actually see how life in America would change if we followed the Constitution. He wrote, "I have a dream and a vision of seeing the Constitution of the United States implemented in full for the first time in American history."

• Gregory promised that his administration would give American citizens what he termed, "The Clean Society." He wrote that one of his first acts as Prez would be to set aside half of his Presidential salary as a reward for any information leading to his arrest and conviction for wrongdoing in office. Further he proposed to place into escrow $10,000 for each Senator and Congressman also as a reward for information of wrong doing in office. This combined sum (around $5 million dollars he estimated) was small in comparison to the federal government's annual budget. Yet the rewards for taking political corruption seriously were profound.

• Gregory also proposed a corporate tax on "excess-profits."

• He also wrote, "I will propose legislation to allow American taxpayers to bring suit against the federal government challenging the spending of a sizable portion of the national budget for a possibly illegal war." And, " Any time American troops are being used overseas as a result of orders by the commander-in-chief, the question of the constitutionality of such action should be immediately raised."

• Gregory pledged to respect international law and order and to create renewed respect for the United Nations. He wrote, "I will urge a redistribution of power in the UN so that every nation has an equal voice [...] " Further he proposes that the UN flag become as recognizable as corporate logos, the flag announcing to people the world over that "colors, religions and political orientations place no restriction upon membership in the human family."

• In an interesting passage, he argued, "America must re-evaluate what is meant by developing 'stronger' nations. A nation that is well equipped militarily, yet plagued with disease, hunger and ignorance, is not really strong."

• Gregory wanted to see America taking leadership in eliminating world hunger and he proposed to have elementary school children contribute a penny a week and for adults to give up one meal each week with the proceeds from both to be used to feed the hungry.

• Gregory proposed using tax rebates as incentives for companies which establish fair employment practices.

• Gregory suggested reforms for fire and police departments as well as the criminal justice system and the courts. "As President," he wrote, "I will make every effort to free the court system from political ties. I will seek federal legislation to rule out the concept of judgeship by political appointment."

• Finally, Gregory advocated the elimination of capital punishment. He sought a criminal justice system that accomplished rehabilitation of the criminal rather than merely punishment.

Yeah, that is pretty amazing, isn't it??!!!

Gregory has continued to fight the good fight since 1968, going on numerous hunger strikes for various causes. On July 21, 1979, Gregory appeared at the Amandla Festival, otherwise know as the "Festival of Unity," held at Harvard Stadium in Boston. The idea behind the event was to show support for freedom across southern Africa and to encourage racial healing in Boston, a city torn by racial discord. Bob Marley, Patti LaBelle and Eddie Palmieri, and others, also performed. In 1980, he attempted to negotiate the release of American hostages in Iran. He and his former running mate, Mark Lane, wrote a fascinating book about the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., Code Name Zorro, which argued that James Earle Ray did not act alone in that historic tragedy.

More recently, Gregory has gotten a little far out at times, advocating a variety of conspiracy theories and a radical health diet that he claims saved him from cancer.

In one of the more bizarre recent episodes, Michael Jackson's father asked Gregory to advise Michael on his diet during his 2005 trial for child molestation. On June 4 of that year, Gregory brought a blood-circulating machine to Jackson's house, but Jackson refused to use it.

Here I am with Dick Gregory on September 29, 2007, in Milwaukee! Seriosuly.



What the heck am I doing with Dick Gregory? Well, we were both participating in the "March On Milwaukee" 40th anniversary celebration of the historic open housing campaign there. I am writing a book about the civil rights movement in Milwaukee and spoke at the conference. Gregory was an important activist in that movement. In 1968, he praised the Movement in Milwaukee, which many called "the last stand for an non-violent, interracial, church-based movement," and which was led by a white Catholic priest named Fr. James Groppi, for showing that Black Power was "more an attitude than a color." Mr. Gregory was amazingly kind and gracious to everyone throughout the weekend... and funny as hell. Holy Moses, this guy can let the jokes fly. He's still got the edge, too. He seemed to me to be one of those people that is simultaneously brilliant and a little mad; many of the great ones are, after all. Provocative ideas come fast and furious...

This is a clip of Gregory more recently "revoking Bill Clinton's blackness":


Here's to you, Mr. Gregory! Thanks for blazing a trail and fighting for justice...

Dick Gregory for President!??!!

Given all the hoopla over a prospective Obama presidency, I thought I'd pay a little tribute to some of the previous African Americans who made a run for the highest office in the land. In this post, I focus on Dick Gregory, who ran in 1968 with Mark Lane on the Freedom & Peace ticket.

Dick Gregory was born in St. Louis in 1932. While in the Army, Gregory's commanding officers noticed he was a joker and encouraged him to take his comedic skills to the military talent show, which he won several times. After completing his service, he worked at the Chicago Playboy Club, where Hugh Hefner was impressed by Gregory's ability to wow white audiences. Here was the portion that impressed Hef:

Good evening ladies and gentlemen. I understand there are a good many Southerners in the room tonight. I know the South very well. I spent twenty years there one night.

Last time I was down South I walked into this restaurant and this white waitress came up to me and said, "We don't serve colored people here." I said, "That's all right. I don't eat colored people. Bring me a whole fried chicken."

Then these three white boys came up to me and said, "Boy, we're givin' you fair warnin'. Anything you do to that chicken, we're gonna do to you." So I put down my knife and fork, I picked up that chicken and I kissed it. Then I said, "Line up, boys!"

The Playboy Club launched him to national television notoriety in the early-60s as one of the first comics to find success in front of black and white audiences. In 1964, Gregory published an autobiography, controversially titled, Nigger, which sold 4 million copies. Gregory's comedic and personal style was inflammatory and uncompromising, titillating many, shocking others and angering some. Around the same time, Gregory became active in the civil rights movement and participated in many of the most significant marches and demonstrations of the era.

Here is a speech he gave in Birmingham in 1963 on the day more people got arrested than any other day in the entire history of the civil rights movement: Speech at St. John's Baptist Church, Birmingham, Alabama, 1963

Ultimately, Gregory also became an ardent opponent of the war in Vietnam and championed numerous other progressive causes. In 1967, Gregory ran an unsuccessful campaign for Mayor of Chicago against notorious political boss, Richard Daley.

In 1968, Dick Gregory again tried his hand at politics, this time as the Presidential nominee for the Freedom & Peace Party a splinter group from the Peace & Freedom Party, a party that emerged out of the civil rights and anti-war movements. Interestingly, the Peace & Freedom Party elected Eldridge Cleaver in '68, the incendiary Minister of Information for the Black Panther Party. During the campaign, Gregory supporters at the Operation Breadbasket office in Chicago created fake dollar bills with Gregory's face on them. They are really funny. Here it is (click to enlarge):


Not surprisingly, the feds didn't have much of a sense of humor about the whole thing, particularly after some made it into circulation, but the stunt did gain the activist some easy publicity at a time when many were more than willing to stick it to The Man. It also landed him on Nixon's master list of political opponents! Gregory earned more than 47,000 votes in the election, or .06% of the total, including one from hunter S. Thompson. He finished just behind the Socialist Labor Party candidate, but ahead of Prohibition Party and Communist Party candidates. Sadly, George Wallace, the racist Democratic Governor of Alabama and godfather of modern conservatism, received about 210 times more votes (almost 10 million!) than Gregory...

The same year as the campaign, Gregory wrote, Write Me In! The book is really funny and interesting and worth a read, even today. Here are a few of the things he put forth:

• Gregory argued that the one qualification we should seek in a Presidential candidate is "a sensitivity to human need."

• He encouraged citizens to smash the two party system. Gregory wrote that he did not vote in the 1964 Presidential election because "I refused to be the victim of having to choose between the lesser of two evils."

• In a passage that speaks forcefully to our current international predicament, he wrote, "America speaks with pride of the fruits of democracy and advocates democracy for the rest of the world. Yet we go all over the world trying to force democracy upon people at gunpoint."

• Gregory argued that the U.S. Constitution had never been fully implemented and suggested, therefore, that before we talk about changing it we actually see how life in America would change if we followed the Constitution. He wrote, "I have a dream and a vision of seeing the Constitution of the United States implemented in full for the first time in American history."

• Gregory promised that his administration would give American citizens what he termed, "The Clean Society." He wrote that one of his first acts as Prez would be to set aside half of his Presidential salary as a reward for any information leading to his arrest and conviction for wrongdoing in office. Further he proposed to place into escrow $10,000 for each Senator and Congressman also as a reward for information of wrong doing in office. This combined sum (around $5 million dollars he estimated) was small in comparison to the federal government's annual budget. Yet the rewards for taking political corruption seriously were profound.

• Gregory also proposed a corporate tax on "excess-profits."

• He also wrote, "I will propose legislation to allow American taxpayers to bring suit against the federal government challenging the spending of a sizable portion of the national budget for a possibly illegal war." And, " Any time American troops are being used overseas as a result of orders by the commander-in-chief, the question of the constitutionality of such action should be immediately raised."

• Gregory pledged to respect international law and order and to create renewed respect for the United Nations. He wrote, "I will urge a redistribution of power in the UN so that every nation has an equal voice [...] " Further he proposes that the UN flag become as recognizable as corporate logos, the flag announcing to people the world over that "colors, religions and political orientations place no restriction upon membership in the human family."

• In an interesting passage, he argued, "America must re-evaluate what is meant by developing 'stronger' nations. A nation that is well equipped militarily, yet plagued with disease, hunger and ignorance, is not really strong."

• Gregory wanted to see America taking leadership in eliminating world hunger and he proposed to have elementary school children contribute a penny a week and for adults to give up one meal each week with the proceeds from both to be used to feed the hungry.

• Gregory proposed using tax rebates as incentives for companies which establish fair employment practices.

• Gregory suggested reforms for fire and police departments as well as the criminal justice system and the courts. "As President," he wrote, "I will make every effort to free the court system from political ties. I will seek federal legislation to rule out the concept of judgeship by political appointment."

• Finally, Gregory advocated the elimination of capital punishment. He sought a criminal justice system that accomplished rehabilitation of the criminal rather than merely punishment.

Yeah, that is pretty amazing, isn't it??!!!

Gregory has continued to fight the good fight since 1968, going on numerous hunger strikes for various causes. On July 21, 1979, Gregory appeared at the Amandla Festival, otherwise know as the "Festival of Unity," held at Harvard Stadium in Boston. The idea behind the event was to show support for freedom across southern Africa and to encourage racial healing in Boston, a city torn by racial discord. Bob Marley, Patti LaBelle and Eddie Palmieri, and others, also performed. In 1980, he attempted to negotiate the release of American hostages in Iran. He and his former running mate, Mark Lane, wrote a fascinating book about the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., Code Name Zorro, which argued that James Earle Ray did not act alone in that historic tragedy.

More recently, Gregory has gotten a little far out at times, advocating a variety of conspiracy theories and a radical health diet that he claims saved him from cancer.

In one of the more bizarre recent episodes, Michael Jackson's father asked Gregory to advise Michael on his diet during his 2005 trial for child molestation. On June 4 of that year, Gregory brought a blood-circulating machine to Jackson's house, but Jackson refused to use it.

Here I am with Dick Gregory on September 29, 2007, in Milwaukee! Seriosuly.



What the heck am I doing with Dick Gregory? Well, we were both participating in the "March On Milwaukee" 40th anniversary celebration of the historic open housing campaign there. I am writing a book about the civil rights movement in Milwaukee and spoke at the conference. Gregory was an important activist in that movement. In 1968, he praised the Movement in Milwaukee, which many called "the last stand for an non-violent, interracial, church-based movement," and which was led by a white Catholic priest named Fr. James Groppi, for showing that Black Power was "more an attitude than a color." Mr. Gregory was amazingly kind and gracious to everyone throughout the weekend... and funny as hell. Holy Moses, this guy can let the jokes fly. He's still got the edge, too. He seemed to me to be one of those people that is simultaneously brilliant and a little mad; many of the great ones are, after all. Provocative ideas come fast and furious...

Here's to you, Mr. Gregory! Thanks for blazing a trail and fighting for justice...

Loeb: Hillary and the "Politics of Disappointment"

Paul Loeb has a new essay that is making the rounds, titled, "Hillary and the Politics of Disappointment"

Loeb acknowledges the more common argument that a Hillary nomination would re-energize a depressed Republican base while demoralizing core Democratic activists, particularly those outraged about the war, which might, in turn, lead to her defeat. But, his real point is that a Hillary nomination, and even a Hillary presidency, might very well split the Democratic Party, as Bill's presidency did. He writes,

We forget that this happened with her husband Bill, because compared to Bush, he’s looking awfully good. Much of Hillary’s support may be nostalgia for when America’s president seemed to engage reality instead of disdaining it. But remember that over the course of Clinton’s presidency, the Democrats lost 6 Senate seats, 46 Congressional seats, and 9 governorships. This political bleeding began when Monica Lewinsky was still an Oregon college senior. Given Hillary’s protracted support of the Iraq war, her embrace of neoconservative rhetoric on Iran, and her coziness with powerful corporate interests, she could create a similar backlash once in office, dividing and depressing the Democratic base and reversing the party’s newfound momentum.

Loab then goes on to offer all kinds of supporting evidence of how this split occurred during the Bill Clinton presidency. He concludes with this,

Because the Republican candidates would bring us more of the same ghastly policies we’ve seen from Bush and Cheney, I’d vote for Hillary if she became the nominee. But I’d do so with a very heavy heart, and a recognition that we’ll have to push her to do the right thing on issue after issue, and won’t always prevail. We still have a chance to select strong alternatives like Edwards (who I’m supporting) or Obama. And with Republican polling numbers in the toilet, this election gives Democrats an opportunity to seriously shift our national course that we may not have again for years. It would be a tragedy if they settled for the candidate most likely to shatter the momentum of this shift when it’s barely begun.

I share much of Loeb's perspective and am wondering what other folks think? I just can't find it in myself to be jazzed at all about Hillary. And I can't seem to find anyone else who is genuinely enthusiastic about her nomination... and I've been searchin'! Most who support her seem simply resigned to her as the standard-bearer.

What do you think?

NAFTA's no laughing matter...

I have this sneaking suspicion we're going to get fooled again...

Does Obama "Matter"?

Hhhhhmmmmmmm... There seems to be some new instability in the Democratic race for the presidency, a shift in energy. Recent polling data indicates there might be some movement in the numbers, with Hillary losing 3-5% over the last week or so. Is this a blip or a trend? Time will tell. But, clearly Obama has been energized and emboldened a bit recently and Edwards continues to level the hardest-hitting criticisms against Clinton. The perception has sunk in that Hillary stumbled in the last debate, denting the air of inevitability that had followed her campaign. And when they tried to regain their footing this past week, the attempt seemed awkward and defensive. Moreover, Bill has been taking an increasingly public role in articulating Hillary's vision and defending her against mounting criticism and I'm not sure this is a winning strategy in the end. With a little blood in the water, a number of new groups have cropped up from the liberal-left side of the political spectrum challenging Hillary's campaign. One such group, Democratic Courage, argues that "Hillary Clinton has repeatedly given in too easily to pressure - and too often decides her policies not on the basis of what's right, but on the basis of what polls and focus groups tell her. As history shows, that's a dangerous road for Democrats and for the country. We believe there are other candidates who would be stronger leaders and have a much better chance of winning in 2008."

But this "disturbance in the force" that is the Clinton Campaign has me thinking again about what exactly is at the heart of Obama's appeal, his rock-star persona. Is there any there there? Of course, Obama has said ad nauseum that he is the candidate of "change," the one to "turn the page." He is relatively young, clearly smart and charismatic, multi-racial, internationally experienced, hip and good-looking. He has painted himself as the first "post-civil rights" black presidential candidate and has stressed unity and common purpose. Admittedly, one thing that has worked to Obama's advantage in the early phases of the campaign has been the fact that he was relatively unknown and thus people have been able to pour into him whatever political hopes and aspirations they possess. The idea of Obama is certainly great...

And still, I wonder - and am asking - what is it about Obama? Does Obama matter and if so, how and why exactly? For many, he remains elusive. How do we find out?

Maybe his recent speeches contain some clues...
• "A Challenge for Our Times"
• "A Change We Can Believe In"
• "Reclaiming the American Dream"

Or, maybe we can learn something about him by looking at the legislation on Iran he recently introduced in Congress.

Or, perhaps his surprise appearance on Saturday Night Live is revealing?


Or, geez, it seems like writers for every major magazine have an opinion about why Obama might matter. Here's what a few of them have to say:

James Traub, "Is (His) Biography (Our) Destiny" (New York Times Magazine)

Obama’s supporters believe that his life story and the angle of vision it affords him hold out the possibility of curing the harm they would say we have done to ourselves through our indifference to the views of others and through the insularity of a president who seems so incurious about the world. There is thus an emblematic force to Obama’s candidacy.

Larissa MacFarquhar, "The Conciliator," (The New Yorker)

Obama’s detachment, his calm, in small venues, is less professorial than medical—like that of a doctor who, by listening to a patient’s story without emotional reaction, reassures the patient that the symptoms are familiar to him. It is also doctorly in the sense that Obama thinks about the body politic as a whole thing. If you are presenting a problem as something that they have perpetrated on us, then whipping up outrage is natural enough; but if you take unity seriously, as Obama does, then outrage does not make sense, any more than it would make sense for a doctor to express outrage that a patient’s kidney is causing pain in his back. There is also, of course, a racial aspect to this. “If you’re a black male, you don’t have to try hard to impress people with your aggression,” Haywood says. “There was a period when black politicians started to be successful, and it was understood that if you wanted to be mainstream you’d better have gray hair. Doug Wilder was an example. David Dinkins. Mayor Bradley in L.A. To be popular with the broader white electorate, you’d better look safe, you’d better not look angry. Now, I don’t think Barack made a conscious decision to come across this way, but it is a happy accident. Some people may have seen his speech at the Democratic Convention, or heard that he rocked the house, and they may be disappointed, but the mainstream is not ready for a fire-breathing black man.” (It seems likely that, consciously or not, Obama has learned from these examples, and knows that the election of a President Obama wouldn’t mean a revolution in race relations, any more than women prime ministers were a sign of flourishing feminism in South Asia. Bigotry has always made exceptions.)

Matthew Rothschild, "Obama's Appeal" (The Progressive)

Unlike any other candidate in the race, Obama electrifies young people, and his audiences are diverse... His last words were: "Let’s go change the world."

Andrew Sullivan, "Goodbye to All That" (The Atlantic Monthly)

Strictly speaking, Obama is at the tail end of the Boomer generation. But he is not of it.

“Partly because my mother, you know, was smack-dab in the middle of the Baby Boom generation,” he told me. “She was only 18 when she had me. So when I think of Baby Boomers, I think of my mother’s generation. And you know, I was too young for the formative period of the ’60s—civil rights, sexual revolution, Vietnam War. Those all sort of passed me by.”

Obama’s mother was, in fact, born only five years earlier than Hillary Clinton. He did not politically come of age during the Vietnam era, and he is simply less afraid of the right wing than Clinton is, because he has emerged on the national stage during a period of conservative decadence and decline. And so, for example, he felt much freer than Clinton to say he was prepared to meet and hold talks with hostile world leaders in his first year in office. He has proposed sweeping middle-class tax cuts and opposed drastic reforms of Social Security, without being tarred as a fiscally reckless liberal. (Of course, such accusations are hard to make after the fiscal performance of today’s “conservatives.”) Even his more conservative positions—like his openness to bombing Pakistan, or his support for merit pay for public-school teachers—do not appear to emerge from a desire or need to credentialize himself with the right. He is among the first Democrats in a generation not to be afraid or ashamed of what they actually believe, which also gives them more freedom to move pragmatically to the right, if necessary. He does not smell, as Clinton does, of political fear.

TIME magazine, "Obama's Red State Appeal"

Political organizing for Democrats in red states like Nebraska can often feel a bit like leading AA meetings. But that hasn't deterred more than 300 Nebraskans from forming a dozen groups for Senator Barack Obama's presidential campaign, and they aren't the only ones. On Monday, the Obama campaign announced that over 300 Iowa and New Hampshire Republicans had decided to cross party lines to support Obama. At Obama events in Oklahoma, Kentucky, Virginia and Georgia, a good 20% of audiences routinely raise their hands when emcees ask for Republicans in the crowd. A "Republicans for Obama" website has 11 state chapters with 146 members. An August University of Iowa even found Obama running third in the state among Republican candidates, behind Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani but ahead of both Fred Thompson and John McCain. And a national Gallup poll this month also found that nearly as many Republicans like Obama — 39% — than the 43% that dislike him, compared with the 78% of Republicans who held an unfavorable opinion of Hillary Clinton.

• 68 New Hampshire Republicans Back Obama

• 268 Iowa Republicans Back Obama



So, any thoughts out there about whether or not Obama matters?

What's Wrong With the Obama Campaign?

So, what is wrong with Obama's campaign? Why has he not be able to gain traction? Why has he plateaued, or even lost ground recently in some polls? Is it that he is too "intellectual"? Is it that he is glib? Is it the Clinton/Establishment machine steam-rolling along? Is it his so-called inexperience? Is it too much focus on Iowa? Is it his unwillingness to attack Hillary directly and consistently? Is it that "he isn't black enough"? Is it the media annointing Hillary the inevitable nominee four months before the first primary or caucus? Is it something else? Or, is nothing wrong and he is doing quite well, thank you very much, given how far he's come in such a short time?

If you do think something is wrong with Obama's campaign, what is it?

If Barack called you and asked your advice to get his campaign back on track, what would you suggest? Or, is it hopeless?

I have many ideas, but one of the things I'd do first is come up with a better way to talk about and frame Obama's vision. So far, he has spoken consistently, but vaguely, about being the candidate of "change," whatever that is. At some point, he's got to put more flesh on dem bones. Obama has also put out a scattershot of "important policy speeches," many of which, in fact, contain good ideas. But, from the voter's point of view, there has been little coherence to these major speeches or the policies he advocates. Too often, these "major policy speeches" seem defensive, reactionary or, more recently, desperate. He needs to find a visionary phrase that encapsualtes his politic. He needs to be able to offer a brief, but compelling, articulation of the basic values that animate his political vision and which are captured in that visionary political catch-phrase. And, finally, he needs to have an extremely clear, bullet-point list of the "6 planks" (or however many) in this visionary new politic. The policy planks flow from the values that the candidate has laid out as the animating principles of his/her campaign. It needs to be straight, to the point, clear and memorable. There needs to be a framework within which voters can understand, situate, or make sense of the candidate and her/his ideas.

So, for example, I think Obama needs to come up with a slogan, like "the New Deal," or "the Great Society." The Republicans are particularly good at this symbolic aspect of political communication: "No Child Left Behind," the "USA PATRIOT Act," or, hell, even the "Contract With America." I suggest something like "a new American democracy" for Obama. Then, riffing off of that tag-line, he needs to articulate the values that underlie this "new democracy": renewal of the constitutional balance of power between the branches of the government; reaffirmation of due process and democratic oversight of all political institutions; a renewed commitment to diplomacy and a foreign policy based firmly on a respect for human rights, self-determination, and international mutuality; the belief that all people everywhere deserve a free and fair and equal voice in the decisions that affect their lives; a belief that government is not inherently good or bad (that is a conservative bogey-man), but that it depends on who controls it and to what end it is put; a belief that there needs to be a rational balance, or negotiation, between the needs of a dynamic, creative economy and those of the broader community and environment, and that such a view is not "socialistic," or "anti-American," but rational, sane, and compassionate.

And, then, flowing from these basic values, he needs to come up with his boom-boom-boom, 6-plank (or however many)policy platform:

Plank One: "a New American Democracy": full public financing of all campaigns; a national motor-voter registration; basic national voting rights standards, including state of the art machines in each district which employ computer technology, but are also backed by a paper trail; establishment of a national voting holiday; eliminate the electoral college (let the will of the people be expressed simply and directly); an Attorney general who respects the constitution

Plank Two: "a New American Diplomacy": a covenant which articulates a balance between national security and civl liberties, the need for secrecy along with democratic oversight, and renewed commitment to diplomacy and a foreign policy based firmly in a respect for human rights, self-determination, and international mutuality; immediate withdrawl from Iraq, period

Plank Three: "a New American Economy": a national living wage; targeted tax breaks for environmentally-friendly, sustainable new technologies, business models and industries; massive public investment in over-coming urban and rural poverty; reassertion of progressiveness in tax policy (those with more should pay more, those with less should pay less)

Plank Four: "a New American Education": merit pay for teachers; move away from obsession with testing and toward a model that encourages creative teaching and learning, and even experimentation; encourage states to move away from property taxes as the primary vehicle to fund local education systems

Plank Five: "a New American Environmentalism": "the problem of the 21 century is the problem of the environemnt!" ...the greatest challenge to humanity at the dawn of the 21st century is to find a way to live in greater balance with the natural world, to become better stewards, and to avert the environmental catastrophe that appears increasingly imminent... here is how we should start: tax incentives for ecologically friendly business practices and home practices; tough environmental standards with strict enforcement by a truly independent regulatory apparatus; massive public investment in a "Manhattan Project" for alternative energy sources; straight talk about the need to reduce our consumption of material things

Plank Six: "a New American Health System": universal, single-payer health care. period. no bullshit on this one.


This is off the cuff, so it's not polished or anything, but you catch my drift, I hope... He needs to package himself and present his ideas in a more compelling way. This might seem fairly fluffy to you, but in politics it really matters.

Blood-Sucker for President???!!??

Giuliani and Nosferatu, separated at birth? You make the call...

Presidential Music

If you had to pick your Democratic presidential candidate by the music they play at their events, who are you going with:

- Clinton's official campaign theme song is Celine Dion's “You and I (Were Meant to Fly)," which was originally used as a 2004 ad for Air Canada.... She also has used BTO's "You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet" and "Right Here, Right Now" by whoever did that one in the 90s...

- Edwards likes to play John Mellencamp's "This is Our Country," which was originally released as a Ford ad campaign theme song at the same time it came out on JM's CD.

- Kucinich uses an instrumental version of "America the Beautiful." God love the Boy Wonder. He is my folks' representative in Congress and he stands for many very good things, but dag, could he be any less hip?

- Chris Dodd apparently does have a little soul in him. He likes to play, "Get Ready" by the Temptations.

- Joe Biden has used John Fogerty's "Centerfield." Isn't that about a guy who's sitting on the bench but itching to play... Charlie Brown, anyone? Strange choice.

- Bill Richardson has played, "Lean On Me" and "Baby I Love Your Way," performed by Fuerza Juvenil. OK. OK. Not bad. I'd like to hear that version of BILYW...

- Mike Gravel uses John Lennon's "Power to the People." If he weren't so wierd and if this weren't a little too obvious, I'd like this call...

- When we saw Obama recently, they played Ben Harper's tune "Better Way." The sound of the song harkens back to The Beatles, "Tomorrow never Knows," with an Indian-type groove... It is kind of a swirling, rising, plaintive, meditative, prayer, mantra, plea, with righteous lyrics. I've also read that Obama uses Aretha Franklin's "Think!" Moreover, he has been quoted, "I'm old school, so generally, I'm more of a jazz guy, a Miles Davis, a John Coltrane guy, more of a Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder kind of guy. But having said that, I'm current enough that on my iPod I've got a little bit of Jay-Z. I've got a little Beyonce."

Here's the order for me, based on the music. It's really no contest in my ear:
Obama
Dodd
Gravel
Richardson
Kucinich
Edwards
Biden
Clinton

What's your preference? And, if you could choose the theme song for any of the candidates, what would you select?

Mrs. Obama: "Be not afraid"

Here is the intro speech by Michelle Obama from yesterday's event. At the beginning, as the camera pulls in tight, look in the bleachers behind her to the right (just up from the Secret Service guy standing and wearing tan) and you'll see Drea's long dark hair and pink shirt. I'm next to her in a light blue shirt and our friend Les is next to me in light green.

Mrs. Obama has been getting raves for this speech, which has been plastered around the internet...

See also:
"Meet Michelle Obama" (video)
Michelle Obama on Countdown w/ Olbermann (video)
"Make-Up's Too Much Work for Michelle"
"Michelle Obama Adds New Role to Balancing Act"
"Michelle Obama's Career Time-out"
"Michelle Obama's Front-Page Move"
"'A Girl from the South Side' Talks"
"Michelle Obama: Campaigning Her Way"
"Michelle Obama Embraces her Husband's Campaign"

Obama-mania!

We went to see Barack Obama today in Council Bluffs, Iowa, where he spoke mainly about foreign policy issues. The great thing about the Iowa caucus system is that you have direct access to the candidates. We sat ten yards from the stage in a middle school gymnasium with about 250 people around us. When you can feel the politics in this way, you naturally come out jazzed about the process and democracy.

We were all very impressed with Barack and his wife, Michelle. They are both extremely charismatic and reasonable. Of course, we heard a stump speech, so here and there we would have liked a few more details, but overall we came away excited about the prospect of Obama as president. In his prepared remarks, Barack countered the criticism he has received recently over his foreign policy pronouncements in a very clear and fairly compelling way. He stressed a new approach to foreign policy that is refocused on the 9/11 culprits in Afghanistan and Pakistan and away from Iraq, a policy that is not only based on military might, but also on diplomacy, foreign aid to help countries combat poverty, and an openness and respect for the American people as citizens and, ultimately, the overseers of the nation. After his canned remarks, he opened it up to questions from the audience. The whole event lasted about an hour or so.

Here are some of the photos I took:


Obama in action...




Barack working the crowd...




Drea after she shook Obama's hand:
"I'll never wash this hand again as long as I live!"


Drea and Michelle Obama. Mrs. Obama was impressive. She'd make
a great First Lady and, hell, probably a pretty darn good President
herself...


I always like the various buttons that come out with each presidential cycle. I got this one from a woman outside the school after the event...


Here is a related article by the NYTimes:
NYTimes: "Obama Takes Sharper Tone to the Trail"

Would an Obama presidency be good for prosperity? Buffett thinks so...
Bloomberg article

For more information on Obama's campaign, to find out where he stands on the issues, to get involved or donate some money, go here:
Obama '08