November 6, 2008 archive

Four at Four

  1. Democrats lower expectations reports The Hill. Well that sure didn’t take long and the usual suspects speak up. “The country must be governed from the middle,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said. Pelosi she will emphasize “civility” and “fiscal responsibility” in the 111th Congress. While for his part, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said “There is a wave of hope that swept the country … not a mandate for any hope or ideology, but a mandate to get things done.” The usual lame excuse of not having the votes in the Senate have already emerged as well. The point of politics is to find the votes. That’s Reid’s job.

    And the NY Times chimes in with Obama aides tamp down expectations.

    President-elect Barack Obama has begun an effort to tamp down what his aides fear are unusually high expectations among his supporters, and will remind Americans regularly throughout the transition that the nation’s challenges are substantial and will take time to address…

    While the energy of his supporters could be a tremendous political asset as Mr. Obama works to enact his agenda after taking office in January, his aides said they were looking to temper hopes that he would be able to solve the nation’s problems or fully reverse Bush administration policies quickly and easily

    They said they would discourage the traditional yardstick for measuring the accomplishments of a new president – the first 100 days. Mr. Obama told an interviewer toward the end of his campaign that it was more appropriate to talk about the first 1,000 days.

    The LA Times adds Downturn and deficit could hinder Obama’s economic plan. “Barack Obama was elected with a mandate for economic change on a scale that hasn’t been seen in decades… But insiders say Obama may have to mediate between opposing camps on his own economic team. Moderates are cautioning against stimulus efforts that might sharply increase the budget deficit, while others are urging the kinds of aggressive measures associated with President Franklin Roosevelt.”

    But despite the challenges ahead, here is some potentially good news. McClatchy Newspapers report Big business prepares for a less friendly Washington. They’re on the defensive.

Four at Four continues with news of Iraq and Afghanistan, Sarah Palin as senator, High speed rail in California, and a bonus story about the potential for White House slumber parties.

RNC Chair Calls Obama Mandate “Preposterous”

A perfect example of what Budhy wrote about in Pundits Are Trying to Steal  the Election: Push Back!! yesterday.

RNC Chair Mike Duncan tries immediately to quash the idea of an Obama mandate from Tuesdays election, while Howard Dean revs up the “bipartisanship” meme.

The charade continues. Both are trying to “own” the election. At your expense.

November 6, 2008 – 4 min 52 sec

Party chiefs reflect on day after

Howard Dean and Mike Duncan spar over the Obama presidency

The State of the Blogosphere.

One vision has been achieved. We have ousted the most horrific set of thugs, criminals and liars that ever inhabited the White House and prevented their proxy and his doxie from occupying it.

I say we….because between the elections of 2006 and the election of 2008 there is no longer any doubt that the blogs, that the citizens who post on the blogs, were an undeniable influence on both elections. Particularly this one. We have ended one “world,” now it is time to create a new one.

We have power…with power comes responsibility.

Our first responsibility is to use our power wisely. And, effectively. That means (to the extent possible with herds of cats/bloggers) settling on some form of broad agenda. Having some purpose in mind. Agreeing, in the broad strokes necessary to be inclusive and thus effective, on what we want to accomplish and then working together to accomplish it.

In other words, having a shared vision and working to achieve it.

We are, at least to some extent, newly directionless. One mission achieved, one vision achieved…and hundreds of thousands if not millions of bloggers waiting for a new mission, a new vision. A percentage of those (it remains to be seen what percentage) will just fall in behind Obama, which is by no means a bad thing. We can certainly all agree on what he has stated are his three main points of emphasis: Getting out of Iraq, health care, and Climate Crisis. Obviously the economy is now on that list. I would add disinfecting the government, the DOJ for example simply MUST be cleaned out of the politicized vermin that have come to inhabit it, and there simply must be some accountability to do so. Or we will never get anywhere. So to SOME extent, our tasks are clear. How we achieve them however is far from clear. Do we just follow Obama’s lead blindly? Of course not, that would not be responsible. HOW we achieve these things, and as Prop 8 points out, the many other things that we need to achieve is now as much of a question, if not more so, as we currently inhabit a ‘target rich’ environment for things that need changing, as what we want to achieve.

We have shown that we have influence. Can the blogsphere now show leadership?

Photobucket

Link!

Let Me Correct the Record One Last Time

(Yes, I know.  I promised to go away.  Well . . . I lied.  I am a Republican after all.  Deal with it!)

Well, surprise, surprise!  Even though I lost the election and would have been perfectly happy to just fade away, the liberal media just can’t let it go.  They’re whinin’ about my clothes again even though I already dealt with that.  And they’re pickin’ on me again about talkin’ to Sarkozy (also dealt with already).  

But now things are gettin’ so ridiculous the Fox News Channel is lyin’ about me too!  Gosh darn it, with friends like that who needs Keith Olbermann?  

What Americans Rejected This Week: The President as Warlord

We’ve heard a lot of speculation about what this year’s presidential election supposedly means. Were Americans simply voting for Barack Obama, a charismatic peacemaker with a worker-friendly tax plan? Or were they also voting against something, and if so, what? Republican incompetence? Neocon arrogance? The Iraq War? The economic meltdown? Negative campaigning?

After reading georgia10’s front-page story “22%” on Daily Kos — specifically, after looking at the New York Times maps she embedded — I think we can figure out what most Americans were voting against in a single glance, by seeing who embraced Obama and, more important, who rejected him.

Does this map look familiar? If you’ve read my Daily Kos diaries on David Hackett Fischer’s Albion’s Seed, it should.

The Road Forward

Note:  I normally always post here at Docudharma first, but yesterday I ran into problems with my youtube code.  Took until this morning to resolve it with On The Bus’s kind assistance.  Thanks OTB.  ðŸ™‚

I laughed, I cried, I laughed as I cried.

Congratulations America.  Congratulations President Obama.  And congratulations Docudharma, DailyKos and the Netroots.

I have prayed for a legitimate reason to be proud of my country.  That prayer has been answered.

Bob Dylan – Shooting Star

Open Thread

 

White, wheat or sourdough thread?

Our Long National Nightmare is Over…and now…

Tuesday night we were all fixated to the polls. We all cried (or at least I know I did – it was John Lewis that broke my dam on that front). I even cried yesterday, and I wasn’t the only one. Here in Blue Connecticut there were many tear stained faces, many relieved looks, even a pervasive, genuine happiness.

I bought the paper with Obama’s picture on it and the caption, “Mr. President” at the grocery store. The young woman ringing me up said, “I’m really glad he won yesterday.”

Obama’s remade the electoral map. Now it is time for us to remake our ideological maps – or specifically, I would advocate, completely rip those maps into shreds and start over.

Meet “Obama’s Mama’s Uncle”

Just caught this, a Proud Great Uncle of a Nephew to become the 44th President of the United States!

Jon Payne, Barack Obama’s great uncle, watched the election coverage with great anticipation.  He was particularly moved when he heard the acceptance speech.

Docudharma Times Thursday November 6

The Regional Republican Party

What A Shame

Not Really  




Thursday’s Headlines:

Hispanic Activists Cite an Uptick in Threats of Violence

Ceasefire under threat as six die in Gaza raid

British interpreter Daniel James found guilty of spying for Iran

Turkey accuses Duchess over orphanages ‘smear’

EU to embrace Croatia despite reports of gang crime and corruption

Adventures on the Great Wall

China, Taiwan expand ties via trade

What Obama means for Africa

Kenya celebrates Obama’s success

Mexican crash could set back drug war

For Obama, No Day to Bask as He Starts to Build His Team for Transition



By PETER BAKER and JEFF ZELENY

Published: November 5, 2008


President-elect Barack Obama began moving Wednesday to build his administration and make good on his ambitious promises to point the United States in a different direction, as his commanding victory reordered the American political landscape and transfixed much of the nation and the world.

A day after becoming the first African-American to capture the presidency, Mr. Obama announced a transition team and prepared to name an ally as his White House chief of staff in his first steps toward assuming power. President Bush vowed to work closely with Mr. Obama to ensure a smooth transition in the first handover since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

Critics alarmed as Medvedev reveals plan to extend Russian presidential term to six years

• Putin expected to benefit from constitutional reform

• New nuclear missile site to ‘neutralise’ US shield


Luke Harding in Moscow

The Guardian, Thursday November 6 2008


President Dmitry Medvedev moved yesterday to entrench the current Russian leadership’s grip on power by proposing a presidential term that would extend the stint in office from four to six years.

Medvedev said the extension was necessary to guarantee stability and help Russia deal with massive global challenges. But critics said the proposal was further evidence of Russia’s alarming and rapid drift towards authoritarianism.

In his first state of the nation address, Medvedev also said he was deploying nuclear missiles in western Russia to “neutralise” the Pentagon’s missile defence system – and lambasted the US for its “arrogant course” and “unilateralism”.

 

USA

U.S. to cut troop levels in Iraq this month

The cut to 14 brigades comes at least two months earlier than planned

Associated Press

WASHINGTON – Spurred on by a continued decline in violence, the U.S. military will reduce its presence in Iraq to 14 combat brigades this month – at least two months earlier than originally planned.

Military officials say two brigades from the 101st Airborne Division will leave Iraq this month and only one will be replaced. A brigade is roughly 3,500 soldiers. Initially the 3rd Brigade, 101st Division, was scheduled to leave this month, and the 2nd Brigade, 101st Division, was to leave by February.

A Modest Proposal.

Joseph Smith

In response to the ever-reasonable Proposition 8 in California, which restored TRADITIONAL marriage as it has been defined for thousands of years (and was mostly funded by the Mormon Church of Latter Day Saints), I hereby call upon the gay community to promote the equally reasonable and Jesusesque “Proposition P”, which would restore TRADITIONAL prophets, as THEY have been defined for thousands of years.

Proposition P, or The Defense of Religious Leaders Who Did Not Wear Magical Underwear, would change the California constitution so that only prophets identified BEFORE 1820 would be recognized.

Muse in the Morning

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Muse in the Morning

State of the Onion I

Art Link

Pencil and Wax

Words

The words take control

demand to be written

I help guide them

dress them up

slim them down

searching for

clarity, brevity, emotion

hopefully all three

I’m not sure

where they come from

perhaps from the pains

and joys of my life

The words are the blood

in the vessels of my mind

just as feelings are

the blood feeding my soul

Is there any separation

between me and the words?

–Robyn Elaine Serven

–January 10, 2006

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