Change has come to America
There are no words adequate to describe the feeling this night has left me with.
Though this is technically my ‘first’ election, it really felt like my third. I watched through the eyes of a child-transitioning-to-teenager as Bush was elected in 2000, and again as a 15-year-old who had actively participated in Howard Dean’s campaign prior to Kerry’s nomination. Now, at 19, not only have I had the sincere pleasure of voting for a man whose ideologies I feel truly passionate about, but I – WE, have all witnessed history tonight.
My emotions really weren’t quite sure what they wanted to do with themselves. Initially, I was in complete and utter shock, and the banner on the screen declaring Obama President didn’t compute – it took me a few seconds to scream. I saw the hundreds of thousands of people on TV cheering, laughing, crying – all things I did in the space of about ten minutes. A friend and I ran outside of the building we were in and just started jumping up and down in the parking lot. When I saw my roommate, we didn’t say anything – just embraced. And I’m not quite sure when I made the decision in my mind, but I am going to be in D.C. on January 20th to witness President Obama (God it feels so good to say that!) get sworn in. I’m going to be there with several friends from school, plus the beautiful and talented Elysa Montfort, who is up at some outrageous hour of the morning across the pond at Oxford watching Prop 8 results with me.
Ladies and gentlemen, I cannot express how unbelievably lucky we all are to be here tonight. If anyone had told me four years ago tonight what I would be witnessing in 2008… Well, suffice to say, I wouldn’t have even been able to imagine just how powerful this night would turn out to be. Looking back, I wasn’t even able to properly imagine it during the primaries. I’m not even sure it’s really sunk in yet – that may come tomorrow, or it may come on January 20th.
So, on behalf of myself and Elysa, I want to offer my congratulations: To Barack and Michelle Obama and their family – The Bidens – To America… and last but not least, congratulations to all of us.
Debate… maybe?
EDIT: News has just broken that John McCain will participate in tonight’s debate.
What an interesting few days it has been. First $700 BILLION is proposed for our bailout plan, and now John McCain is playing hard-to-get in reference to tonight’s scheduled debate in Mississippi. As most will know well by now, the senator has said he will not participate in tonight’s debate unless a consensus is reached in Washington regarding a solution for the economic crisis. That’s not even the most annoying thing about the whole situation – McCain has vowed to suspend his campaign until the crisis is ironed out, and even called on Obama to suspend his as well.
Sorry, John, but we’re only weeks out from the election here – how the hell are people (especially undecided voters) supposed to learn anything about you in these last crucial weeks if you were to really suspend your campaign for any period of time? Furthermore, if you end up being President of the country, you’d better be used to dealing with multiple issues at once. There’s no reason you can’t show up for a debate, which the University of Mississippi has spent MILLIONS preparing for. Letterman is being a little bitch about McCain canceling his appearance, however, I might delicately point out that standing the country up is a bit more serious of a matter.
So, what does this all boil down to? McCain pulling a cheap ploy to look like a hero. “I’ll cancel a couple of appearances to go back to Washington to save the world.” But wait, there is an answer! Tina Fey – I mean… Sarah Palin, his VP! I mean, I know she doesn’t know what the VP does but I’m pretty sure the VP is supposed to stand in for the President when he is unable to complete his job.
Silly me, I forgot. Sarah Palin isn’t really there to break the glass ceiling – she’s there to serve as a pretty little mantle piece, to stand behind John McCain and smile and clap and make cute little jokes about being a hockey mom to her constituents. I’m not sure she’d know what to do if she were debating with Obama.
Ladies and Gentlemen, we have a nominee…!
We return from our terrible lack of updating to join in the celebrations as Barack Obama officially won enough delegates this evening to secure the Democratic Presidential nomination. (Yes, we’re celebrating – it’s been fairly clear whose side we’ve been leaning toward this primary season, right?)
Obama’s win was certainly expected, so why are we so excited? I suppose we could purely cite the fact that our nominee of choice will definitely be facing John McCain, but it is so much more than that. Regardless of political affiliation, I think we can all feel extremely fortunate that today we have witnessed history in the making. What happened today will be going down in the books our children will be reading tomorrow, and considering the grim happenings of the past eight years, Obama’s nomination is a breath of fresh air and a gust of hope for a better tomorrow.
Of course, there is really no shock that Hillary Clinton didn’t concede tonight – I didn’t think she would. As I watched CNN this evening, I was a bit perplexed to see that so many of the political analysts were flabbergasted by this fact. Of course she’s not going to give in the second the official victory has been reached – she’s spent the past weeks and months going strong despite the best numbers being against her. For the record, I don’t intend for this statement to be a scathing one towards her – Clinton has clearly demonstrated her ambition to be President, and I don’t doubt her ability for the position. My main problem with Hillary these days is that she has now morphed into a populist against a system, which she previously endorsed when she thought she’d have the nomination in the bag. Despite the shortcomings of her campaign, I would not expect or even be offended by the fact that she didn’t resign – it’ll come in the next few days, folks, so let’s relax and look to the months between now and November. Hillary Clinton is not enemy number one, is essentially the gist of my message.
There has also been renewed talk about the “dream ticket”, after Clinton stated today that she would consider being Obama’s VP. I’m personally not sure how well an Obama/Clinton ticket would go over considering the strong disenfranchisement many people have with the Clintons, but if the Obama campaign has proven anything, it’s that new ideas can certainly trump the status quo of Washington politics, so we shall see what fruits will bear of this ticket, if it does occur.
For now, there will be no bitching, because I for one, am ECSTATIC that we have finally arrived at a conclusion at the end of the primaries, and won’t have to wait for this mess to drag out until the convention in August. I raise my glass to Barack Obama for the amazing campaign he has led, and for a great presidency I’m sure he will lead.
John Edwards FOR THE WIN!
YES! OMG, YES! John Edwards is endorsing Barack Obama! *Takes a solid 5 minute break to squee like a child on Christmas morning*
Over AIM 10 minutes ago:
ElysaMNFF: YES!
Laura: YES
Laura: JOHN EDWARDS IS THE MAN
ElysaMNFF: 4 SRS
ElysaMNFF: OMG
ElysaMNFF: PWN
Laura: I love how
Laura: all you had to say was
Laura: “YES!”
Laura: And I knew automatically what you were talking about.
This is huge news, and let me explain why:
i. First of all, Edwards’ endorsement– no matter to whom it went– was/is hugely significant. Edwards has a massive following of extremely loyal populist/working class voters. This has been evidenced by the fact that, despite that Edwards dropped out of the race ages ago, he continues to garner votes in the primaries. His following is so loyal that they vote for him even when he is no longer viable, or even on the ticket. Translation: Edwards holds the hearts of millions of important Democratic voters who have refused to vote for either Clinton or Obama up to this point. Now, that’s set to change. By endorsing Obama, Edwards is releasing his constituents to vote for Obama, is in fact encouraging them to support Obama, and with such an intensely devout following this is essentially guaranteeing that they will. And mark my words. They will.
ii. It is also about the type of voters they are. Edwards, like Clinton, runs on an extremely populist message. He focuses on poverty, healthcare, welfare, et al. Therefore, his target crowd are middle/working class, blue collar Americans– the same target audience as Hillary Clinton, and the one crowd that Obama has had enormous trouble winning over, which is essentially why he lost West Virginia last night by such a massive margin: 90% of West Virginia consists of the middle/lower working class. So Edwards’ endorsement is going to be huge in closing that gap for Obama. It’s going to bring those types of voters over into Obama’s camp, giving him much more support in practically the only real electorate weakness he had (past tense now!). This is terrible news for Hillary Clinton, for the obvious reasons, but also because Edwards’ voice has so much credibility among Clinton’s strongest supporters that by supporting Obama, Edwards will not only bring him more support, but will potentially divert support from Clinton by provoking blue collar voters to rethink their choice of candidate.
iii. Thirdly, this comes at the perfect time for Obama. He just suffered a crushing defeat in West Virginia last night, so Edwards’ timing is choice and strategic. Both the media’s and the nation’s attention is going to be diverted from Obama’s loss and refocused on Edwards’ endorsement. In a political system that (unfortunately, but nonetheless) relies heavily on momentum and media/mass perception, the timing truly could not have been better. The West Virginia defeat story will be old hat within a matter of 24 hours as this Edwards story dilutes the news cycle. It reinforces Obama’s stance as the front-runner, reinstates a little lost certainty in his ability to pick up working class support, and reaffirms his campaign as being the stronger, more credible and able campaign to face McCain in the November General Elections.
iv. Lastly, when an ex-candidate formally endorses another candidate, he/she is also formally releasing their delegates. Meaning, the 19 Superdelegates that Edwards had won in the early primaries are now free to support someone else. And who do you think they’ll support if the candidate they were formally supporting has endorsed Obama? One guess.
Not to mention, of course, that Clinton worked endlessly to garner Edwards’ endorsement, so his decision to support her rival is more than a little embarrassing. No matter how you slice it, it’s utterly fantastic news for the Obama camp, meaning it’s utterly fantastic news for me and Laura. Let it be known that Wednesday, May 14, is officially some manner of National Holiday.
I’m certain I’ll have more on this later (such as what this could mean for a possible Obama/Edwards ticket), but in my unhindered excitement the threads of coherent thought are slipping speedily away.
/Elysa
Are We a Democracy or Not?
Since Clinton’s rather embarrassing defeat in North Carolina and her near-defeat in the state of Indiana (a state in which she was poised to win by a margin of 8% or greater– HA), Hillary has lost some substantial Superdelegate support and has been on the receiving end of many calls to bow out of the Democratic race.
Now, let me make something abundantly clear: I do not like Hillary Clinton (as a politician/law-maker, that is). I find her polarizing, near-sighted, and utterly lacking in the ability to compromise during a time in American history when bipartisan cooperation is no longer an ideologue’s plea but a necessity. She’s part Populist (i.e., economically liberal) and I have some strong Libertarian leanings (i.e., economically conservative). Populists bother me immensely. They rally for freedom and civil liberties then endorse government control and regulation– over a fundamentally capitalist system, no less. Fail. So for me, personally, Clinton is faaaar from the ideal candidate. In many ways, I find her just as unappealing as John McCain.
But to those who are shouting for her to drop out: SHUT.UP.KTHX.
I mean, seriously. Let’s be objective, people. Let’s allow democracy to run its course. You don’t have to like her. Again, I certainly don’t. But she has huge masses of support behind her, millions upon millions of American citizens have voted for her, her campaign continues to raise money, and Obama cannot mathematically reach the necessary delegate count to be the official nominee either. Let the god damned woman run, would you? Is this not what the United States is about? Hard-fought elections and exceedingly tough political campaigns? If we can’t endure the strain of democracy at work, who the hell are we? If difficult campaign seasons aren’t worth your time and patience, perhaps you’re living in the wrong fucking country. Do your history homework. Just a thought.
And if appealing to one’s inner ideology isn’t enough, look at it from a strategic standpoint: Clinton is going to win the West Virginian and Kentucky primaries by large margins. 10% or more, possibly by as much as 18%-20% in West Virginia, because she does well in low-income, working class states (i.e., the Populist crowd). These primaries are mere days/weeks away. If Clinton dropped out of the race, what would that mean for the Obama campaign? THINK, people. Our brains can be miraculous little things. He would be losing by huge margins to a ghost candidate. One to two weeks isn’t enough time to close those wide margins and win in those states between now and then. So if she bowed out, the Obama campaign’s credibility would take a beating. “How can he lose to a candidate who has already ceded the election? If he can’t beat Clinton when she isn’t even running anymore, do we trust him to beat McCain and his entire Republican political machine in November?” I find this sort of logic ridiculous and not even deserving of the term “logic”, but unfortunately that is undeniably the inane path of thought that many– the media included– would follow should Hillary drop out now. Therefore, it could be legitimately argued that her bowing out could weaken the Democratic Party by making their supporters second-guess Obama’s validity and capability.
Do I personally buy this argument? Meh, partly, partly not. I believe that is indeed what huge portions of Democratic voters would wonder, but I have reservations as to how detrimental it would truly be. I don’t think it would deter them enough to keep them from voting for him in November. But it is a valid point that a lot of political scientists are arguing.
It’s been an exciting but obnoxious primary season, I agree, and I can’t wait for the real General Election campaigning to begin either. But guys, there’s roughly three weeks left. Three weeks’ worth of primaries, then the Democratic Convention in August. The end is near. So for the sake of all that is holy and in the name of both ideology and strategy, let’s shut our pie holes and let Clinton run her damned race.
/Elysa
Nothing More than Clubs
Let’s talk about the Michigan/Florida controversy.
2008 Election History 101: The Democratic Party set guidelines and rules for how the states are allowed to carry out their primaries. Some of the rules were small and simple, such as “the candidates’ names must be listed in alphabetical order on the ballot,” and others were far more significant and meaningful, such as “you may not hold your primary before the date ______.” The date was different for most states, but each state received a window of time in which they were allowed to hold theirs. Each Party does this– Republicans too– and not just this season, but every election season. These rules are set down by Party officials, and for good reason. And the reason that the Parties tell the states when they can and cannot hold their primaries is because political strategy demands that some states vote before others. For instance: California cannot go first. They cannot be the first or even among the first to hold their primary, because it is such a huge state with so many delegates, that if it went first, the winner of California’s primary would receive loads of media attention, lots of support from delegates, and tons of money, on the notion that “well, if they can win California they’re pretty well set to win the rest.” And this is not always the case, obviously, so an early win in California would give democratic voters a false sense of who their candidate will be, thereby surprising and disenfranchising them later in the election season if the front-runner ends up being someone else. And what happens when voters are disenfranchised? They stop voting. Which, of course = bad for the Party.
So there is a method to the madness. Each Party sets these rules in place for specific and politically meaningful reasons.
So what happened this season to fuck it all up? Well, Michigan and Florida expressed their desire to break these rules and hold their primaries much earlier than allowed. The DNC (Democratic National Committee) told them– “Look, if you go through with this, we’re not counting your votes. Your delegates won’t be counted. I don’t know how else to phrase it. You’ll be holding your primary for nothing.” Like jackasses, both states decided to call the DNC’s bluff, and went through with it anyway, holding their primaries months before schedule. This threw off the Democrats’ election season, forcing other states to re-schedule their primaries, costing the Democratic Party money and resources. So what did they (the DNC) do? Exactly as they warned: they didn’t count their votes.
And now Florida and Michigan are “outraged” like little toddlers who’ve had their gummy bears taken away for misbehaving. “My God, how dare you do what you said you’d do?!” And they’re calling out the DNC as being undemocratic, or better yet, anti-American, because they’re “disrespecting and disregarding the traditions of democracy which demand that all votes be counted.” Hillary Clinton is eating this up, because she would do well in both states, meaning that if the DNC folds under pressure and decided to count Florida’s and Michigan’s votes, and/or Florida and Michigan are permitted to hold another primary, it will do her campaign a lot of favors. It’s a Hail Mary for the candidate who just got her ass kicked in both North Carolina and Indiana last night (yes, Indiana too, because she only won by 2% and was supposed to win by huge margins, meaning her “I’m more electable than Obama in November” argument is null).
Here’s what I think, because did you really expect me not to tell you? 
SHUT THE FUCK UP. You broke the god damned rules. Get over it. It’s not like you weren’t warned multiple times. It’s not like anyone forced you to go outside your own Party’s guidelines and sabotage other states’ primary schedules. Secondly, it isn’t undemocratic not to count your votes, for two reasons. First of all, you made the choice not to have your votes counted by being pompous disobeying douche bags. I.e., it isn’t undemocratic not to count your vote when you asked for your vote not to be counted.
Secondly, these are the primaries, people. These are the elections to determine Parties’ nominees for the presidential election in November. No one is taking away your Constitutional right to vote in the General Election. No one is telling you that, come November, you won’t have a voice. These.are.primaries. And what are primaries? Primaries are Party-sponsored, Party-regulated, and Party-run elections to decide who best represents their Party. So when you flip the bird to your Party and decide not to accept the Party’s rules in the Party’s– not nation’s!– elections, THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS. And there is nothing undemocratic about it, because the Party system isn’t written into our Constitution, isn’t even a democratic ideal or principle, it is an informal invention and tradition. There are no laws or rights for Political Parties in the U.S. because they weren’t supposed to fucking exist in the first place. Therefore, Political Parties are legally and rightfully allowed to conduct themselves however they see fit. So this controversy over not counting two states’ primaries because they broke their own rules is no controversy at all. If Florida and Michigan don’t like it, they can leave the Party. No one’s stopping them.
Political Parties are like clubs. When the club’s president tells you that “X” is not acceptable behavior during club meetings, and you do “X” anyway, what the fuck do you expect? “ZOMG, u be tellin me not to do dis, den I be doin it n u gets upsetz?! Who culd of new?!” Or would you go about whining about principles of democracy? LULZ, shut up, it has nothing to do with that, you’re still going to get to help determine who will be the president… Just not who will be your party’s nominee. Why? Because you… fucked over your party. Logical deductions FOR THE WIN.
I think the only reason people feel as if they have any right to throw a hot little shitfit over this is because they bear the painful misconception that political parties are state-regulated/based in law, when they’re not. I mean, really, the Democratic and Republican parties don’t even have to hold primary elections at all. The Party officials could just meet around a table, flip a coin or play Pin the Tail on the Right Candidate, and choose that way, and it would be perfectly fucking okay. Just like if you joined a club at school, and they told you, “sure, you can join, but just so you know– we don’t eat cherries. If you eat cherries here, you’re out.” Fine! And if you have a problem with that, guess what amazing little option you have? LEAVE. When you choose to join an informal club such as a political party, you are choosing to respect and abide by the terms and conditions. This isn’t the fucking government. If the government refused to count your vote, or if the government told you that you aren’t allowed to eat cherries, that would be a HUGE fucking problem. Seriously. I would personally revolt. Yes, even over the cherries. Don’t mess with the maraschinos. But this isn’t the government! This is an informal group of crazies who rally around half-baked political ideals and spam your inboxes with petulant little bits of propaganda! That’s it! Nothing more!
And this is partly why I fucking despise Political Parties. Which is another post for another day, but yeah, I don’t do Parties. Hence half of the reason I registered as an Independent. Because I chose not to join. But you know what I didn’t do? I didn’t choose to join and then bitch about the terms involved in joining.
That’s Florida’s and Michigan’s job.
-Elysa
Some Catch-Up
We interrupt our normal programming to bring you all a game of catch-up here at Political Bitches. Unfortunately, do to outside forces (*cough*midterms*cough*) this hasn’t been as kept up to date as we would like it to be, so let’s have a little news medley, shall we?
1. NY Governor Spitzer is caught in a prostitution scandal. These are always the types of stories I hate getting out about politicians, and it’s for the exact reason everyone else loves them getting out: people have an odd fascination with knowing what their public officials are doing with their private lives. Here’s an idea for those people who only care that he had *gasp* sex out of wedlock: he’s put his wife and children into an absolutely TERRIBLE position, and not only does this make him a jackass, it makes him a hypocrite. Generally, it’s not a good idea to buy sex and then go after prostitutes, Governor. I don’t give a damn that he risked his own health and career – the real problem here is he has exposed his family and the young woman (‘Kristin’ as she is known) to a great deal of public scrutiny. So let’s actually try focusing on that issue, as opposed to just being shell-shocked by the act, kay?
2. Obama: “I don’t know how somebody who is in second place is offering the vice presidency to the person who is first place.” I know a few people seem to feel this provides necessary reason to call Obama out for “arrogance”, but I don’t think that’s the case at all. No one is perfect in this race, but the Clinton camp just keeps on trying to use more and more tactics in order to bring about a benefit, when in reality, it’s just adding to the separation of the Democratic party. Sure, Obama is confident in his current lead, but at least when he was behind in delegates, he wasn’t offering lesser positions to Clinton.
3. Wright and Ferraro: Not helping. Guess what? This isn’t a color race. STFU. You’re only giving stupid people ridiculous things to say about these candidates because you can’t stop flapping your mouths for two seconds.
4. Sending Dick Cheney to the Middle East to lower oil prices. Riiiiight, let’s send Mr. Halliburton to convince OPEC to boost output. Furthermore, according to this merry band of shrubs, our tanking economy is to be blamed on the increase in oil prices! But never mind that war we spend millions of dollars on every day – no, that couldn’t possibly have anything to do with our economy or the high oil prices.
5. House supports revision the Federal Intelligence Surveillance Act. And of course, Bush isn’t happy about this, but what else would we expect? As a point of interest, this is the first time the House has held a secret meeting since 1983. Under these revisions, telecommunications companies can be sued for surveillance without warrant, which of course, would be getting rid of another ‘essential tool on terror’. Maybe one day we can wiretap and water board at the same time – double wammies, take that terrorists!!!!!
Laura
3/4/08: Ohio, Texas, Vermont, Rhode Island
As of the moment I type this post, here are the current reports on tonights primaries and caucus:
Ohio: Clinton/McCain projected winners.
Texas: Clinton/McCain projected winner.
Vermont: Obama/McCain projected winners.
Rhode Island: Clinton/McCain projected winners.
At this point, here’s the standing on delegates:
Clinton: 1,324
Obama: 1,411
McCain: 1,205
As an outspoken Obama supporter, I’m not extremely shocked at this turn of events, but I’m not happy with it either. I know the point of this blog isn’t to pout and whine that our favorite candidates don’t get the big win all the time, but hear me out: part of my problem with the way this has turned out actually has nothing to do with my admiration of Obama. Once again, the Republicans have shown the Democrats up by lining up behind one candidate early in the game – instead, liberals are still split fairly even down the middle, and it’s this kind of division that could seriously lose us this election.
I know the general word of mouth now is that no GOP is going to get into office because everyone has become so disenfranchised by the Republicans because of Bush. There is definitely truth to that statement, however, there was a lot of this same sentiment in 2004, and who has been in office the last four years? Oh right, the guy everyone hated on then too.
If I truly thought Clinton could snag an election against McCain, I also wouldn’t be half as bothered – but I truly don’t. The problem with the caucus and primary system is it allows for a lot of trickery on both sides of the aisle, and a significant amount of people can’t even take part in them. Closed primary state? Independents are about as important as minors. Open primary state? People can cross over party lines to vote in swarms for the “weaker candidate” in order to secure a win for their preferred one. And the caucus system? Since when does it make any sense to let so much ride on states like Iowa, which don’t even come close to representing a majority of the American people? This is not to say that people don’t get to vote for candidates they’re passionate about, but there is certainly room to call it a flawed system. There’s also just the fact that a lot of people only vote in the general election because it’s the only “important” one.
You can expect updates on this post as more news rolls in… Unfortunately for Obama supporters, it doesn’t look like it’s going to be good news.
UPDATE: As we all know, Clinton made a comeback last night, however, it’s very important to remember that this race is still up in the air. The big problem with that? It will go to the convention floor in August barring some miraculous happening in Pennsylvania. But why does this matter right now, you may ask? I’ve detected some confusion in the comments about delegates and why this matters because Obama is still “ahead” with 1,520 to Clinton’s 1,424. Besides the fact that this difference is considered neck-and-neck in Washington, there’s no guarantee that the super delegates they currently have won’t jump ship should there be no clear “winner” after all the primaries and caucuses are finished. This means they choose the nominee based on their own principals.
Laura
