Is Obama the Messiah? We have all witnessed the worshipful media coverage Barack Obama has been getting the last few months. The stories are endless: Obama saves baby from drowning, Obama teaches Man to fish, Obama saves Earth from giant asteroid. Well, now Timothy Noah at slate has started "The Obama Messiah Watch" during which he will chronicle the Media's proclamations of Obama Redeemer and Savior. Stay tuned, I am sure there is plenty of messianic fawning to last for months.

Labels: obama, politics

  ¶ 9:14 AM 0 comments

  Some thoughts on erosion of empire Juan Cole:

Hillary Rodham Clinton made the reasonable point that George W. Bush has a responsibility to get the US back out of Iraq and end the quagmire by January 2009, instead of bequeathing this disaster to his successor.

Unfortunately, Cheney, who really decides these things, thinks the US will be there for decades. Of course in the 1940s Winston Churchill thought Britain would be in India for decades. Dreams of empire die hard; empire, that goes away quickly.

Having failed so consistently and tragically as Bush already has, how bad of a mess will he actually leave for the next administration?

If a Republican wins in 2008 (which, on paper, is not likely) how will he or she deal with the wreckage left by Bush? Will it be in a transparent and intelligent manner? Or will the Cycle of Denial spiral on?

If a Democrat wins in 2008, how easily can American standing in the world be restored to where it was under Clinton? (this question is only directed at a Democrat, because I believe electing ANY Republican would do only negative things for global perceptions of the U S of A) Will truly progressive ideas (universal health care, in-sourcing IT jobs to rural areas, fair trade) finally triumph over old liberalism (bloated welfare, Big Farm subsidies, high tariffs)?

One thing I know is absolutely certain. Joe Lieberman, a senator who thinks himself better than organized parties and their institutions, will cease to have any voice. This is because the Democrats, defending only 12 seats in the Senate, will be able to go for an absolute kill versus the 20+ seats Republicans will be defending. Barring a major change in the national political climate, the Democrats will have a solid majority in the Senate, and Joe Lieberman's vote will not even be worth the electricity used to cast it. And the Democrats will have no need for him, and will strip him of seniority on all committees. (And by the way Joe, don't think we've forgotten about you. We haven't and we will have the last laugh, I promise.)  ¶ 8:28 PM 1 comments

  Great moments in presidential speeches Courtesy of David Letterman:

  ¶ 7:06 PM 0 comments

  Notes I am sorry that I have not had more to write lately. I have not had too much of a chance; things have been busy. But beyond that, I have been dealing with a bizarre form of writers block, that which results from having so much you want to say, time only to say some of it, and having to select what it is you will use your time to say.

I want to write something about global warming, or rather, Global Warming: a new, fully conclusive study on the subject; Gore getting nominated for 2 Oscars for An Inconvenient Truth; the near-certainty that it will be a key issue in the 2008 campaign.

I also want to comment on the kamikaze mission of George W Bush. How, having just read an amazing book on the mentality and psychology of Japanese tokko (kamikaze) pilots at the end of WWII, I cannot help but think of the similarities between that senseless quest for honor and this new one.

And then, there is the Negro Bowl. Actually, I don't need to write anything about that. Deadspin said it best:

The hype around two African-American head coaches going to the Super Bowl has been impressive and appropriately reverent. I bet the first two white guys who coached in plain-jane Super Bowl I (no Caucasian research-links during Negro Bowl) are wishing their people endured three hundred years of ostensible and institutionalized oppression so they could bask in this multicultural media afterglow. Now this is what racism is supposed to be about! Good people of good character doing good things; plus they're black!

Also, for those in NYC, get ready to get your brrrr on.

So, anyway, be on the lookout for that Global Warming thing. And, also, I will leave you with something scary, more frightening that even the worst nightmare of nightmares. It is Dick Cheney's Delusion (courtesy CNN and their ace newsman, Wolf Blitzer):

  ¶ 10:42 PM 3 comments

  'Nuff said Staggering:



All costs are annual. Read the whole article. (NY Times)  ¶ 8:28 PM 0 comments

  Don't believe the (lack of) hype

According to Political Wire, Al Gore today told a Japanese group he addressed on climate change that he will not be running for president. He is waging a "different kind of campaign" to raise awareness of global warming.

That's all fine and good, but I still don't believe it. The Democratic field increasingly looks limited to the trifecta of Clinton, Obama, and Edwards. For various reasons, these three could easily split the primary voting quite evenly.

Today I will go on the record as predicting Al Gore will be the Democratic nominee for the Presidency in 2006 - and will only enter the race as a "consensus" candidate that all Dems can rally around after a divisive three-way battle between the aforementioned group. This will occur after most of the primaries and just before the Denver 2008 Convention.

To all Gore fans: do not despair, do not read too far into that quote from Tokyo. Gore is on the way.

Labels: politics

  ¶ 9:12 PM 0 comments

  A new award Ladainian Tomlinison, running back for the San Diego Chargers (as well as this year's league MVP) was quite disappointed that his team went down to the Patriots in yesterday's AFC divisional playoff game. The Chargers had the league's best record, after all, and many speak of Tomlinson as the best running back ever, so surely they could win a home game versus the not-as-good Patriots and advance to the conference finals, right?

Well, of course not. The Patriots (Tom Brady especially) are simply masterful in the playoffs. They have been doing this for years now and no one should be surprised. However, Mr. Tomlinson seemed quite shell-shocked in his post-game media appearance. He was mad that the Patriots had celebrated their win on his home field; he was also mad that the most competition he'll see between now and September involves a small white ball and a metal club. I was struck by his post-game comments: the doublespeak, the inability to grasp reality, the poor sport mentality of it all...it was deja vu all over again. Of course! L.T. sounded like George Bush.

Now, at the risk of comparing something extremely serious (namely, war) and not serious (sport), I am hereby giving L.T. a trophy that he does not want: The George Bush Award for Doublespeak in the Face of Defeat and Failure. I do not know how many of these awards I will give out, but rest assured, anyone who says anything like this will get one. Ladies and Gentlemen, the victory speak from Mr. Tomlinson:

“We kind of wanted to stay balanced. They really didn’t stop anything we did. It wasn’t a factor I think in anything they did. They didn’t stop us. We moved the ball up and down the field. They did a good job in the red zone at times, and even when we got good field position, they buckled down in certain situations to stop us. I think their whole mindset was in certain situations to come up with a stop. They did that.”

So, what's up man? Did they stop you?

Labels: awards, football, sports

  ¶ 8:29 AM 1 comments

  The David Beckham Show (feat. Donovan)
As everyone now knows, the David Beckham show is coming to America. In addition to many other extracurricular activities, Beckham plans to play for the LA Galaxy. Bloggers and journalists have weighed in: this is a big deal, and Beckham will be just as big in the US as Pele was in the 70s.

I could sit here and write a lot about what all this will do (and won't do) for American soccer. However, I'm going to take a more micro view. As you may know, the Golden Child of American Soccer is Landon Donovan (Adu doesn't count, yet). Landon Donovan, until several days ago, was far and away the biggest star on the LA Galaxy. While most of his peers from the US National Team are playing in top-flight leagues in Europe, Landon has chosen to stay home in California, so that he can hang out on the beach and be close to his now-wife, the extremely hot (and intelligent, I'm sure) Bianca Kajlich.



After coming onto the global soccer radar with his brilliant 2002 World Cup performance, Donovan stunk it up in the 06 Cup. Where he was supposed to be a leader, he was a timid crybaby. It appeared his time in MLS had not done much to prepare him to lead the US to success in the Cup. Many figured the only way Donovan would ever truly learn to play at the top level would be to go to Europe and learn from the best. What no one anticipated is that the best might come to him.

Yes, David Beckham is past his prime. He will never again be a dominant force on the English National Team, nor will he play for one of the world's premier clubs. However, he is still an extremely skilled footballer with immense amounts of leadership experience.

The way I see it, this is the best thing that could have ever happened to Landon Donovan. Beckham immediately removes the spotlight from Donovan's face. Simultaneously, he will give Donovan the benefit of playing with one of the game's best set-up men. He will show Donovan how to be a leader on the field. He will show him that, even if your wife is very hot, you still have to play harder than everyone else if you want to win. He will show him that, even if many silly pictures exist of you doing stupid stuff with a soccer ball, you still have to score goals and win games if you want to be remembered. And lastly, seeing the greatness that is Beckham, perhaps Donovan will realize that, like it or not, such greatness can only be achieved by playing your football in Europe.

So, cheers, Becks. We all should be happy that you're here, none more than our own precious Golden Child.

Labels: soccer, sports

  ¶ 3:27 PM 0 comments

  A link and some thoughts (I watched his whole speech) I was going to write something about Bush's speech. Then I saw Keith Olbermann on MSNBC, and he said what I wanted to say, but (possibly) better. Below, find links from Crooks and Liars to view Olbermann's short and to the point takedown of Bush (windows media format).

Download (1456) | Play (1000)

Now that's fair and accurate.

I actually watched some pregame for the speech. CNN. Not my favorite network but hey, that Wolf Blitzer, he's just so...exciting! Anyway, they had Jack Cafferty on, taking emails, and doing his usual grumpy old New Yorker act. These emails were reader responses to different questions such as, "What was the point of the Iraq Study Group if the President is doing the opposite of what it recommended?" and "Will Iraq be Bush's legacy?" The emails - every single one of them - eviscerated Bush. It was as if CNN was posting a live stream of the diaries over at Daily Kos. And then I realized. Everyone hates Bush now. But he is still moving ahead with his destructive agenda. He has truly created the Imperial Presidency.

Also during the pregame coverage on CNN they interviewed a CNN reporter who had been embedded with the troops who fought that day-long battle with insurgents in downtown Baghdad yesterday. She was asked a question along the lines of, do you have anything good to report. The answer was something to the effect of, "Well, yes, it is clear that the Iraqi troops are learning from the U.S. troops. The U.S. commanders have been trying very hard to get the Iraqis to learn and adopt sound tactics. During yesterday's fighting, for example, the Americans were able to teach the Iraqis, during the fight for Haifa Street, about the importance of the high ground when engaging in a firefight. So American units occupied the high-rise buildings along the street. This gave them better range of fire."

Upon hearing that, I was flabbergasted. Why? A combination of:
-What the hell is this CNN reporter trying to sell and why is she treating us like idiots?
-How absolutely pitiful is the state of the Iraqi Army that a sign of progress is it learning about the importance of taking the high ground in a firefight?
-Isn't it sort of Orwellian that we are talking about something like that and deciding it is worth feeling happy about?

So anyway, 21,000 more Americans are on their way into the fog-of-war dungeon that is Baghdad. They will not have any true sense of who the enemy is, why they are there, and if they are going to make it home. They will be serving in the uniform of a country whose populace is decidedly against their presence there. This place is something that I fear we as Americans are only getting to know. We have, I guess, our own word for it and it is Iraq and that word - Iraq - is and will continue to be so many things. Many painful things. But a previous generation had a word for that too and it was similar, most now admit, in so many ways. And it was - Vietnam.

Labels: politics

  ¶ 10:27 PM 1 comments

  Au revoir, Tiki New York Magazine on Tiki Barber's retirement:

It’s a funny thing, the psychology of ambition: how even the most outsize dreams have a way of losing their potency the moment they’re attained. Stranger still is how a decrease in passion often brings about an increase in focus and skill. A graph charting Barber’s incredible rate of mid-career improvement and another showing his growing disenchantment with the game would reveal something curious: The rates of incidence are identical. “It’s true, isn’t it?” Barber acknowledges, flashing the halogen-bright smile he’s hoping will make him the rare athlete to have a broadcasting career that transcends sports reporting. For several months, he has been in negotiations with ABC, Fox, and NBC; it’s something he’s been itching to do since last year, when he was invited to Israel by former prime minister Shimon Peres, a trip that piqued his interest in hard news. “I became fascinated,” he says, “with history and how people think and what motivates people.

So, apparently Tiki Barber is going to be cohosting the news with Katie Couric soon (he has satisfied the prerequisite by hosting a local NYC morning show on Tuesdays). I can't say I blame him; the New York Giants locker room seems to be the most toxic in football, and who wouldn't want to escape. He is just hitting that wall that everyone hits from time to time, and his just happens to be that wall between being a famous football player and a famous newsman.
Rough life. Read the article, it contains great, almost creepy, descriptions of the cult of celebrity that is the Barber household. (Not that there's anything wrong with that).  ¶ 9:27 PM 0 comments

  What's so bad about this global warming thing New York hit 72 degrees yesterday. Yesterday was the 6th day of January. This is what it looked like when I was in Central Park:



Seriously, could Al Gore have scripted this any better? What he should've done was come out to Central Park, gotten a bit of a stage thing together, a megaphone, whatever, and been like, "I'm running for President of the United States...and this is proof that global warming really is happening. Now who wants to have a beach party?" Coulda, shoulda, woulda, I guess.  ¶ 9:14 PM 0 comments

  Thoughts on the New Year (Iraq) I know 2007 is a week old and there has been little (blogged) comment from me. Don't worry, I am still here.

So, Bush has decided the best way to put out a raging five-alarm fire is to throw more gas on it. Joe Lieberman is happily there beside him, and it seems that even despite widespread Congressional resistance, Bush will probably have his way. More Americans will be sent into Iraq to reaffirm our commitment to ineptitude. In that sense, 2007 is the same year as 2006, which was the same as 2005 and so on. Bush's only New Year's resolution was to be more resolute. I wish I could use the new year as an occasion to inject a bit of optimism into my view of the Iraq Debacle, but there is no cause for hope.

I was speaking with a war supporter the other day, and it was clear that she clung to the idea that the media is painting a bleaker picture of Iraq than is the reality on the ground. I do not particularly understand this way of thinking. I do not deny that schools being painted, flowers being planted, and other such things are indeed good things, important for Iraq. But part of the problem is that the current Iraqi civil war prevents them from mattering.

How do you report on the news: 40 bodies found tied and bound, executed in a Baghdad back alley. New math books arrive at grammar school in Basra. Insurgents in Iraqi Army uniforms attack and slaughter scores of new Iraqi police officers. 4 American Marines die in Al-Anbar Province.

It doesn't work. Iraqi society itself seems to be nearly totally nonexistent, in that it is really Shiite society, Sunni society, and Kurdish society. In the midst of these divisions, Bush believes he can pour a billion dollars (yes, a billion) to "create jobs" something which, of course, he is not good at doing. What jobs will they be? Painting schools, of course (I'm not kidding). And to add further irony to all of this? There were thousands of jobs back in 2003, jobs that Iraqis who were then somewhat open to the concept of making a new nation hand in hand with the United States, might have happily accepted. Not only would this have kept them from joining the insurgency, but it also would have probably done more to hold that society together too. But what happened with those jobs? Dick Cheney's friends at Halliburton were given hundreds of millions of dollars to bring thousands of men from other impoverished countries to work them.

So, we continue on in 2007. The media would love to be able to report something more positive - at this point, people everywhere are clamoring for good news. But there is little hope that any such good news will be there to report. And in this way 2007 will be 2008, will be 2009. I hope I'm wrong.

Labels: politics

  ¶ 8:23 PM 1 comments

  Saddam, Iraqi Death Squad meet YouTube The now infamous camera phone version of Saddam's execution:

Labels: politics

  ¶ 4:48 PM 1 comments