Less than a week

There has so much to comment on recently it is hard to say where to begin. The Presidential race seems to have swung so far to Obama that Buchanan is already hyperbolizing President Obama's 1st 100 Days. The "global financial crisis" is still in full swing and the first *GULP* billions should be on its way out of the Treasury and to the banks. And for the first time since 1958 the Federal Funds Rate is 1%.

What is most interesting at this point is watching the GOP cannibalize itself as people begin abandon the sinking John McCain campaign. Even Sarah Palin, who seems to be drawing bigger crowds than the top of the ticket, has been positioning herself outside of the McCain camp, taken stands on issues that have not been on message. It seems that Sarah Palin's presidential ambitions are not going to wait until after the election, she is positioning herself to run for the GOP nomination in 2012 (yet another sign of the coming apocalypse?). The McCain camp has traded the "maverick" tag for "diva" and called her out in public on it.

The choice of Sarah Palin has undone the McCain campaign. Perhaps the oddball choice of Alaska governor wasn't as smart as initially thought. Tom Ridge would have made McCain far more competitive in Pennsylvania and actually give them a chance at winning.

Back home in the "other" Washington the Governor's race is especially close. Rossi has hit Gregoire on traffic, sex offenders, and now has an ad of her endorsing a state income tax. Stick a fork in her, she is done. Gregoire managed to get touched by all three of the third rails in WA politics. She has no response to any of it other than the comparison to the Bush administration.

We'll have to see. It's not helping Gregoire out much that I can tell. We'll have to see about Burner and the legislative races. Personally I do not believe that Obama's enthusiasm gets to the bottom of the ticket. Rejection of that kind of partisanship is part of the reason he has done so well and a big part of the appeal to the younger independent voters that he has drawn.

That One

“Mr. DuHaime rejected comments made last week by a Pennsylvania Democrat, Representative John P. Murtha, who told The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, speaking of his home base, that ‘there is no question that Western Pennsylvania is a racist area.’

Mr. McCain referenced Mr. Murtha’s comments in his third stop of the day, at Robert Morris University here, when he said, ‘I think you may have noticed that Senator Obama’s supporters have been saying some pretty nasty things about Western Pennsylvania lately.’ As the crowd booed, Mr. McCain became tangled up in the rest of his remarks. ‘And you know, I couldn’t agree with them more,’ he said, to silence…”

-Elisabeth Bumiller & Jeff Zeleny; New York Times

Fourteen days ago Senator John McCain referred to Senator Barack Obama as “that one” in a debate in front of, at least, 90 million onlookers. The day prior to that, Senator McCain posed a simple question to a foaming crowd if we really know who the “real” Obama is. A worm in the crowd had an answer to that: a terrorist. The bellicose comment seemed to catch McCain briefly off-guard—that for a nanosecond he couldn’t believe what he has become: an angry threatened pol who will do anything to win. Joe Every-man is not on the good side of public perception. Death threats--Wallace, this rhetoric on both sides should end.

It is clear the McCain cadre gave the green light to race-bate this contest and caricature Mr. Obama as the mysterious otherman. This is the last resort, you see. Pat Buchanan volunteered his thoughts on the matter in saying, “he has to go there, or he will lose this election.” The spirit of Lee Atwater is alive and well in modern Republican politics.

The General Election has spiraled into the darkest of depths at similar speed to that of the stock market crash. Attitudes are vicious. There is now an element of hate and fear coming from Senator McCain's campaign that is careening out of control. The conservative intelligencia (Peggy Noonan; Bill Kristol; Christopher Buckley; George Will, and now, Colin Powell) have all rejected where McCain is going, in particular his nod to someone who equates seeing Russia from American soil to sound foreign policy experience. Senator McCain’s crowds have changed. They are not reflective or even remotely reminiscent of the bipartisan quasi-conservative lot that attended his primary experience.

What a difference a year makes.

Meanwhile, his opponent convenes an economic panel and a foreign policy panel to talk through the difficult issues we face.

The Day After

Wall Street is rebounding from yesterday's precipitous drop of 777 points. An terms of market capitalization As of this moment the Dow Jones Industrial Average is back up 342 points.

The plan that was turned down by Congress would have authorized the Secretary of the Treasury and the Federal Reserve to start buying up some the subprime securities and bad loans that are gumming up the books of financial institutions.

The House of Representatives failed the measure by a vote of 205-228 that would have authorized $700 billion to start buying back some of the bad loans and securities. Is this a Wall Street bailout or a Main Street? People on Wall St have been saying this is to save Main Street, and the people on Main Street just see where the money is going. The money is going to Wall Street firms and banks. The minority blamed the majority for being partisan when the bill did not pass.

And the market is up 376. Could Paulson and Bernanke being playing up the risks of inaction to cause panic? A day in the life of a stock trader must be very long indeed.

There is no doubt that having some benevolent entity take the bad loans off the books would help someone. Isn't that why pencils have erasers?

Taking it in the shorts

It's about time that this whole economic mess just played itself out. Another billion dollar bailout for irresponsible business practices. A loan, but still a bailout.

Just how big is too big to fail? How many companies are that crucial to our economy? How much money do we have to keep doing this?

There is a now a ban on the short selling of several financial stocks. For those unfamiliar with the concept of short selling it involves borrowing money on the margin and selling stocks with the anticipation that the price will drop. If executed properly the trader will buy the stock back after the price has dropped.

There is nothing particularly wrong with this. It is speculative, but then again it's the stock market. The problem arises when if the price of stock is manipulated by said regulation. Whenever a price is artificially high or low it will inevitably create problems and will eventually seek a new equilibrium.

We have essentially socialized the stock market. The largest capitalist institution in the world is now passing its risk on to the American taxpayer.

Poll Poll Poll

So there has been a shift recently, Rossi and McCain are both leading in the polls. Still within the margin of error but there has been a trend. McCain is getting a lot of attention for picking Palin and she does seem to be helping bolster his maverick reputation. She is already helping out in Michigan and other battlegrounds.

My feeling on Palin is that she won't last in the spotlight, she is a religious conservative and her stances on issues are not in touch with what most Americans believe. She is a pit bull with lipstick with a few good zingers. But her record is like an anchor. She has been repeating her "thanks-but-no-thanks" stance on the "bridge to nowhere" been taking travel per diem when she was not traveling and there are reports of her spending $10,000 of Alaska tax dollars to transport her family.

Rossi doesn't seem to have done anything to really deserve the lead, just more of the same coming out his campaign. Gregoire on the other hand can't seem to catch a break. The Huskies and Cougars are losing, supervision of dangerous criminals is lacking and they keep killing people. The budget shortfall must be hurting her too, especially with Rossi highlighting how much spending has increased under her term.

One more mess up by the state bureaucracy and she might as well start writing her concession speech. These races are going to be incredibly close. Get your popcorn ready.

The Million Person March

Senator Barack Obama understands the dynamic of innocuously operating as a black man in the mainstream-majority liberal-institution called the Media. The perceived lovefest between Obama and the media is largely a fact. Journalism's high core had made up its mind.

This appeal is, in part, perhaps borne from the legacy of the minority experience in a Pax Americana. Of finding place and character within seemingly hostile environs and pulling up fallen boot straps. The opportunity to spend formative years in the prestigious Punahou private school, Occidental, Columbia, and Harvard is notable indeed and not afforded by all; but the notion of maintaining assimilation is the dark shadow that is casted behind all persons of color. T.S Elliot couldn't have said it better: "Between the emotion and the response falls the shadow." (T.S. Elliot in The Hollow Men.)

Trying to win the alter of the President of the United States, or POTUS, as White House civil servants refer to the position, has never been like this before. Revolutionary situations are not suppose to make it this far. The gripping reality of true, fundamental, change makes people nervous...including the other POTUS contender.

Last Thursday night, Obama gave the speech of a lifetime. We heard a little bit of Iowa, a bit of 2004 DNC Covention Speech, and a little Chicago. The best part of the night was, of course, the Brooks and Dunn tune at high decibels as he exited the stage with a huge smile and a generous wave. Thats right...Brooks and Dunn.

Obama is a politician and inevitably, pragmatic tendencies can't help themselves. He's placated on a variety of deliberations concerning energy, economy, religion and war since the beginning of his campaign. He is able, though, to at least listen to other arguments and be willing to alter his instincts after an idea is learnt. That is, after all, at the core of politics itself. The only difference between this and flip-flopping is integrity. He has carefully proven the soundness of his bipartisan underpinnings. Part of this is a play for the independent-middle; part of this is legacy; but the majority of it, is him as he has always been. See here.

The 2008 Republican National Convention Pt. I

They looked like a collective mass of drooling banshees as they danced to Earth Wind & Fire. It was sad; it was a horrid scene of melting faces and bad dancers. This was the Republican National Convention. A party that dare not echo "4 more years" as they did in the serious summer of 2004. A scene that drew national anarchists and pseudo-military retaliation. A convention that was interrupted by the glaring reality that faces us: our warm earth.

I don’t make these judgment calls on the art of dance because of my clear partisanship, but because I can’t stand the Country First stiffness. As I looked at virtually every cable outlet and saw the beam of confusing rhetoric called the Republican National Convention coming from my TV, I got scared. I got scared because after all these mad years, this party has not taken steps to appear inclusive or unifying--especially against the backdrop of the first woman Republican VP candidate.

Say I was a swing-vote, unsure of where the winds would take me. Say I was an apolitical person and this was my first election I were to cast my power. Say I was a woman and a Clinton supporter who cared deeply about econo-security measures and the historical moment rife with gender identity. Would I want to hear the ever ironic "experience to hold the Oval Office" debate? (Most people running for the job for the first time don't have previous job experience doing the job.) Would I want to hear the insane argument that the Alaska energy paradigm equates to unilateral diplomacy with Russia? Would I be insulted that choosing an unknown woman would automatically garner my vote? If I was someone riding the fence, I would certainly hope the Palin move wasn't merely political.

Governor Sarah Palin is unequivocally impressive. Most were curious; others confused. “Who was she?” They thought. John McCain picked a nobody/somebody. In blackjack parlance, this was a necessary double down that needed to happen with stakes so high. But, oh..this convention is so confusing. We move from the red meat fodder from Fred Thompson (non-unifying) to Joe "Switchback" Lieberman and his mono-insistence that those slightly left of center should be--you guessed it--country first. And we end Wednesday with Gov. Palin serving attack after Republican attack on character and public service credentials of her opponents. I scratch my head and my ass, and I wonder, just who is this Convention is for?

Which Americans does she speak of?