Pitch it in here, sir.

I was just explaining to Kevin that Obama thanked me in his victory speech, since I gave money and told my friends about how much I like him. Also, I blogged about him. Then the following opinion piece came on NPR (I copied the whole thing because, personally, I don't really click links in blogs).

Opinion
Get Our Help While You Can, Obama

by Paula Poundstone
(from http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=96890409)

Morning Edition, November 12, 2008 · People still seem full of hope after the historic election of Barack Obama. This is America, though, it can't last. Pleased and proud as we are, Obama hasn't been on American Idol, so we're bound to lose interest soon.

That's why President-elect Obama needs to waste no time in harnessing this feeling and ask something of us. We'll spend. We'll save. We'll do laps. We'll wear sweaters.

My parents are a part of the "Greatest Generation." They pulled our nation through the Depression and World War II, and when they heard the call, they collected rubber.

My generation rode out the Beanie Baby crash, ran up both credit card debt and the nation's weight, and brought us reality TV and the SUV, but it's not all we can do. We've grown up collecting box tops and shoes. We've earned free doughnuts by getting our cards punched with every dozen purchased. We're the "a-thon" generation. We've jogged, walked and pedaled thousands of miles because someone said it would cure cancer.

It's our turn now. Just ask us. We've adopted freeways and been up all night with night feedings. We'll bring an unwrapped gift. We'll bring canned goods. We'll collect flip-tops. Yes, we will.

What do you need us to do, President-elect Obama? We could form a bucket brigade to bail out the banks. We could collect Band-Aids, not the useless little ones, for the health care system. We could take shifts forming human pyramids to hold up our crumbling bridges.

The entire country could hold a progressive dinner party to feed the homeless. We could all commit to wearing the same clothes two days in a row to save water, energy and time. I'll go three, because I care more than the others. We can carry road-mending materials in our cars and fill pot holes during traffic jams. We can put a wishing well on Wall Street.

Our leadership has told us that we have a long, hard climb before us, which I would welcome, because I love the outdoors, and I could use the weight loss, but I have a bad feeling it has nothing to do with climbing.

I'm waiting. I'm punching my glove. It's oiled and ready. Pitch it in here, sir.

Commentator and comedian Paula Poundstone is a regular on NPR's game show Wait Wait Don't ... Tell Me!

I [heart] my future president

I think that Reagan and Bush supporters have felt this way before. Clinton did some things that I approved of, politically speaking, but, personally, I just would like to say, "Ick ick ick." So, really this is a new feeling for me. I love this man. I watch his face when he speaks and remember fondly the little way that he flinches when he gets hit by a raindrop or the way he held back tears talking about his grandmother or the way he smiled when the crowd started chanting, "Yes we can!" I love him and now I'm so concerned for his safety. I can imagine now, for the first time, why people threw themselves down and sobbed when JFK was assassinated. He holds all my hopes and dreams, sure, but also, I think I have grown to actually love him. Is that possible?

Tonight is your answer

I'm without words of my own so I'm using a quote from last night's speech:

It's the answer that led those who've been told for so long by so many to by cynical and fearful and doubtful about what we can achieve to put their hands on the arc of history and bend it once more toward the hope of a better day. It's been a long time coming, but tonight, because of what we did on this day, in this election, at this defining moment, change has come to America.

I am at once so grateful and hopeful and fearful and amazed by these events. The clips from people who voted for the first time in their lives and civil rights leaders who never thought they'd see the day have left me stunned. Maybe tomorrow I'll be exuberant but today I'm just stunned.

Colin Powell Endorses Barack Obama

I love this interview. Colin Powell is one of the greatest people alive, in my opinion. I absolutely love the way that he is able to talk about his previous positions and the things that he has said historically. I haven't always aligned with General Powell's politics but I have always respected him and his point of view.

Let me just make sure that those of you who haven't been following have heard the response of Rush Limbaugh, and then other people, to this endorsement:





I included this Larry King thing because that's where I heard Rush's soundbite and Tom Brokaw and Bob Schieffer are so charming, being pals and buddies. I have high hopes for our country. Very high hopes.

Joe the plumber

Here are the things I'd like to say:

#1. If this man's not paying his taxes or planning on changing his vote, how did he think he should get so much time to talk to Sen. Obama. I want to talk to Sen. Obama for 6 minutes. Although, I guess I don't want to talk about his tax plan. Now I'm going to spend the day deciding what I'd say if I got 6 minutes with Obama...I think I might pass out or just giggle and tell him that I love him.

#2. My husband said that this "spread the wealth around" business is as bad as if Obama had said "screw the troops, this war is a bust." First, I pointed out to him that I am an Obama voter and I heard the entire conversation between Joe and Barack and I am not as turned off as if he had said "screw the troops, this war is a bust." Second, I asked him if the people who are so upset about the "spread the wealth around" quote listened to the entire conversation. Because he was responding to the idea of a flat tax. And he points out that, if we were to go to a flat tax, we would need to charge 40% sales tax. Is this what the opponents want? 40% sales tax? Even 25% would be too high.

#3. Joe says that Obama "tap-danced around the issue." What, do you think, would have been the straight answer that Joe was looking for? How could Obama have been straightforward enough for Joe? He brought up, and admitted, their fundamental disagreement, which is that Obama believes that "spread[ing] the wealth around" is "better for everybody." Joe and McCain think that Joe should be allowed to spread his wealth around himself. The way that Haliburton and big oil have been spreading the wealth around during the past eight years. Obama said something that is politically dangerous in answer to Joe's question. What did Joe want? He wanted Obama to lie down on the ground, do a couple of spasms, and die? Change his mind about his politics? Become a libertarian? Poof. and transform into Ron Paul?

Whooo! Turn it up!

That debate last night...I was going to only watch half and it started out the same as all the others and THEN [fanfare] things finally got ugly. http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/10/15/video.transcript/

OK, so the thing I wanted to know more about is this John Lewis business. I have high regard for John Lewis and, frankly, knowing what he said about the McCain/Palin rallies frightens me. However, according the the new york times article that I cited above,

"In response, the Obama campaign said in a statement, “Senator Obama does not believe that John McCain or his policy criticism is in any way comparable to George Wallace or his segregationist policies.” But the campaign added that Mr. Lewis was right to condemn some of the “hateful rhetoric” at Mr. McCain’s rallies."

So, I watched the "perception analyzer" results and I feel confident that things have not changed but a lot of people on TV thought that McCain really handed Obama his hat in this debate. I didn't think so. It was a good fight, though. Much more interesting than the first two.

Lemme hear ya say "Hell yeah!"

My husband sent me a link to some recent polling data. It's too bad, for the republicans, that square footage doesn't play any role in elections. Now I'm just crossing my fingers and hoping that Palin says something dumber than whatever Biden says in the vice-presidential debates. They're a couple of ticking timebombs, really!

Eight is Enough

What can I say? What is there to say? As I mentioned to Emily, I am un-fit, at this point to interact with other humans because I can not believe that there is anyone on the opposite side of this election. I have hateful and terrible thoughts about them. Maybe watching some of the Republican convention is what I need to pull me, at least into tolerance. God, I love this man. I need a series of giant posters of Barack Obama's face. Here are just a couple of reminders of why I am so head-over-heels in love:

We may not agree on abortion, but surely we can agree on reducing the number of unwanted pregnancies in this country. The reality of gun ownership may be different for hunters in rural Ohio than for those plagued by gang-violence in Cleveland, but don't tell me we can't uphold the Second Amendment while keeping AK-47s out of the hands of criminals. I know there are differences on same-sex marriage, but surely we can agree that our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters deserve to visit the person they love in the hospital and to live lives free of discrimination. Passions fly on immigration, but I don't know anyone who benefits when a mother is separated from her infant child or an employer undercuts American wages by hiring illegal workers. This too is part of America's promise - the promise of a democracy where we can find the strength and grace to bridge divides and unite in common effort.

Right on. Amen. And, the ending, where he had the flowing, melodic cadence, my sweet God, I was totally enthralled and entranced.

America, we cannot turn back. Not with so much work to be done. Not with so many children to educate, and so many veterans to care for. Not with an economy to fix and cities to rebuild and farms to save. Not with so many families to protect and so many lives to mend. America, we cannot turn back. We cannot walk alone. At this moment, in this election, we must pledge once more to march into the future. Let us keep that promise - that American promise - and in the words of Scripture hold firmly, without wavering, to the hope that we confess.

Maybe this is what's so poignant to me because hope is exactly what I confess when I confess my faith. [this is where things get sappy] Maybe another blog for another day but the reason I continue to cling to my faith in Jesus and a just and loving God is because I believe in hope. And I, like so many other people, had begun to feel like hope was lost. God seems to me to have blessed this man. And watching him up on that stage on the 45th anniversary of the Civil Rights march on Washington felt so much like the culmination of God's blessing on this country. That's how it felt to me. So, I'll close this blog in a little different order than Barack arranged his magnificent speech and end with this:

When Washington doesn't work, all its promises seem empty. If your hopes have been dashed again and again, then it's best to stop hoping, and settle for what you already know.

I get it. I realize that I am not the likeliest candidate for this office. I don't fit the typical pedigree, and I haven't spent my career in the halls of Washington.

But I stand before you tonight because all across America something is stirring. What the nay-sayers don't understand is that this election has never been about me. It's been about you.

For eighteen long months, you have stood up, one by one, and said enough to the politics of the past. You understand that in this election, the greatest risk we can take is to try the same old politics with the same old players and expect a different result. You have shown what history teaches us - that at defining moments like this one, the change we need doesn't come from Washington. Change comes to Washington. Change happens because the American people demand it - because they rise up and insist on new ideas and new leadership, a new politics for a new time.