Freebird!

Oh, GOP. From Joe the Plumber to Joe the Heckler? Really? With tactics like that, you're just asking for retaliation. (Keep refreshing the linked website for hours of entertainment.)

This IS Politics.

Oh, California. Really?

The Buck Stopped.

I'm too lazy to link to stuff properly.  So just take it from me when you read this entry five years from now that President Obama has been having issues with getting his cabinet appointees confirmed.  Oh, you know, because they don't pay taxes properly.  (Honestly, who does?  The tax code is friggin' nutso.)

But what's amazing is that Obama has said flat out: "I screwed up."  Gone are the days of "mistakes were made" and other passive-voice horrors.  I can't believe that a politician in this age of media soundbites would actually take responsibility for an error, let alone one that really isn't his fault so much as it is the fault of the ones being appointed.

I'm not saying that this makes him a good president necessarily.  Duh, of course I'd prefer a president who never needs to apologize for a screw-up.  But, setting aside that fantasy along with flying pigs and Colin Farrell knocking on my door to say hi, I think it shows a depth of character that is all too rare amongst our public figures.  

It's a little thing, but it means a lot to me.

Inauguration.

I'll write more about my time at the Inauguration later. But here's a few vids I took to give you a sense of what it was like:

Aretha singing.


The Oath (to be later redone).


The Speech.

Concert.

I braved the cold with some friends to attend the We Are One concert yesterday at the Lincoln Memorial. We never made it to the Reflecting Pool area; instead, we were diverted to the Washington Monument to watch the concert on Jumbotrons. It was a little weird though, because we were still close enough to hear the concert, and the sound was already delayed on the monitor -- so we ended up hearing, then seeing, then hearing again the concert.

I'm curious, is there a competitive market for jumbotrons? The ones we were watching weren't exactly jumbo, and I wonder if that was a failure of the market.

My take on the concert? U2 was briliant, Garth Brooks was amazingly entertaining, and Beyonce didn't sing Single Ladies.

On a side note, of course there were people protesting socially liberal stances -- you know, berating the gays, the abortions, and the sports nuts. What? No really, "sports nuts" was one of the categories of heathens that are going to tear apart the fabric of society.

I Have No Original Ideas.

With the extra coverage of Eric Holder's confirmation hearings recently, there have been more photos of him popping up over the interwebs. I started to see a vague resemblance to Oprah's onetime boytoy Stedman Graham, but I thought I was surely crazy.

Until Google confirmed that others think as crazily as I do.

Sigh. Someday I'll be original.

The Really Important Thing.

The man is both insane and pond scum. Is it terrible that I think saying his name is fun?

"Blagojavich."

Hee.

Cool.

This is the man I hoped he'd be:

It's the answer spoken by young and old, rich and poor, Democrat and Republican, black, white, Latino, Asian, Native American, gay, straight, disabled and not disabled - Americans who sent a message to the world that we have never been a collection of Red States and Blue States: we are, and always will be, the United States of America.

It's the answer that led those who have been told for so long by so many to be cynical, and fearful, and doubtful of 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.

This is the man I am honored to have elected:

As Lincoln said to a nation far more divided than ours, "We are not enemies, but friends...though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection." And to those Americans whose support I have yet to earn - I may not have won your vote, but I hear your voices, I need your help, and I will be your President too.

It's a pretty awesome day.

Colin > Joe.

Yesterday, I recorded the Ellen show because both Colin Farrell, my favorite actor, and Joe Biden were scheduled to be on the show. Now, I love me my Hollywood actors and stuff, but Colin was scheduled to go on before Joe. Really? Really? I mean sure, *I* get it, but I'm fairly certain that whatever Joe's got going on right now is maybe a bit bigger than Colin's new movie.

On Politics: The Choice.

Those who know me know that I dislike conflict. I veer from the dramatic. It's boring occasionally, but that's the way I am. So much so, that I don't even like discussing politics... and I live in bloody DC.

But today, I sent in my registration and my absentee ballot application. I'll be getting back a ballot soon, and then I'll vote. Sure, in Massachusetts, the winner of its 12 electoral votes is a foregone conclusion. I joke that my vote won't matter. Of course it matters. It's just a joke (albeit stemming from the bitter reality that North Carolina -- NORTH CAROLINA where I've suffered for 3 years WILL most definitely matter).

Then I came across this article today via RealClearPolitics (the best summary website of political news out there), coming from the editors of The New Yorker. I happen to hate it when the media gives its opinion about anything, or speculates about what could happen with a bailout, instead of just reporting what happened. But the New Yorker I guess isn't really news, and never purports to be. It's mostly a literary magazine, and a snotty one at that. (I also hate it when celebrities stump for political causes. To be clear, I much prefer the infinitely saavier Brangelina approach of: "if you're going to invade my privacy anyway, i'm going to fly to Africa and make you see what's going on in the world").

I started reading the opinion , because I had a slow morning... and I kept reading... and kept reading. And ultimately, I found myself agreeing with everything in it. It perfectly encapsulates the anger, and desperation, and hope that I have about this election. I don't usually do this, but yeah, I'm making my vote known.

The piece is obviously an endorsement. It's by no means an objective article. But it does at the same time suggest how awesome things could have been under a McCain presidency. There was a time where I would have followed that man. Where "maverick" wasn't just a cutesy political term, but an actual description of someone who was well aware of his duty to his constituents, and not his party. But he has changed. He's pandered to those who shunned him in elections past. And his pandering is way more frightening than Obama's (Barack's kidding no one, he's a politician, too).

It's no mistake--as momentarily startled as I was--that I apparently registered as a Republican the first time I voted in Massachusetts. Yup, I called up my town clerk to check to see if they had my info on file (I've since registered and voted in other states like New York and North Carolina), and there I was -- a Republican. (Don't freak out... a Massachusetts Republican is still a socialist everywhere else in this country. And, I changed immediately changed it back to good ol' "Unenrolled" in case you're wondering.)

Here's my scatter-brained point. Eight years ago, George Bush was elected president. I accepted that. I didn't vote for him, but he was still my president. Thing was, he forgot that. Bush forgot that you don't just become president of the people who voted for you. The losers aren't supposed to lose. Except we did. And, in fact, so did the "winners." And so the fact that after eight years of one of the worst presidencies in history (seriously, click that link and remind yourself of just how quickly the U.S. lost its international capital), the election is as close as it is is fucked up. It's fucked up.

We missed our chance at a true McCain administration. We won't get it even if he's elected. So, yeah, that vote of mine that won't matter? I can only hope that it doesn't.

Primary.

Is this what Ohio feels like? Today is the first national election where my vote might--might--actually matter. In 2000 I was in Massachusetts, and in 2004 I was in New York. This fall, I'll be in Washington DC. Even for the midterm elections, there were no national ballots that I was going to influence. But NOW... I'm in North Carolina, and by some weird twist of a nip, Obama and Clinton are still going at it. No one thought this would happen, and while Indiana is the bigger deal today, I'm gonna take whatever I can get.