Food for thought as the decade winds down....

On this day in 1999.... From ForeignPolicy.comblog:

• Lou Dobbs was a respected, middle-of-the-road journalist.
• The prospect of achieving Middle East peace seemed imminent.
• Beltway pundits believed Al Gore and George W. Bush were centrists who would govern similarly.
• You could meet your loved ones at their arrival gate.

Read the rest of the Foreign Policy post here

20 years later....

Here's a pretty cool video of the dominoes falling today in Berlin. Hard to believe it was 20 years ago that the Wall came down (and rendered most of what I learned in high school about how the world worked obsolete).

The CBC also has some interesting photos in their in-depth Berlin Wall section:

• 20 years after the fall
• Checkpoint Charlie: Then and Now

eHarmony for Conservatives

Obama's Speech

The Chicago Tribune has the full text of the speech given before more than a million on the National Mall.

The Slate verdict: Good, but not great. You can also watch the speech at the bottom of the Slate article (after a message from the sponsor, of course).

He's certainly got his work cut out for him... but that's a topic for another day.

I think this is a perfect way to end this post on this historic day. Here is a nice, heart warming photo essay from Gawker (yes, really) showing people watching the inauguration from the US and various places around the world: Watching Change. Definitely check it out.

At the risk of sounding like Sting, it's a brand new day

Still hard to believe.

I have a dream

The Onion weighs in....

Black Man Given Nation's Worst Job

WASHINGTON—African-American man Barack Obama, 47, was given the least-desirable job in the entire country Tuesday when he was elected president of the United States of America. In his new high-stress, low-reward position, Obama will be charged with such tasks as completely overhauling the nation's broken-down economy, repairing the crumbling infrastructure, and generally having to please more than 300 million Americans and cater to their every whim on a daily basis. As part of his duties, the black man will have to spend four to eight years cleaning up the messes other people left behind. The job comes with such intense scrutiny and so certain a guarantee of failure that only one other person even bothered applying for it. Said scholar and activist Mark L. Denton, "It just goes to show you that, in this country, a black man still can't catch a break."

Yes We Can!

Going back eight years to when George W. Bush defeated Al Gore in an extremely controversial election, can anyone honestly say they thought the US would elect a black man as President in the first 10 years of the 21st century? Amazing.

That was a moving and wonderful acceptance speech by Obama last night. McCain's concession speech was also very classy and heartfelt - perhaps he needed more of that during his campaing. Obama inherits a mess, but also, unrivaled hope and optimism (which he'll need for the next couple of years as the financial crisis unwinds itself).

A brand new day.

They don't make political ads like they used to....

That might be a good thing. Check out this bizarro old Reagan commercial.

Change - that's wassup

You have to watch this. I can't believe AB put this out! This made my day. What a nice way to start the weekend.

Welcome to Crazy Town

Not sure if you've heard about this McCain Campaign Worker from Pittsburgh, but she has been making the news for some crazy behaviour this week. Can you imagine someone doing something like this for a Canadian election?? Now that, would be loco.

I’m actually starting to feel sorry for Sarah Palin

I never thought I’d say that about a Republican VP candidate. US politics is a mean spirited, rough and tumble business. It is never fun to see someone so alarmingly out of their depth being mocked for it daily in the newspapers and on the talk shows (well, it is fun, but it feels wrong for it to be so funny, doesn't it?).

From BC Business online, here's a collection of Palin "highlights".

Watching Palin

For schadenfreude junkies, it has been a delicious fortnight. Two weeks ago, Sarah Palin, the fresh Republican vice-presidential nominee, was a political star ascending. Huge crowds came out to see her wherever she went, she delivered a caustic Convention speech that energized a listless Republican base, and she made Barack Obama, who was slipping into a pull-away stride, look suddenly vulnerable and very much in reach.

Democrats began to worry: Is it possible that, even in this perfect-storm political season, we could lose again? Well, they might still. But if they do it won't be for a lack of public censure of Sarah Palin. She's on fire, yes. Two weeks ago it was in the good way; now it's in the melting-down dripping-at-the-edges way. And all it took, it seems, was a few media interviews to ignite the flame.

My media cup hath been running over. Here are the last two weeks' finer statements by and about Palin, in no particular order.

"In what respect, Charlie? What, his world view?" —Palin responds to a question by ABC's Charlie Gibson: "Do you agree with the Bush Doctrine?"

"For a seventy-two-year-old cancer survivor to have placed this person directly behind himself in line for the Presidency was an act of almost incomprehensible cynicism and irresponsibility." —New Yorker essayist Hendrik Hertzberg, writing after Palin's wandering, fragmented, occasionally incoherent interview with CBS's Katie Couric.

"Alaska has a very narrow maritime border between a foreign country, Russia, and, on our other side, the land-boundary that we have with Canada. It’s funny that a comment like that was kinda made to…I don’t know, you know…reporters." —Sarah Palin, expanding on why she believes Alaska's proximity to Russia gives her foreign-policy experience, in that interview with Katie Couric.

"I can see Russia from my house!" —SNL's Tina Fey, impersonating Sarah Palin discussing with Hillary Clinton the progress women have made in this 2008 election, an immediate sketch-comedy classic.

"Frankly, I have had it. The sexist treatment of Sarah Palin has to end." —CNN's Campbell Brown inveighs against the McCain campaign.

"I need to know if she really thinks dinosaurs were here 4000 years ago. I want to know that, I really do. Because she's going to have the nuclear codes." —Actor Matt Damon, in a CBS interview, compares Palin's nomination to a "bad Disney movie."

"Well, Alaska and Russia are only separated by a narrow maritime border. You've got Alaska right here, and this right here's water, and up there is Russia." —SNL's Tina Fey, again impersonating Sarah Palin, this time – ouch – using the Governor's actual words.

"I know that many times, in my life, while living it, someone would come up and, because of I had good readiness, in terms of how I was wired, when they asked that—whatever they asked—I would just not blink, because, knowing that, if I did blink, or even wink, that is weakness, therefore you can’t, you just don’t. You could, but no—you aren’t." —New Yorker humourist George Saunders poking imitative fun at Palin's answer (from the Gibson interview) about her willingness to be John McCain's running mate.

"Ideologically, she is their hardcore pornographic centerfold spread, revealing the ugliest underside of Republican ambitions – their insanely zealous and cynical drive to win power by any means necessary, even at the cost of actual leadership." —Salon's Cintra Wilson delivers a blistering diatribe on the "political Viagra" that is Sarah Palin.

"Palin appeals to the white trash vote with her toned-down version of the porn actress look." —Heather Mallick, lobbing at a similar criticism at Palin in a September 5th column that was ultimately removed from CBC.ca and apologized for.

And now two days remain before Palin's vice-presidential debate showdown with Democratic VP candidate Joe Biden. Will the meltdown continue? What's your call?

John Bucher is digital editor of BCBusiness Online.

Much ado about political yard signs (US edition)

Apparently Barack Obama's position on yard signs is proving to be quite controversial....

In a controversial move sure to upset millions of people, Barack Obama’s campaign has decided to forgo the traditional time-wasting distribution of chum (yard signs, bumper stickers, etc.) to try and win the election.

Settling on what they call a “get voters to register by approaching them on the phone and at the door with an army of volunteers” strategy, Obama’s senior staff has directed state, regional, and local field organizers to use their finite time to make tangible progress toward winning.It’s an approach that has ruffled some Democratic feathers.

[Source: FiveThirtyEight.com]

Palin and Hilary on SNL

In case you haven't seen it yet, here's the video:



If the video doesn't load, click here.

The Complete Bushisms

Slate's collection of Bushisms... so far. The bar has been set high for the next US President.

More primaries....

Are you as tired of the interminable Democratic primaries as I am? Do you remember when McCain wrapped up the Republican nomination 1,000 years ago (note: not an age joke)? Well, here's a little injection of humour and levity into the 2008 campaigns: McBain for President.

Primary Fever

Hmmm... interesting. I suffered from an acute case from primary fever in January during the Iowa and New Hampshire primaries. I had the same symptoms you did if you were similarly afflicted: regularly checking various websites, spending way too much time on CNN and then cross-referencing what you were hearing there with more balanced reporting on BBC World News and CBC Newsworld. It was a big deal and I devoted a fair amount of time and energy to following what was happening. And then I got better. It seemed a long, long way to Super Tuesday. Sure, there were some twists and turns here and there but... there were more pressing issues, like the Super Bowl and whether or not the Leafs would trade Mats Sundin.

So, Super Tuesday has now come and gone. Fortunately, while I paid attention to what was happening I was not as obsessed with is as I had been in January. The Democratic race should be a dogfight right down to the last minute, and the Republicans find themselves in a tricky position. Is McCain electable (in general)? And, can the Republican machine get behind a man they clearly don't all support (or even really like)?

No offense to Mr. McCain -- who, if we had to have another Republican President would, at least, be one who would do a decent job -- but here's my t-shirt for 2008:


T-shirt is available at Foul Mouth T-Shirts

Ah yes, the slogan t-shirt, no better way to get your message across.... Good times.