Be truly affraid

World GDP: $60 Trillion

World Credit Default Swaps Market: $60 Trillion

World Derivatives Market: $600 Trillion

Time to stock up the cabin, folks.

What Audacity?

Haven't posted for quite a while. Many of the events of the last year have left me speechless. many of my assumptions about the world of Politics have not only been challenged but have come crashing to the ground. Others, to my disgust have been reinforced.

So much has been written about Obama's faltering Presidency. I won't bother to ruminate, as so many others have, on where it's all gone wrong, other than to say that Obama should abandon bipartisanship. The Republicans obviously don't want any part of it. obama has already demonstrated that goals set out in the campaign can quickly give way to the realities of governing. I wish he would stop clinging to this one. Instead I will point out 4 simple things he and the Democrats have the power to do that will deliver the transformative Presidency he and the American public so badly wanted.

First, use the huge Democratic majority in the house and reconciliation in the Senate to mandate public financing, and ONLY public financing for all federal elections. ban all other forms of political advertising. Speech is a birthright not one that can be allowed to be bought and sold as a commodity. Concentration of Media ownership will also need to be strongly regulated.

Second, use the same methods to open up Medicare to a Buy-in for all (not just the laughable proposition of those over 55), or enact the Public Option.

Third, use the same methods to enact meaningful financial reform.


Would voters punish the Democrats for this? If so, then I guess they've already got the country they want and deserve. I don't see how they would without corporate money, and the lies and distortion it brings, bombarding people's television screens all the time. Even just the first step would without a doubt, mean the inevitability other two. I'm sure even the "broken institution" of the Senate would do wonder once freed from dependence and fear of their corporate masters. This is the issue from which almost every bad policy in American politics stems. It MUST be addressed forcefully.

I'm sure you are shaking your head and chuckling as you mutter something about how this will never happen, and I am dreaming. I know it won't even though it could and should. Call it the audacity of hope.

Sovereignty What? Democracy Who?

I will begin with a disclaimer that I have followed our own Canadian politics less than closely for many years now, so my judgements are based on surface impressions.

The intervention of the Governor General to suspend Parliament is an absolute outrage. The opposition has every right to mount a non-confidence vote. The Prime Minister's appalling attempt to undermine the opposition by removing federal financing for the parties is equally deplorable. The whole thing amounts to an obscene affront to our democracy.

The Governor General should have the sense and good grace to realize her role is ceremonial, and Harper's request is completely inappropriate. Her position is a relic of our colonial past, which we retain only in the name of tradition and she, of all people, should know this and should mind her place. The coalition in the making represents the majority of Canadians.

There are good reasons to be wary of this aspiring new government. It is born of constitutional maneuvering and not of an explicit mandate from Canadians. It is to be led by a man who does not even have the confidence of his own party, one which lost ground in the last election. It is shored up by those who in rhetoric at the least, don't agree that Canada in it's current form should exist. These are complicated issues, but the shutting down of the house at a time of world wide economic crisis, when the value of our exports that drive our economy are plunging, by a representative of the Queen no less, is the absolutely wrong solution.

When the house has less pressing business on it's agenda I believe the role of the Governor-General in Canadian Politics ought to be reassessed.

The President-Elect

So the big night finally came, and for many of us, we could stop holding our breath and finally believe it was really happening. Barak Obama was finally Elected President. The resounding Electoral victory by which he took his victory was wonderful to see.

The coverage, particularilly on MSNBC, took a heavilly racial slant. Although I must admit to myself getting a little misty at the sight of Jesse Jackson watching the scene unfold in the park, with tears streaming down his face, I thought th percistence with which they dwelled upon the significance of his win as a black man took away from the significance of his win as an inspiring leader who has an opportunity and the potential to change the course of American life for a generations to come.

All the same, there is no avoiding the fact that even just in the act of winning this election, The world is changed. It was not the same place Nov 5 as the day before. Not to suggest that this is the end of racism or inequality. Judging from some people's reactions to the event, quite the contrary, but I couldn't help but feel that it was the beginning of the End. I would like to hope that that day marked in a more decicive fashion an end to conservatism as we have known it.

I was impressed with McCain's concession speech and thought he was particularilly gracious. I wish I could say the same for those gathered there to see him speak. I couldn't make out much of the things being shouted into the air between the boos and so on, but I remember thinking this was for the best as they were only likely to ruin my mood if I could. I found it most ironic that those who railed so strongly against the suggestion that they were "bitter" people, turned out , in defeat, to be just that. An election such as this, where little was offerered in terms of anything to believe in from the Republican Party, stripped it down to it's bare base. It is now painfully obvious what kind of people this base is made up of. I think that, as much as the failings of the Republican Congress and Administration, will leave a negative impression on many many voters for a number of election cycles to come, for new and young voters just comin to the process, perhaps a lifetime.

No More Crying Wolf?

All this economic talk from the McCain camp these days is both heartening and sad at the same time. Perhaps I should approach these two reactions separately...

It is sad for many reasons. It is sad that they seize so quickly on the notion of "redistributing wealth" so quickly, and fail to realize that their policies, and the Corporate interests they serve, have been redistributing America's wealth into the hands of the wealthy few for decades. It is sad that they are telling throngs of poor, working class people that Obama wants to raise "your" taxes, when they know full well it's not those people's taxes they're talking about. It's sad that they trumpet the right's methods of "creating new wealth" when they've done nothing but increase the gap between the people they are asking to vote for them, and the few that they've created wealth for.

It's reassuring though, that people aren't buying it. It's great to see poeple refuse to be swayed by the innapropriate use of the word "socialist". It's really fantastic to see that people are no longer cowed by the brandishing of the word "Liberal".

It's wonderful to see people actually thoughtfully considering their personal economic enterests in an American election.

Finally though, to McCain's credit it is really nice to see him fear/hate-mongering on substantive issues rather than seeking out the lowest common denominator in which he can drive "the wedge".

I guess that's what the Sarah Palins of the world are for.

Redemption

Read these word about John McCain at one of the angry rallies we are hearing about since the polls shifted.


"One woman, in the course of a question to McCain said, “I’ve heard that Sen. Obama is an Arab terrorist.”

McCain, who had shared his wireless microphone with her, yanked it out of her hand.

"No, ma'am," the Arizona senator assured. "He's a decent family man and citizen that I just happen to have disagreements with on fundamental issues and that's what this campaign's all about. He's not [an Arab terrorist].""


Perhaps McCain is not willing to sell his soull to win this election. Although I have been dissapointed by the course he has taken, I have held on to the belief that he was a better man than the dissapointing campaign he has run. Some proof positive here. Not just better than that, but too good for the "Republican Base".

These small minded people are showing their colors, not realising it couldn't come at a better time for the Democrats. I look forward to the lowest common denominator losing it's grip on American politics.

Is the media drunk?

I rushed out after the debate was finished last night, and only took the opportunity to have a look at media reaction just now. I am seeing all kinds of complaints about how "boring" the debate was, and claims that neither candidate achieved what they needed to or made a major blunder. One politico. com article trumpeted it as "the worst debate ever".

My impression was quite different. I thought overall, the debate was livelier, and the candidates spoke much more directly to the voters and their concerns than in the first debate. Also, I thought Obama came out the clear winner.

I felt Obama scored yet again, and more resoundingly than before with his "Cool Hand Luke" approach. He answered McCain's criticisms assertively, he spoke calmy and reassuringly to a nervous public in the face of cries of an impending financial calamity. He inspired confidence and I believe, effectively conviced the American people that he is on their side and will be a champion of their interests. He looked and felt Presidential.

McCain, on the other hand, I felt did not carry himself at all well. He stood and paced nervously behind Obama seeming barely able to wait his turn to speak. His demeanor did little do dispell the Obama camp's asessment that he is "erratic" under pressure. He was dismissive and patronising not only with Senator Obama, but with the Audience as well. His continual insistence that "I know how to (insert "get Americans working again", "resolve these kinds of conflicts", "deal with these kinds of foreign leaders", etc, etc here)" was little more convincing than a used car salesman's "trust me". His endlessly repetitive reference to the audience as "my friends" seemed more antagonistic than congenial.

Worst of all, I thought, even worse than the "that one" comment that is getting attention on the web today, was his comment about Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae to the young black voter who asked him about the bailout or "rescue" package. Mc Cain was carefull generealise all night with statements like "many of you" "many of us" and "many Americans", but when he told this young man that Freddie and Fannie were banks "YOU had probably never heard of" it made me wince and twist in my seat. A truly awkward moment that reeked of codescention, and I'm sure did not go unnoticed by most that watched last night.

So much about this debate, and the McCain campaign overall, has dissapointed me a great deal. I have long felt McCain was the best of the Republican party and it is sad to see him falter in this way.

I don't think my assessment that Obama came out a decisive winner is skewed by partisanship or bias. I remember that although Kerry was on the right side of every isssue in th 04 debates, and made stronger arguments for his positions, I found myself trying to explain to my father after one such debate why I felt he had lost himself the election right then and there. Kerry failed to connect with voters, to give them something to believe in. Last night it was McCain who I felt failed at that (perhaps because he reportedly feels he's been forced to run a kind of campain contrary to what he himself believes in), and Obama who succeeded.