The worse the economy gets, the more important it is to see these each week

News this last week

First things first, could we get over the fact that President-elect Obama (I still love saying that) requested Senator Clinton be his Secretary of State?

Why the big hub-bub?

Remember why she was running for the Presidency? Let's see--she's smart, hard-working, ambitious and intelligent. Why this should be a surprise fails me.

Let's get over it, embrace the intelligence of it and move on. So what if they were, at one time, competitors for this same job?

The same with his meeting tomorrow with Senator McCain.

Apparently we're so used to divisional politics, stupidity, narrow-mindedness and short-sighted moves from our politicians, we're awestruck by intelligence and intelligent moves, even if they are political.



The other news this week was an oft-repeated story about President-elect Obama possibly being our next FDR.

The obviousness of this, to me, is extremely apparent. It's great to say, sure, but seems very apparent.

In the first place, we're coming off a "do nothing", know-nothing dolt of a President, just as they did going into the first Great Depression. The only thing is, at least Hoover wasn't blatantly evil (my highly biased but common opinion) and in the pockets of Big Business, the way the current occupant is.

But secondly, and really, much more importantly, it seems that, unfortunately, we're apparently going to need just such a figure in this position, to lead us from Washington and the White House, given our current state of affairs.

Our economy and that of the world is going to heck in a handbasket right now, so we need this guy to do all the right things and put the people first, just as FDR did.

The one big difference between the two--FDR and President-elect Obama--besides their skin color, is that the first was born to wealth, making Obama's rise to power all the more magnificent.

So yesterday, when the President-elect announced he'd be releasing, each week of his Presidency, a video on Youtube for his weekly address, instead of on the radio as all his predecessors since the Depression did, he at once connected to FDR and, in effect, brought us in closer. I'm surprised I haven't seen anything written, yet, about this. This makes the "fireside chat" even more personal and relatable. It's fascinating.

It also takes him (Obama) and the fireside chat and us--all of us--into another "next generation moment" for his campaign, his Presidency-to-be and the nation.

The thing is, it was a very deft, intelligent, simple but brilliant and obvious move.

For everyone on computers, it was the obvious next step for that venue.

Now, instead of no one listening for and to the President's weekly radio address, virtually everyone will be tuning in to Youtube for it.

And we'll do it partially because it's so new itself, partially because it's our new President, partially because it's President Obama himself and, finally, because our economy and country are in such a bad condition and we need to know what new thing will happen next.

Again, it's a brilliant, simple, important move that will be very welcomed by the nation.

Finally, our President-elect evoked another of the most important of our country's former Presidents yesterday, when formally relinquishing his Illinois Senate seat:

"In his published letter, Obama quoted Abraham Lincoln, 'another son of Illinois' who had left for Washington, 'a greater man who spoke to a nation far more divided.'"

"Lincoln, Obama wrote, said of his home: 'To this place, and the kindness of these people, I owe everything.'"

"Obama wrote, 'I feel the same, and like Lincoln, I ask for your support, your prayers, and for us to `confidently hope that all will yet be well.'"

President-elect Obama is not perfect. Far from it. He has never claimed to be.

But our hopes, as a nation, are high and we have high expectations. He'll disappoint us, sure. He won't be able to do everything we want or need him to do.

But he's making the right moves. He's thinking and acting deliberately (which is a huge and very welcome change from the previous administration, of course). He'll ask us to sacrifice and work hard.

It seems we've turned a corner and can have hope again.

Election night

Yes we can.

Hope

From Arianna Huffington:

"It's a theme Michelle Obama touched on many times on the campaign trail. 'Barack Obama will require that you work,' she said at a rally on the eve of Super Tuesday. 'He is going to demand that you shed your cynicism; that you put down your divisions; that you come out of your isolation; that you move out of your comfort zones; that you push yourself to be better; and that you engage.'"

"This call echoed something that historian and presidential biographer David McCullough had once said about JFK. 'The great thing about Kennedy,' he told me, 'is that he didn't say I'm going to make it easier for you. He said it's going to be harder. And he wasn't pandering to the less noble side of human nature. He was calling on us to give our best.'"

"And when Bobby Kennedy was agonizing over whether or not to run in 1968, he told one of his advisors: 'People are selfish. But they can also be compassionate and generous, and they care about the country. But not when they feel threatened. That's why this is such a crucial time. We can go in either direction. But if we don't make a choice soon, it will be too late to turn things around. I think people are willing to make the right choice. But they need leadership. They're hungry for leadership.' Forty years later, we are starving for it. Real leadership. Leadership geared to transforming the country."
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That's what we voted for Tuesday.


Have a good weekend, y'all.

What's changed

...and what hasn't.


So, here we are, finally, with a historic election and one that was way too long.

It's nice to have it over.

It would have been nice to have it over even if, God forbid, it didn't turn out the way it did--if it didn't turn out this, the right way.

No more election commercials.

I've been thinking for 24 hours about what I'd write.

About how nice it is it turned out correctly.

About how monumental the whole thing was and is, in so many different ways.

But what I've really come down with, finally, is the realization of where we are and what we have and what we've done--and where we are not and what we don't have and what we haven't done, all at once.

Yesterday, by the grace of God (I use that as purely a euphemism) and by education and experience and so many things, we elected the best man, of the last two standing, for President.

That's one of the most important things. And it's huge.

Secondly, not incidentally, he is an African-American. The first in our more than 200 year history to have done so.

That's the monumental part, certainly, as we and the world all know.

What we don't have is true equality.

The United States never has, let's be clear on that, had the equality we declared in our Constitution.

Sure, we may have had more equality than other nations or, possibly, than any other nation on the planet (who really knows?).

But when this nation began, we wrote that we insisted on "equality for all."

At the time, that meant for all property-owning white males. Period. That was all.

Then, we added, what? "People of color"? Kind of. Sort of. Even though they couldn't really vote or buy whatever property they could afford and live wherever they wanted.

Then we added women to the list of "equality".

Yeah, so they could vote but forget about equal pay. Even today, in 2008.

But yesterday, it was also proven in this election that we still aren't there in terms of true, blanket, it's for everyone equality.

While the United States voted Barack Obama to be our next President, California voted to ban marriage for same-sex couples.

No equality.

2 men or two women who want to live together and commit to one another able to have complete, legal parity to opposing sex couples.

Nah.

Nope.

Not gonna happen.

"Wouldn't be prudent."

Yeah, right.

So the fact is, we took a big step last night, to getting closer to our country's long-term goal (of what we understood we had all along, right?).

But no.

We're not all the way there.

Not yet.

We have to keep working on it.

Let's celebrate this advance, sure.

But we still have a lot of work to do.

At least we repudiated the current butt-head President, his sidekick Vice President "The Dick" Cheney, the Republicans, the Republican platform of hate and exclusion, the hating and discriminating religious Right Wing and everyone like them and in their camp.

A brief time now, to celebrate, before we slug on.