Obama reached the 270 electoral vote mark on Nov. 4th, 2008, becoming the 1st African American President-Elect in the history of the United States of America.
God bless this country, the history we are making and road we have ahead of us.
We did it. Its over, and it begins...
OBAMA 44
and although I won't have updates today here's a good place to check to support your local Texas liberal blog. The Left of College Station will be updating numbers as they come in.
As for me, I'm recovering from my beautiful trip to the bahamas and will be with about 1 million other partiers celebrating Obama's win in Grant Park in Chicago. Hopefully I'll get some pictures up, should be a good time!
I was gonna write something on this but this said everything I was going to and more...watch and be scared.
Nobel prize season is upon which makes me a little giddy, along with the rest of the science community. So far prizes in medicine, physics, and chemistry have been handed out, with literature, peace, and economics still to come.
Today three Americans were rewarded for their work on Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP), which I'll try to get to later this week (damn development exam tomorrow). Well one of those winners, Martin Chalfie, made quick work to put his name on the list of laureates who have signed an open letter in support of Obama's presidential aspirations.
Just today Martin was announced as one of the winners of the Chemistry prize and he called up his friend and fellow laureate Robert Horvitz (Medicine, 2002) in order to join the list.
"I said, 'Bob, the one thing I really want to do is, I understand there’s a list of Nobel Prize winners supporting Barack Obama, and I want to get my name on the list.’”That takes the count from 61 to 63 as shortly after the letter was published Murray Gell-Mann (Physics, 1969) came forward to add his name to the list.
I love it, two debates in one week. Politics junkies like myself are definitely getting our fix.
This should be an interesting debate. McFAILin's campaign has taken a nasty turn this week, both in tone and in polling. They have apparently decided that discussing the issues facing the nation is a losing strategy, and looking at the polling as of late, coupled with McCain's disastrous policy history and proposals, I kinda have to agree with them.
So he's taken a drubbing in the polls, but this debates format is supposed to be McCain's strong point. For some reason, the conventional wisdom is that McCain excels in "town hall" style events, while Obama does not. I know, I laugh too. The idea that in any speaking role, McCain could surpass Obama in coherence, eloquence, or poise is completely ridiculous.
The bottom line, the economy is still the number 1 issue facing Americans today, followed by the Bush/McCain wars. Both issues are losers for McCain; public opinion and reality both favor Obama's positions in each area. So whatever character assassination, slime politics, "Johnny Drama" bullshit McCain wants to throw around is only going to further alienate him in the eyes of American voters. Americans are smart, whatever McCain may think, and they want to see answers. They want strong leadership, not playground politics. We shall see tonight which candidate can offer us what we are looking for.
Edit: Damnit Barack, that was such a non-answer. Gonna need to do better than that. Eh, McCain's answer was no better.
Edit: Did McCain just tell that questioner that he was wrong? Bailout vs rescue, who gives a damn? And here he goes on a Freddie and Fannie rant. Johnny Drama, there are more than 2 companies involved in this crisis. Jesus.
Edit: Fantastic rebuttal by Obama. Well done.
Edit: What the hell is he talking about? An overhead projector? Who gives a damn? Can McCain please answer a question?
Edit: I hate it when Obama starts talking about offshore drilling and "clean coal." Bullshit proposals that don't offer any solutions. We need to move away from these archaic energy sources, towards new, cleaner types of energy. And damn it, he should be leading on that point, not merely co-signing the same tired policy that has gotten us where we are.
Edit: I'm not happy. Obama keeps making the same points over and over again. Move on man. Make a new point, or change the damn topic. I know, 95% of tax payers will get a cut under your plan. Move the fuck on! Talk about McCain's plan to tax employers healthcare expenditures. Something. McCain is actually talking about policy, Obama is floundering. Shit...
Edit: Shut the hell up Tom.
Edit: Ok, Obama recovered a little on the healthcare debate. M looked petty and spiteful on his "how much is the fine?" comment. On to foreign policy.
Edit: Shit. I give the debate to McCain. It was exactly what he needed to do to get his campaign back on track. I hate to admit it, but Obama looked befuddled and slow. McCain was crisp and likable. I'm going to have a drink and try to not think about politics for a while. As a better man than myself likes to say, good night and good luck.
Let the madness begin. How will Palin embarrass herself, her campaign, her party, and her country tonight? Let us count the ways.
Seriously, Biden needs to just sit back, answer his questions succinctly, and let Palin talk. If he does that, he will win. But what the R's are praying for is for him to lay into her (i.e. he is picking on the poor little hockey mom), or for him to be overly-respectful (i.e. patronizing the powerful and respected Governor of Alaska. They'll bitch either way. Biden doesn't need to beat Palin, he just needs to stay out of the way while she beats herself.
Edit: Palin sounds good. Doesn't sound smart, but she's speaking English, so its a start.
Edit: HAHA! Holy shit, did she just say that she may not answer the questions the moderator asks? Awesome. Nice burn by Biden, calling her on the bogus charge that Obama voted all those times to raise taxes.
Edit: She's just like McCain, smiles at the wrong times.
Edit: Oh damn! "the ultimate bridge to nowhere." Well said.
Edit: Oh my God, a plan to remove troops from Iraq is a "white flag of surrender"? Jesus....
Edit:This is intense. Good debate so far. Biden seems sure of himself and knows his stuff. Palin is cute, I guess. Still lacking some substance as I see it.
Edit: "Dog-gone-it Joe?" Are we electing fucking Howdy Doody to the VP office?
Edit: Jesus, these "beauty pageant" answers are freakin' killing me. Can she answer a damn question?
Edit: I dunno, Biden looked great, but Palin didn't piss herself either, so I'll reserve judgment for tomorrow.
But she makes it so easy. Does Palin even have a running mate? I've lost track.
Interesting article over at Culture11.com. A conservative argument for Sarah Palin excusing herself from the GOP ticket to save McCain's chances in November. Seems pretty compelling to me, but I'd also be dancing naked in the streets if the McPalin ticket imploded like that (The author, Conor Friedersdorf, is a HuffPo writer, so apply grains of salt as needed).
Then on the same site, some guy, Joe Conor, rebuts Conor's position, claiming that Sarah is only bad on television. Outside TV, she's got a great personality, and personalities, not issues, are what this election (supposedly) is all about.
Making judgments about Palin — or any candidate — based on how they come across on television seems to me to be irrational and dangerous.Did this guy see those interviews? Sarah Palin isn't just bad on TV. John Kerry was bad on TV, so was Nixon. Sarah Palin is an atrocity, on TV and in person. She's a god damn journalism major who can't name a single newspaper or magazine she reads to keep up on the news; she shouts contradictory campaign positions in Philly sandwich shops; she lies her damn head off!
She has, however, revealed she has the character to make the right decision on such issues, even at great personal cost. This, in my view, is the core of leadership and the primary reason she is more qualified to be the chief executive than anyone on the Democratic ticket.More of that gut-feeling decision making, W. style. That hero-worship of "instinctive" leaders and demonetization of intellectual prowess has done wonders for the country these last 8 years, hasn't it?
Brian Lehrer's radio show is taking on actual issues of the campaign for the next 30 days (actually today is day 7). I've listened through the first week of it and someone should give this guy a broadcast medal, he is covering issues that matter in a fact-based forum with experts, historians, policy wonks, and real callers.
To cut through the play-by-play campaign noise and focus on a long view perspective this is a must listen.
The full listing, with streaming, is available here.
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