Obama Out of the Chute

[Obama and the Press] Not that the guy was under any pressure or anything--his first presidential news conference while he's struggling to push his whopping economic stimulus package past balky congressional Republicans--but Obama did all right last night.

At least that's the way Howard Kurtz, media columnist for the Washington Post, seems to be reading the performance. Some White House reporters were eager to stir the shit, trying to build controversy where there isn't any. Namely, AP's Jennifer Loven, who got the first question and whose story on the news conference ran in today's Salt Lake Tribune. Reading Loven's kinda, sorta news story on the event made me do one of those "were we listening to the same man, at the same time?" headscratchers. Wrote Loven:

In an hourlong press conference Monday, Obama shot back repeatedly with biting, sarcastic asides about GOP lawmakers who say the bill is too big, loaded with pork-barrel spending and won't create jobs.

You know, I was listening on my car radio, so I may have missed facial ticks, frowns and eye rolls--your basic indicators of sarcasm. What I heard was a president who won last fall in a landslide, standing firm on an economic plan he has vetted with his experts and needs desperately to get passed in Congress. Loven and the rest of her pals in the White House press corps have gotten too comfortable writing for each other--a common malady of journalists who never change beats and who never travel farther than 10 miles beyond home base. 

One uplifting sign: Obama called on Sam Stein, reporter for The Huffington Post, the first blogger to be recognized at a presidential news conference. That was very cool. (Holly Mullen)

No MoTabs at the Inauguration

[Inauguration Inventory] The University of Utah marching band made the trek to Barack Obama's inauguration. But what of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir?

The small observation party in our living room today noticed the conspicuous absence of the choir, which has made five inaugural appearances for five modern presidents: Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan and both Bush 41 and 43.

Of course, it's pretty likely none of those guys would have invited Usher to join inauguration festivities, either.

The MoTabs' absence left us chewing on this: With all the fallout the new president faced over asking the Rev. Rick Warren to open today's historic event with prayer, could Obama's posse have sensed the bad political mojo over aligning even slightly with the pro-Propostion 8 Mormon Church?

Steve Fidel, writing for the Deseret News online vehicle Momon Times, put it this way:

"Overall it appears that involvement in the Obama inauguration by LDS Church members will be significantly less conspicuous than in some past inaugurations." (Holly Mullen)

Obama's Birth Certificate Found!

[Conspiracy Theories] President-elect Barack Obama was totally born in the USA; this birth certificate from the not-at-all-insane "real" journalists at WorldNetDaily.com proves it!

(Bill Frost)

Ken Salazar: Threat or Menace?

[Media] Here's a case where a reader has to ask: "Were these reporters at the same press conference?"

Prez-elect Barack Obama today officially announced Sen. Ken Salazar, D-Colo., as his choice for Secretary of the Interior.

The New York Times headlined its story this way.

The Salt Lake Tribune headlined its story this way, with Tribune reporter Thomas Burr adding: Environmental groups heralded Salazar's appointment.

(Holly Mullen)

I'm Not Buying Beer...Yet

[Youngsters] I'm not sure if I have to buy any of you a beer yet, as the results of the youth vote on Barack Obama's victory are still being tracked. And the numbers have to be sliced and diced.

Still, it's pretty clear the sub-30s came out in big numbers and voted for our next president. Thank you. You rock. (Holly Mullen)

Last Night's Obama Infomercial

[Campaign 2008] In case you missed last night's Barack Obama infomercial on CBS, NBC, Fox, BET, Univision, Cartoon Network and The Aquarium Channel (premium digital, totally worth it), here 'tis:



(Bill Frost)

The Death of Swiftboating?

[Campaign 2008] This just in: Voters seem to be waking up--at least in this presidential campaign--to cheap smear tactics.

According to this current poll, six out of 10 respondents believe John McCain has far surpassed Barack Obama in negative campaigning. The poll was conducted at the height of McCain and running mate Sarah Palin's attack on Obama over the past two weeks for his loose association with former '60s radical William Ayers. Perhaps there is hope for the intellect of American voters.

McCain and Palin changed up their tactics again on Monday (for what? the 32nd time in six weeks?) after dropping even further in the polls behind Obama. Someone in their camp took a mallet to McCain's head and mentioned there's a little hiccup out there bothering people. It's called the tanking economy.

Let's see if the name "Bill Ayers" shows up in tonight's final debate between the two candidates. I suspect we won't be hearing the phrase "palling around with terrorists" even once tonight. (Holly Mullen)

McCain-Palin in Search of a Verb

[Campaign 2008] John McCain and Sarah Palin were slogging along the campaign trail again today, after some weekend polls showed the Republican team trailing Barack Obama by as many as 11 percentage points.

And as he's done for more than a month, McCain was desperately trying to find himself an image and stick with it. Apparently, McCain campaign consultants (some of whom are the same scumbags who engineered "swiftboating" against John Kerry in 2004) have urged their boss to lay off the effort to link Obama with William Ayers and to stop for now in painting the candidate as a terrorist.

Because it's the economy, stupid (Thanks Bill Clinton!).

First, McCain tried to paint himself as the "change" candidate. Though that sounded um, vaguely familiar. He's still a maverick, apparently. But along with Palin, today he became a maverick with a softer, gentler touch. At their campaign stops this morning, neither of them mentioned Obama by name once.

Still, McCain is badly in need of the right verb. Suddenly, he's ready to fight. He's down, (I know, I know. "Down" is a preposition) but he's not out.

Dear John: Find a verb wouldja, and stick with it. (Holly Mullen)

Their Hype vs. Obama's Hope

[Democratic National Convention] This is what it came down to the final night of the DNC, before a crowd of 80,000-plus in Denver's Mile High Stadium: Barack Obama had a few things to nail in his acceptance speech. He had to show substance to his rhetoric, grit to his glitter. He also had to retell his story as a healer while at the same time standing up to John McCain.

“The record is clear: John McCain has voted with George W. Bush 90 percent of the time. Senator McCain likes to talk about judgment, but really what does it say about your judgment when you think George W. Bush has been right more than 90 percent of the time?” Obama asked the roaring crowd.

Obama kept his McCain attacks in reference to George W. Bush and his party, not stooping to such potshots as McCain's anmesia for the number of homes he owns.

“For over two decades he’s subscribed to the discredited Republican philosophy to give more and more to those with the most and hope that prosperity trickles down to everyone else,” Obama said. “In Washington they call this the ownership society, but what it really means--you’re on your own. Out of work? Tough luck. No health care? The market will fix it...
"... Well it is time for them to own their failure. And it’s time for us to change America.”

After remininiscing about his time as a community activist on Chicago's South Side and how he learned a work ethic from his scrappy grandmother, Obama ended on what he promises will be the key to the next 68 days: “That’s the promise of America. The idea that we are responsible for ourselves but that we also rise or fall as one nation.”

And finally, a few of Obama's plans, as outlined in his speech:

*Cutting tax breaks to corporations that shift jobs overseas; rewarding companies that keep jobs in the U.S.

*A tax cut for 95 percent of all working class families.

*Eliminating capital gains taxes for small businesses and high-tech startup companies.

*Affordable health care for all.

*Pledging to end foreign oil dependence in 10 years.

*In foreign policy, the focus will return to Afghanistan rather than Iraq. “John McCain likes to say that he’ll follow bin Laden to the gates of hell—but he won’t even go to the cave where he lives,” Obama said.

Then in a magnanimous conclusion, Obama recalled his experience and reflected on the good of all Americans.

“It is that American spirit that pushes us forward even when the path is uncertain; that binds us together in spite of our differences; that makes us fix our eyes not on what is seen, but what is unseen—that better place around the bend.”

It was a place called hope hat seemed at long last to subdue the week-long hype surrounding Obama. (Eric S. Peterson)

DNC Protester Profile: A Pro-Hillary Puma Attacks!

[Democratic National Convention] While many in the party can't fathom how a Hillary supporter could be sore enough to actually cast a spite-vote for McCain just for their candidate being dissed on the presidential and vice-presidential nomination, one 74-year-old PUMA (standing for Party Unity My Ass) believes there's a very good reason to vote for McCain over Obama.

"[McCain] will be a lame duck president," says Carol Anderson, who has set up her small PUMA camp in Denver's Civic Station Park. Anderson, a lifelong Democrat, believes a Democratic-controlled congress will buffer any damaging conservative policies McCain might unleash. While she supported Clinton, she doesn't believe in the change Obama offers, especially with energy policy.

"Obama voted for the [2005] Cheney-Bush energy bill to set up liquefied gas terminals and 42 nuclear power plants in Washington and Oregon. Cheney hatched this bill in his office with Ken Lay and other big energy moguls, secretly. John McCain didn't vote for it, Hillary didn't vote for it, Obama did."

The issue will resurface, seeing as how the 2005 bill Obama supported included sizable tax breaks for big oil companies-- an issue Obama is working hard in his campaign to say differentiates him from his opponent. Obama has said he supported the bill "reluctantly" because it also diverted ethanol funds to his state of Illinois.

Anderson says the natural gas stations the legislation earmarked for her state of Washington are volatile and dangerous. "If one of them blows up, it will be worse than any nuclear holocaust in 100 miles," she says.

Anderson also doesn't feel the connection to Obama -- especially since his appearance at a Washington town hall meeting, where he was asked about Hanford, the site of one of the nation's oldest nuclear waste dump sites, retaining waste from the original Manhattan Project of the 1940s. Activists worry the clean-up has been stymied for too long.

"When he was asked 'What are you going to do about Hanford?' " Anderson says, "he said 'What's Hanford?' " (You can check that video moment out here.)

"I can't have this know-nothing guy as president," Anderson says. (Eric S. Peterson)

DNC Nights: Biden Veep-a-looza

[Democratic National Convention] It's getting hard to write about speeches. It's fatiguing. It's hard to write something new when everybody keeps saying the same things.

Don't get me wrong, I've been a Democrat all my life. But after three nights of convention stumping I've developed a strange wincing stomach twinge every time I hear "change we need."

I finally landed in the convention media filing center and discovered this "change-itis" was common among journalists. One journalist, who will remain anonymous (we hacks are thick as thieves, you know), was covering the convention for a major publication that serves an Asian demographic in the U.S. and in a certain Asian country. She left before v.p. candidate Joe Biden spoke. "Don't you want to hear Biden speak?" I asked. "Oh, I got the text," she said, referring to an embargoed copy of Biden's speech DNC convention staff members hand out moments before a candidate begins speaking. "But," I said, "they haven't handed out the Biden notes yet" She, having already packed her laptop up, said "Well ...we can figure out what he will say."

I guess I couldn't blame her. The message has become pretty formulaic. That is, after all, part of the strategy: hammer voters over the head with a call for change.

But for more honed criticism, the night offered a few notable surprises. The first came from the man who would be president-- John Kerry. Kerry aptly presented the knife to McCain that had been stuck in his back since 2004: flip-flopper. "To those who still believe in the myth of a maverick instead of the reality of a politician, I say, let's compare Senator McCain to candidate McCain." Kerry pointed out McCain's backpedaling on climate change, wartime tax cuts and immigration."Candidate McCain says he would now vote against the immigration bill that Senator McCain wrote. Let me tell you, before he ever debates Barack Obama, John McCain should finish the debate with himself."

The point was stuck deeper on foreign policy, where Kerry rightly observed that the multilateral foreign diplomacy Bush had once called "dangerous" and a diplomacy "of appeasement" is now the type of diplomacy Bush's own administration is pursuing. (For a thorough analysis on this policy reversal check out this article on Bush's foreign policy achievements by Newsweek's Fareed Zakaria.)

Biden did score in his speech by repeating this attack in reference to Afghanistan: "Should we trust John McCain's judgment when he said only three years ago, 'Afghanistan--we don't read about it anymore because it's succeeded?' Or should we trust Barack Obama who more than a year ago called for sending two additional combat brigades to Afghanistan?" Biden asked as he noted that the current Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff had agreed with Barack on the point.

Besides that, Biden reiterated much of the same message, swinging it a little harder with the weight of his 35 years in the Senate and his stature as chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. His biggest points came not from him, but from his family. Giving heartfelt props to his ailing mother and to his son Beau, Biden showed a little Everyman characteristic that helped make up for his sometimes stumbling speech. Hell, after all, it's no sin if he can fall short on speech giving when he's Obama's number 2.

Oh, and Bill Clinton spoke. He was a rock star--wowed the crowd with a shot of the good ol' Clinton charisma southern comfort, got them on their feet and pumped up for Biden to speak ... and didn't add anything else to the conversation. (Eric S. Peterson)

Hillary and Biggie

[DNC on TV] The best coverage of the Democratic National Convention can be found right here where City Weekly’s man in Denver, Eric Peterson, continues to file thoughtful updates on the goings on. (His dispatch on the Obama camp’s “faith advisor” is a must read: Democrats sitting around thumping a Bible and shouting down pro-choice delegates.)

However, if you feel the urge to tune in and watch the show (it’s made for TV, after all), I highly recommend catching your convention coverage on BET. Last night BET commentators on the convention floor discussed why two days were being turned over to talks from Hillary and Bill Clinton. (“This is Obama’s time. It’s not about Hillary being dissed.”)

The best line of the night: “Obama and Clinton is destroying anything that Biggie and Tupac ever had.” (Ted McDonough)

DNC Hillary Night: Crushing Unity!

[Democratic National Convention] Last night Democrats delivered on Unity…in the party.

In a display of deft politics the Democrats united through spite, against McCain. They were whole once again as speaker after speaker lined up to pound on McCain. Governors, senators and representatives tapped in and out to pummel the presumptive Republican candidate up until Hillary herself made the stage. By the time Hillary entered the ring the straw man effigy of McCain was dazed and stunned after some six hours of punishment. Throughout the madness of the crowd it was almost as if the voice of Mortal Kombat’s Shang Tsung pronounced from on high: “Finish him!”

But before that moment you have to appreciate the blows that rained down upon McCain. Really these blogs are long enough and there would be just no way to repeat all the put-downs. Needless to say, McCain was getting be-bopped and scatted on so many times the whole affair was beginning to resemble a furious barrage of political yo-mama jokes.

“They say the George Bush came into office on third base [after the Clinton years]. Well if that’s the case he then stole 2nd, and McCain cheered him on every step of the way.” –Ohio Governor, Ted Strickland.

Oh snap!

“Well being from Kansas we’re familiar with the term there’s no place like home. But John McCain’s version seems to be ‘there’s no place like home or home or home or home…”-- Kathleen Sebelius, Kansas Governor.

Oh no she didn’t!

“McCain says he’s a maverick. But when you vote 95 percent with Bush this year, that’s not being a maverick, that’s called being a sidekick.”-- Sen. Robert Casey Jr., P.A.

Daaamn!

“No way, no how, no McCain,” Clinton said warming her up speech. Moving in a way that was both grateful and sympathetic to her supporters, the party and Obama. Clinton graciously recalled meeting young veterans, a mother without health insurance battling cancer, the pleas of a family one paycheck away from poverty. Invoking these figures Hillary spoke directly to her loyal soldiers.

“Were you in this campaign just for me or were you in it for the young Marine and others like him? Or the mom struggling with cancer? Or that young boy and his mother surviving on minimum wage? Or for all the people in this country who feel invisible?” Clinton asked in complete sincerity and authority.

The Democrats clearly have taken to a classic good cop/ bad cop routine to win over the public and especially disenchanted Clinton voters. On the one hand, distanced from the punchier attacks, Obama will appeal to unity among Americans, highlighting “post-partisan” working class values. On the other, Clinton and others will beseech their wayward party members through an unrelenting attack on the McCain camp as the greater evil to a not-Clinton presidency.

And so after historical comparisons to the women’s suffrage movement Clinton called upon supporters to recognize the historical import of the present.

“Think about your children and grandchildren come Election Day,” Clinton said. “We’ve got to ensure the choice we make this election honors the sacrifices of those who came before us.”

With a speech punctuated by yells of ‘We love you!’ and roaring applause, Clinton beckoned with open arms her followers back into the fold and with a kick to the gut of the McCain campaign.

“It makes sense that George Bush and John McCain will be together next week in the Twin Cities, because these days they’re awfully hard to tell apart,” Hillary said, pulling the head and spine from the metaphorical McCain, to a standing ovation. (Eric S. Peterson)

The Abomination called The Obama Nation

[Politics] Is Barack fighting for us yet?

Frankly, considering the state in which the neocon-infested GOP has left the economy on which we depend--and the nation that I love--there's no goddamn reason any presidential poll should be even close to tied. Surveys should favor Democrats, hands down, in every contest.

There's a great article in the New Yorker (it's brief and highly recommended) describing the opposition Obama is facing from The Borg--particularly that from Jerome Corsi, author of many trashy, ethically void pseudobiographies, including one called The Obama Nation. Apparently for the same reason Corsi's past bullshit books have garnered lots of airtime, his newest smear against Barack Obama seems to be getting some play.

Now, regarding the weird evenness in the polls, anybody who cares to look closely into my wardrobe knows that I do own a tinfoil hat. And, from the standpoint of accessorizing, it goes with everything during years that are divisible by 4. (Political polls are, after all, controlled by corporate overlords adept at employing weird shock-doctrine tactics. And they always freak us out.)

Still, this year is slightly different in that it's easy to locate a concrete, non-paranoid rationale for the Democratic candidate's sudden popularity lapse. It's Obama's Senate vote in support of the unconscionable FISA Amendments Act (FAA), which not only provides immunity for bootlicking telecoms that agreed to spy on American citizens during this protofascist George W. Bush era, but also seriously undermines the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) of 1978.

Now, FISA is a good thing. Surveillance of citizens by despotic U.S. presidents is nothing new. FISA was enacted in response to Richard Nixon's freaky domestic-spying program. It limited government wiretapping and the arbitrary abrogation of citizens' Fourth Amendment rights.

The evil FAA crippled FISA. It said that the phone company is not required to abide by the U.S. Constitution. It made it easier for the government to spy on us for whatever whimsical reason it chooses, therefore normalizing the nosy, un-American policies of the George W. Bush administration. In case you've been wondering why everybody's so afraid these days, it's because of the FAA.

Barack Obama, our agent of change, voted for the FAA--to our surprise--and therefore voted for the continuation of nanny-government Bush policies. That made me a lot less excited about his candidacy. It also brought his poll numbers down to dreary McCain levels.

There's still time for Obama to renew all that hope he's been running on. But time is running out. Obama needs to take a strong stand against these creepy neocon policies which, suddenly, have made our lives a lot less private and much more subject to government intrusion.

Any forceful, symbolic stand will do. He can pick one of Bush's most chilling executive orders, and vow to repeal it once elected. That's what's going to convince me of "change." Yes, I am desperate enough that I'm willing to get back on the bandwagon for a token gesture, as long as it sounds sincere.

Will he make such a gesture? The DNC would be an awfully good time for it.

(Brandon Burt)

Barack Loves Me Mostest

[Campaign Gimmickry] I don't know why Obama picked me. I may be a brilliant and intuitive reporter, but in most arenas outside my profession I have never, ever been the first to know. Anything.

But the Obama for President campaign tells me that's about to change. Any day now I will be the First. To. Know.

The campaign keeps me and oh I dunno, about 82 million of Barack's other close personal friends, on an e-mail list. The latest in their innovative electronic campaign strategies is to announce that people on the list will be the first to know Obama's running mate, once he decides. We'll get the news via e-mail or text message. All we have to do is sign up.

I feel very special. Particularly since I am not exactly part of the breathless Obama is God faction. Yes, I was a Clinton supporter. But all I want at this point is a Democrat in the White House. And that choice is Obama. I think he'll make a fine president. But I'm not as convinced as others seem to be that the man can perform miracles. He's got years of damage to undo. And we're talking the reality of politics, after all.

Anyway, somehow my sorry self landed on the Obama e-mail list. Last month I got a close, personal letter from Michelle Obama, inviting me to make a "pledge" to the campaign (I suddenly felt like I was listening to Doug Fabrizio, pimping for donations during a KUER fund drive. Except there weren't any coffee mugs or CDs on the premium list.). If I donated by such and such a date, I'd be in the running to meet her husband at the National Democratic Convention in Denver.

I feel so special. (Holly Mullen)

Jon Voight on Barack Obama

[Parenting Expert] Check this out. The last time we heard much about Jon Voight was for his un-stellar performance as a fictional Mormon bishop in September Dawn. Thanks to the blog 23/6 for a post that reads between the lines, literally. (Holly Mullen)

He is a Berliner

[Obama-ized] We're here in the City Weekly offices today, working. No yee-haw Pioneer Day holiday for us.

I was late getting in today. I'd like to say it was because I got stuck in Days of '47 Parade traffic, or was mesmerized by all those shiny while simultaneously kinda creepy floats.

Nah.

I got caught up watching Barack Obama's speech to residents of Berlin. The candidate, on the campaign stump in Iraq and now in Europe, was masterful.

I wondered much earlier in the campaign season if Americans were so taken with Obama because, George W. Bush--with his horribly failed policies and his idiotic public persona--had set the bar so dismally low. Not any more. Read the Obama speech. It's meaningful.

(Holly Mullen)

Go New Yorker, Go!

[Humor-Impaired America] I love the New Yorker. I love cover illustrator Barry Blitt. I love that the magazine is taking all the stereotypes the right wing has tossed at the Barack Obama campaign and kicking those lies square in the ass.

Now the Obama campaign is deeply angered and offended. How else can it feel--at least publicly? The campaign has to reach down to the dumbest of Americans who can't understand satire to save their lives. There could possibly be votes there, for god's sake.

I'd love to be in the New Yorker office today. Talk about issues flying off the news racks! Ka-ching!

What do you think of Britt's illo? (Holly Mullen)

Sock Monkey Obama 86'd

[Spank the Monkey] Last week, City Weekly's own Brandon Burt got way out in front of the rest of the Salt Lake media on the saga of the The Sock Obama. Brandon got the first word about the racist variation on the classic old sock monkey doll from the Daily Kos, but Kos didn't handle it with the deft touch that BB did.

Well, the West Jordan Lawsons--creators of the monkey--have now announced the creepy little doll is no longer available. They still won't cop to charges of racism, though. Instead, the couple has offered the typical passive-aggressive "apology" we all know so well in Utah. You know--they're sorry not for what they did, but for the way what they did made you feel. (Holly Mullen)

Michelle Obama's Baubles

[Political Accessories] OK. Barack Obama has a lock on the Demo presidential nomination. It's done.

Now it's time to ask the important question. Why does Michelle Obama wear that big, baubled necklace wherever she goes? She's bright and beautiful. She's a stylesetter. But those beads look like something Barack won for her after knocking over the milk bottles at a booth on the midway. (Thanks to Brandon Burt for the perfect simile.)

Yeah, it's fashion. Madonna wears them, too. At least she was wearing them--four years ago. Maybe in Michelle's case, they are a good luck charm.

I just thought I'd be the first one in Utah to ask. Now that she's on the short list for First Lady, it's the kind of scrutiny we expect of such F.L. hopefuls in America. (Holly Mullen)