I won’t say I told you so…(on the bailout)

It seems that the bailout has been a very efficient way to provide not just welfare, but verywelfare for lots of the wealthiest on the planet at the expense of the poor. Are we really surprised?

The New York Times posted this article to its website on just that topic.

I won’t say I told you so, but I’ll give you a link to my own post that did.

McCain snubs Obama by deflecting handshake after debate.

In my previous posts on the debate I noted how McCain referred to Obama as “that one” and that he refused to shake Obama’s hand after the debate. This is bad form and a snub to which no presidential nominee should stoop.

I thought perhaps that I just missed something, perhaps the camera did not catch another handshake or interaction which would thus make sense of the issue, but if you watch the video below: You will see that he indeed does deflect Obama’s offer of his hand to his wife and then does not pick up the handshake afterward. I have not found a rebuttal from the McCain campaign on the issue. If you know of one, please tell me about it.

Perhaps there is other tape of the debate that explains this, or perhaps it was not intentional, but that is hard for me to believe. Is McCain so petty that he can not even be gracious and courteous to his opponent? That is my conclusion, but you should draw your own. How do you think he will treat world leaders he does not like/disagrees with? People with whom he has even less in common?

Presidential Debate Roundup: Barrack Obama Versus John McCain (October 7, 2008)

Preview

With Senator John McCain on the ropes in the 2008 Presidential Election, it seems that the question of the night is, can he change the focus of the country from the economy and onto something more helpful for him? The other open question for the evening is, will Senator Barack Obama make a major mistake?

What seems clear to me is that if the economy remains the focus (as it should) and nominee Obama does not make a major mistake both for the duration of the debate and the rest of the campaign then we will be seeing President Barack Obama inagurated in a few short weeks. It is hard to see how McCain can make a coherent argument for a “Republican” vision of the future for the economy when the current implimentation of the Republican vision is a full blown realized nightmare.

At the very least, McCain has to explain why the DOW is down 508 points today and is basically falling off a cliff, why millions of people are losing their jobs, their retirement, and their hope for a better future.

For more on the reality of the financial nightmare that the rest of America is living through see:

• U.S. stocks are clobbered for the 2nd straight day, with Dow losing 500 points. Investor gloom persists.

For more of a preview of the Presidential debates see:

• Ready for Round Two

Postview

The debate has now come and gone. To me it is clear that both Obama and McCain possess enough knowledge and poise in a high stakes presidential arena to fit the role. I also think that both have the minimum experience needed to be in office. However, the cool reserve we need in a presidential leader is apparent in Obama, but seems to be lacking in McCain. He can not even restrain his disdain and anger in a presidential debate. How do we expect him to act with the red button in his hand?

Some specific points. Both were asked if health care is a right, responsibility or a privilege. McCain stated that it was a responsibility. Obama clearly stated he believed it is a right and that it is a shame that the richest country in the world did not make it available to all its people. I agree with this whole-heartedly. How on earth can it be so that 30 million people in the U.S. have no health insurance? How can anyone support a continued policy such as the one we have? Obama hit a home run on this one.

When asked who they would want for their Treasury Secretary both responded Warren Buffet. This is funny to me!

McCain’s attempts at humor fell flat.

Obama was again and again more coherent in his answers. McCain was often shaky in his voice. It sounds crazy, but he seemed nervous!

McCain missed his chance to change the race. He did not change the focus of the debate or campaign. Obama did not make a major mistake. I am not even sure he made one at all.

If anything McCain did make one when he referred to Obama as “that one.” What does that mean? That “one….” what? McCain showed more bad form by seeming to refuse a handshake with Obama at the end of the debate. Not very presidential at all. He came across a bit petty and insolent to me.

New polls coming into CNN news actually show people rating Obama as the clear winner of the debate, better able to handle the Iraq situation, and is in double digits in being better able to handle the economy. If Obama is winning on both military and economic issues, then barring a major unforeseen event–the election is effectively over.

Conclusion

Obama clearly is the winner of the second presidential debate. No questions asked. Click here to check out the CNN coverage.

Liveblogging the Second Presidential Debate: Obama Versus McCain

I do not type fast, so I am not trying to quote anyone, rather, I am just trying to convey my impression or feeling of the debate. That is all. I support Obama, so I think you will see a slant in his direction on my comments.

_____________________________________

Obama takes the first question, and he is poised and clear in his explanation of the economic crisis. Focusing on the middle class and everyday workers…good!

McCain says that the solution to the current economic crisis is to stop buying oil from the Middle East! He sounds nervous. He wants mortgages to be renegotiated in their principle, or bought up by the government. I think his own party says this is a non-starter.

Next Question: Who would they have for Treasury Secretary?

McCain: Says he would nominate Meg Whitman or Warren Buffet.

Obama: Says yes to Buffet too!

Next Question: What is in the bailout for the common man?

McCain: It was a “rescue” not a bailout. (whatever). Its all about Fannie and Freddie being an albatross around Obama’s neck.

Obama: It is about freeing up credit markets so small businesses can meet payroll. And then addresses McCain’s attack. Defends his record on regulation and trying to prevent the economic problems. Brings it back to the taxpayer.

Next Question: Will the economy get worse?

Obama: I am confident that we can negotiate the crisis.

McCain: It depends on what we do. We have to go out and buy up these bad mortgages. McCain just broke the rules of the debate by addressing Obama directly. This is a smart move.

Next Question: How can we trust either of you when both parties got us into this crisis?

Obama: I understand your frustration and cynicism.

McCain: I have been the consistent reformer (…whatever….)

I am watching the debate on CNNHD and their is real time feedback from a room of both men and women. It is interesting to note that McCain is not getting really good responses from the audience but Obama is. When McCain attacks, he is not getting higher ratings, when he acts all folksy and approaches the people who ask him questions and addresses them directly he sometimes gets negative responses. It seems that people do not think it is authentic.

Next Question: What are the priorities for action?

McCain: We have to do them all at once. McCain’s voice is shaking a bit.

Obama: We have to prioritize. 1. Get free of dependence on foreign oil. 2. Health Care has to be reformed. 3. missed it…

Interesting that women reacted very positively to this answer by Obama, but not men.

Next Question: What sacrifices will you ask Americans to make?

McCain: We will have to eliminate many programs, one of them is defense spending (yeah…like we believe you on this one). Getting a good response from women. Men are flatlining. Now women are flatlining…he is not connecting. Proposes a “spending freeze.” Voice is less shaky.

Obama: Mentions 9/11…no reaction from men or women. Could be a mistake. Criticizes Bush for calling people to “go out and shop.” That is not the call he would make. Now he says he is going to have to ask americans to be willing to change the way they use energy…we need to save it…government needs to provide incentives for you to do so. Getting a huge response from crowd…double peace corps and domestic volunteerism…huge response..

Next Question: Were both America and Wall Street drunk on easy cash?

Obama: It starts with Washington.

McCain: Obama wants to raise taxes. Obama will be a Herbert Hoover…total flatline from the crowd. Obama has a ’secret” . Obama will increase taxes on half of small businesses. Actually a negative reaction from women….now negative reaction from men. Now women responding.

….I’m taking a break….

Next Question: What to do about Medicare?

McCain: Let’s have a commission…Obama has voted for a tax increase 94 times…whatever…

McCain: nuclear fuel is clean and safe and can create hundreds of thousands of jobs…sounds confused.

McCain: on the attack about pork…rating actually went negative. Says we have to drill offshore now to make up the gap between foreign and domestic oil. (Whatever, we don’t have even in our wildest dreams enough oil to make up the gap..)

Next Question: Healthcare, right, responsibility, or privilege?

McCain: A Responsibility

Obama: It should be a right. For the richest country in world to have people not be covered is not right. Everyone should have access to healthcare. This is a great answer.

Next Topic: Foreign Policy

McCain: We are peacemakers and have been so across the globe. The important thing is to be able to tell where we can make a difference and where we can not. notes his opposition to intervention in Lebanon, support for Kosovo. Obama was wrong on Iraq, etc…

Obama: Yes, I don’t understand how we decided Iraq was a good idea…and how we let Bin Laden go in Afghanistan. Makes no sense. And, these wars are going to make us go bankrupt. We have squandered our reputation for little gain.

We have to intervene in any genocide we can. We are morally obligated to, but we can not intervene everywhere.

McCain: If we followed Obama’s advice and got out of Iraq we would have caused worse problems and been humiliated.

We have to understand the limits of our abilities. Somalia was a mistake. Lebanon was a mistake. I knew the difference. Others don’t. Obama doesn’t.

Next Question: Should we ignore Pakistans borders and pursue enemies there?

Obama: we made a mistake in allowing this situation to even come into being. We have to reverse course and focus on Afghanistan and go after real terrorists. We have to change our policy toward Pakistan. The Afgh. gov. was making deals with terrorists as we were giving them money.

If bin Laden is in our sights and Pakistan is unwilling to deal with him, we will.

McCain: Teddy Roosevelt says speak softly and carry a big stick. Obama likes to speak loudly. That is wrong.

McCain is not even getting a response on these issues, which are supposed to be his strength. If the CNN feedback loops are at all accurate, he is not doing so well.

****Obama breaks in and insists on a followup.****

This is the same guy who says “Bomb bomb Bomb Iran” and “Next up Baghdad”…ooohh…devastating…and the crowd is reacting positively to the negative attack.

***McCain rebutts***

not true, not true, I know what I am doing. I can handle these crises. I’ll get bin Laden, no matter what. I’ll act responsibly.

Next Question: How do you reform the Afghanistan effort?

Obama: You have to draw down responsibly in Iraq and build up in Afg. You have to insist that Karzai becomes more responsive to his people in order to insure success.

McCain: Obama won’t admit he was wrong about the surge strategy. I know Petraus…I know what we need to do.

Next Question: Another cold war with Russia?

McCain: No, but Russia is acting irresponsibly. Russia and Putin are a problem and are not being democratic. He is acting aggressively. We have to show moral support for Georgia and Ukraine. (what no arms?) We must advocate for membership in NATO.

****All of the commentators scoring the debate, even the Republicans, have Obama as a clear winner of the debate so far.****

Obama: missed most of his response…but he points out that energy independence is an important tool in defusing Russian power.

next Question: If Iran attacks Israel will you send US troops?

McCain: Shakes hand of questioner…Thanks him for service (sincere, for sure). McCain does not answer the question, but talks about Iran getting nuclear weapons. Says Obama wants to negotiate without conditions with Iran. Talks about creating a leagues of democracies to deter their activities. mcCain. We can never allow a second holocaust….but does not say he would commit troops.

Obama: (does not shake hand, best response–speaks directly to questioner) A nuke for Iran is unacceptable, all millitary options are always on the table, but we must explore every scenario and use every point of leverage to keep Iran from becoming belligerent.

However, it is true, we must be willing to speak with them. When Bush refused to speak to North Korea, and Iran both aggressively sought nukes, and that was a mistake.

Last Question: What don’t you know and how will you learn it?

Obama: Makes a good joke about his wife being able to give a long list for the audience. Talks of opportunity and hope.

McCain: Says he knows what it is like to fight and rely on others.

Both make a connection with the audience.

Brokaw closes the debate and says goodnight.

===the bottom line===

Obama is the clear winner of the debate in my opinion and there are some very clear differences between the two candidates.

Oooohh, bad form, Obama shook Cindy McCain’s hand and offered it to John McCain, but McCain seemed to refuse to take it. Very cheeky and not at all presidential….really bad form in my opinion.

All the commentators ended with Obama clearly having won…but who really thinks their opinion is worth much?

See my wrap up on the debate here

McCain refers to Obama as “that one”–a slur?

I just finished watching the second presidential debate between Senator Barack Obama and Senator John McCain. Without looking at Obama but pointing at him, McCain referred to Obama as “that one” at one point. What was meant by the phrase?

Honestly, when I watched the debate the comment made me cringe, but I did not think that McCain was making a racial or other slur towards Obama. I thought he was being rude, but I am white and I am not as sensitive to these things as I should be. It did not occur to me that the comment could be racially motivated until several CNN commentators made a big deal of the comment, but even they did not go so far as to suggest it might be racially motivated.

However, a blog posted to the Huffington Post seems to want to go there with the comment; and a commenter on my live blog about the debate seems to think there is something wrong with it (although I am not sure my commenter has a specifically racial focus):

“i was really shocked when mccain referred to obama as “that one over there.”

that wasn’t exactly like calling him “boy,” but it sure had the same ring to it.

not that it was intentional, it just caught my attention.”

Intentional or not, if it could be fairly interpreted to be a slur (or even degrading in any way) it would equate to a huge blunder for McCain. His voice is certainly dripping with disdain as he makes the comment. To be fair, and to give the proper context to the comment–Watch the video and judge for yourself here.

For me the comment is squarely in the category of “rude” but not “racial.”

It is clear that many people had a different reaction to the comment. I wonder what your reaction to the comment was?

—–Other reactions to the Comment—–

• Andrew Sullivan
• Wall Street Journal
• CBS
• ABC
• The Daily Kos
  
• Oliver Willis
• Talking Points Memo

The Corporate Bailout Passes on Easy Vote in the U.S. House of Representatives

What happened…

Today, Friday, October 3, 2008 is a day that should go down in infamy! A true “Black Friday”.

That giant sucking sound you here coming from years in the future is at least $800 billion dollars going out of your wallet, bank account, and future earnings as wealthy financial company executives steal it from you once again. It will start now, but it will continue to go one for many years to come as the bailout funds are added to the national debt and slowly added to the snowball rolling downhill at a faster and faster pace straight at each one of us. Why? Because enough of us believed their message of “be afraid, be very afraid.”

The truth is that there is plenty of cash to go around to add liquidity to the system, but the financial companies and other funds holders are holding government(s) hostage by hoarding the cash. This puts the lie to idea that this is a true crisis or the type put forward by the financial industry. They just want us to risk our money before they will risk theirs. And, to make matters worse, the government, our elected representatives, blinked. Worse than that, they caved completely. To the overwhelming collective detriment of every U.S. citizen and taxpayer.

What it is…

This corporate bailout/rescue package/corporate charity package and/or fleecing/scare campaign of the poor and middle class will go down, in my opinion, as one of the truly most ugly unethical acts of those in control of the financial apparatus of the world. May we all hold them accountable in the here and now and not just in the by-and-by.

What we need to do…

Vote the crooks out of office and send the crooks in the boardrooms to jail. Investigate those who have been appointed to make sure there is no fraud being committed. It is not their money–unless we authorize them to take it from us–which we just did.

How we got here and where we need to go…

How did we get here? We did not hold out elected representatives accountable to our will instead of lobbyists. We did not make them check the facts instead of believing the cloying wall street beggars. We did not make them be certain to act on sound theory instead of intentionally and professionally inflamed mass hysteria. We did not make sure that when the U.S. House of Representatives voted this down the first time, they knew we wanted it to stay that way. We did not make sure that the U.S. Senate (both Obama and McCain voted for it) got the message clearly enough. We caved. We didn’t act swiftly and strongly enough. None of Pelosi, Frank, Reid, Boehner or any of the other representatives in either house of congress understood how this would screw their constituents…they didn’t understand because we did not make it clear–or their incentives to defy our wishes were stronger than those to fulfill them.

Ah, and there is the rub. It is both. Both must change.

Debate Roundup: Governor Sarah Palin Versus Senator Joe Biden

Well, I think the bottom line on the Vice Presidential Debate is that Governor Sarah Palin is not ready to be president and Senator Joe Biden is. That reflects poorly on the judgment of McCain and reflects well on Obama’s. How can you choose someone who is not ready to take over for you if that is their major responsibility? What does that say you will do with all your other political appointments and major acts of judgment?

That makes me more likely to vote for Obama–and that’s about all I can take away from the debate.

There is a good summary of polls taken about the debate here.

————-UPDATE———

It is interesting that all the polls I have seen have Senator Biden as winning the debate.  It was also interesting to me that Biden seemed to connect very well with women as rated by the real time feedback that could be seen on CNN HD as the debate was taking place.

Dear Most Welcome “Lurkers” (aka anonymous readers)

I want to be clear that I love that people “lurk” around my blog. I can see that many of you are subscribed in a reader and regularly read what I write. Thanks for that. It is fun for me to know that you are out there and seem to be enjoying the blog.

But, I don’t know who you are. And that is fine with me too. It really is.

However, I am a very curious person. I wonder who these people are that read my blog. Many of you I know personally. Some I’ve never met in person, but you have sent me notes to introduce yourselves. It has been great fun to get to know you!

I guess this note is just an encouragement to you to write me a note to introduce yourself if you feel so led. I’d love to hear from you. If you want to drop me an email that is fine, especially if you do not want it to forever live on the internet in the comments. Of course, comments are welcome too!

Peace to you all.

God = (Part 3) The Great Translator

God = the one who sustains between death and rebirth.