I like to think that elections--while often bringing out the worst in the candidates and the media--tend to bring out the best in the rest of us. Everyone has an opinion, everyone takes a side and for a few heady months we're an engaged and passionate citizenry. And it's certainly been an unusually exciting primary season full of drama, intrigue, unlikely heroes, cold-blooded villains and Ron Paul. It's been so riveting, in fact, that it's almost made me forget about the writers' strike that has left my TiVo as empty and barren as Dick Cheney's heart.
Also, since I'm no longer a reporter I now have the luxury of being as openly partisan as I want to be. In that spirit, I took myself over to UCLA on Sunday for the big Obama rally.
It was sort of an awe-inspiring display--thousands of people cheering, waving signs and stomping in unison. There were whites, blacks, Latinos, families with young kids and lots of women. There was Oprah! And Caroline Kennedy! And Michelle Obama! (Who was impressive and inspiring and altogether lovely). There was an awkward moment when Stevie Wonder took a spill getting to the stage. And for the grand finale, Maria Shriver strode onto the stage and announced her support for Obama to an ecstatic crowd.
The sight of these four rather extraordinary women together effectively made the underlying point of the entire event--that it's o.k. to be a woman and vote for Obama. I think it's a difficult decision for any Democrat (and particularly any female Democrat) to make when faced with two ground-breaking choices. But I tend to agree with Oprah in that, instead of seeing a painful choice, voters should see a moment when they “are free from the constraints of gender and race" to make the best decision for themselves.
It would be nice if, instead of talking about the division between the two candidates, we appreciate that either one will represent a historic moment. However things fall today and during the next few weeks, I was impressed by the diversity and passion of the people who came out in the rain, on Superbowl Sunday, to support their candidate.
Finally, although I realize there are few things on this earth more annoying than over-earnest celebrities during an election season (not that I don't appreciate phone messages from Snoop Dogg encouraging me to do my civic duty), I found myself sort of moved by this video that was shown during the rally.
Well played, will.i.am.
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6 comments:
I've been dying to vote all day. 20 more minutes until I leave work! Let's see if we can get this New York state moving Obamaward.
Mitt Romney has just "suspended his campaign" (don't know why the media isn't calling it what it is - "dropping out") which - barring an upset of Dewey Defeats Truman proportions - leaves John McCain as the GOP's guy. War hero or not, personally, I can't see him beating EITHER of the Democratic candidates, so that takes some of the pressure off the Dem primary. (Granted this is coming from the guy who said there was "no chance in Hell" Bush was beating Kerry in a general election, so take that analysis for what it's worth.)
Yes, I will never trust Matt when it comes to politics again.
As I mentioned to Matt -- and as you might have noticed on my posting board -- someone actually said that Oprah chose being black over being a woman. Which just goes to show the levels to which supposedly rational people will take the issue of gender and race.
Which clearly means I've chosen being a man over being white.
They've already started Swift Boating Hillary, too:
www.hillarythemovie.com
It's really awful but a good indication that the right wing have been building a stockpile of weapons in preparation of a Hillary nomination. If McCain chooses a nutjob -- I mean a hardcore Jesus man -- as his VP, I think dismissing him would be a mistake, particularly against Hillary.
On the other hand, off the top of my head I can name four lifelong conservatives that will vote for Obama if he wins, but for McCain if Hillary wins -- and I don't know anyone!
Nice vid. Here's an interesting thing about the new "Yes, we can" slogan adopted by the Obama campaign...one of the reasons that Obama lost some states on Super Tuesday was because he lost a lot of the Latino vote--most likely due to deep-rooted racial tension between Blacks and Latinos. If you translate the "Yes we can" slogan into Spanish, it reads "Si, se puede" which is the banner slogan for nearly all Latino and immigration rights movements. I think it would be naive not to see this as a strategic move on the part of the Obama campaign, but as long as there are good intentions behind it, I'm not sure that I mind too much...
Learning about this whole thing was a good wake up call for me not to see either candidate as the more truthful or pure choice....this is politics, after all, and to get to this far you've got to have a pretty deep bag of tricks.
Hey, thanks for the linkage! I've got a new one up, by the by.
Believe me, I would be stalking you & Matt (aka sleeping on your couch) if I was near LA. No, no, I'm further north in this fine city you call San Francisco...
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