Deconstructing politics with Greg Guma, FP Cassini, Sonny Fortune and Kevin Ryan. News headlines and outrageous dialogues. This edition: Bush Watch – secret operations and lame duck tactics, Alternative GOP futures, Barack as Marketer-in-Chief, Gay Marriage Update: Recent votes, Vermont could be next, Forecasting the next crisis, Cheney’s swan song, and drug news. Greg’s Comment: Honeymoon in Limbo. Vermont: Election Postmortem & First Amendment showdown in Burlington.PSA: The Howie Rose Show seeks new segment producers.
Special Segment: Teacher Genese Grill discusses Burlington College, her recent firing, and the management style of College President Jane Sanders, wife of Vermont’s Independent US Senator. Greg Guma stops by.
The Howie Rose Show airs live weekly on Friday morning at WOMM, and streams on The Radiator from Burlington, ground zero in the People’s Republic of Vermont. Click to hear this edition of Maverick News @ Noon or the Genese Grill interview, originally aired on November 14, 2008, 11 a.m. – 1 p.m. Thanks to Big Heavy World and Sonny Fortune.
This week: Cheney’s first indictment – in Texas no less, Why a bail out of the auto industry may be necessary, Fake campaign news and viral e-mails, the latest corporate scam – shrinking products, How Obama auditioned for power, and Cigarettes vs. Grass. Greg’s Comment: The Hype of Hope. Live Broadcast Friday, November 21, Noon EST, on The Howie Rose Show (WOMM), streamed on The Radiator.
RISE OF THE BLACK PRINCE. Here’s a bedtime story: Once upon a time a charismatic prince named Barack appeared magically (and nationally) by giving an instantly famous keynote address to the 2004 Democratic National Convention. Sounds believable, doesn’t it? But, as Ken Silverstein revealed in Harpers two years ago, by this time Obama “had already undergone an equally successful but much quieter audition with Democratic Party leaders and fund-raisers, without whose support he would surely never have been chosen for such a prominent role at the convention.”
The first favorable elite assessment of Obama reportedly came in October, 2003. Vernon Jordan, the well-known power broker who chaired Bill Clinton's presidential transition team in 1992, placed calls to roughly 20 of his friends and invited them to a fund-raiser at his home. That event – not some living room cell group meeting in Bill Ayers’ home – “marked his entry into a well-established Washington ritual – fund-raising parties and meet-and-greets where potential stars are vetted by fixers, donors, and lobbyists."
Obama passed with shining colors. At social meetings with big "players" from the financial, legal and lobbyist sectors, Obama impressed people like Gregory Craig – a leading attorney, former special counsel to the White House, and now Obama’s pick to do it again; Mike Williams, legislative director of the Bond Market Association; Tom Quinn, partner at a top corporate law firm, Venable, and a leading Democratic power broker; and Robert Harmala, another Venable partner and big player in Democratic circles.
The good word about Obama spread through Washington's blue-chip law firms, lobby shops, and political offices, going massive after his win in the March 2004 Democratic primary. Elite financial, legal, and lobbyist contributions streamed in at a rapid and accelerating pace. The "good news" for insiders? Obama's "star quality" wouldn’t be directed against the elite segments of the business class. He was, wrote Silverstein, "someone the rich and powerful could work with." According to Obama biographer and Chicago Tribune reporter David Mendell, in 2003 and early 2004, Obama cultivated support by advocating fiscal restraint, calling for pay-as-you-go government and singing the praises of free trade and charter schools. He "moved beyond being an obscure good-government reformer to being a candidate more than palatable to the moneyed and political establishment."
"On condition of anonymity," Silverstein noted, "one Washington lobbyist I spoke with was willing to point out the obvious: that big donors would not be helping out Obama if they didn't see him as a 'player.' The lobbyist added: 'What's the dollar value of a starry-eyed idealist?'"
AND THE OSCAR FOR FAKE NEWS GOES TO…. One of the lingering questions of campaign 08: Did Sarah Palin know that Africa is a continent? To get to the truth, let’s follow the source. Fox News broke the story, quoting an unnamed McCain person. Who was the source? The name finally popped up on a blog last week, and was then aired by MSNBC’s David Shuster. Supposedly, McCain Policy Advisor Martin Eisenstadt was the source of the leaks.
Trouble is, Martin Eisenstadt doesn't exist. He has a blog, but it’s a put-on. He’s a senior fellow at a Think Tank, the Harding Institute for Freedom and Democracy. But here’s where it breaks down. The Harding Institute, named for one of the least regarded US presidents, is nothing more than a fake website. TV clips of and documentaries about Eisenstadt are also fake. Claiming to be the source for the Africa charge is just the latest ruse. It’s an elaborate hoax that’s been going on for months.
Eisenstadt was created by two filmmakers, Eitan Gorlin and Dan Mirvish. As The New York Times has reported, they succeeded in fooling countless media outlets, including The New Republic and The Los Angeles Times, into believing he was a real political insider. Over a year and a half, under the guise of Eisenstadt, they repeatedly infiltrated political coverage, as media outlets picked up on their fake political commentary and video clips.
They say they created Eisenstadt, played by Gorlin, to help them pitch a TV show based on the character. At this point, there are some great moments and episodes of a fake BBC documentary, The Last Republican, on YouTube. Take a look:
Last June they produced what appeared to be an interview with Eisenstadt on Iraqi television promoting construction of a casino in the Green Zone in Baghdad. Then they sent out a news release in which he apologized. Outraged Iraqi bloggers protested the casino idea. In October, Eisenstadt blogged that Samuel J. Wurzelbacher, aka Joe the Plumber, was closely related to Charles Keating, the disgraced former savings and loan chief. It wasn’t true, but other bloggers ran with it.
After Election Day, Fox News cited anonymous McCain aides as having claimed that Palin didn’t know Africa was a continent. Palin’s people went after the anonymous source for taking the governor's comment out of context. Mirvish and Gorlin weren't the source, but they jumped at the opportunity to make fun of what they call the media's propensity to use anonymous sources. On November 10, they posted a blog entry about the Fox report in which Eisenstadt claimed to be coming forward as the anonymous source who leaked the Palin blunder. Shuster ran with it.
MSNBC corrected Shuster’s mistake. But groups like Source Watch, a media watchdog project by the Center for Media and Democracy, had been warning about Eisenstadt and the Harding Institute for months. So, Martin Eisenstadt is a hoax. Still, the question about Palin’s geographical knowledge remains unanswered.
DIGITAL RUMORS. Even without fake news and the occasional hoax, viral emails have emerged as a form of stealth propaganda recently, noticeably in the recent US presidential campaign. Barack Obama was dogged with false claims that he was a Muslim, that he refused to salute the American flag, that he wasn’t a US citizen, and so on. Danielle Allen, a professor at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey, attempted to trace the chain of one of those emails and found what the Washington Post called "valuable insight into the way political information circulates, mutates and sometimes devastates in the digital age."
The anonymous nature of viral emails, combined with the word-of-mouth way that they spread, makes them hard to counter. "This kind of misinformation campaign short-circuits judgment," Allen said. "It also aggressively disregards the fundamental principle of free societies that one be able to debate one's accusers."
INCREDIBLE SHRINKING PRODUCTS. You may not have noticed, but prices on your favorite grocery items are going up. Many companies have found a sneaky new way to raise prices without losing customers to less expensive brands: by shrinking their packaging.
A jar of Skippy peanut butter is the same height and circumference it’s always been. But now it has a hidden, inward "dimple" on the bottom that decreases the amount the jar holds by two ounces. Boxes of breakfast cereal: they appear to be the same height and width as always. But manufacturers have reduced the depth of the boxes from front to back, decreasing the amount of cereal they hold. Rolls of Scott toilet tissue contain the same number of sheets (1,000), but the length of each sheet has been cut from 4 to 3.7 inches.And a can of Starkist Tuna has been downsized from six to five ounces.
When asked about the shrinkage, most companies point to higher costs for ingredients, manufacturing and fuel. Can consumers fight back? Yes, by refusing to buy from manufacturers who engage in this tactic.
LET THE PROSECUTIONS BEGIN. It would be like getting Al Capone for tax evasion: Dick Cheney has actually been indicted in Texas on charges related to alleged prisoner abuse in federal detention centers. A grand jury in Willacy County, right near the US-Mexico border, has brought the indictments against Cheney and Attorney General Alberto Gonzales at the urging of the county DA, Juan Angel Guerra.
According to the Associated Press, the indictment stems from Cheney's investment in the Vanguard Group — an investment management company that reportedly has interests in the prison companies in charge of the detention centers. It also charges that Gonzales halted an investigation into abuse at the detention centers while he was attorney general. So, not murder – Bugliosi style, just self-dealing and obstruction of justice maybe.
Sounds like a start. But it gets squirrely from here. Guerra has also indicted Democratic state Sen. Eddie Lucio, Jr., and Lucio’s lawyer calls Guerra a "one man circus." We shall see. Exhibit One: In the March 2008 Democratic Primary, 70 percent of the Willacy County voters to remove Guerra as Willacy County DA. In a few weeks, he’s out of there. So, Lucio’s people say he’s just seeking revenge on those he sees as political enemies. And Cheney’s people: "The vice president has not received an indictment," they say. Stay tuned.
CRASH TALK. Is a bailout of the auto industry really needed? Some say the big companies are destined to go bankrupt, either now or in a few years. If that’s true, why bother saving them, right? The problem is that the economies of Michigan and Ohio are still heavily dependent on the Big Three. If they go under at the moment, a whole group of suppliers will suddenly incur large losses due to the money owed to them, as well as their lost orders. This will lead to a large second wave of bankruptcies as suppliers go under. State and local governments will see plunging tax revenue.
This would be extremely painful for the region at any time, but it could be devastating in the middle of the current recession. The federal government would have to step in with large amounts of money, helping governments in the region to provide essential services and support the unemployed workers.
On the other hand, in two or three years it’s reasonable to hope that the economies of Michigan and Ohio will have rebounded, at least enough to withstand a bankruptcy if it happened. So, if you’re opposed to helping out the auto industry, you might want to consider the short-term consequences.
DRUG NEWS
LOOK WHO’S SMOKING WHAT. According to a new report released by the Centers for Disease Control, fewer Americans are smoking cigarettes than at any time in modern history. "The number of US adults who smoke has dropped below 20 percent for the first time on record," Reuters reports. This is less than half the percentage (42 percent) of Americans who smoked cigarettes during the 1960s.
Imagine that. In the past 40 years, tens of millions of Americans have voluntarily quit smoking a legal, yet highly addictive intoxicant. Many others have refused to start. And they've made the decision without ever being threatened with criminal prosecution and arrest, imprisonment, probation, and drug testing.
By contrast, during this same period of time, state and local police have arrested some 20 million Americans for pot law violations – primarily for violations no greater than simple possession. And yet marijuana use among the public has skyrocketed from an annual rate of 600,000 new users in 1965 to 2.5 million annual new users today.
There are lessons to be learned. To start, tobacco, though harmful to health, is a legally regulated commodity. Sellers are licensed and held accountable by federal and state laws. Users are restricted by age. Advertising and access is limited by state and federal governments. And health warnings regarding the drug's use are based upon credible science. In contrast, marijuana remains an unregulated black market commodity. Sellers are often entrepreneurs who, for the most part, operate undetected and can sell their product to anyone.
COMMENT
The Hype of Hope
You can almost feel the air leaking out of the change bubble that has been inflating this year. As the new political messiah begins to reveal his brain trust it becomes harder to continue believing the pre-election hype.Hillary Clinton, Tom Daschle, Rahm Emanuel, Gregory Craig, Eric Holder – the first names announced for the Obama administration suggest that we may be heading forward into the past.
But it’s still too soon to know whether our expectations are just a bit high or the promise of real change turns out to be a hoax.
In the past, the revelation that we’ve been fooled has often led to a greater wisdom. In the 19th Century,we had the 1835 announcement of life on the moon, which helped expand the readership of the New York Sun, the Cardiff Giant (a fake missing link), and the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, an anti-Semitic forgery about a Jewish plot to control the world. As a result, we realized that the media will sometimes create news to increase income, and that hate-filled rumors have considerable power.
Sometimes hoaxes appeal to our primal fears, like Orson Welles’ 1938 War of the Worlds broadcast, possibly the most influential, through accidental hoax of the last century.Thousands believed that the Martians had landed.
Many hoaxes are just designed for personal advancement – Clifford Irving’s fake biography of Howard Hughes, for example, or Rosie Ruiz’s first place finish in the 1980 Boston Marathon – she actually road the subway to reach the finish line first.
In some cases, however, a hoax has influenced public opinion enough to change the direction of a country. A case in point: The so-called Zinoviev letter, created by British intelligence, that claimed a Soviet revolution was about to take place in England. The scare was effective enough to get Brits to elect a conservative government. The rationale for the War in Iraq may turn out to fall into the same category.
When they’re exposed, hoaxes sometimes help us to understand the world a bit better, or at least make us a little more skeptical when the next scam is tried.
Thus, it’s natural to be a bit suspicious about the current promise of change. At this point the rise of Obama certainly doesn’t qualify as a hoax, but we’re learning fast that, at least to some extent, there has been a bit of hype. Yet there’s still some hope that we haven’t been completely faked out.
In this media-manipulated world, it becomes harder each day to tell reality from fakery. Last year, for example, a reality TV show in the Netherlands, the Great Donor Show, focused on a terminally-ill woman donating a kidney to one of three people who needed a transplant. Turns out it was a stunt.
Still, there’s a chance that the Obama bubble is more than another bait-and-switch operation, a bit of hype mixed with enough reality to keep hope alive. I could be wrong, but just because the current news suggests that there won’t be as much change as promised, that doesn’t mean we’ve been completely punked.
One More Time
Fake McCain Advisor Martin Eisenstadt rants about community organizers:
This Week: Losing and winning on Gay Marriage, Bush Watch – secret operations and last minute assaults, Barack as Marketer-in-Chief, Cheney’s Midas touch, Forecasting the next crisis, South America just says no (to the drug war). Greg’s Comment: Honeymoon in Limbo. Live Broadcast Friday, November 14, Noon EST, on The Howie Rose Show (WOMM), streamed onThe Radiator.
Honeymoon in Limbo
It’s a confusing time. On one hand, the audacity of hope. On the other, war, rumors of war, and a cratering global economy. The end of the most unpopular presidency in a century – maybe ever. But at the same time, clear signs that the next administration will be led largely by retreads from the Clinton years. Change we can believe in? As I said, it is confusing.
Years ago, back in school, I remember being told by a professor that one of the ways to tell whether someone was well-educated is a high tolerance for ambiguity, the ability to deal with less than clear cut situations. To some extent, Bush came to power because a majority of voters liked his black-and-white view of the world, his basic rejection of ambiguity. You were either with him – or with the terrorists. One reason John Kerry lost in 2004, among many, was that his view of the world was too “nuanced.”
But perhaps people have learned a bit in the last eight years. This time, forced to choose between an “all American” war hero offering the same old black-and-white logic, and an exotic challenger with a clear yet nuanced agenda, America – except for a shrinking stronghold of insular simplicity – choose the more complex option.
Maybe the country is growing up. Maybe it’s ready to deal with ambiguity, with problems too complex for simple sound-byte answers. Let’s hope so, since the next months – and probably years – are likely to be even more challenging to many basic assumptions than the Bush era. The world’s only Superpower? Maybe, maybe not. Axis of evil? Too simple to be true or very helpful. The clear line between friends and enemies? It could begin to blur.
As much as we yearn for clear and simple outcomes, and a clear break with the past, we also know that it doesn’t usually work out that way. More likely, the changes ahead will be gradual, subtle, nuanced. You know, something old, something new, some things borrowed, and, for the next four years, basically blue.
I could be wrong, but the future is apt to be a little like a new marriage, the time when you begin to discover the real, complex nature of the person you’ve decided to trust and live with. It’s confusing all right. But if the country has really developed a higher tolerance for ambiguity – an ability to handle uncertainty and adapt, despite all the mixed messages – the honeymoon we’re on could end up being an exciting time of discovery, a chance to create a more perfect, yet continually evolving union.
NEWS
GAY MARRIAGE: SETBACKS & STRATEGIES. The passage of California's Proposition 8, an amendment to the state Constitution banning gay marriage, may be due largely to $14 million in donations from members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, the Mormons. That has set off Irony Alerts across the country, given the Church's onetime support of polygamy. For the record, the Mormons disavowed polygamy in 1890 so that Utah could become a state, but Maverick Mormons continue to practice it.
A day after the vote, the issue returned to the state Supreme Court, since gay and lesbian couples and the city of San Francisco have filed lawsuits seeking to overturn it. Attorney General Jerry Brown says he’ll defend the legality of about 18,000 same-sex marriages conducted in the months leading up to election day. Prop. 8 backers claim the measure was intended to invalidate those marriages. That issue is also expected to end up before California's high court. It could even reach the US Supreme Court.
Backers of Prop. 8 accuse "activist judges" of thwarting the will of voters, who approved a similar measure in 2000. Last May the California High Court ruled that same-sex couples had the right to marry under the California Constitution on the grounds of privacy and equal protection.
The new lawsuits seek to overturn Prop. 8 on the basis of state law, but avoid federal constitutional claims. The reason: Gay rights activists are worried that the Supreme Court would reject any right of same-sex marriage under the Constitution.
On the plus side, Connecticut legalized gay marriage this week. A month ago that state’s Supreme Court said that excluding same-sex couples from marriage was unconstitutional. A week ago the court announced that marriages could officially be performed starting on Wednesday. With California out of the picture, Massachusetts and Connecticut are the only states allowing same-sex marriage. New Jersey, Vermont and New Hampshire have civil unions, and California has domestic partnerships.
Vermont could get back into the mix. According to Vermont Freedom to Marry, support for same-sex marriage in the Green Mountains is strong enough that 2009 may be the time to go for it. This November no one running for the Vermont state legislature lost a seat due to the issue. At eight public hearings held by the Vermont Commission of Family Recognition and Protection, support for marriage rights had a 20 to 1 advantage in testimony. The plan is to bring gay marriage to Vermont in the next six months.
BUSH WATCH
PART ONE: WHAT WE DON’T KNOW. Since 2004 the US has used broad, secret authority to carry out nearly a dozen previously undisclosed attacks against Al Qaeda and other militants in Syria, Pakistan and elsewhere, according to senior American officials. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld authorized the raids, with Bush’s approval. This gave the military authority to attack al Qaeda anywhere in the world, plus a sweeping mandate to conduct operations in countries not at war with the US. Among other places, commandos have been sent into countries like Pakistan and Somalia. So, don’t think the Bushies have just been sitting around.
PART TWO: EXIT STRATEGY. If you think the Bush administration is basically over, think again. In the next few weeks, Bush is expected to finalize 90 last-minute regulations. This includes relaxing environmental-protection rules on power plants near national parks, uranium mining near the Grand Canyon, and more mountaintop-removal coal mining in Appalachia. The administration wants the rules in place before Thanksgiving.
Why the rush? Because, once a federal regulation has been in effect for 60 days it can’t simply be reversed by presidential action. This means that as of January 20, President Obama would be unable to undo regulations finalized by November 22. Sounds like big trouble.
But the "little-known" Congressional Review Act of 1996 was passed to address just such a situation. It allows Congress to undo these last-minute regulations "with a joint resolution that can’t be filibustered." Obama reportedly has a team of people trying to unravel the complex web of executive orders and regulations. It could end up being handled by one giant Get Rid of Bush Bill.
MARKETER IN CHIEF. Barack Obama actually won two races this year. Not only has he become president, he’s has been named Advertising Age's 2008 Marketer of the Year. Hundreds of marketers, agency heads and marketing-services attending the annual Association of National Advertisers conference voted for Obama's campaign over ad campaigns by major companies like Apple, Zappos, Nike and Coors. AdAge called Obama's win the "biggest day in the history of marketing," saying marketers have a lot to learn from this campaign.
At a time when 70 percent thought the country was headed in the wrong direction, Obama adopted a simple slogan – "Change" – and it never varied. Hillary Clinton tried the slogan "Experience," then shifted to "Countdown to change,” then "Solutions for America." McCain tried on a long list of labels – "Maverick," "Straight Talker," "Conservative" and "Hero." By the time his campaign settled on "Country First," it was too late. The ad experts admire the simplicity, consistency and relevance of Obama’s campaign. He isn’t just leading a movement, he’s a marketing bonanza. Magazines with his and Michelle’s pictures on the cover are flying off the shelves.
So, McCain was right. He’s a celebrity…but you know what ends up happening to them.
NO MORE DICK? Could we have seen the last of Dick Cheney? Perhaps his last act was to put the final nail in John McCain’s coffin – and his own. Here is Cheney, endorsing the Mac in Laramie, Wyoming on November 1, 2008, just three days before the election.
WHAT’S NEXT? In recent weeks we’ve heard a series of dire predictions about what may be facing the world and the next US president in the months ahead. The first discouraging words came in mid-October from Lord West, who advises the UK Prime Minister on security matters. "There is another great plot building up again,” he announced. "We have done all the things that we need to do, but the threat is building.”
Two weeks ago England’s Daily Telegraph reported that security sources believe terrorist activity is nearing "critical." The threat level is at the "severe end of severe," say sources. The level of "ambient activity" among terrorist cells has increased, and they are now operating at full stretch.
On October 20, VP candidate Joe Biden added to the speculation.”We're gonna have an international crisis, a generated crisis, to test the mettle of this guy,” he said. “I can give you at least four or five scenarios from where it might originate.” On the same day, the newly formed International Commission on Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament announced that the world is on the brink of an avalanche in the spread of devastating weaponry. There is also top Obama advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski, who told CNN on November 2 that Barack Obama will be faced with "imminent problems" in foreign policy once he takes office.
The most disturbing prediction comes in a disputed report, supposedly by the Rand Corporation, a leading Pentagon think tank. Rand denies that it issued the report, which recommends that the US can save its economy by starting another war. And who might we be preparing to face -- hot or cold? Most likely, Russia, China, or Iran.
The model is World War II, when weapons production created US jobs. Some argue that the country is still benefiting from that decision. After that war, huge costs were imposed on the losers. After making money by supplying weapons, the US had funds to spare for research and development. The first Iraq War was also profitable, since Saudi Arabia helped cover the costs. And, if a war leads to more access to key resources – oil in Iraq, or oil and gas in Central Asia – that can make it a net gain in the long run.
So, what will Obama do? He’ll face two wars, plus a world financial and economic crisis, and a melting planet. The hope is that he’ll close Guantánamo, begin the withdrawal from Iraq, sign a peace treaty with North Korea, terminate Star Wars, and bring the war on terror to an end. But the signs aren’t that good. Obama calls Afghanistan the “central front” in the “War on Terror” and wants more military action against insurgents allied with the Taliban. Still, he could change his mind, like he did on public financing of his campaign.
SOUTH SAYING NO TO THE DRUG WAR. The latest word from parts of Latin America on the US drug war is pretty blunt: Get out of town. Bolivia has given US Drug Enforcement Administration three months to leave the country. Bolivian President Evo Morales, who rose to power as head of the coca grower's federation, claims that DEA agents have been stoking up divisions in a country already divided over a new Constitution that gives the state control over energy resources.
Ecuadorians have also voted for a new Constitution. This one calls for the closure of one of the most important US operations in its drug war, the Manta airbase. President Rafael Correa calls it a matter of reciprocity. During a visit to Italy last year, he joked that if the US wants its base to remain, it will have to allow an Ecuadorian base in Miami.
In addition, the DEA presence in Venezuela has been dramatically reduced in the past 18 months. State Department officials characterize this as evidence of Venezuela's weak support for international antinarcotics effort. For the fourth year in a row, Venezuela has been singled out by President Bush – as was Bolivia for the first time – for having "failed demonstrably" in antidrug cooperation.
Deconstructing politics with Greg Guma, FP Cassini, Jim Murphy, and Fred The Hammer. This Edition: Outrageous dialogues and news headlines: Halloween Special. Mexico and the drug war, Obama myths and realities, George Will on Socialism, Loss and the stages of life, Intelligence and the race factor, The hype of hope, and Straight talk from Jim the Skeptic. Plus, Nader, the Greens, and Vermont races. Greg’s Comment: Lowering Our Expectations. Final Moments: Colonel Harcourt on McCain, the Big One, and the Kiss Administration. Music: Long Star Chain.
The Howie Rose Show airs live weekly on Friday morning at WOMM, and streams on The Radiator from Burlington, ground zero in the People’s Republic of Vermont. Click to hear this edition of Maverick News @ Noon, originally aired on October 31, 2008, Noon – 1 p.m. Thanks to Big Heavy World and Sonny Fortune.
This Week: Nader’s Last Stand, Advice from Michael Moore, Remembering Studs Terkel, Marijuana initiatives, and a comment on challenges facing progressives. Live Broadcast Friday, November 7, Noon EST, on The Howie Rose Show (WOMM), streamed on The Radiator.
TURNING POINT. What a moment. An African American male has become President of the United States. We’re certainly entering a time of remarkable and somewhat unexpected change. But what kind of change? The signs aren’t that clear. For example, in the closing weeks of the campaign, Barack Obama explicitly referred to the Bill Clinton presidency as a positive model for his administration. Plus, Obama has surrounded himself with members of the political establishment.
Some people, notably fundamentalist Republicans, imagine a socialist future, as if Bernie Sanders is about to become Secretary of the Treasury. No, more likely some Clinton retread. Massive redistribution of wealth? As if. Yet, some of the challenges are similar to those during the Clinton years: a confused, misdirected foreign policy, and the impacts of corporate globalization.
Struggle continues within the Democratic Party. According to the Wall Street Journal, there are basically three groups in the Democratic Congress - progressives who want big changes, Blue Dogs who want deficit reduction, and those who haven't taken a side or want Obama to split the difference and move slowly. That latter group is led by Rahm Emanuel – known as Rahmbo to his friends – the Illinois Democrat and former Clinton aide whom Obama has tapped to be his chief of staff. Former Clinton Chief of Staff John Podesta is running the transition team. Names in the mix include GOP Maverick’s Chuck Hagel and Colin Powell, Warren Buffett, Tom Daschle (one of Obama’s mentors) and current Defense Secretary Robert Gates. So, will this end up looking like a third Clinton administration, or something different?
Plans are underway to pressure the new boss. The 1Sky campaign is organizing rallies and protests on November 18 across the country, calling on the new regime to move strongly on the climate crisis in the first 100 days. The student climate movement hopes to bring 10,000 or more students to DC at the end of February for a “Power Shift” conference, grassroots lobbying and direct action. United for Peace and Justice is calling for a mobilization in the capitol on March 19, the 6th anniversary of the Iraq war. And community organizers have begun planning for the January 20 inauguration.
What can Progressives do to affect the country’s direction during the next four years? Some say the Left won’t be able to criticize the US as much. There will be a tendency to view this moment is epochal terms, as if past issues, including race, are no longer relevant. Obviously this isn’t true, but people will have to speak up.
Are we “tired” of ideology, as the establishment is suggesting, or just a specific, bankrupt ideology – corporate fundamentalism? Red-baiting didn’t work during the presidential campaign – a major development in itself. But why? Is it because socialism sounds like an archaic label? Or, as some have suggested ironically, did the Republicans inadvertently turn the election into a referendum on socialism – and did socialism win? That remains to be seen.
In either case, progressives need to develop an effective and disciplined multi-issue movement for a new era. The people in charge of the US are about to change, but the issues aren’t. Justice, democracy, equality, and peace – these remain our unmet national goals.
We need a peace and recovery agenda, which will require a new foreign and military policy and a change in economic priorities. As it stands, Obama seems ready to shift military operations from Iraq to Pakistan and Afghanistan, and he hasn’t called off the “war of terror.” Economic recovery and a new US role in the world require a different set of priorities.
Despite the outcome of the election, equality is still under attack. The “spread the wealth” charge during the campaign was basically a rejection of the idea that government should help people, and, to some extent, level the playing field. We need an equality agenda, one that presses for this, along with fairness and opportunity, as American values.
And we need a democracy agenda, including new pressure for alternatives to corporate globalization and re-assertion of basic civil liberties and human rights. This means rolling back things like the Patriot Act, closing Guantanamo, and rescinding the abuses of executive authority instituted during the last eight years. In a way, this is Issue Number One.
And finally, we need a justice agenda with real accountability. As Charlotte Dennett urged during her campaign in Vermont for Attorney General, those who thought they were “above the law” must be brought to justice. In other words, real accountability.
It’s been a remarkable week. Suddenly, it looks possible that the long national nightmare known as the Bush administration is ending and a new, tolerant, multi-cultural era may begin. But nothing is certain, and the nature of this regime change is still largely unknown. Whether progressives will influence its direction depends on the ability to overcome division, to support what is hopeful, and to challenge obsolete thinking.
I could be wrong, but it looks like the election last week is less a victory than an opening, a turning point whose ultimate destination – at least for the moment – is in all our hands.
NEWS
RALPH’S “UNCLE TOM” MOMENT. Consumer advocate Ralph Nader took another step toward the political wilderness last week, polling only about 1 percent of the vote in his fifth run for president. But the most perplexing aspect of Nader’s campaign turns out to be something he said on Election Day. Speaking to a Fox News affiliate, he became the first public figure to make a racially provocative public remark about the first African-American US president.
Obama will have to choose between being “Uncle Sam for the people of this country, or Uncle Tom for the giant corporations,” Nader announced. Grilled by Shepard Smith on Fox News early Wednesday morning, shortly after the election was decided, Nader declined to back down from the remark. Take a look:
MIKE SUMS UP. Filmmaker Michael Moore issued an evaluation of his own. Writing to supporters, he noted, “Never before in our history has an avowed anti-war candidate been elected president during a time of war. I hope President-elect Obama remembers that as he considers expanding the war in Afghanistan. The faith we now have will be lost if he forgets the main issue on which he beat his fellow Dems in the primaries and then a great war hero in the general election: The people of America are tired of war. Sick and tired. And their voice was loud and clear...
Here are a few more excerpts from Moore’s message: “… today we celebrate this triumph of decency over personal attack, of peace over war, of intelligence over a belief that Adam and Eve rode around on dinosaurs just 6,000 years ago. What will it be like to have a smart president? Science, banished for eight years, will return…
“We may, just possibly, also see a time of refreshing openness, enlightenment and creativity….What will it be like to work and create in an environment that nurtures and supports film and the arts, science and invention, and the freedom to be whatever you want to be? Watch a thousand flowers bloom! We've entered a new era, and if I could sum up our collective first thought of this new era, it is this: Anything Is Possible…
“We can wrestle our economy out of the hands of the reckless rich and return it to the people. Anything is possible! Every citizen can be guaranteed health care. Anything is possible! We can stop melting the polar ice caps. Anything is possible! Those who have committed war crimes will be brought to justice. Anything is possible.
“We really don't have much time. There is big work to do. But this is the week for all of us to revel in this great moment. Be humble about it. Do not treat the Republicans in your life the way they have treated you the past eight years. Show them the grace and goodness that Barack Obama exuded throughout the campaign. Though called every name in the book, he refused to lower himself to the gutter and sling the mud back. Can we follow his example? I know, it will be hard.” REMEMBERING A LEGEND. Author, radio host, actor, activist and Chicago symbol Louis "Studs" Terkel died on November 3 at his Chicago home at age 96. A media institution for decades, who wrote his first best-selling book at the age of 55, Terkel was born in New York City on May 16, 1912. "I came up the year the Titanic went down," he would often say.
Terkel worked on radio soap operas, in stage plays, as a sportscaster and a disk jockey. His first radio program was called "The Wax Museum," an eclectic collection of whatever music struck his fancy. When television emerged in the early 1950s, he created and hosted "Studs' Place," a legendary part of the "Chicago school" of television that later produced Dave Garroway and Kukla, Fran and Ollie.
But his TV career didn’t last, mostly due to the commercialization of television. McCarthyism also played a role, since Terkel was politically outspoken. For years he had a hard time finding work, surviving on speaking fees and book reviews. His wife, Ida, made enough to keep the family afloat. Eventually, he found a larger audience when he was hired at a new fine arts station, WFMT, where Terkel began his morning radio show in 1952. In the mid-1960s, when Terkel was in his mid-50s, he started a new career, author of books that chronicled the stories of real people. "I think of myself as an old-time craftsman," Terkel once said.
GRASS TAKES NINE OUT OF TEN. Marijuana reform measures passed in Michigan and Massachusetts on Tuesday. In fact, nine out of ten initiatives passed across the country. The only no vote came on a California referendum that would have reduced penalties for possession of a small amount was defeated. Other wins came in Berkeley, various Massachusetts communities, and even Fayetteville, Arkansas.
In Michigan, voters approved a medical marijuana initiative 63 to 37 percent. Seriously ill patients with a physician's recommendation will be allowed to possess up to 2.5 ounces of cannabis without arrest. Patients or their caregivers can grow up to 12 plants indoors. This is scheduled to go into effect in early December, making Michigan the 13th state to allow the use of cannabis for medicinal purposes. Nearly 25 percent of the US population now lives in a state with a medical marijuana law, according to the Marijuana Policy Project. Eight of these states passed laws by voter initiative, the remainder went through state legislatures.
Opponents warned that the proposal could result in an explosion of "pot shops," pointing to the proliferation of medical cannabis dispensaries in California before several communities, including San Francisco, took measures to bring them under control.
In Massachusetts, voters statewide overwhelmingly approved a decriminalization initiative that will substitute a civil violation and fine – similar to a traffic ticket – for criminal penalties for possession of 1 ounce or less of marijuana.
The only loss came in California, where voters soundly defeated Proposition 5, the Nonviolent Offender Rehabilitation Act, by a margin of 60 to 40 percent. In addition to changing sentencing guidelines for non-violent drug offenses and expanding treatment and rehabilitation programs, the measure would have reduced penalties for possession of less than 1 ounce of marijuana.
Greg Guma grew up in New York City and moved to Vermont in 1968. Since then he has been a newspaper journalist, magazine editor, college educator, public administrator, community organizer, federal projects director, bookstore owner, self-taught historian, and CEO of the Pacifica Radio Network.
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