After watching tons of live feeds and live coverage and live blogging and live almost anything you can think of about the Presidential Inauguration, I can only say a big "clap, clap, clap!" to the US for finally letting a non-cowboy inhabit the White House. It was way overdue.
Now, my atheist inner self is begging for me to ask what the hell was all that show with the reverends? The whole day felt like the anointment of a Feudal Lord with all those blessings and the Bible oath and all that jazz. Weird. (gave me the chills, really)
And last but not least, here is my list of Top 5 requests to Obama. They need to be addressed ASAP:
5. Kindly invite those Wall Street punks to Camp Guantanamo.
4. Trade in the 6 ton Cadillac limo for an electric car (I suppose you could get a magnetic bullet shield).
3. Promise not to say "God Bless America" ever again.
2. Tell Hillary to forever shut up with her "this one time, in the Oval Office" stories.
1. Give a TiVo subscription to Ted Kennedy so he can at least watch a replay of the Inauguration Parade.
Showing posts with label Obamania. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Obamania. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Yes we did!
(or the Presidential Orange Mocha Frappuccino.)
(I got this from a feminist blog...but I lost the link!)
(I got this from a feminist blog...but I lost the link!)
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Obamania
A los fans de Obama que hoy salieron orgullosos a pasearse por las calles:
Traer puesta la playera de Obama es casi como ir a la universidad con la playera del concierto del dia anterior. Es como llegar a la oficina con la taza de U2, o como dejarse puesta la pulserita de acceso a la zona platino del Foro Sol. Es como traer el disfraz del América el dia posterior al clásico.
Pero igual se siente re bonito leer "Change" en tantas personas. Salud!
p.d. mención honorífica al compañero que está sentado junto a mi y maneja el combo playera-cachucha. Un aplauzo.
Traer puesta la playera de Obama es casi como ir a la universidad con la playera del concierto del dia anterior. Es como llegar a la oficina con la taza de U2, o como dejarse puesta la pulserita de acceso a la zona platino del Foro Sol. Es como traer el disfraz del América el dia posterior al clásico.
Pero igual se siente re bonito leer "Change" en tantas personas. Salud!
p.d. mención honorífica al compañero que está sentado junto a mi y maneja el combo playera-cachucha. Un aplauzo.
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Visual premonition?
It's 2 pm on this historic election Tuesday and I came across an image in the NY Times that caught my attention. To me, it correctly depicts the attitudes of both candidates during the last stretch of this race:
McCain looks worried, insecure. He has an awkward, forced smile. His hands make him look uncomfortable with himself. It is the image of a man that is almost embarassed, that doesn't want his picture taken today. His eyes have an air of avoidance. He reminds me of the "He's a Muslim" incident, and of the fear rhetoric of this past week. His face here and his attitude in the last stretch of the electoral race reflect the feelings of a man that is unsure of achieving victory.
Obama is standing confident, strong. His pose indicates that he wants this picture taken because he feels comfortable today. His right arm is held high, proudly showing a card, his left is resting calmly on his side. It feels as if he's thinking, "the polls are on my side so I'll have nothing to explain tonight." He is making strong eye-contact, but is not smiling...he retains an air of urgency, expressing the seriousness of today's voting. This attitude reminds me of his last speeches, where he appeared self-assured about the merits of the campaign, but still reminded his listeners that the race was not over.
The way the diptych is constructed drives me towards Obama. Not only do we read from left to right in the languages that I speak, but McCain's eyes push me outside the picture to the left, whereas Obama's bring me into the picture, to the center third of the image, where the important subject is his confident hand.
My point? That this image speaks a thousand words, mostly unfavorable to McCain. I hope this is a premonition of tonight's results.
McCain looks worried, insecure. He has an awkward, forced smile. His hands make him look uncomfortable with himself. It is the image of a man that is almost embarassed, that doesn't want his picture taken today. His eyes have an air of avoidance. He reminds me of the "He's a Muslim" incident, and of the fear rhetoric of this past week. His face here and his attitude in the last stretch of the electoral race reflect the feelings of a man that is unsure of achieving victory.
Obama is standing confident, strong. His pose indicates that he wants this picture taken because he feels comfortable today. His right arm is held high, proudly showing a card, his left is resting calmly on his side. It feels as if he's thinking, "the polls are on my side so I'll have nothing to explain tonight." He is making strong eye-contact, but is not smiling...he retains an air of urgency, expressing the seriousness of today's voting. This attitude reminds me of his last speeches, where he appeared self-assured about the merits of the campaign, but still reminded his listeners that the race was not over.
The way the diptych is constructed drives me towards Obama. Not only do we read from left to right in the languages that I speak, but McCain's eyes push me outside the picture to the left, whereas Obama's bring me into the picture, to the center third of the image, where the important subject is his confident hand.
My point? That this image speaks a thousand words, mostly unfavorable to McCain. I hope this is a premonition of tonight's results.
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Change Manifesto
A spectre is haunting the United States of America...the spectre of Change.
All the powers of old America have entered into a holy alliance to exorcise this spectre: Big Oil and the corporate lobbies, Murdoch and McCain, Christian fundamentalists and Neo-realist paranoids.
All the powers of old America have entered into a holy alliance to exorcise this spectre: Big Oil and the corporate lobbies, Murdoch and McCain, Christian fundamentalists and Neo-realist paranoids.
Where is the party in opposition that has not been decried as "too liberal" by its opponents in power? Where is the opposition that has not hurled back the branding reproach of "socialism", against the more advanced opposition parties?
Two things result from this fact:
I. Change is already acknowledged by all Americans to be itself a power.
II. It is high time that those who believe in Change should openly, in the face of the whole world, publish their views, their aims, their tendencies, and meet this nursery tale of the spectre of Change with a manifesto of the party itself.
To this end, liberals of various nationalities have assembled in this blog to view this speech:
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
I'm not your "friend"
There is no doubt in my mind that Senator Obama had a stellar performance in today's second presidential debate. The democratic candidate came off as knowledgeable, humble and sincere. He was able to refute most, if not all, of McCain's accusations and attempts at misinformation. But more importantly, when speaking about foreign policy, he was more assertive than in the last debate. He finally sounded like the commander-in-chief that is willing to take strong military actions, if necessary. Although his bit about Pakistan made me feel uneasy, it probably earned him a heap of brownie points among those undecided American voters that bought into Bush's scare tactics and feared Obama would not protect them against the terrorists.
My favorite Obama:
"We may not always have national security issues at stake, but we have moral issues at stake. [...] So when genocide is happening, when ethnic cleansing is happening somewhere around the world and we stand idly by, that diminishes us."
On the other hand, McCain looked stiff and uncomfortable... his suit was too tight. He adopted a grandfather voice that sounded patronizing and false. He desperately tried to distance himself from the Bush administration, but Obama correctly pointed out their affinities. McCain's phrases sounded like prefabricated regurgitations instead of authentic answers to the questions posed. Incredibly, he shot himself in the foot again by giving vague and uncertain answers to the foreign policy questions. It was his turf and he slipped in it! Also, calling every general "my hero" and saying that there has been a winning strategy in Iraq was simply pathetic.
I have one unanswered question:
Who had the brilliant idea of putting McCain back on those drugs that make you say "my friend" every two minutes? Adviser fail.
My favorite Obama:
"We may not always have national security issues at stake, but we have moral issues at stake. [...] So when genocide is happening, when ethnic cleansing is happening somewhere around the world and we stand idly by, that diminishes us."
On the other hand, McCain looked stiff and uncomfortable... his suit was too tight. He adopted a grandfather voice that sounded patronizing and false. He desperately tried to distance himself from the Bush administration, but Obama correctly pointed out their affinities. McCain's phrases sounded like prefabricated regurgitations instead of authentic answers to the questions posed. Incredibly, he shot himself in the foot again by giving vague and uncertain answers to the foreign policy questions. It was his turf and he slipped in it! Also, calling every general "my hero" and saying that there has been a winning strategy in Iraq was simply pathetic.
I have one unanswered question:
Who had the brilliant idea of putting McCain back on those drugs that make you say "my friend" every two minutes? Adviser fail.
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Obama fail
What can I say... I'm disappointed. I watched the first presidential debate on Friday and my impression of Obama as an inspiring politician that was ready to change Washington slowly faded away. I won't say he "lost" the debate, because I don't believe an exchange of ideas has to necessarily produce a winner (it's curious how the minute the debate ended American networks were mostly concerned on giving their opinion on who won...as if trying to condition the American public to ignore substance and judge the debate only on the basis of a winner and a loser), but what I saw was a tame and passive Obama.
Maybe my urgency of getting rid of the Republicans caused me to constantly magnify his virtues and idealize him as the true embodiment of change. Or maybe I was just too naïve to expect him to stand up to McCain in live television and boldly denounce the Republican lies and foreign policy disasters. In any case, I perceived an Obama that was not able to differentiate himself "fundamentally" from his Republican rival. He struggled when trying to explain why McCain's policies were flawed and then let the "maverick" score so many namedropping points that, as a viewer, I almost got the impression that McCain was the real expert.
To put it simply, I saw a candidate that was driven into McCain's turf and forced to play his game. And the problem of beating a Republican in his own geopolitical playing field was evident: you can't talk of the current wars without using their languague...their imagery. In other words, the only way of breaking from the eight long years of Bush, of denting the Republican stronghold, is to attack their discourse. The simplistic good/evil binary or the "freedom fighter" rhetoric need to be subverted in order to fully expose the faults in John McCain's worldview. From what I know, the War on Terror as an ideological space is what needs to be challenged...and Obama fell very short of doing just that.
Maybe my urgency of getting rid of the Republicans caused me to constantly magnify his virtues and idealize him as the true embodiment of change. Or maybe I was just too naïve to expect him to stand up to McCain in live television and boldly denounce the Republican lies and foreign policy disasters. In any case, I perceived an Obama that was not able to differentiate himself "fundamentally" from his Republican rival. He struggled when trying to explain why McCain's policies were flawed and then let the "maverick" score so many namedropping points that, as a viewer, I almost got the impression that McCain was the real expert.
To put it simply, I saw a candidate that was driven into McCain's turf and forced to play his game. And the problem of beating a Republican in his own geopolitical playing field was evident: you can't talk of the current wars without using their languague...their imagery. In other words, the only way of breaking from the eight long years of Bush, of denting the Republican stronghold, is to attack their discourse. The simplistic good/evil binary or the "freedom fighter" rhetoric need to be subverted in order to fully expose the faults in John McCain's worldview. From what I know, the War on Terror as an ideological space is what needs to be challenged...and Obama fell very short of doing just that.
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Paling good, Obama bad
The political discourse in the US these past weeks has deteriorated to the point where I'm not sure if I'm listening to political commentators or gossip writers. With major news channels devoting endless hours to showing the banalities of Sarah Palin's life, it's tragic to realize that the strongest critical commentary comes from a comedian, John Stewart.
Thus, adding to the comedy of the elections, I give you a list with the main differences between Obama and his adversaries. (thank you Kim Cathers)
* If you grow up in Hawaii, raised by your grandparents, you're 'exotic, different.'
* If you grow up in Alaska eating moose burgers, you're a quintessential American story.
* If your name is Barack, you're a radical, unpatriotic Muslim.
* If you name your kids Bristol, Willow, Piper, Trig and Track, you're a true Maverick.
* If you graduate from Harvard law School, you are unstable.
* If you attend 5 different small colleges before graduating, you're well grounded.
* If you spend 3 years as a brilliant community organizer, become the first black President of the Harvard Law Review, create a voter registration drive that registers 150,000 new voters, spend 12 years as a Constitutional Law professor, spend 8 years as a State Senator representing a district with over 750,000 people, become chairman of the state Senate's Health and Human Services committee, spend 4 years in the United States Senate representing a state of 13 million people while sponsoring 131 bills and serving on the Foreign Affairs, Environment and Public Works and Veteran's Affairs committees, you don't have any real leadership experience.
* If your total resume is: local weather girl, 4 years on the city council and 6 years as the mayor of a town with less than 7,000 people, 20 months as the governor of a state with only 650,000 people, then you're qualified to become the country's second highest ranking executive.
* If you have been married to the same woman for 19 years while raising 2 beautiful daughters, all within Protestant churches, you're not a real Christian.
* If you cheated on your first wife with a rich heiress, and left your disfigured wife and married the heiress the next month, you're a Christian.
* If you teach responsible, age appropriate sex education, including the proper use of birth control, you are eroding the fiber of society.
* If, while governor, you staunchly advocate abstinence only, with no other option in sex education in your state's school system, while your unwed teen daughter ends up pregnant , you're very responsible.
* If your wife is a Harvard graduate lawyer who gave up a position in a prestigious law firm to work for the betterment of her inner city community, then gave that up to raise a family, your family's values don't represent America's.
* If you're husband is nicknamed 'First Dude', with at least one DWI conviction and no college education, who didn't register to vote until age 25 and once was a member of a group that advocated the secession of Alaska from the USA, your family is extremely admirable.
Thus, adding to the comedy of the elections, I give you a list with the main differences between Obama and his adversaries. (thank you Kim Cathers)
* If you grow up in Hawaii, raised by your grandparents, you're 'exotic, different.'
* If you grow up in Alaska eating moose burgers, you're a quintessential American story.
* If your name is Barack, you're a radical, unpatriotic Muslim.
* If you name your kids Bristol, Willow, Piper, Trig and Track, you're a true Maverick.
* If you graduate from Harvard law School, you are unstable.
* If you attend 5 different small colleges before graduating, you're well grounded.
* If you spend 3 years as a brilliant community organizer, become the first black President of the Harvard Law Review, create a voter registration drive that registers 150,000 new voters, spend 12 years as a Constitutional Law professor, spend 8 years as a State Senator representing a district with over 750,000 people, become chairman of the state Senate's Health and Human Services committee, spend 4 years in the United States Senate representing a state of 13 million people while sponsoring 131 bills and serving on the Foreign Affairs, Environment and Public Works and Veteran's Affairs committees, you don't have any real leadership experience.
* If your total resume is: local weather girl, 4 years on the city council and 6 years as the mayor of a town with less than 7,000 people, 20 months as the governor of a state with only 650,000 people, then you're qualified to become the country's second highest ranking executive.
* If you have been married to the same woman for 19 years while raising 2 beautiful daughters, all within Protestant churches, you're not a real Christian.
* If you cheated on your first wife with a rich heiress, and left your disfigured wife and married the heiress the next month, you're a Christian.
* If you teach responsible, age appropriate sex education, including the proper use of birth control, you are eroding the fiber of society.
* If, while governor, you staunchly advocate abstinence only, with no other option in sex education in your state's school system, while your unwed teen daughter ends up pregnant , you're very responsible.
* If your wife is a Harvard graduate lawyer who gave up a position in a prestigious law firm to work for the betterment of her inner city community, then gave that up to raise a family, your family's values don't represent America's.
* If you're husband is nicknamed 'First Dude', with at least one DWI conviction and no college education, who didn't register to vote until age 25 and once was a member of a group that advocated the secession of Alaska from the USA, your family is extremely admirable.
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