SmartRemarks

A completely subjective list, of course. But what the hell… aren’t they all?

Going in to 2008, one could hardly open a magazine or flip a channel without hitting a media comparison to 1968. It was 40 years ago (a nice, round number), and it was a paradigm-shifting political year that looked familiar, with an open competition for the presidential nomination in both parties, all while a war was on overseas.

As it turned out, 2008 was a momentous year in its own right, arguably the most significant year in decades, and without question one we will all remember vividly. But it was not assassinations and riots that made its mark in the history books, unlike in 1968; it brought distinctive events all its own.

There’s not really a lot of room for debate over the two most significant news events of the year, and the annual AP survey of news editors corresponds with what almost all of us would surely conclude on our own, a point-counterpoint of encouraging and discouraging developments:

1) The presidential election of Barack Obama

I’ve already written quite a bit about this one, of course… but suffice it to say that it’s historic for the fact that he’ll be the first African-American president; it’s historic for the fact that he won with a (generally) upbeat, honorable, serious campaign; and it’s historic in that it marks a realignment back toward progressive politics after a generation of destructive radical conservatism, and after eight years of arguably the single worst president in American history. How Obama really performs in office of course remains to be seen, but what he’s accomplished so far this year stands on its own.

2) The worst economic meltdown in our lifetimes

Written more than a little about this, too, of course. It seems almost quaint now to recall that when I started this blog, back in mid-September—although we now know that we were already nine months into a recession—it was still possible to ask “how bad is the economy?” and wonder if it would still get worse. Within days, everything started to go to hell in a handbasket… in a way that seems to have created a destructive feedback loop, where every new development just exacerbates what came before. Homes foreclosing, jobs disappearing, businesses (and entire industries) collapsing, credit freezing, investments evaporating… we’ll remember this for a long time, no matter how much we might prefer to forget it.

After that, the choices grow more arguable. My assessment:

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Tags: Blagojevich, Chicago, climate, Congress, economy, Election 2008, financial crisis, FISA, history, Illinois, international, iPhone, journalism, Madoff, media, Obama, Top 10 lists

Well, despite some optimistic tea-leaf reading earlier in the day about turnout, the voters of Georgia have returned Republican Saxby Chambliss to the Senate in today’s run-off election, defeating challenger Jim Martin by a wide margin.

Disappointing, but I guess even in a remarkable year, you really can’t win them all.

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Tags: Congress, Election 2008, Republicans, Senate

Here’s a question.

After years of complaints from politicians, journalists, and pretty much everyone about Americans’ waning interest in politics, and concern about dropping levels of voter participation… why were we so poorly prepared in so many places when that trend finally reversed itself?

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Tags: Election 2008, voting

For a long time now, the words “Grant Park” had only negative political associations. They evoked 1968, police attacking protesters, civil society crumbling before our eyes.

After 40 years, Tuesday’s election finally relegated that to the back burner. Grant Park in 2008 was about the culmination of a political process that brought people together, and the beginning of an effort to rebuild our tattered social compact.

I’m sure you’ve all seen plenty of photos by now, but (after the first couple, at least) these are mine. It was remarkable to be there, and I wanted to share.

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Tags: Election 2008, Grant Park, history, Obama

Six years ago, at a rally in Chicago’s Daley Plaza, I heard Barack Obama speak out against the then-imminent invasion of Iraq. He was only a state senator then, and not the only elected official present nor the most prominent. He was not the keynote speaker, just one of many… but afterward, my girlfriend and I agreed that his speech was the most memorable of the afternoon.

Four years ago, in a banquet hall at the Chicago Hyatt, I attended the victory party for Obama’s U.S. Senate race. He spoke around the theme that has become his enduring mantra—”Yes We Can.” Everyone was enthusiastic, and there were many comments about what an incredible multi-ethnic, multi-racial coalition he had put together, the most impressive demographic cross-section since Harold Washington’s mayoral victory two decades earlier. There were perhaps a thousand people in the room.

Tonight, on a beautiful Indian-summer evening, I stood in Grant Park among a crowd that was orders of magnitude larger. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Election 2008, Obama

Get out there and vote. Take your kids if you have them; help them understand what this is all about. If you’ve already voted, pollwatch. Volunteer. Do your bit, one way or another. Let’s make sure that everyone gets to cast a vote, and that every vote counts.

But whatever you do, don’t worry. It’s not about winning the game at this point, not any more—it’s about running up the score. It’s about rejecting 30+ years of wrongheaded right-wing politics as forcefully as possible, and reclaiming America for the reality-based community.

(And remember, it’s not just about the top of the ticket. I spent over an hour last night researching my downticket votes, including things like Recorder of Deeds and 70-odd “judicial retention” candidates. These things matter.)

And if for any reason you’re still inclined toward anxiety, just keep the big picture in mind…

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Tags: Election 2008, Obama

And now, in the “surely too strange to be true” category…

(Or perhaps the “even a stopped clock” category?…)

Hat tip to the site “Political Irony,” which clued me in to this piece from Esquire, surveying the opinions of several white supremacist and neo-Nazi leaders. Apparently voting for McCain is something most of them just couldn’t stomach, and they were actually willing to go on the record about it. Sample quotes:

Tom Metzger, Director of White Aryan Resistance:

The corporations are running things now, so it’s not going to make much difference who’s in there, but McCain would be much worse. He’s a warmonger. He’s a scary, scary person–more dangerous than Bush. Obama, according to his book, Dreams Of My Father, is a racist and I have no problem with black racists. … I hate the transnational corporations far more than any black person.

Erich Gliebe, Chairman of the National Alliance:

I don’t think McCain even acknowledges that a white race exists. He’s all about granting amnesty to illegal aliens. The fact he wants to keep us in wars in the Middle East for 100 years, that’s not a good thing. I give Obama credit, he seems to have stuck to his guns as far as pulling the troops out of Iraq. He’s a very intelligent man, an excellent speaker and has charisma. John McCain offers none of that.

Rocky Suhayda, Chairman of the American Nazi Party:

White people are faced with either a negro or a total nutter who happens to have a pale face. Personally I’d prefer the negro. National Socialists are not mindless haters. Here, I see a white man, who is almost dead, who declares he wants to fight endless wars around the globe to make the world safe for Judeo-capitalist exploitation, who supports the invasion of America by illegals–basically a continuation of the last eight years of Emperor Bush. Then, we have a black man, who loves his own kind, belongs to a Black-Nationalist religion, is married to a black women… that’s the kind of negro that I can respect.

Even the lone holdout can barely tolerate McCain: Ron Edwards, Imperial Wizard of the Imperial Klans of America, says “If [Obama] wins, I’ll laugh. I don’t like McCain, but he’s the only one I can vote for.”

On the other hand, the one black supremacist they talked to, a fellow called Yahanna, can’t stand Obama:  says he, “McCain is definitely the better shot for black people.”

In other news, cats and dogs are lying down together, and the tinfoil hat industry is bucking economic trends with a huge upsurge in quarterly profits. We are definitely living in unusual times…

Tags: Election 2008, humor, McCain, Obama

Historian David McCullough, biographer of Harry Truman and John Adams, multiple Pulitzer winner, world traveler and distinguished television host, spoke this morning as part of the Chicago Humanities Festival.

He lamented the resurgent anti-intellectual strain in recent American culture. He spoke at length and eloquently about the importance of history not only as a scholarly discipline but as context for life and its challenges. He reminded us that no one has ever lived in “the past,” only in their own present… that when living through one of history’s periods of transformation, as we are today, no one has the benefit of knowing in advance how it’s going to turn out.

And when asked during the Q-and-A to offer some historical context for the current election, he said with conviction and with no trace of hyperbole…

“This is one of the most important elections in our nation’s history… a turning point for the country and the world.”

The seldom-discomposed McCullough visibly choked up when discussing what Barack Obama has already achieved, in his own life and in American politics, using words like “inspiring” and “thrilling.”

And he capped off his response with the confident prediction, received to raucous applause, “I think it’s gonna be a landslide.”

—

McCullough expressed regret that he wouldn’t still be in Chicago for Obama’s victory rally Tuesday night in Grant Park. I’m happy to say that I will. It’s a chance to be on hand for a moment that makes history… hopefully only the first of many to come.

Tags: David McCullough, Election 2008, history, Humanities Festival, Obama

The final issue of DCU Decisions was released Wednesday, completing a cliffhanger from #3. As I’ve written, the series started with at least some potential for breaking interesting ground, but then methodically failed to live up to that potential. The second half of the series is even more disappointing and forgettable, leaving one wondering what if anything this book was intended to accomplish.

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Tags: continuity, DC Comics, DCU Decisions, Election 2008, Superman, Wonder Woman

Thanks to neoconservative blogger Donald Douglas (with whom I steadfastly disagree), I’ve been alerted to the existence of Andrew McCarthy’s latest venomous rant at the National Review Online (in which he compares Prof. Khalidi to “racists and terror mongers,” and calls the Middle Eastern Studies program at Columbia “a bubbling cauldron of anti-Semitism”—just in case we weren’t sure he was surveying territory well outside the reality-based community)…

…but also the existence of Scott Horton’s response in Harper’s, as calm and sensible as McCarthy is fanatical and unhinged: Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: conservatism, Election 2008, Obama, Rashid Khalidi, Richard Posner