Open thread countdown to THE BEST SPEECH EVER!!!
More Diocletian/third-party stuff is coming later; our next installment will focus on what a feminist-populist alliance would look like. As I wrote at Corrente the other night when my blog server was overloaded:
At my place we’re talking through a pan-woman platform; we’ll see how that goes. My own inclination is still towards a leftist approach (feminism plus populism and progressive values). That’s what the political moment calls for. Everybody has suddenly realized that the Democrats are just Republicans with better hair. The left is up in arms.
And if a new leftist movement is going to start, I want women in at the beginning, leading and shaping. Otherwise men will do what they always do (present company excluded).
But who can think about stuff like that right now? We’re all aflutter with excitement, waiting for our Nobel Peace Prize-winning President to announce his big war ramp-up in Afghanistan! Woo hoo!
Say, those Obama babies should be coming up on four months old now, right? Can they hold their heads up at that age? I really don’t know. I’m just thinking how heartwarming and shit it would be if Mom & Dad could prop up their little tyke in front of the TV to watch THE BEST SPEECH EVER!
Speaking of war, last night I was reading a post about the Democrats’ 12-step process to health care disaster. It’s a brilliant summary and I recommend you read the whole thing. But this one paragraph captivated me in particular (emphasis mine):
Tenth, the Senate adds the opt-out. We’re supposed to be happy because they were really going to add an opt-in. My feeling on this is that they did it on purpose. It would make health care reform a wedge issue in every state. Democrats probably believe it’s a wedge issue they can win as opposed to all of the other wedge issues on which they lose. The Senate also decides to tax high-coverage insurance plans know as “cadillac plans” to pay for the subsidies that go along with the mandates. Progressive pundits and most bloggers forget to mention that cadillac plans are not just for the wealthy. They’re the plans required under union contracts. Workers gave up wages for these insurance plans. Pillar count = -3, but that doesn’t stop HCAN from running that radio commercial that touts the “strong public option” as late as today.
People, the Democrats and the Republicans are at war. With us. On us. Or rather, we’re the battlefield and our money and votes are the spoils. They just create wedge issues to fuck with us.
It’s time for a revolt. I’m serious here: feminism + economic populism + basic progressive decency.
After THE BEST SPEECH EVER, that is.
13 Responses to “Open thread countdown to THE BEST SPEECH EVER!!!”
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Nessum says:
Heh! Kind of off topic, but according to “The FP Top 100 Global Thinkers”, no.6 is Bill Clinton — aaand — Hillary Clinton!
In other words “The Clintons”! Sigh!December 1st, 2009 at 12:07 pm EST -
myiq2xu says:
I bet I could write an Obot response to the speech right now. Maybe I will.
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Aspen says:
Also a bit o/t here. Jenny Sanford dumped her cheating hubby and endorsed his opposition, a Republican woman candidate, Nikki Haley. I guess it’s h-s before bros now!* Props to Ms. Sanford.
h/t to feministing for this link*Hope everyone recognizes the h– before bros is supposed to be satire.
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Violet says:
Good for her.
Oh no, wait — she’s a pro-life Republican. So at feministing did they call her a cunt and tell gang rape jokes?
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Aspen says:
The OP didn’t, but I didn’t peruse the comment section :)
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Violet says:
My mind has just been completely boggled.
This is from an article in the NYT about some amendments to the Senate health bill to add in a little more coverage for women:
As health costs and insurance premiums rise, Mr. Reid said, “more women are skipping screenings for cervical and breast cancer, and doctor visits that can catch problems like postpartum depression and domestic violence.”
Domestic violence is a medical problem now? Are you fucking KIDDING ME? Just something that happens to women, like yeast infections, just random unpeopled fists out there hitting jaws, hopefully your doctor can catch it in a routine exam…
JESUS FUCKING CHRIST. Is there any better example of how violence against women is normalized and men’s culpability is simply erased?
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Violet says:
I find it hilarious that the first words out of his mouth in this clip are “Now let me be clear…”
Favreau really needs to get out the rut he’s in.
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Aspen says:
#6: But I can see that a medical checkup may be the only way bruises or injuries may be detected in some women, for example, if the woman is hiding them, due to fear of reprisal? Certainly the discovery of such should lead to additional action to protect the woman. I’m not a specialist in DV, so I don’t know exactly what that would be. The #1 should be to keep the woman safe.
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Violet says:
Yes, I know. But still — doesn’t it just freak you out to see DV included as some kind of medical issue to be detected by a doctor? It’s a CRIME.
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Aspen says:
Yeah. Especially hearing it from these politicians who have given us every reason to think they don’t give a rip about women.
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Linden says:
One of my professors taught me that if you have to surround your argument with words like “clearly” or “obviously,” your argument is probably not clear or obvious and you’re trying too hard to make your audience believe it is.
But what do I know? I didn’t go to Harvard or anything.
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Violet says:
Extremely interesting article in the NYT:
In Job Hunt, College Degree Can’t Close Racial Gap
Unemployment for blacks across the board is much higher than for whites, but this article focuses on the particular difficulty for black men with college degrees:
Johnny R. Williams, 30, would appear to be an unlikely person to have to fret about the impact of race on his job search, with companies like JPMorgan Chase and an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago on his résumé.
But after graduating from business school last year and not having much success garnering interviews, he decided to retool his résumé, scrubbing it of any details that might tip off his skin color. His membership, for instance, in the African-American business students association? Deleted.
“If they’re going to X me,” Mr. Williams said, “I’d like to at least get in the door first.”
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Mr. Williams recently applied to a Dallas money management firm that had posted a position with top business schools. The hiring manager had seemed ecstatic to hear from him, telling him they had trouble getting people from prestigious business schools to move to the area. Mr. Williams had left New York and moved back in with his parents in Dallas to save money.
But when Mr. Williams later met two men from the firm for lunch, he said they appeared stunned when he strolled up to introduce himself.
“Their eyes kind of hit the ceiling a bit,” he said. “It was kind of quiet for about 45 seconds.”
The company’s interest in him quickly cooled, setting off the inevitable questions in his mind.
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cellocat says:
Too bad the election of Obama didn’t actually move us into the utopia of a post-race world. Give that man a pony; it’ll make him feel better about his lack of a job and the horrible racism he’s encountering, I’m sure.
