"This is so great. I can finally watch the news again," a friend said to me shortly after the Inauguration of Barack Obama. It's a common sentiment lately, at least in liberal Cambridge where I work. Like many people, my friend disliked George Bush so much that he couldn't bear to watch the news during much of the last eight years.
A few lessons I've learned from the campaign, while trying to figure out if the poll released five minutes ago is more of a "game changer" than the poll released ten minutes ago...
Always make sure to cash in before the election is over.
I know it's a big controversy, but I don't have a problem with Sarah Palin spending $150,000 on clothes. I figure it's just campaign money. Either they use it to cut another commercial on how horrible Obama is, or they can dress the Governor in some fancy clothes. That may be the closest we'll get to positive campaigning.
A is for Alaska, no longer a forgotten state.
B is for the Bridge to Nowhere, which used to go to the 21st Century until it was diverted.
C is for change. Of what exactly, we're not entirely sure, but we know we like it.
D is for diner, a popular establishment in which crying is encouraged. Also, try their Belgian Waffle special.
E is for earmark, what we'll all give to McCain if we have to hear about them one more time
We've had our first presidential debate of the general election, and I think Obama was clearly the winner. Admittedly, I fell asleep at one point and dreamt that Obama saved a baby girl from an abandoned well. I especially enjoyed the part later when Obama rode a unicycle through town and threw out free health care packages to the residents, while from behind the rainbow McCain threw rocks into the spokes of the unicycle. So I think it's fair to say that Obama won on points, though I suppose I might have seen a slightly different debate than the rest of America.
Over the past sixteen months of the presidential campaign, I have learned many things. For example, I know that Barack Obama doesn't like to wear a flag lapel pin and that Hillary Clinton tends to get misty-eyed in diners. There was also something about universal health care and the war in Iraq, but don't quote me on that. Here are a few other things I have learned.
3 1/2 cigars out of 4
Eliot Spitzer's salacious new scandal "Ho No!" is a tantalizing tour de force of intrigue, deception, sexuality, and general idiocy that will delight audiences of all ages, especially investment bankers under indictment and members of the media. It is not often that a juicy new scandal emerges out of nowhere, but such is the case with this offering from New York's Luv Guv. Before this prostitution scandal opened, few outside New York probably even knew who Eliot Spitzer was, but the formerly dull New York Governor is now an instant star -- such is the power of this hot new scandal.
Lately, I've been checking out the web sites of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. This is mainly because I somehow ended up on both their mailing lists, and I get umpteen e-mails every day from each campaign (margin of error: +/- one ump). Lately, Clinton has been asking me to contribute as little as five dollars, while Obama has been asking me to help him reach his goal of making one and a half million phone calls by today.
Last week, on Super Tuesday, Hillary Clinton was the big winner in Massachusetts. She always led in the polls, so it shouldn't have been a surprise. But, after seeing Barack Obama speak in Boston to a crowd of thousands the night before, I couldn't imagine that he would lose.
"Do you know what your president just did?" There is nothing that can dampen a romantic mood quite like those words. Unfortunately, this is what happens when you are an American dating a Canadian, and your president is George W. Bush. It doesn't matter that I never voted for the man and rarely agree with him myself. Whenever he does or says something Jody deems stupid, she tells me. There are some who worry about Bush's effect on my country's standing in the world. I worry more about his effect on my love life.
On the day before the New Hampshire Primary, I saw what I thought would be a signature moment in the campaign of Hillary Clinton, but then I got home that night and all anyone on TV wanted to talk about was whether she had cried at some diner in Portsmouth.
To be honest, I never really expected to see Chuck Norris in my life. And, if I was going to meet Chuck Norris, I certainly didn't expect that it would happen in New Hampshire at the Londonderry Middle School Cafeteria. But that's where he was on Saturday morning, campaigning for President with his running mate, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee.
I had a few days off after Christmas, and so on Saturday I drove to New Hampshire to see both John McCain and Bill Clinton. Boy, do I really know how to have a good time? Next vacation, I'm planning to go to Washington and watch somebody make a law.
A few moments from the New Hampshire campaign trail...
You have to hand it to Rich Garces. He's no longer in the Majors, but
he may be the only pitcher who has his own sponsor for every
appearance. Whenever he pitched this year for the independent league
Nashua Pride, fans heard this announcement: "El Guapo is brought to you
by the New Hampshire Business Resource Center in Concord."
The Democrats in the House of Representatives are currently in the
midst of their first 100 hours, during which time they hope to pass
much of the agenda that they promised voters in the fall.
Interestingly, these 100 hours will actually last considerably longer
than a normal 100 hours. In a bit of clock management that would make
every NFL coach proud, the 100 hours include only legislative hours,
i.e. only the time in which they are attempting to make laws. It would
be as if your hours at work only counted if you were actually getting
things done.
