The Case for Gore in 2008

The Oscars rarely satisfies and often fails to surprise. Nobody was surprised at Gore's win last night for An Inconvenient Truth, but watching Gore finally receive public homage for his years of service was in its own way deeply satisfying.

If you haven't seen An Inconvenient Truth yet, what you've missed isn't so much the message that global warming is a crisis and not merely a problem anymore--not to take away from that aspect of the movie-- rather it is a narrative of a public servant who throughout his career, has kept a rare sort of clarity about the environment and his role in preserving it. Rediscovering that clarity after the disappointment of 2000, is as much the story as is the story of global warming.

Watching Gore in the movie and thinking back to those awkwardly scripted public moments in 2000, one isn't struck so much by the difference in carriage as by the context. Gore may be more at ease with his Powerpoint presentation and his lecture notes than on the campaign trail; but he is still as wonky and nerdy as he ever was. The genius of the movie is that it manages to show this and show how this is what's good about Gore.

Gore has every reason to avoid throwing his hat in the race, and I don't blame him for his reluctance. But Gore offers us the tantalizing possibility of redemption. He's the same guy pundits scoffed at for being "the smartest kid in the classroom," but we've had the alternative and we're paying for it.

In this week's New Yorker, David Remnick speculates on the possible success of a Gore run.

In the view of former aides still close to him, Gore can’t lose by staying on the electoral sidelines. While Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama start competing––warily at first, and then, inevitably, taking direct aim at one another’s weaknesses––Gore can stand unbruised, nursing the lingering glamour of his popular margin in 2000 and, perhaps, demanding by quiet inference that we take stock of a distinguished public career that began three decades ago, when Gore was a twenty-eight-year-old Vietnam veteran freshly elected to Congress.

Remnick goes on to say that it is unlikely that Gore will enter the race, but one never knows. And I wonder what would happen if there was enough clamor around a Draft Gore campaign. Gore may truly love this country and public service, but to willingly reenter campaign politics, in his particular case, is to go back to the spouse that beat you up, stole your money, and ran off with your best friend. He's going to need to be courted. And we should think about courting him.

See Obama Run

I was wondering when someone else was going to bring this up.

They say Obama did not play the singular role in the asbestos episode that he portrays in the best-selling memoir "Dreams From My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance." Credit for pushing officials to deal with the cancer-causing substance, according to interviews and news accounts from that period, also goes to a well-known preexisting group at Altgeld Gardens and to a local newspaper called the Chicago Reporter. Obama does not mention either one in his book.

..."Just because someone writes it doesn't make it true," said longtime Altgeld resident Hazel Johnson, who worked with Obama on the asbestos campaign and had been pushing for a variety of environmental cleanups years before he arrived.

A prominent political activist I know told me that community organizers he knew here in Chicago had never heard of Barack Obama before he ran for political office.

But "Dreams From My Father," the first of Obama's books, is not a historical account. In it, Obama uses literary techniques that are rarely found in political memoirs.

Dialogue in the memoir is an "approximation of what was actually said or relayed to me," Obama wrote in its introduction. For the sake of compression, he wrote, some characters are "composites of people I've known, and some events appear out of precise chronology." Most names in the book were changed for the sake of privacy, he wrote.

And though most memoirs place their authors at the center of events, critics of "Dreams From My Father" say the book unfairly omits others responsible for the successes of the asbestos campaign, an event that Obama portrays as central to his maturation as a political leader. For example, Johnson is not mentioned, and no character in the book appears to resemble her, even though she was already a prominent Altgeld activist and her presence in the anti-asbestos effort is confirmed by interviews and news accounts at the time.

Hmmmm...no wonder the details around his first political campaign against Alice Palmer are so fuzzy. The guy disremembers the folks that cloud the minty fresh image.

Last night at the University of Chicago, in a "conversation" with Henry Louis "Skip" Gates, political science professor, Michael Dawson, raised a little known fact that Obama displaced Alice Palmer, a sitting black state senator, who was farther to the left of Obama, politically. Dawson also reminded the audience that the DLC, with which Obama is closely associated, is one of the most conservative elements within the Democratic Party.

Alice Palmer was a popular and effective legislator, and would have retained her seat had Obama not challenged her nominating petitions. Most accounts of what took place claim that Palmer lost a special election for an open congressional seat and then changed her mind about running for reelection to the state senate. The fact is the special election was held December 12, 1995 and Alice Palmer had already announced to the Illinois Public Action Convention that she would run for reelection for her senate seat. The fact is the Hyde Parkers whom Obama was courting at the time would've remained loyal to Palmer and many told him as much at the home of Bernadine Dohrn and Bill Ayers in late November of 1995.

Why did Obama go after an office held by an effective, progressive, black incumbent, not once, but twice? (see Bobby Rush)

UPDATE: Sorry to say that my chronology is wrong in this post concerning Alice Palmer and the Second Congressional District primary in Chicago held in 1995. While the special election, which was won by Jesse Jackson, Jr., was held on Dec. 12, 1995, the primary election for that seat was held Nov. 28, 1995. So Alice Palmer did, in fact, lose that primary race and then, with a lot of urging from friends, colleagues, and party leaders, she decided to hold on to her seat and run for reelection.

Friday Malamute Blogging

"Cowards Hiding Behind Soldiers"

Steve's rant over at The News Blog is too good not to link to.

The GOP refuses to deal with reality. They refuse to deal with the losing war, the fact that we treat veterans like shit, that Bush's plan is doomed. They think their cowardly words matter.

Well to the grunts fighting for their lives in the outpost De Lattre Petraeus sent them to die in, it sure as shit didn't. Watching a car bomb breech your wall is a mind focusing experience. Do the Republicans care? Fuck no. Their grip on Iraq is as sure as Britney Spears on her sanity. They have a fantasy world of brave Iraqis and happy US soldiers.

And when anyone intrudes on this cowardly, disgusting picture, you get the vile spectacle of Brit Hume, adulterer, lecturing Jack Murtha on service to this country. This is a man who's son blew his brains out to hide his homosexualty. No one tosses that in his face, or how his first marriage ended.

Yet, he dares to tell Jack Murtha that he doesn't know anything about the military. Who the fuck is he kidding? Anyone with a clue knows he's the Pentagon's go to guy. They are so wedded to their fantasies, that they lie to people. If Juan Williams was a man, he would have told Hume to just stop fucking lying.

...These cowards are hiding behind soldiers, ignoring their reality of payday loans, divorces, PTSD and shitty equipment. Brit Hume hasn't got a clue about any of this, Jack Murtha certainly does. Since he's the one spending his weekends at Walter Reed.

...The GOP no more cares about soldiers than farms care about shit.

"He Speaks So Well!"

The New York Times has something short but sweet about the "Well-spoken black people."

The comedian and actor D. L. Hughley, a frequent guest on HBO’s “Real Time With Bill Maher,” says that every time he appears on the show, where he riffs on the political and social issues of the day, people walk up to him afterward and tell him how “smart and articulate” his comments were.

“Everyone was up in arms about Michael Richards using the N-word, but subtle words like this are more insidious,” Mr. Hughley said. “It’s like weight loss. The last few pounds are the hardest to get rid of. It’s the last vestiges of racism that are hard to get rid of.”

Sho' nuff.

SNL gets it too weirdly enough.

Good Riddance

It's about time.

The University of Illinois' American Indian mascot, Chief Illiniwek, no longer will perform at athletic events on the school's main campus after Wednesday

The Chief is offensive, but the Cleveland Indians logo is just a straight up racial slur. And this isn't open to debate. How the hell is this still an accepted MLB franchise?


UPDATE:
Image courtesy of Greg

Friday Malamute Blogging

He whimpers to go out and play when the wind chill is -30°. I'm the one whimpering when we get back inside.

Baby, it's Still Cold Outside

Sweet home, Chicago! It feels downright balmy at 13°. And I thank God for every inch of fat on my ass this winter.

V-Day

If the weather hasn't got you down, celebrate by going to a showing of The Vagina Monologues.


New York Events


Chicago Events

Moqtada al Sadr Flees to Iran?

Is this how we're going to justify bombing Iran?

Is Glenn Beck a Bigger Idiot than he is a Racist?

This isn't going to help Obama any.

On the February 12 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio show, Glenn Beck featured Philadelphia-based conservative radio host Dom Giordano, who claimed that "the mainstream media has dubbed [Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL)] to be African-American" and said, "If you start to, you know, delve around the edges, say, 'Wait a minute, isn't he mixed race? Weren't we told that last year?' Or whatever, biracial. Not allowed to say that anymore." Beck responded by saying "he's very white in many ways," adding, "Gee, can I even say that? Can I even say that without somebody else starting a campaign saying, 'What does he mean, "He's very white?" ' He is. He's very white."

After the interview, Beck attempted to clarify his comments to executive producer and head writer of The Glenn Beck Program, Steve Burguiere, who is known on-air as "Stu." Beck claimed that Obama "is colorless," adding that "as a white guy ... [y]ou don't notice that he is black. So he might as well be white, you know what I mean?" In addition, Beck said: "I guarantee you, there will be blogs today that will have me being a racist because I say that."

Next time: Who would make a better black friend, Barack Obama, Wayne Brady or Shelby Steele?

Grammy fun!

Luda sends 'love' and a "special shout-out to Oprah and special shout-out to Bill O'Reilly!" while accepting his award for best rap album. Suck on that haters.

Mary J kicked ass and made me cry--whoever cued the shut up music on her should be fired!

Dixie Chicks won pretty much everything else. "Haw! Haw!"

Whaaaat?

Anna Nicole Smith just died. Brace yourself for a feeding frenzy/necrophilia extravaganza from the vultures we like to call the mainstream media.

Karl Rove sure is getting creative with the distractions...

Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Black Wolf?

Glenn Beck & Bill O'Reilly AFRAID to speak their minds? If only that were true. Watch these clips over at Media Matters. And is Shelby Steele still black? Just asking...

Gay Be Gone!

When I read the headline Haggard Pronounced ‘Completely Heterosexual’ I thought it was from the Onion. But, nope, it's from the New York Times.

''He is completely heterosexual,'' Ralph said.

They apparently beat the homo right out of poor, creepy Ted Haggard.

But to be on the safe side...

Another oversight board member, the Rev. Mike Ware of Westminster, said the group recommended the move out of town and the Haggards agreed...

''It's hard to heal in Colorado Springs right now. It's like an open wound."

Somebody's gonna need rubber gloves and a tetanus shot.

and that was that

...anyway. congrats to Tony, et al

THIS IS IT

If it Doesn't Play in Peoria...

...as the saying goes, it won't play anywhere else.

In town to deliver remarks on the economy, the president walked into the diner, where he was greeted with what can only be described as a sedate reception. No one rushed to shake his hand.

In Peoria this week, many patrons found their pancakes more interesting. Except for the click of news cameras and the clang of a dish from the kitchen, the quiet was deafening.

“Sorry to interrupt you,” Bush said to a group of women, who were sitting in a booth with their young kids. “How’s the service?” As Bush signed a few autographs and shook hands, a man sitting at the counter lit a cigarette and asked for more coffee. Another woman, eyeing Bush and his entourage, sighed heavily and went back to her paper. She was reading the obituaries. “Sorry to interrupt your breakfast,” a White House aide told her. “No problem,” she huffed, in a not-so-friendly way. “Life goes on, I guess.”

Um...could I get some fries with that bullshit?

Malamute Blogging

Fuzzy ears. I must have them.

Anything plush that comes into the house is in immediate danger of this kind a treatment. He's partial to ears on both animate and inanimate objects. Prior to being introduced to toys his favorite chew toys were his brother's ears.

Still Unsinkable Molly

Lately, my schedule is such that I don't hear news until the end of the day, so this came as shock when I walked into the apartment. Spence, who lived in Texas for a while, had this to say.

Proud to be liberal, never ashamed of her lefty inclinations, always pragmatic, deeply moral but never a prude, and never ever elitist; her salty humor and folksy charm were a breath of fresh air in progressive politics, too often dominated by stiflingly pedantic mainstream Democratic voices.

Politics and punditry are duller for the loss.