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Soggy Super Tuesday
So, it’s here. The day that many states get to vote for their presidential candidates of choice. I hope most of the states had better weather than we did. Snow, slush, heavy rains, thick fog...just an average New England day in the winter, I guess. Didn’t seem to keep people away. There was a slightly heavier turnout than I’ve noticed in the past. Usually when I go vote, there are one or two other people in the entire room. Today I had to stand in line for a few minutes. That’s good.
It was quiet. No one offered an opinion about anything or voiced a hope that their candidate would win. It was a serious affair. It’s nice to have the reminder every so often that we the people do matter sometimes. Or at least we’re given the impression that we do, anyway.
There were enough ballots, my pen worked just fine, and the ballot scanner/reader seemed to work just fine, too. I’d like my candidate to win, but, if not, the other one will be okay, too. Whoever emerges as the victor on the Democrat side gets my full support even if I didn’t vote for that person. I don’t envy the one who gets the job in January. Hoping, of course, that it’s a Democratic administration. That administration will inherit one heck of a mess to clean up. Rather than channeling one of the Kennedy brothers, I’d suggest they start channeling FDR.
Rather than channeling one of the Kennedy brothers, I’d suggest they start channeling FDR.
Damn straight! And not only because popping the housing bubble is taking the economy for a very, very bumpy ride.
A couple of FDRisms I’d like to see them remind us about—“the only thing we have to fear is fear itself” and the Four Freedoms (of speech and expression, of religious worship throughout the world, from want, and from fear).
Meanwhile, the eyes of the nation turn to Washington this Saturday. Our precinct caucuses will be meaningful! I’m going to be the coordinator for a six-precinct site ... I hope we’ll have enough supplies to handle the crush. My own precinct will elect 10 delegates, a delegate-count exceeded by only a few other precincts in King County.
I hope I won’t be so busy that I don’t get the chance to blog about it.
Personally, I think a very, very bumpy ride would be the best we could hope for. I think that the popped housing bubble is a mere symptom of a huge systemic failure and rot that will have wide ranging effects and we’ll all pay in one way or another. Like many other people, I’m tired of paying for corporate greed and skankiness, while they get forgiven so they can do it all over again. Like many other people, I live by one set of rules and the corporations think those rules are quaint and they are above them. When they spend our money on Ponzi schemes that inevitably fail and they fail to fund pension plans (or spend that money, too), they seem surprised and hurt that we want their heads on a platter. I don’t want them to get away with it this time. Enough is enough already.
It’s interesting to read FDR’s speeches that you linked above. When was the last time a President spoke so forthrightly? He didn’t mince words. Beyond his ability to, you know, actually string a coherent sentence together—he didn’t sugar coat it and he had the guts to ask for a little sacrifice and a commitment to work together toward common goals and he showed a path forward. And he had the guts to lay the blame where it belonged. What a concept. More than that, he came across as our public servant dedicated to our collective well-being...transparently.
He wasn’t a perfect president by any means, but he towers over the AH we have in the oval office now. Can the next president come anywhere close?
Have fun on Saturday, BTW. I can’t remember, have you done this caucus thing before? I hope you find time to blog about it. For those of us who don’t go through the caucus process, it would be great to hear a first hand account of how it works.
Yep, I did do the caucus in 2004, though at that point I was a mere civilian Dean organizer rather than a muckety-muck running the show. Here’s a link to my report.
It’s a bit different this time. I won’t bore you with the reason for the huge increase in my precinct’s delegate-count, though of course I’m happy to see it. Nor will I belabor my absence of candidate-support in 2008, aside from being an ABH. The biggest change is that we won’t have the 15% threshold in precinct caucuses.
That would have made it really, really interesting if there were still a lot of candidates in the race, because it would have been possible for someone drawing maybe 5-6% of the attendees to earn a delegate. As it is, I think it’s not impossible that we’ll elect an Uncommitted (a valid choice in our caucuses) delegate. And who knows? Maybe the Kucinich cultists or the Edwards supporters will still be backing their hero.
I like the Uncommitted delegate as it looks as if this may go down to the convention. Nice to have some wiggle room when we get there. Unfortunately, the people of this commonwealth decided for Hillary. If she is the final choice, I’ll hold my nose and support her. She is (probably) better than a McCain or a Romney. Sigh.
Oh no, she’s definitely better than McCain or Romney. Think SCOTUS. Think the entire federal bench. Think political and upper nonpolitical positions at myriad federal agencies and regulatory commissions.
She may not be your (or my) cuppa tea, but she’d be vastly more likely to pick menschen for those judiciary and executive positions than any Republican.
Oh, and about those Uncommitted (and Kucinich or Edwards) precinct delegates—at the next level of caucuses, they’ll either disappear due to the 15% threshold or ally themselves with either Obama or Clinton. So, were I chosen as an Uncommitted delegate, I’d merely be postponing the actual decision to flip over to Obama until April 5. It would be interesting, though, to hear the offers arguments from both camps as they tried to woo me.
Well, yes, with regard to the SCOTUS, she’s definitely better than a McCain or Romney. As I said, I’ll support her fully if she’s the candidate, but we could do better.
What kind of offers arguments are you likely to get?? 