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Copyright 2005 - Steal what you want Tue, 25 Mar 2008 10:08:49 GMT Tue, 25 Mar 2008 10:08:49 GMT Daily Kos Daily Kos This is an XML content feed. It is intended to be viewed in a newsreader or syndicated to another site, subject to copyright and fair use.

Open Thread for Night Owls & Early Birds

Scott Horton writes in Harper's:

The Past Is Not Past. Or Is It?

What do two short stories by William Faulkner published by Harper’s in the fall of 1940 have to do with the 2008 presidential campaign? Faulkner finalized them in the midst of a presidential election campaign, as Franklin Roosevelt sought his third term, a fact which breaks through in a few spots. These stories seem to be a simple narrative of life in the rural South, one is a rite of passage story and the other a strange tragi-comedy. But these stories are indeed intensely political, and their message was one that the readership would hardly have been prepared to cope with, in those dark days as the specter of war loomed over America. It seems we have to go forward seventeen presidential elections to come to the day when they become a matter of public discussion.

Last Tuesday, Senator Barack Obama, facing a withering assault over his relationship with his former pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, delivered a carefully measured and thoughtful speech on race relations in America. The speech was by almost every measure something extraordinary. It was delivered against the advice of Obama’s advisors, who felt—probably correctly—that any discussion of the race issue would only be used to isolate him in public debate. But more significantly, the language of the speech was not measured and shaped by focus groups. It proceeded assuming an educated and intelligent audience. As Reagan speechwriter Peggy Noonan reminded us in the pages of the Wall Street Journal, no political advisor would ever hear of such a thing. She points to two give-aways: the use of the word "endemic" and a quotation from Faulkner.

The words quoted were:

‘The past isn’t dead and buried. In fact, it isn’t even past.’

But actually the language is just off. The actual words are "The past is never dead. It’s not even past." They come from Requiem for a Nun. But the meaning and use that Obama takes is taken straight from an earlier Faulkner novel, Go Down, Moses, a brave and profound work about race relations in America. Being bound to, but struggling to overcome the past is a key message of that work. In fact these words could be taken as a sort of moral test that he has put to a focal character: will he remain a servant to the past, or will he succeed in shaking those chains free? The protagonist fails that test, with his very Southern attitudes and bigotries. In fact, Faulkner did himself at least once–in an outburst in an interview in the fifties, which Faulkner later attributed to too much alcohol. But Faulkner left a transcendent message: Some day, he tells us, some day the people will rise above these divisions and will recognize the ties that bind all. They will recognize the fundamental lie of racism. This was not, of course, a message which could be easily delivered to an American audience in 1940. Today, however, the message finds people ready to listen and to believe.

As with any essay, you can't get the full flavor no matter how tasty the excerpt, so click on through.

Days since Mission Accomplished in Iraq: 1791

Number of "coalition" members dead because of the invasion and occupation: 4308

Number of Iraqis dead for the same reason: 150,000 to 1.45 million, depending on the source.

Cheney-Bush Administration's response to the situation: So?

The Overnight News Digest is posted.

Meteor Blades Open Thread for Night Owls & Early Birds Harper's Scott Horton Tue, 25 Mar 2008 06:10:05 GMT

Five Ways Clinton Leads Obama

[from the diaries - BarbinMD]

Over the weekend, Senator Evan Bayh suggested we measure the success of the candidates not by delegates earned, but by the electoral votes of the states they’ve won.  In the spirit of Senator Bayh, I present you with five additional metrics that I pulled out of my ass.  As you’ll see, Hillary Clinton is either winning or tied with Obama in every case.

I should say at the outset that this study is highly scientific and my methods are rigorous.  Except where otherwise noted, the data for this study is available here.  I have excluded American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and Democrats voting abroad, because their inclusion would be un-American.  Similarly, I have excluded  the District of Columbia, which isn’t even a state.

Total number of "yellow" states on Wikipedia’s map of the United States

CLINTON:   5

OBAMA:  4

By Barack Obama’s own admission, at the conclusion of his Iowa address, he noted, "we are not a collection of red states and blue states."  He failed, however, to specifically identify the colors that should be assigned to the states.  If anyone is to resolve this question, it is Wikipedia, the repository of all human knowledge, which makes clear that we are a nation of green, yellow, red, and pink states.  It’s important of course that this study be conducted in a fair and nonarbitrary fashion, so I determined the color metric (yellow) by eliminating the states least frequently associated with submarines in Beatles songs.  This yields a slight advantage to Hillary Clinton, 5 to 4.

Total number of Commonwealths

CLINTON: 1 (Massachusetts)

OBAMA: 1 (Virginia)

Here the race is neck and neck, but Clinton is expected to take Pennsylvania.  As there are only four commonwealths total, it is virtually impossible for Obama to beat Clinton on the Commonwealth count.  If Clinton beats Obama in Kentucky, his claim that he has won more states will be canceled out by her claim that she has won more Commonwealths.

Total number of "New" States

CLINTON: 4

OBAMA:0

Hilllary Clinton has won New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, and New York.  By contrast, Obama has failed to win a single state with the word "New" in its name.  Obama’s failure among self-proclaimed new states, raises serious questions about his supposed strength among young voters (new people) and his supposed message of change (new policies).

Average Highest Elevation

CLINTON: 6135 Feet

OBAMA:  6097 Feet

Frankly, I’m surprised that more attention hasn’t been drawn to this.  Obama claims to want to elevate the level of discourse, but he has failed in states with the highest elevations.  Clinton has won on Mount Whitney (California), Humphreys Peak (Arizona), Boundary Peak (Nevada), and Wheeler Peak (New Mexico). Perhaps more significantly, there are so few peaks left that despite the close margins, Obama has no hope of regaining the altitude vote.  Clinton also leads among states with the highest average mean elevation: (Clinton:  1908.8 feet    Obama:  1457.7 feet).

Average Official State Mixed Drink

CLINTON:  Wine, Milk, Coffee, Cranberry Juice, Orange Juice, Tomato Juice

OBAMA:  Kool-Aid, Beer, Conecuh Ridge Whiskey, Milk, Moxie, South Carolina Grown Tea

It’s a close call, but on balance, Clinton has the better tasting official state mixed drink.  Here’s how this is tabulated:  Most states have an official state beverage (Wikipedia State Beverage List).  Using equal parts of each state beverage from each state that each candidate won, I was able to produce two mixed drinks.  I don’t want to go into the judging details except to say that Obama’s combination of Whiskey and Kool-Aid left me questioning whether his coalition of voters can hold together beyond the late night taco bell run.

Conclusion

It’s clear that the time has come for Obama to drop out of the race.  By almost any measure imaginable (excluding delegates, popular vote, primaries, or caucuses), Clinton is leading.

(Cross posted from overbreadth.com.)

Cameron Fredman

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