Oh, Dear God, Please No....

Obama Met With Clinton to Discuss Possible Role - NYTimes.com

WASHINGTON — President-elect Barack Obama met late Thursday in Chicago with Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton to discuss what role she might play in his administration, advisers to both Democrats said on Friday.

Neither side disclosed details of the conversation, and it was unclear how seriously Mr. Obama was considering bringing Mrs. Clinton, his onetime rival for the Democratic presidential nomination, into his cabinet.

Speculation in recent days has focused on the possibility that Mr. Obama would ask Mrs. Clinton, a second term senator from New York, to be his secretary of state.

This is a terrible idea for several reasons:

One: If the idea here is to placate the rabid Clinton supporters. it's not going to work. These are people who even as Clinton was endorsing Obama, continued to insist that she didn't really mean it, that Obama's "thugs" had put a "gun to her head" and that the clips we were seeing of HRC endorsing Obama were a "hostage video." (actual quotes). They are not sane and cannot be placated.

Two: The Republicans would turn the confirmation hearings into a three ring circus. It'd be their last chance to bash the Clintons and drag the Obama Administration into a pointless side battle at the same time. And you KNOW everything Bill's been up to the past few years is going to get dragged in. Sure it's all bullshit, but it's bullshit the press reflexively laps up like cream. It'd be wall to wall coverage and all about the Clintons and the past, not Obama and the future. We don't need the distraction.

Three: Hillary Clinton has the potential to become a real power in the Senate. She could be the next Kennedy or Moniyhan. She's got a safe seat, she's well-thought of, and she's smart. Why would she want to turn over the possible leadership of a co-equal branch of government to go let the man who defeated her be her boss? And she'd be the classic example of the employee you can't tell what to do and you can't fire. The Secretary of State serves at the pleasure of the President, and I just don't see HRC being comfortable in that role.

Don't do it, Mr. President-Elect.

Lawyers, Bikers and Bloggers

Frequent blog commenter and librarian Gerard Saylor interviews your Humble Blogger in a quiet moment from the Murder and Mayhem in Muskego conference this past weekend. Be sure to check out his blog at:

http://lakemillslibrary.blogspot.com/

Look For This Buzzword Over the Next Four Years....

"Obama recession."

Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh continue to suggest that President-elect Barack Obama is to blame for the decline in the stock market, referring to the state of the stock market as an "Obama recession." In fact, analysts have refuted the proposition that the market decline has anything to do with anticipation of Obama's presidency.

Of course it's stupid. Of course it has no basis in reality. Of course, it's started before Barack Obama has even taken office.

But mark my words, the wingnuts are are going to call this nothing but the "Obama recession." Because the truth means nothing to them.

These are the same people who insisted that Sarah Palin was qualified to be President if anything happened to John McCain because she lived closer to Russia than anyone in the Lower 48. These are the people who held up Joe the Plumber as a symbol of the horrors of an Obama tax plan, even though he isn't really a plumber, his name isn't really Joe, and he'll actually do better under Obama's tax plan than McCain's, a fact that's been proven over and over.

But they just keep on lying.

This fight isn't over.

Lessons Learned

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Folks, you know I'm a politics junkie, but even I'm glad the election is done.

Of course, I'm glad it ended up the way it did, with Sen. Barack Obama decisively winning both the popular vote and the electoral college, in numbers greater than any president in a century -- numbers, I might add, that only the looniest of the loony, the real tinfoil-hat crowd, could attribute to "election theft." This multi-state drubbing can't be explained by a few dodgy ACORN registrations.

So what have we learned in two years?

One thing we can learn from Sen. John McCain's defeat is that you've got to have more of a message than "I'm not the other guy." Sen. John Kerry made that mistake in 2004, when his campaign theme was, essentially, "I'm not Bush." There were enough people appalled by Bush at the time (and I was one of them) that Kerry almost made it. But you don't win like that.

Like Kerry, McCain could never seem to stay on one clear message other than "Not Obama." Even that message was all over the map: Obama's an elitist. He's a celebrity. He isn't patriotic. He's a socialist. He's a "redistributionist." As my son noted, whichever candidate's ads you were watching, they were probably talking about Obama.

It's true that Obama ran a lot of ads pointing out that McCain's policies were going to be a continuation of George W. Bush's. Some called those "attack ads," but since what message McCain did manage to articulate was basically "make Bush's tax cuts for the wealthy permanent and keep Bush's war in Iraq going," you can't call them unfair.

Plus, Obama managed to keep his criticism consistent. Let's do an experiment: What percentage of the time did McCain vote with Bush? If the number that popped into your head was "95 percent" you begin to see the effectiveness of a consistent message.

But Obama also ran plenty of ads about policies he'd pursue: middle-class tax cuts, closing tax loopholes for companies that send jobs overseas, developing clean and renewable energy, etc. In the final week, Obama ran an infomercial that was seen by millions. One anonymous online commenter pointed out it didn't mention McCain once. "Could McCain have gone a full 30 minutes without mentioning Obama?" the commenter asked. Judging from McCain's ads, the answer was "no."

Another thing that John McCain could have learned from John Kerry is that in the 21st century, no one really cares about what you did in the 1960s, at least not enough to influence their vote. Kerry tried to run on his service in Vietnam, and I have to admit I cringed when he opened his convention acceptance speech with that line, "Lt. Kerry reporting for duty".

McCain mentioned that he'd been a POW so often that he turned it into joke fodder by bringing it up every time he was questioned on something. Everyone gave McCain respect for his service (certainly more than the Republicans ever gave Kerry), but in the end, they weren't going to make him president just for that.

We also learned that no one really cares what some guy you had a nodding acquaintance with did in the 1960s, no matter how rotten it was. McCain did everything he could to hang washed-up Sixties radicalBill Ayers around Obama's neck, and almost 64 million people shrugged and went, "So?"

(And while I'm sure there'll now be a flood of letters to this paper from bitter dead-enders trying to "prove" some tighter Obama/Ayers connection, just remember: No. One. Cares. )

Oh, and people apparently don't much care about some crazy thing your preacher said, no matter how many times you bring it up. Preachers say crazy stuff. No one cares.

All in all, the biggest loser in this election was the divisive Karl Rovian politics in which one candidate seeks to paint the other candidate, and by extension his or her supporters, as not just wrong, but scary, not "really American," even traitorous.

Or, as Elizabeth Dole tried to do, by painting Kay Hagan, a Sunday School teacher and Presbyterian Church elder as "godless," even having a strident female voice behind her picture crying out "There is no God!" as if Hagan herself was saying it. Dole got her head handed to her on Election Day, and rightly so.

All that said, I did think McCain's concession speech was quite gracious and classy. After all the mudslinging he'd been doing, however, it was kind of like the end of "Return of the Jedi," when
Darth Vader renounces the Dark Side, turns back into Anakin and asks Luke to take his helmet off so he can see him one last time.

In closing, I've been thinking a lot about a line in Kurt Vonnegut's classic novel "Timequake." In the book, people are just coming out of a massive disaster that's left its victims depressed and apathetic after seven years of suffering.

"You've been sick," the book's main character tells people, "but now you're well, and there's work to do."

Let's get to work.

In Case Anyone's Interested

My election night diary:

7:00 I sit down in the big chair with the remote, the laptop, and a stiff drink. My trusty guitar sits in its stand next to the chair for when I need comfort.

7:05 McCain picks up Kentucky, Obama gets Vermont. No surprises.

7:15 Too early to call for President, but ABC calls Virginia's Senate election for Democrat Mark Warner. Hello!

7:21 Indiana: Obama's within 1%, and the urban north hasn't reported yet.

7:25 CNN reports McCain way ahead in Virginia. Argh. Then they point out that that's only two rural counties. Damn you CNN! I pick up the guitar.

7:29 Some guy on CNN is dissecting Indiana county by county, and I have no idea what he's talking about.

7:56: Indiana again. Now I get it. Obama's not losing as bad as Kerry in the rural counties. So when the urban counties come in...

7:57 South Carolina. Obama 55%, McCain 44%, but they call it for McCain. WTF?

8:00 Obama jumps up to 77 EV's according to CNN vs McCain's 34. I'm already getting really tired of that sound CNN uses when they call a state. They also sometimes use it when they tell you it's too early to call.

8:14 Dana Bash reports from McCain HQ where they have a boys' choir performing. How lame is that?

8:18 I flip over to MSNBC. WTF is up with David Gregory's gangster suit?

8:21 ABC calls the NH Senate race. I find that I really like saying "Shaheen beats Sununu." Maybe I need to slow down on the rum.

8:27 ABC News calls it for Hagan 58 42%. Looks like calling Hagan "godless" didn't work out as well as Liddy hoped. I seem to remember it being fairly close before she pulled that malarkey. My wife wonders how long Liddy will hang around Salisbury now. We're thinking, not long.

8:30 My friend Tasha e-mails me iPhone pictures from Grant Park in Chicago. She's already been through three security checkpoints. I feel a little better about Obama's safety. I also feel pretty good that I'm not in Grant Park. History's nice, but I'm not fond of crowds.

8:45 ABC & CNN call Pennsylvania, McCain's "Must win", for Obama. Things look bleak for McCain. BWAHAHAHAHAAA!

9:11 ABC shows a shot from McCain's HQ at the Arizona Biltmore, and I realize 'hey, I've been drunk in that ballroom." Then I wonder "Why are the McCainiacs waving red flags?"

9:30: ABC and CNN call Ohio for Obama. Another state McCain had to win. It looks like it's over. Guess trotting out a fake plumber didn't work as well as they'd thought.

9:39: CNN reports that they've turned off the news feed in the ballroom at the Arizona Biltmore. If that's not a symbol of Republican thinking. I don't know what is.

9:45 The guy with the big touch screen electoral maps on CNN illustrates how McCain can take a whole bunch of disputed states and still won't get to 270. It's over.

10:00 Obama takes Iowa. I turn over to watch Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert's coverage on Comedy Central.

10:47 Waiting for the final blow to fall when the West Coast polls close. This is the longest hour ever.

10:56 Comedy Central calls Virginia for Obama before anyone else? WTF?

11:00 Comedy Central also calls the election for Obama. I love that first got the news form Jon Stewart.

11:20 McCain concedes. Graciously. It's reminiscent of the scene in Return of the Jedi when Luke takes Darth Vader's helmet off and he's Anakin Skywalker again.

11:50 C'mon, Barack, get out there and get inspiring and shit. I have to work tomorrow.

12:05 I love the reference to the kids finally getting the dog they were promised if Dad won. It's so Cosby.

12:30. Hell of a speech. I'm going to bed. Glad this one's not going to recounts, courts, etc.

To quote my friend Jim Winter from the comments below:

"AMERICA! FUCK YEAH!"

A Message For America

At this moment, I'm reminded of a line that's stuck with me from Kurt Vonnegut's TIMEQUAKE: 

“You were sick, but now you're well again, and there's work to do.”