holy mackerel
rachel maddow has a segment on her show in which she reveals a series of "under-reported holy mackerel stories."
as i've been browsing the interweb this morning (running out the clock at work), i've happened upon a few myself and thought i'd share. most of these are about the obama administration "doing the people's business" i.e. governing rather than the strange sound and fury that dominates the airwaves.
the following stories help to flesh out what the change in washington means in concrete, rather than symbolic terms. i certainly shouldn't be, but i've been surprised how slow the press has been to catch on to some of the new political realities. the habitual emphasis on trumpeting republican talking points (which has been the scourge of discourse over the last eight years) rather than getting in tune with the political and demographic shift that's taken place in this country in the last four years, makes for a tone-def. media machine.
but inertia is a physical law that won't be contravened! i predict that soon there will be some political display which will turn out to be the force necessary to make hill insiders, reporters and editors reevaluate the tired narratives that have animated national politics since the 1980s.
then, of course, there are my own fellow lefties who are stuck in the rut of being the stepped-on and taken for granted minority party, which is routinely lied to and humiliated. everyday i read some post about how obama's latest action is a sign of Immanent Betrayal of the Cause (tm). this too, is a sign of inertia, which hasn't met a force equal to changing the speed and direction of the common thought.
the truth is, the days of progressive values being marginalized in a defacto manner are over, even if the MSM is still spouting their routine drivel. our job is different now than it was. histrionic cries over imagined slights are unproductive and there is no longer any excuse to engage in them as now there is a person in the white house who actually invites constructive criticism. he's said himself that he wants to be shown arguments and evidence about what works. the best use of progressive advocates' time is to craft those arguments, gather that evidence, put it before him, and fight for it on the merits.
hard to believe, i know, but it's a sign of the times. this will be an era of more civil politics. that doesn't mean that people will all agree and there will be no winners and losers, as the MSM seems to think, but that advocates, legislators, and the executive will do things cordially, transparently, and according to the law. that's a huge, small-d democratic improvement, even if it hasn't caught up with all of us yet.
obama doesn't pick fights, he facilitates good policy making
what no broadcast mainstream media organization reported about the spending supporting family planning in the stimulus bill (which was taken out at the president's suggestion) is that it actually saves the government money on an already existing policy process that is replete with wasteful red tape (not to mention improving the life chances of poor women). since it's good policy, but was causing undue upset, o simply decided to get it done a different way. bonus: this was done without any dissembling. o told law makers at the time he asked them to remove the provision from the stimulus that he was in favor of the legislation, but was concerned that the big economic recovery package was not the right venue for it. viola! truth in advertising.
obama's faith-based initiative
we heard a bit about this on the campaign and it made a lot of progressives nervous. at the time, i wrote an entry trying to explain that obama's idea of encouraging faith-based public works is much, much different than bush et al. from the note:Josh Dubois, the 26 year-old who ran religious outreach for Barack Obama's 2008 campaign, has been tapped by the new president to head the White House Office of Faith Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, a White House aide tells ABC News. [snip]
Part of his job was focused on building relationships with religious leaders, especially evangelical Christians who were dissatisfied with the GOP's approach to economic justice, the use of force, and environmental protection.[snip]
As detailed in a Boston Globe profile of DuBois which ran this past summer, his social and religious activism was sparked as a 17-year old freshman at BU when a New York jury acquitted four police officers whose 41 bullets had killed an unarmed immigrant named Amadou Diallo.DuBois wrote "NO MORE" on a placard and stood in front of a memorial to Martin Luther King, Jr., in Massachusetts, for 41 hours to draw attention to the 41 shots which were fired.
obama keeps it real
obama has little use for pomp and circumstance. he cares about getting things done and realizes that it's easier to get things done when people work in a relaxed and cordial environment. of course, we saw this leadership style during the campaign, which earned o the nickname "no drama obama."
and this is just the first full week.
as i've been browsing the interweb this morning (running out the clock at work), i've happened upon a few myself and thought i'd share. most of these are about the obama administration "doing the people's business" i.e. governing rather than the strange sound and fury that dominates the airwaves.
the following stories help to flesh out what the change in washington means in concrete, rather than symbolic terms. i certainly shouldn't be, but i've been surprised how slow the press has been to catch on to some of the new political realities. the habitual emphasis on trumpeting republican talking points (which has been the scourge of discourse over the last eight years) rather than getting in tune with the political and demographic shift that's taken place in this country in the last four years, makes for a tone-def. media machine.
but inertia is a physical law that won't be contravened! i predict that soon there will be some political display which will turn out to be the force necessary to make hill insiders, reporters and editors reevaluate the tired narratives that have animated national politics since the 1980s.
then, of course, there are my own fellow lefties who are stuck in the rut of being the stepped-on and taken for granted minority party, which is routinely lied to and humiliated. everyday i read some post about how obama's latest action is a sign of Immanent Betrayal of the Cause (tm). this too, is a sign of inertia, which hasn't met a force equal to changing the speed and direction of the common thought.
the truth is, the days of progressive values being marginalized in a defacto manner are over, even if the MSM is still spouting their routine drivel. our job is different now than it was. histrionic cries over imagined slights are unproductive and there is no longer any excuse to engage in them as now there is a person in the white house who actually invites constructive criticism. he's said himself that he wants to be shown arguments and evidence about what works. the best use of progressive advocates' time is to craft those arguments, gather that evidence, put it before him, and fight for it on the merits.
hard to believe, i know, but it's a sign of the times. this will be an era of more civil politics. that doesn't mean that people will all agree and there will be no winners and losers, as the MSM seems to think, but that advocates, legislators, and the executive will do things cordially, transparently, and according to the law. that's a huge, small-d democratic improvement, even if it hasn't caught up with all of us yet.
obama doesn't pick fights, he facilitates good policy making
what no broadcast mainstream media organization reported about the spending supporting family planning in the stimulus bill (which was taken out at the president's suggestion) is that it actually saves the government money on an already existing policy process that is replete with wasteful red tape (not to mention improving the life chances of poor women). since it's good policy, but was causing undue upset, o simply decided to get it done a different way. bonus: this was done without any dissembling. o told law makers at the time he asked them to remove the provision from the stimulus that he was in favor of the legislation, but was concerned that the big economic recovery package was not the right venue for it. viola! truth in advertising.
obama's faith-based initiative
we heard a bit about this on the campaign and it made a lot of progressives nervous. at the time, i wrote an entry trying to explain that obama's idea of encouraging faith-based public works is much, much different than bush et al. from the note:Josh Dubois, the 26 year-old who ran religious outreach for Barack Obama's 2008 campaign, has been tapped by the new president to head the White House Office of Faith Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, a White House aide tells ABC News. [snip]
Part of his job was focused on building relationships with religious leaders, especially evangelical Christians who were dissatisfied with the GOP's approach to economic justice, the use of force, and environmental protection.[snip]
As detailed in a Boston Globe profile of DuBois which ran this past summer, his social and religious activism was sparked as a 17-year old freshman at BU when a New York jury acquitted four police officers whose 41 bullets had killed an unarmed immigrant named Amadou Diallo.DuBois wrote "NO MORE" on a placard and stood in front of a memorial to Martin Luther King, Jr., in Massachusetts, for 41 hours to draw attention to the 41 shots which were fired.
obama keeps it real
obama has little use for pomp and circumstance. he cares about getting things done and realizes that it's easier to get things done when people work in a relaxed and cordial environment. of course, we saw this leadership style during the campaign, which earned o the nickname "no drama obama."
and this is just the first full week.