Long Overdue Update (Typed Inbetween News Articles at Work)
This is being written from work because, I must be honest, I have nothing to do. Quite literally: nothing. The job I have been hired to do is limited to handling a very select group of the issues/requests that come across my team’s desk and, since no one is hiring new assistants, that means I have nothing to do. On the bright side, this means that I have more time to access to reading online news sources (sadly, only CNN and NY Times; I need to look into the WSJ online readership options), work on my personal statement, and update everyone on what’s going on in my life.
The last few weeks have been a drastic improvement over the first month or so after I moved up here. Things have settled down, I have two jobs (more on that in a second), my law school aps are getting, slowly but surely, finished (though the personal statement can go fuck itself), and it is really good to have the people I have missed dearly back in Northfield. Aside from that, I’ve been keeping busy with reading (which is actually, shock of shocks, starting to take in some non-fiction into my normal diet of fiction) and visiting/spending time with all manners of interesting people.
Now, the jobs. The primary position - i.e. the one I took to pay the bills - is a contractor position to Ameriprise Financial (the former investment arm of American Express, now independent from the credit card company and attempting to reestablish itself as a separate and unrelated entity). I can’t go into it too much because of security concerns (what I do is greenlight access to the servers). However - and I know how utterly pathetic this makes me - I do like it. It’s rote, bureaucratic, and at times (okay, often) completely boring. However, I love watching/learning how systems work and how abstract values are combined with more concrete procedural and structural elements to create a work, in many ways autonomous, entity is utterly fascinating to me. It’s what I liked about history and it’s what I love about law. So, working here is not nearly as soul crushing as it would be were I someone else.
This is not the job I am really excited about. After getting the first job, I randomly stopped in a game store over on Lyndale and Lake and, just for shits and giggles, asked if they were hiring part-time help. And, having just opened up two weeks earlier, they were. It’s a bit of a struggle; considering how tight money is, we’re not raking in the cash. However, there are two points in our favor. One is that we’re right by where Dreamhaven used to be (if you didn’t know, it’s moved due to construction); without another game store in an area that is becoming more and more chicly residential, we’re ideally placed. Secondly, I’ve come to view gamers as, in many crucial ways, being analogous to addicts: even though it might not always be the most prudent investment of their cash, they’ve just simply got to get their fix. We should therefore be able to, hopefully, ride out the late unpleasantness and stick around until better times. Regardless, I am getting paid to work at a job where I get a 30% discount on all merchandise, there is currently very little to do in terms of “real” work, and my boss/coworkers are as big if not bigger nerds than me. I’m absolutely loving it.
Onto my current (thankfully, for once rather well informed) thoughts about the election. In my opinion, it’s been an absolute roller coaster. When Palin was first announced, I was extremely nervous. It’s no secret I don’t hold the average voter to be as critical a thinker as people who have been more educated; not a way to say they’re in any way deficient in the mental potential, just that they can’t or don’t utilize it to its full amount. Thus, I was waiting to see how it played out and what we learned about this “dark horse in the running” VP candidate.
Being a latecomer to the realm of politics and economics, I confess my reasonably pathetic understanding of those issues (though I am trying to improve it, step by step). So, when voting for me, those issues are forced to continually rely heavily on what seems to be the best plan detailed out by the candidates, with an attendant eye on the best available commentary to fully inform and round out my opinion, while the main thrust of my voting concerns are, admittedly, on those things that I usually chide others for voting on (i.e. social/cultural issues). As is such, a candidate’s beliefs on issues such as gay marriage, abortion, and the like tend to have more weight with me because they’re the ones I feel most informed about and therefore can more critically view.
The more I learn, though, the more the initial respect I had for the McCain ticket ebbs away, being replaced gradually by terror, and the more stalwartly my support for Obama becomes. Palin’s beliefs about gay marriage and creationism (if not what little we know of her policy decisions as of yet) scare me, and her views on choice issues are absolutely *terrifying*. If you don’t know what she thinks on abortion, let me give you the short version: not.even in cases of rape and incest and, perhaps, when the mother’s life is endangered (that last one might be misinformation, though). Credit where credit is due, she does believe in condom education, which is a step in the right direction, and her beliefs haven’t always been directly linked to her policy decisions (though I refuse to, without further information, grant automatically that this is always for the right reasons). Yet, while I agree with Romney that it’s we should expect her to be a foreign policy expert (that’s supposed to be McCain’s province*), her apparently complete lack of knowledge in this realm at all is, in addition to her retrograde social views, her frighteningly questionable style of government, and her complete inability to produce a coherent answer to a question** doesn’t just make me question her qualifications. Rather, it makes adamantly sure that she is in no shape to pick up the banner if McCain drops. In addition, McCain’s patent abandonment of his more centrist views on a lot of issues in an attempt to pander/bolster his base removes most of the remaining creditability he had in my books. All in all, a choice that doesn’t just leave me cold***; it leaves me downright chilled to the bone.
Still, I won’t give into the “doom and gloom” predictions that most of my comrades would in case if a McCain-Palin ticket won. Why, you might ask? Because it’s less and less likely in my opinion that McCain can pull it off. His campaign, rather than making the most of the *massive* boost that the Palin and the convention gave, has continuously squandered it; most of the polls I have come across - even one’s from “right-leaning” sources such as Fox News - have shown McCain’s slip from leading Obama (or at least being in a dead heat with him) to a position 3-5% behind. Even in some red states where most Republicans have had a historic advantage (such as Indiana and Virginia), McCain’s lead varies from extremely close to, at times, gone (A few polls I’ve seen have even put Indiana, not just being contested, but in Obama’s column. This will probably not last, but it makes me happy to know that it’s actually possible for my home state, which I love despite its rather pronounced flaws, to get its head out of its Midwestern ass.)
Even admitting the insufficiency of poll data, other factors are currently favoring Obama. These include:
* Extreme dissatisfaction with the last eight years of Republican rule. Even though McCain’s desperately trying to paint himself in contrast to it - he was the only one that possibly had a prayer of doing so - he couldn’t, under the best of circumstances, escape it completely.
* The polarizing effect of Palin. In addition to reenergizing a dying campaign, Palin had the bonus of alienating quite a few independents as well as ensuring the continual and unwavering support of most Democrats who are utterly scared by what we have learned so far about her.
* Obama’s stronger performance at the debate on Friday. Even though some think he should have won by a much larger margin, I would remind them that foreign policy experience is McCain’s forte and one of Obama’s relative weaknesses. So, the fact that he, by many accounts, won, even if it turns out to be by a slim margin, works to our favor considerably. Two more performances of this caliber, and the game will hopefully be decided. (Also, McCain’s tactic that he used with great effect of attacking and/or denigrating Obama’s experience produced negative responses in Republican viewers, a few studies have shown. Meaning he’ll have to find a new way to blunt the enthusiasm surrounding Obama.)
* The state of the economy: and, as exceptionally cynical as this might be to say, this is further aided the further we get into difficulties. Historically speaking - and please correct me if I am wrong - when there was a financial crisis of this (potential) magnitude, the people turned overwhelmingly to the more idealistic and visionary of the two candidates in FDR; this suggests that, when the chips are down, people tend to swing for the person who they feel is working most for them. For the moment, Obama has that neatly wrapped up (though that could change in the next five weeks).
* His vision: this has always been the strongest aspect for me. Obama has an inspiring and uplifting message for the future that doesn’t shirk or deny the hardships and tough choices that will have to be faced to get there. McCain doesn’t. He just simply doesn’t. And, when he seems on the verge of elaborating one, it turns into much so more of the same piecemeal crap we’ve seen in his campaign so far, combined with a constant harping about how there will be increased responsibility in government with few details on how he’s going to achieve this.
However, a few things that could prove to be upsetting factors:
* Some unforeseen major gaffe in the next few weeks: really a potential pitfall for either candidate. Will either sink, once and for all, McCain or limit Obama’s ability to firmly take advantage of his current standing.
* Lingering race issues: I have to admit, an unlikely game changer. However, since I agree with H.L. Mencken that no one ever lost money betting against the stupidity of the American people, I can’t rule it out completely.
* Those same cultural issues that grab my vote could/will be used as wedge issues: just as I am reasonably far to the left on these issues in gestalt and unlikely to vote for a Republican because of it, the same is used to devastating effect on the opposite side of the aisle. This guarantees that, as long as McCain-Palin keeps pandering to the right, that it’ll be difficult for Obama to easily grab the points he needs to solidify his modest lead into something larger.
Anyway, after watching the bailout fail in its preliminary rounds, I’m going to back away from politics for a while and continue to focus on the positive. I’ve got good people around me, I’ve got good health, and I’ve got a reasonably good attitude (which is shocking, as I’m usually quite responsive to negative stimuli). All in all, even now, life is good. (And when Obama wins, it will be even better. :D)
Hoping things are well with all of you,
Matthew
* Much the same reason that I feel Obama chose Biden: like his limited amount of time in Washington to learn how to shepherd legislation through Congress, foreign policy is not something he’s had the years to pick up.
** Check out her interview on Katie Couric via Youtube. It’s a sad sad day for a candidate when Tina Fey can lift whole paragraphs verbatim for comedic effect.
*** I was going to probably vote for Hillary if she was the nominee, even if I don’t particularly care for her.
The last few weeks have been a drastic improvement over the first month or so after I moved up here. Things have settled down, I have two jobs (more on that in a second), my law school aps are getting, slowly but surely, finished (though the personal statement can go fuck itself), and it is really good to have the people I have missed dearly back in Northfield. Aside from that, I’ve been keeping busy with reading (which is actually, shock of shocks, starting to take in some non-fiction into my normal diet of fiction) and visiting/spending time with all manners of interesting people.
Now, the jobs. The primary position - i.e. the one I took to pay the bills - is a contractor position to Ameriprise Financial (the former investment arm of American Express, now independent from the credit card company and attempting to reestablish itself as a separate and unrelated entity). I can’t go into it too much because of security concerns (what I do is greenlight access to the servers). However - and I know how utterly pathetic this makes me - I do like it. It’s rote, bureaucratic, and at times (okay, often) completely boring. However, I love watching/learning how systems work and how abstract values are combined with more concrete procedural and structural elements to create a work, in many ways autonomous, entity is utterly fascinating to me. It’s what I liked about history and it’s what I love about law. So, working here is not nearly as soul crushing as it would be were I someone else.
This is not the job I am really excited about. After getting the first job, I randomly stopped in a game store over on Lyndale and Lake and, just for shits and giggles, asked if they were hiring part-time help. And, having just opened up two weeks earlier, they were. It’s a bit of a struggle; considering how tight money is, we’re not raking in the cash. However, there are two points in our favor. One is that we’re right by where Dreamhaven used to be (if you didn’t know, it’s moved due to construction); without another game store in an area that is becoming more and more chicly residential, we’re ideally placed. Secondly, I’ve come to view gamers as, in many crucial ways, being analogous to addicts: even though it might not always be the most prudent investment of their cash, they’ve just simply got to get their fix. We should therefore be able to, hopefully, ride out the late unpleasantness and stick around until better times. Regardless, I am getting paid to work at a job where I get a 30% discount on all merchandise, there is currently very little to do in terms of “real” work, and my boss/coworkers are as big if not bigger nerds than me. I’m absolutely loving it.
Onto my current (thankfully, for once rather well informed) thoughts about the election. In my opinion, it’s been an absolute roller coaster. When Palin was first announced, I was extremely nervous. It’s no secret I don’t hold the average voter to be as critical a thinker as people who have been more educated; not a way to say they’re in any way deficient in the mental potential, just that they can’t or don’t utilize it to its full amount. Thus, I was waiting to see how it played out and what we learned about this “dark horse in the running” VP candidate.
Being a latecomer to the realm of politics and economics, I confess my reasonably pathetic understanding of those issues (though I am trying to improve it, step by step). So, when voting for me, those issues are forced to continually rely heavily on what seems to be the best plan detailed out by the candidates, with an attendant eye on the best available commentary to fully inform and round out my opinion, while the main thrust of my voting concerns are, admittedly, on those things that I usually chide others for voting on (i.e. social/cultural issues). As is such, a candidate’s beliefs on issues such as gay marriage, abortion, and the like tend to have more weight with me because they’re the ones I feel most informed about and therefore can more critically view.
The more I learn, though, the more the initial respect I had for the McCain ticket ebbs away, being replaced gradually by terror, and the more stalwartly my support for Obama becomes. Palin’s beliefs about gay marriage and creationism (if not what little we know of her policy decisions as of yet) scare me, and her views on choice issues are absolutely *terrifying*. If you don’t know what she thinks on abortion, let me give you the short version: not.even in cases of rape and incest and, perhaps, when the mother’s life is endangered (that last one might be misinformation, though). Credit where credit is due, she does believe in condom education, which is a step in the right direction, and her beliefs haven’t always been directly linked to her policy decisions (though I refuse to, without further information, grant automatically that this is always for the right reasons). Yet, while I agree with Romney that it’s we should expect her to be a foreign policy expert (that’s supposed to be McCain’s province*), her apparently complete lack of knowledge in this realm at all is, in addition to her retrograde social views, her frighteningly questionable style of government, and her complete inability to produce a coherent answer to a question** doesn’t just make me question her qualifications. Rather, it makes adamantly sure that she is in no shape to pick up the banner if McCain drops. In addition, McCain’s patent abandonment of his more centrist views on a lot of issues in an attempt to pander/bolster his base removes most of the remaining creditability he had in my books. All in all, a choice that doesn’t just leave me cold***; it leaves me downright chilled to the bone.
Still, I won’t give into the “doom and gloom” predictions that most of my comrades would in case if a McCain-Palin ticket won. Why, you might ask? Because it’s less and less likely in my opinion that McCain can pull it off. His campaign, rather than making the most of the *massive* boost that the Palin and the convention gave, has continuously squandered it; most of the polls I have come across - even one’s from “right-leaning” sources such as Fox News - have shown McCain’s slip from leading Obama (or at least being in a dead heat with him) to a position 3-5% behind. Even in some red states where most Republicans have had a historic advantage (such as Indiana and Virginia), McCain’s lead varies from extremely close to, at times, gone (A few polls I’ve seen have even put Indiana, not just being contested, but in Obama’s column. This will probably not last, but it makes me happy to know that it’s actually possible for my home state, which I love despite its rather pronounced flaws, to get its head out of its Midwestern ass.)
Even admitting the insufficiency of poll data, other factors are currently favoring Obama. These include:
* Extreme dissatisfaction with the last eight years of Republican rule. Even though McCain’s desperately trying to paint himself in contrast to it - he was the only one that possibly had a prayer of doing so - he couldn’t, under the best of circumstances, escape it completely.
* The polarizing effect of Palin. In addition to reenergizing a dying campaign, Palin had the bonus of alienating quite a few independents as well as ensuring the continual and unwavering support of most Democrats who are utterly scared by what we have learned so far about her.
* Obama’s stronger performance at the debate on Friday. Even though some think he should have won by a much larger margin, I would remind them that foreign policy experience is McCain’s forte and one of Obama’s relative weaknesses. So, the fact that he, by many accounts, won, even if it turns out to be by a slim margin, works to our favor considerably. Two more performances of this caliber, and the game will hopefully be decided. (Also, McCain’s tactic that he used with great effect of attacking and/or denigrating Obama’s experience produced negative responses in Republican viewers, a few studies have shown. Meaning he’ll have to find a new way to blunt the enthusiasm surrounding Obama.)
* The state of the economy: and, as exceptionally cynical as this might be to say, this is further aided the further we get into difficulties. Historically speaking - and please correct me if I am wrong - when there was a financial crisis of this (potential) magnitude, the people turned overwhelmingly to the more idealistic and visionary of the two candidates in FDR; this suggests that, when the chips are down, people tend to swing for the person who they feel is working most for them. For the moment, Obama has that neatly wrapped up (though that could change in the next five weeks).
* His vision: this has always been the strongest aspect for me. Obama has an inspiring and uplifting message for the future that doesn’t shirk or deny the hardships and tough choices that will have to be faced to get there. McCain doesn’t. He just simply doesn’t. And, when he seems on the verge of elaborating one, it turns into much so more of the same piecemeal crap we’ve seen in his campaign so far, combined with a constant harping about how there will be increased responsibility in government with few details on how he’s going to achieve this.
However, a few things that could prove to be upsetting factors:
* Some unforeseen major gaffe in the next few weeks: really a potential pitfall for either candidate. Will either sink, once and for all, McCain or limit Obama’s ability to firmly take advantage of his current standing.
* Lingering race issues: I have to admit, an unlikely game changer. However, since I agree with H.L. Mencken that no one ever lost money betting against the stupidity of the American people, I can’t rule it out completely.
* Those same cultural issues that grab my vote could/will be used as wedge issues: just as I am reasonably far to the left on these issues in gestalt and unlikely to vote for a Republican because of it, the same is used to devastating effect on the opposite side of the aisle. This guarantees that, as long as McCain-Palin keeps pandering to the right, that it’ll be difficult for Obama to easily grab the points he needs to solidify his modest lead into something larger.
Anyway, after watching the bailout fail in its preliminary rounds, I’m going to back away from politics for a while and continue to focus on the positive. I’ve got good people around me, I’ve got good health, and I’ve got a reasonably good attitude (which is shocking, as I’m usually quite responsive to negative stimuli). All in all, even now, life is good. (And when Obama wins, it will be even better. :D)
Hoping things are well with all of you,
Matthew
* Much the same reason that I feel Obama chose Biden: like his limited amount of time in Washington to learn how to shepherd legislation through Congress, foreign policy is not something he’s had the years to pick up.
** Check out her interview on Katie Couric via Youtube. It’s a sad sad day for a candidate when Tina Fey can lift whole paragraphs verbatim for comedic effect.
*** I was going to probably vote for Hillary if she was the nominee, even if I don’t particularly care for her.