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September 17, 2008
This ad presses all my buttons — the right buttons! He’s calm, clear, offers a plan, offers hope beyond a plan, embodies the change he’s promising, and makes McCain look confused and self-serving in silent contrast.
Harry Lewis is the Gordon McKay Professor of Computer Science at Harvard, a former dean there, a Fellow at the Berkman Center, the author of a terrific book about Harvard (“Excellence without a Soul” …ouch!), the fiercest critic of what I’ve been researching recently, and a person I like a lot. He’s also a co-author of Blown to Bits (blog).
I say all this because Harry is teaching a course at Harvard called “Life, Liberty and Happiness after the Digital Explosion,” which, by weird coincidence, is pretty much the subtitle of “Blown to Bits.” Until the enrollment period closes (probably pretty soon), you can watch a videos of the opening course session (requires the Real player). Harry was given title “Harvard College Professor” because of his excellence as a teacher.
O, if only open courseware were the default!
Yesterday, Sen. McCain was on the TV and said to Harry Smith
The point is, I was chairman of the commerce committee. Every part of America’s economy, I oversighted. I have a long record, certainly far more extensive of being involved in our economy than Senator Obama does.
Wow. This seems both to be an in-context quote and remarkably dunderheaded. McCain just shot the entire “experience” argument in the face.
Yesterday was a long day of gaffes and inadvertent truths for the McCain campaign. May the unraveling begin!
Here’s a 4 minute NPR piece on Obama on the economy. The piece is not very substantial, however. More horse racey.
September 16, 2008
Ok, I think I understand how this works. You sign up with JuiceTorrent. You get a widget to post on your site. It lists a few people who are supporting you. They’re supporting you by putting their own JT widget on their site, saying “I support so-and-so.” In addition, relevant ads are placed in designated spots on your supporters’ sites. The money those ads generate goes to you. So, your supporters get to support you financially by donating a little bit of ad space on their sites.
Interesting. As Emil Sotirov, CEO of the founding company, writes on his blog, JT creates
a new category of social vectors across the online identities of people and organizations – adding the moral and material dimension of “supporting” to the existing “linking,” “friending,” “visiting,”and “following.”
It’s currently in beta…
September 15, 2008
CIO has a brief article on how companies are using Twitter. Unfortunately, the first one is about how to hide your marketing messages in tweets. The other three, after the fold, are less objectionable (imo).
Obama’s new ad goes meta-meta:
Tina Fey and Amy Poehler are hilarious at the beginning of an otherwise ominously unfunny Saturday Night Live season-opener:
And, much as I think Palin is a disastrous, cynical choice, ABC’s editing of Gibson’s interview with her seems un-even-handed. If only there were a medium where ABC could post an unedited version for all those who want to see it …
The Army Times wants to know if McCain has flipflopped or is lying about his recent support for the Army’s Future Combat Systems. Interesting.
John McCain hit the campaign trail on Monday sans La Palin, and managed to draw 3,000 people into a 16,000 person stadium. Photos here. It almost makes me sad.
September 14, 2008
This site will add more cowbell to any mp3 you upload to it.
If you’re set on voting for McCain because you agree with him on the issues that matter to you, or because you’re convinced that Obama is unsuited because of his character, then there’s nothing I can say to change your mind. Nor would I want to.
But as I’ve been asking people why they’re not voting for Obama, there seems to be a handful of basic sticking points beyond policy and character. Here’s why they’re not sticking points for me … and in one case, why it’s an argument in favor of Obama.
“He’s not experienced enough.” He clearly does not have as much experience as John McCain, if only because he’s younger. Experience counts, but only when it results in knowledge and judgment. Obama has not been found to be weak or superficial in his knowledge of the world. Indeed, there are some areas — such as Constitutional law — where his own experience leaves him more knowledgeable than McCain. And, in terms of judgment, if you think the Iraq war was a mistake, then Obama ought to get marks for the clarity of his judgment. Likewise, I thought Obama exhibited excellent judgment in a choice of a running mate who has all three: experience, knowledge, and judgment.
“He’s been unclear on his positions.” On Obama’s Web site, you can find detailed plans and proposals. They are at least as crisp, clear, and thorough as McCain’s. But what this criticism has meant for some of the people I’ve talked with is that McCain gives simple, unambiguous answers, while Obama sometimes seems to waffle. Part of it is that Obama likes to give fuller, more nuanced answers. That’s bad for campaigning but a good trait for a leader. But there’s a bigger issue here that I think gets at the heart of many people’s discomfort with Obama. Let me explain …
Obama was very clear in his book, The Audacity of Hope, that the change he wants to bring is to the process of politics and the tenor of democracy. Obama thinks that beneath the ugly divisions among us are some common values. To heal and to move forward, he proposes that we look for what we have in common and try to come up with positions that are not as polarized. That means he is open to re-thinking the standard Democratic positions, sometimes to the ire of the standard Democrats. Off shore drilling? Generally, it’s a bad idea, but let’s recognize that we all want less dependence on foreign oil (and on oil in general), and if there are some places we can drill that can help (eventually), without disturbing the environment, we should be open to it. But that can be only a tiny part of the solution. Abortion? There can be no compromising a woman’s basic right to control her own bodies, but let’s recognize that everyone wants fewer abortions…
The resulting positions are not compromises in which we give up some of what we want so our oppponents will go along, or “triangulations” in which we forsake principle in pursuit of votes. Compromises are political calculations, and they have their place. But they don’t heal us. For that we need to recognize what we have in common, rather than simply what we disagree about. The positions that emerge can look like compromises or even betrayals — the Left is still furious with Obama about the FISA bill — when they are in fact attempts to listen to others with respect and reset the discussion on the basis of what we share. That is the basis of the hope Obama holds out.
(I hope, by the way, that what I’m writing right now adheres to Obama’s path of listening and responding with respect.)
“He’s changed his positions.” Yes, at times he has modified his positions. But I don’t think he’s changed his values or basic proposals. He’s changed as facts have changed. And he’s changed because he not only listens to those with whom he disagrees, he seeks them out. He is a constant learner. McCain, on the other hand, has switched from one side to another on issues as big as the Bush tax cuts, an anti-gay marriage amendment, and Roe v. Wade. The swings seem to me to be much bigger and more fundamental. So, given the two candidates, I don’t see this as an argument against Obama. Am I wrong?
“He’s weak.” I find this objection so odd. True, he hasn’t flown a plane in war, but I think Obama is made of steel. He is unflappable. He has remained true to himself and to his ideals throughout trying circumstances. He has shown tremendous strength as the McCain campaign has untethered itself from issues in order to attack Obama personally. So, this seems to be a matter of perception, and thus I cannot convince you of it. Nevertheless…
Beyond policy disagreements, are there other sticking points I’m missing?
PS: I’m not sorry to be inconsistent in tone and approach from post to post.
September 13, 2008
Now that the press is falling for covering only the meta-story and the not issues, I’m thinking it’s time for Obama to go meta-meta. Screw the issues and don’t try to one-up their lying attacks. Instead, keep pointing America at the sleaziness of McCain’s campaign as a way of impugning McCain’s claim of integrity.
How about putting Obama in front of a camera to say something like this:
My fellow citizens. There has never been a time when Americans needed to be more focused on the challenges facing us. That’s what I’ve been talking about in my ads, on my Web site, and with you, all across this land.
John McCain, on the other hand, has taken the advice of George Bush’s handlers. Instead of engaging in a dialogue about how we’re going to fix the economy that eight years of Republican rule has broken, how we’re going to re-focus on the real threats to our security instead of squandering more money and lives in the war that Senator McCain argued so hard in favor of, how we’re going to provide health insurance to every American, how we’re going to protect our environment, and preserve the rights of women and all those who have struggled against injustice, Senator McCain is making up lies about me to distract attention us from his promise of four more of the same.
It’s a shameful, sad fall from the John McCain who was a maverick and a hero. We deserve better. And on November 4, we can and we will have real change.
Ok, so this is why I don’t write political ads.
September 12, 2008
Q: What’s worse than lying to smear an opponent?
A: Smearing him for supporting a program that the smearer probably himself supports.
Here’s the sex ed bill Obama voted for. It includes teaching abstinence and making all sex ed age-appropriate. For kindergartners, the aim is to encourage them to report inappropriate touching. Which part of “Protecting our kids from sexual predators” do you object to, Sen. McCain?
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