plastic shovels and the yes she can attitude

last week i saw something that i would now like to blow way out of proportion as a metaphor for what is wrong with the political process in america.

although the past few days have been sunny and bright, there is still a thick amount of residual black ice stuck on the pavement in shaded areas about town. last week i was parking atop some of this refrozen slush in a residential neighborhood. while i was gathering my things and getting ready to get out, i saw a woman come out her front door carrying a plastic snow shovel. this is the kind of tool you use when there are six inches of powdery fresh snow on your driveway and you want to hand plow it out of the way. it's flimsy, wide, light, and good for moving fluffy snow. i wondered what she was planning on doing with this shovel, since there wasn't any "real" snow on the ground, and thought she was maybe returning it to a neighbor. but she didn't go to a neighbor's garage, she walked right out into the street and went to work at the hard ice on the pavement in front of her house. the warm temperatures had melted the top, oh, 1/8th inch of ice of the slab, and the woman scraped this with her plastic shovel a couple of times with little effect. she then tried to hit the ice with the corner of the shovel, resulting in a cartoonish "boioioing" of the plastic blade, which spread up the wooden handle and into her arm. this disoriented her and she took a step back to regain her senses. with further determination, she made the plow approach, but her efforts were immediately stopped by the density of the ice. she looked defeated. with one more feeble scrape at the top of the ice, she quit the project of the ugly frozen slush removal and went back inside. after she shut the door, i noticed that her living room window sported a "hillary" sign.

now on to part two:
with both candidates in hot pursuit of the texas and ohio delegates, there is no limit to the amount and content of internet videos, op-eds, articles, blogs and photoshopped images (my favorite recently being the scandalous "driving miss hillary" photo found on FARK). i was watching the coverage of campaign rallies in austin and saw that the clinton supporters are now shouting "yes she can". ok. sure she can, she can do a lot of things. like support NAFTA and then say that anyone that says she supported NAFTA is acting like karl rove. it's a clever little tactic employed to capture undecided voters by equating "obama" and "rove" so that people will chose the "true" democrat. when one has such respect for voters, it's incredible how easily one can imagine throngs of them believing such bullshit.

the "yes she can" chant is an interesting retake on the "yes we can" slogan of the obama campaign, but i find several things wrong with it as a motivational force for hillary's campaign. notwithstanding the football game quality of ripping off someone else's cheer for your own team, the "yes she can" chant is insufficient as a rally point because it places responsibility for change in america squarely on hillary's shoulders. she can do it, she can change my medical costs, interest rates, accessibility to higher education, the environment, the war in iraq, everything! i don't have to do anything, because hillary has experience, she fights the republicans, she knows washington, she can do it. yes she can. this approach removes any need for subsequent action from the voter- all they have to do is vote and bada bing! things is changed.

a simplification to be sure, but let's revisit the plastic shovel lady to amplify the difference between a "yes she can" and "yes we can" attitude. plastic shovel lady set out on a task with the mightiest of intentions- she was tired of parking atop a nasty black mound and removal of said nasty black mound was the logical remedy. BUT. when it came around to the actual process of changing her parking space situation she spent all of two minutes using an inappropriate tool before deciding that it was inevitable that there be ice on her parking spot for the duration of winter in colorado. this is the kind of person that wants someone else to remove the ice for them. this is the kind of person that would not go to a neighbor to see if they could borrow a metal blade which could hack through ice clumps with a measure of elbow grease. this is the kind of person that doesn't realize that elbow grease is inherent in our bodies because they're never tested it's strength. this is the kind of person that votes for hillary clinton.

now, that might be all well and good- not everyone wants to build up a sweat, but the sweatless people of america have been running the country too long and i'm tired of their ineffectiveness. i'm tired of believing that someone else is responsible for my well-being, that someone else can be blamed, revered, excused, or esteemed in regard to the quality of my life. i used to feel easily defeated when attempting difficult tasks, i still do sometimes. i throw shovels in frustration and try not to succumb to the "there's nothing i can do about it" trick that locks us into stagnation. i think there is a great big pile of frozen muck in front of us, and if we want it removed we need to gather the right tools, believe in ourselves and believe in the we.

fury

perusing the newspapers this evening resulted in dismay. apparently it's time for the smear campaign to reach full throttle. i fear that many people in ohio and texas are just tuning into the campaign and mistaking clinton and mccain attacks for respectable behavior from a candidate, perhaps thinking "hm, they seem like the politicians i'm used to, i'm going for it." here's what i just wrote to hillary clinton.

Dear Hillary and Clinton campaign staff,

You have lost all of my support.

There was a time when I was proud of the Clintons and would defend their actions, excuse their political posturing and forgive their motives. They were my voice in Washington and in the world and I wished to preserve their facade because they spoke and acted on issues important to me. I am now finished with excusing the competitive, career-minded, shallowness exhibited by Hillary and her campaign. I am ashamed that a forerunner of my party is dismissing my caucus vote, along with thousands of others, as passing naivete and asserting that she will reign in the rampant foolishness and lead us to "real" change. Does real change begin with grubbing for delegates in states that did not hold a legitimate democratic primary? Does it begin with throwing around sensationalist remarks about a principled senator in an effort to woo the undecided? Does it begin with condescending to the general public by telling us all to "get real"? Could it start with lobbyists? Or maybe it starts with voting for a war, perhaps in an effort to appear stalwart, but then deciding that the war wasn't such a good idea. I cannot place my confidence in someone keeping up appearances in the senate by voting for thousands of lives to be lost.

If Hillary gets the nomination by acquiring FL or MI delegates, or by any other unfair means, I will not cast my democratic ballot in the presidential race. I will opt out, because I will not join her in the "I voted for it but didn't want it to win" mindset that stagnates our democratic process. I know several others who share this position, and think the Clinton campaign should bear it in mind when trying to think of how to win the nomination.

My caucus vote was for Obama and my vote in the national election will be for Obama.

If an intern is reading this, please print it out and share it with the campaign staffers. Or take it to heart as a message from a college-educated white woman that believes in possibilities.

Thank you.

a question

why are so many pictures of hillary clinton taken when her mouth is wide open?

like this one from the nytimes:

chicken love

even my chickens are for obama! they walk around saying "brrrrack..... brrrrrack!"

the obamanon

obama phenomenon, obamanon.

here's my sighting, from four years ago:

halloween night, champaign, illinois. the usual trickle of fairies, box office characters, vampires, and sponge bobs. my friend and i were sitting in the driveway, drinking beers, and discussing our general angst regarding current affairs while passing out crunch bars and half smiling at the kids. some kids wouldn't even say what they were supposed to be, they just stuck their bags out and looked at you open-mouthed. most forgot to say thank you, and some, while cute, were so boring that we almost wanted to refuse them candy. three princesses in a row? come on. don't you kids know what sort of country you're growing up in?

then came obama. a very short obama wearing a clip-on tie and hush puppies. a kid of about 9 or 10, dressed in his suit, all by himself, approaching houses to get supporters and candy. he was wearing a homemade campaign button that didn't have a name, just "vote," but it couldn't have been more obvious.

we perked up. "are you obama for halloween??" proud smile, straight neck, chin high. parents at the end of the driveway, positively beaming. we gave him two pieces of candy and he closed his bag and said thank you, then gave him two more, then, as he walked away, we got up from our chairs and offered him the rest. he politely declined and we waved our appreciation at his parents as they turned with their mini-bama to the next house.

with renewed hope for the election that was just two days away, we sat out the rest of the night and chattered about possibilities. "i mean, the country is going to vote for kerry, right? how could we not? if we can't get bush out of office let's go to canada. happy halloween, guys. you're from canada, can we just go there, will they let us in? what should we bring? too bad obama is running for senate, he would be an awesome candidate. did you see that kid?"

two days later bush became president again and, instead of going to canada, i went to a therapist's office.



share your obamanon stories! do you find yourself having a candidate for the first time in your life? did you read a great quote from him and feel a tingling of hope? are you simply inspired that there's somebody like him on people's tvs on a regular basis, giving them something new to think about? do you think the "yes we can" music video is a bit over the top, but somehow emotionally engaging? i'd love to hear your hate-free opinions- i.e. please no lame attempts to convince me that obama is not a rock star. think of it this way, would you not pity the poor child whose parents convinced them to dress up like hillary for halloween? i think it was the kid's idea to be obama, and i suppose there are some ambitious little girls out there that feel empowered by a cackle, but they wouldn't get extra candy from me.