Coldplay - God Put a Smile Upon Your Face
Obviously, posts have slowed down since the election. I'm not sure what direction this blog will take now that Hillary Clinton, John McCain, Sarah Palin, and the rest are beginning to fade into the past. But stay tuned. If Barry steps out of line, you can expect me to call him on it (his support for a GM bailout is worrisome). If you don't wanna be bothered regularly checking for new posts, I recommend subscribing to our RSS feed via Google Reader or your aggregator of choice. Much love.
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Track of the Day
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Monday, November 10, 2008
Friday, November 7, 2008
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Something's Fishy in Alaska (Hint: It's Not the Fish)
Republican candidates in Alaska significantly outperformed the polls on Tuesday. Despite leading by 7-22% in the polls leading up to the election, Democratic candidate for Senate, Mark Begich, is narrowly behind incumbent Republican Senator and convicted felon, Ted Stevens, as Alaska begins counting absentee and provisional ballots. Polls had McCain/Palin winning by about 14%; they won by 25%. Maybe Republicans in Alaska were just more motivated to vote than anyone anticipated. But . . .
According to official totals, voter turnout in Alaska was down 14% as compared to 2004. Anyone think that makes sense? The Governor of Alaska is running for Vice-President, and Alaskans decide they're no longer interested in voting? Nate Silver has a thoughtful and thorough post on the possible explanations. Check it out.
Update (4:00pm): Just to drive the point home: Voter turnout was up 10.8% nationwide as compared to 2004. But, again, Alaskans decided not to show up.
Throw Away Your Canadian Backpack Pins
Young Americans traveling abroad need no longer pretend they're Canadian, as they did during the dubya years. They can proudly reveal their American citizenship without risking the ire of their host country, without having to explain that they voted for Kerry and Gore, without having to explain the whole blue state/red state dichotomy (they may still have to explain why they don't have huge asses, like most Americans).
Andrew summed it up perfectly about a year ago:
"A brown-skinned man whose father was an African, who grew up in Indonesia and Hawaii, who attended a majority-Muslim school as a boy, is now the alleged enemy. If you wanted the crudest but most effective weapon against the demonization of America . . . , Obama’s face gets close. It proves them wrong about what America is in ways no words can."Overnight, America's image has been restored. Of course, Obama's face is not enough. He's still got to deliver the goods. I believe he will.
Update (12:35pm): Booboo pointed me to this story on Yahoo news about an expatriate in Vienna.
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Maverick County Goes Obama
I was playing around with The New York Times' interactive map and discovered that Maverick County, Texas went for Obama with 78.2% of the vote. They know who the real mavericks are in Maverick County.
364
My prediction before the election was that Obama would win 364 electoral votes. I have witnesses. If Obama wins North Carolina and loses Missouri, I am officially the smartest man alive. Take that Nate Silver!
Update (12:49pm): After some painstaking arithmetic, I figured out that Obama will likely win 9 states that Kerry lost. That's incredible.
Californians Rescind Gay Marriage Rights
Californians narrowly voted to take away existing rights from gay people yesterday. I personally know people whose marriages will be nullified as a result. I'm astounded that a majority of California voters were willing to dismantle preexisting families. The gay rights movement needs to show Californians the faces of the families they tore apart yesterday (I don't know why they didn't do it beforehand).
According to exit polls, Prop 8 passed based largely on the support of black voters. Obama voters. President-Elect Obama will have to answer for his tepid support for the "No on Prop 8" campaign. It was the safe political move. But it probably cost my friends their marriages.
Track of the Day
Foreigner - Feels Like the First Time
The air tastes better this morning. Take a deep breath. Enjoy it.
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
The L-Word: Why Undecideds Will Break for Obama in Bigger Numbers Than You Think
All the talk over the past few days has been about the accuracy of polls (tracking, exit, etc.), expected turnout, and the potential size of the Bradley Effect. There's another point that I haven't really heard talked about. I'll call it the "Historical Significance Effect." That is, as it looks increasingly likely that Barack Obama will win the election, will remaining undecided voters want to tell their future children and grandchildren that they voted against the first African American President? Late-deciders have based their votes on much more trivial things.
Track of the Day
Aaron Copland - Fanfare for the Common Man
May this inspire you to vote for CHANGE today.
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