Why Today is Importatnt to Me

In 2004 I had just moved to California with my brother. The Iraq War was in full swing and starting to take a turn for the worst, it was constantly rainy in San Diego, and I had just started a job that I wasn't sure would go anywhere. That Nov 2nd I stood in in with my brother while it rained on us and my fellow citizens. For the rest of the day I followed the election online while at work, listened to Air America on the drive home and heard Jeananne Garafalo and her co-host strain for some optimism of the results while the rain kept falling. I watched the cable news networks call each state, and had some glimmer of hope when it came down to Ohio, but early in the morning of Nov 3rd it was considered over. All the while I was reading forums and boards online, feeling even more distraught by the things my fellow citizens were saying. Seeing them cheer and celebrate the re-election of who turned out to be the worst president in the history of our nation.

This year is different. There is no rain, my career is in full gear, I have a wonderful supportive girlfriend, and things overall are better. Unfortunately for our country things are getting worse, the result of 8 years of unabashed hubris on the part of our leadership and those who followed. Our economic situation is considered dire and with the way things are going there's not much to look forward too.

But that will change tonite.

After following the election cycle these past months I am confident that tonite will be historic, and Barack Obama will be our 44th president. Even with all the problems we as a nation face at this moment, his campaign has delivered on it's promise: Hope

I know that tomorrow will be a better and brighter day, and that we as a nation can come together and climb back up that hill to shine unto the world.

Update: It actually is raining, which for the most part is pretty nice and doesn't dampen my spirits at all.

Christmas in October

Or as I've said a few times today, today is like Christmas for Democrats:

West Virginia is now a "toss up" state

McCain has attended ACORN rallies

Paul Krugman is awarded Nobel Prize in Economics, after being blasted by the right a few years ago for spreading FUD about the housing market

Obama focuses economic plans and McCain abandons his

With the DOW almost going up 1000 pts today things are starting to look up.

Tax Plan Myths

In response to this site http://www.rightchange.com/issue_tax1.php

Mooseshit. If you make below 111k/yr you end up paying less taxes with Obama's plan. Course if you do or someday think you will make 600k+/yr, then McCain's plans works better for you:

Comparison between Obama and McCain tax proposals (Washington Post)
What Obama and McCain's tax proposals will do to your tax bill (CNN Money)
McCain and Obama Tax Plans Diverge on Wealth (LA Times)
Tax Deceptions (Newsweek)

If those sites aren't enough Greenspan has something to say about McCain's plan.

Even if I do start making 111k/yr my taxes still won't go up under Obama until I hit that magical 600k/yr mark, but even then I'm still not "rich" by McCain's definition...

Also, taxes? Who cares as long as "the fundamentals of our economy are strong" and we elect the guy who invented the blackberry but doesn't know how to use email, right?

Oh Mr. McCain

After the Feb 12th primaries Obama and McCain spoke back to back, and the differences were stunning. Let's do a little comparing and contrasting shall we?

First we'll start with the transcripts:

Obama's Potomac Primary Speech
McCain's Potomac Primary Speech

Both aren't bad on paper, but what happens when you add some visuals?

Whoa.

McCain's setup was a lot different from the surrounding crowds of Obama (and Clinton btw), whereas in stark contrast McCain camera was just filled with old while men. Where Obama spoke about America and even mentioned McCain and went on about him for a few minutes. McCain on the otherhand alluded to Obama multiple times but didn't actually mention his name. Where's the love? Obama did a great job, focusing on both Clinton for the present primary races, and at the same time linking McCain to Bush. McCain must have found a thesaurus just before his speech throwing out "platitude" while trying to knock down Obama's theme of hope. You could tell by his face the immense pride he must have felt for busting out a multi-syllable word like that. I think Olbermann puts it best when he said after both speeches, "The rule has to be, if you can, always speak before Barack Obama".

How can anyone actually think that McCain will make a good president? Because he's boring? Because he's afraid to say the name of his competition while not actually saying his name (O'Reilly anyone?)? Because he's anti-hope? This guy has nothing to go on except what republicans do best: do nothing and complain about everything.

UPDATE:

Here's the full video of the respective speeches:

I Want John Stewart to Smile Again

Best endorsement I've read so far, by Randall Monroe, author of XKCD,

"I want someone who can lead the country. When people grow cynical and detached from government, or blinded by partisanship, evil runs amok. Obama represents an honest shot at making our government something we can be proud of. I’m tired of throwing things at CNN. I’m tired of feeling depressed when I read speeches by the founding fathers. I want Jon Stewart to smile again. For a brief moment, next Tuesday, we’ll have a shot at finally getting things right. Please help."

The sentence that really strikes me is "I want Jon Stewart to smile again". I've seen many interviews with John Stewart, and I've seen how painful it is for him to speak about what he sees is wrong with this country. He's a comic, he finds humour in the most dire situations, he's not suppose to be impacted by this. But over the past 8 years he has, he's been jaded and you can tell he's fed up. To me this is a reflection of us as Americans, we are resilient and strong, but we can only take so much before we start to break down. Obama is our hope.