England for Obama

Sarah Palin is the political equivalent of Tourette Syndrome. You don’t want to talk about her. You really don’t want to talk about her. And yet she keeps popping up, bursting out of your mouth (or more precisely: blog post) like some sort of unwanted yet uncontrollable expletive. Try as I might, I can’t stop writing about her. Because she keeps, y’know, doin’ stuff.

Mind you, I do think it’s legitimate to raise this new Sarah Palin attack. Because it’s an attack on me. Oh, and you. For reading me.

That’s right: Sarah Palin has attacked blogging. As surely as night follows day (except in Alaska, where night follows night), Palin is now criticising not just the “filter” of the mainstream media but the filter of the blogosphere, too.

According to Sarah, bloggers sit in their parents’ basements (or presumably just the one basement, if their parents aren’t divorced), “wearing their pyjamas and blogging some kind of gossip or lie”:

Well, I’ve got news for you, Sarah: I don’t live with my parents any more. And they never owned a basement in the first place. I will, however, admit to the “pyjamas” part. I regard it as one of the perks of the job (who wouldn’t work in their pyjamas if they could?) - and guess what, Sarah? Sometimes I blog in my pyjamas from my bed. Put that in your moose chilli and smoke it!

Ahem.

But on that point about blogs versus the “real” media: as Rachel Maddow jokingly notes, who’s to say that those who write in their pyjamas are to be taken less seriously than those who write in suits? (And what if you sit at home writing your blog in a suit?) Unsurprisingly for a blogger, I think that while the blogosphere is clearly not exactly equivalent to the mainstream media (any Tom, Dick or Harry can set up a blog. Not any Tom, Dick or Harry can get a job on the New York Times), it should absolutely be considered alongside such media as an important news source.

Indeed, if this year’s election proved anything, it’s how valuable blogging has become in the provision of news and information for an electorate which has previously been forced to rely on the corporate-owned, politically motivated likes of Fox News. The internet and its resulting independent news websites and blogs have shown that the public no longer has to depend on the old media - and the government - for information. Bush and co. only giving you their version of the Iraq war? Don’t worry - you can watch Al Jazeera online. Sarah Palin denying something? No matter - someone, somewhere will have posted the footage proving she said it. Busy British person who hasn’t got the time to sift through all the current news stories about the American election? No problem - England For Obama has done the work for you.

Like I say: if Sarah Palin attacks you, you must be doing something right. And if politicians are begging for mercy, you must be doing something really right. Here’s to Arianna Huffington, Markos Moulitsas, Jed Lewison, AKMuckraker, Andrew Sullivan, Bob Cesca, the blogosphere and all who sail in her. Huzzah!

And now I’m off to get dressed.

The incomparable Jed Lewison has made a 10-minute compilation video of the election night coverage. It’s great - and I’m tearing up again, partly because for the first time I’ve seen the footage of Joe Biden, and later his wife and mother, joining Obama on stage. I’ve seen so many stills of that moment, but not been able to find video of it until now. Thank you, Jed:

Watching the Obama infomercial - especially the part about the 72-year-old man forced to return to work so that his wife can continue her medical treatment - I was struck again by how much a vote for Barack Obama is a vote for compassion.

Of course, politicians on both sides always talk to the electorate about their most direct concerns; about their plans to help you. Tax cuts, and so on. But the thing is: this election it isn’t just about what’s best for oneself.

It’s about what’s best for the sick. The elderly. Those who are poorer than you. Those who are hit by disaster. They may be your loved ones, your neighbours, your co-workers, or just the people you pass by in the street. They are, in this case, your fellow Americans - a phrase which is overused but which actually has resonance when it comes to the policies and idealism of Barack Obama.

Because a vote for Obama/Biden isn’t just a self-interest vote. It is a vote for a President and a Vice President who have worked throughout their adult lives to help others, to help those in need, to look out for the disenfranchised. A vote for two men who would never have gone to a birthday party (John McCain’s, remember) as people were left stranded and dying after a hurricane hit their city. It is a vote for community, for compassion, for the idea that we are - as Obama has said himself - our brother’s keeper, our sister’s keeper.

To put it even more simply: it is a vote for love.

I’ve been meaning to write about this thought - and yesterday I came across this story from a reader on Daily Kos, which… well, just read it. Because this is what it’s all about:

“Due to the recent discovery of having an aggressive form of cancer, I’ll never vote again.  But thankfully I cast my last vote for whom I sincerely believe to the best and most consequential presidential candidate to ever appear on the ballot in all of my 53 years, Barack Obama.

Like many of members of this community, I’ve got decades worth of political experience in terms of volunteer work and more formal elective roles within the county and state Democratic parties - along with consulting and managing campaigns and even an eleven year stint in promoting our side on talk radio.

But this election year and the candidate we are championing simply seems to dwarf anything I’ve been involved with in the past.  Obviously a large part of that is due to the extraordinary abuse that the current regime has inflicted upon our country in the last eight years - but it’s also much larger than that.

Back in early 2006 when I was mentally constructing the attributes that our next presidential should bring to the table - one unusual need kept re-occurring to me.  Our next candidate needed to find a way in inject some Love into the process.  Not the typical “love of country” but the ability to project a genuine love for our fellow citizens into the mix.

Much to my surprise and despite all of the traditional concerns that this political veteran initially had - Barack Obama emerged as the precise type of candidate that these extraordinary times called for.  And that makes me happy beyond belief and provides me with the will and determination to live to election day and even a ways beyond.

So YES WE CAN emerge from the presidential political wilderness that we’ve been struggling with in the 40 years since 1968.  And YES WE CAN roll back the damage we’ve sustained during the last 8 - 28 years.

I know that this remarkable community is going to play a key role in not only getting us back to even - but through the genuine love contained in “Our Vision for America” that lies at the heart of the Daily Kos - you’ll be playing a major role in laying the foundation for the U.S. becoming a far better place to live and work than it ever was before.

Stay active and keep pushing those winning ideals.  I’ll be with you in spirit all the way!”

…on television; while the YouTube video currently has 1,416,160 views. No: 1,416,161. No: 1,416,162.

But did it work? Well, Gallup polled people after the 30-minute advert aired - read their findings below. In short: Obama’s gone up, McCain’s gone down, but not by huge percentage points. So it may not have made a big difference - but in the words of Daily Kos: “It baked the cake”.

“The political landscape could be improving for Barack Obama in the waning days of the campaign. Gallup Poll Daily tracking from Oct. 28-30 shows him with an eight percentage point lead over John McCain among traditional likely voters — 51% to 43% — his largest margin to date using this historical Gallup Poll voter model.

Since Tuesday, McCain’s support among traditional likely voters has dropped by four points (from 47% to 43%), Obama’s has risen by two points (from 49% to 51%), and the percentage of undecided voters has increased from 4% to 6%.

Thursday night’s interviews are the first conducted entirely after Obama’s widely viewed 30-minute prime-time campaign ad, which ran on several television networks Wednesday evening. Obama held a substantial lead over McCain in last night’s polling, however no greater than what Gallup found on Wednesday.

Obama’s current 11-point lead over McCain among all registered voters — 52% to 41% — is up from an eight-point lead in yesterday’s report, and ties his highest advantage on this basis, last recorded 10 days ago.”

Here were the findings from Rasmussen:

Ad Make You More/Less Likely to Vote for Obama?

More Likely: 54%
Less Likely 24%
Among McCain Voters: 8% More Likely
Among Conservatives: 39% More Likely
Among Republicans: 21% More Likely
Among Men: 50% More likely
Among Women: 59% More Likely
Among 65+: 57% More Likely
Among Whites: 50% More Likely

Apparently, one in seven voters are still persuadable. Who are these people?!

Ladies and gentlemen, your moment of Zen:

According to the American people, that is.

Yes, while many of the pundits in the mainstream media - and bloggers like me - thought that last night’s presidential debate between Barack Obama and John McCain would be seen as a tie, it seems that the American public felt differently.

And felt differently in a very, very good way.

The post-debate polls of undecided voters went massively in Obama’s favour. Why, even a focus group of undecideds covered by Fox - Fox! - declared Obama the winner:

Here’s a round-up of the poll figures. As Kos says over on Daily Kos:

“Given the CNN and CBS polling, the public has overwhelmingly crowned Obama the winner of the debate. It seems that Republicans spent so much time trashing Obama’s “lack of experience” and “lack of judgment” on national security, that expectations were ridiculously low, and as a result, people were pleasantly (and happily) surprised.

Kind of imagine Sarah Palin, who we’ve all come to see as a blithering idiot, turning in a performance the caliber of Obama’s tonight - she would all the much stronger for it, no matter if on the merits, she merely equaled Joe Biden. That’s what apparently happened tonight.

And those snap polls are apparently driving much of tonight’s media narrative. That and McCain’s inability to look Obama in the eye.”