Sunday, November 9, 2008

More from the Obamatron

More coverage of Obama's election and the ripples that it's having in our society:

First, a poll conducted by Democracy Corps conducted a poll on policy issues. Apparently, they have found some evidence to rebut the claim that America is a conservative-right leaning country. In fact, they claim that in policy questions which are not attached to a candidate's name, Americans are trending towards progressive stances. This is interesting, though of course we could argue the language of the questions. It's certainly possible there is a main effect hiding in there somewhere.

More below the fold.

Here's an eye-opener - Senate Republicans are already up in arms over working with Obama. Now...I want you to take a moment and savor the sweet, sweet irony of the next to last sentences. Ah yes, Mr. Senator. Of course you're for filibustering, right after you were against it.

Politics, as usual.

Tip O' the Senate Gavel to Eschaton, a blog of some note, that I found through Afarensis, likewise, a blog of some note.

Did the web-savvy campaign for Obama help him? It's starting to look that way. We saw for perhaps the first time a youth vote that helped edge out some narrow margins, including my home state. If nothing else, that's an important symbolic victory for the Obama campaign - they inspired young people to actually be interested in politics in record numbers. They also showed an application of a particular strategy that I enjoy - the bottoms-up, headless organization. Completely unruly and undisciplined, but ultimately producing a higher-level sense of self and order. This tactic is favored by Anonymous, of course, and Obama has shown that a similar strategy works for political campaigns. The fallout from this will be incredibly interesting to watch. I hope this trend continues.

Just to give you a sense of some of the prime-contenders for important offices in this country, I offer you this. Comment on it as you will. Watch out Michael Feldman. We may just have a progressive party yet.

Some sobering news - November layoffs. We're still waiting to get far enough out of the woods to know we've left the bottom. That will probably continue for a while.

Finally, an opinion/special interest piece. Here's a brief story about a butler, Eugene Allen, who worked in the White House for more than three decades. Stay with it till the last paragraphs.

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