Super Tuesday Post-Mortem
Raise your hand if you were up way too late watching results? Yeah, me too…
Anyway, I am overall fairly pleased with the way things shook out last night - would’ve liked to see a stronger Obama showing in NJ, MA and CA, but the fact that he tore through so many of the smaller states speaks volumes for his viability in a national campaign. Particularly notable I think were the wins in Connecticut (the type of well-heeled NE folks who typically would’ve gone toward Hillary) and Missouri were great pickups, and his strong showing in Colorado surprised me considering he was only up by 2 points in the Denver Post poll done last Thursday - just goes to show that the Wifey and I are a campaigning juggernaut that cannot be stopped. Which is good news, since we’ll be putting forth a similar effort here in Virginia for the next week.
At this point, Obama clearly has a lot of momentum (which was tempered slightly by Clinton’s CA win) leading into the next handful of states and has a decisive money advantage. If he can keep fundraising at his current pace he should be able to truly trounce Clinton in media buys and hopefully get a foothold before the SCARIEST DAY EVER, when Ohio and Texas (as well as RI and VT) vote on March 4.
http://my.barackobama.com/yeswecan
Super Tuesday Pt II
Polls will be closing in several states soon; while we wait for results to start flowing in, some interesting articles/links to chew on:
Lawrence Lessig on Barack Obama
Enjoy…
Super Tuesday
I’ve spent the last 24 hours telling anyone who’s willing to listen about the amazing experience Wifey and I had in the Denver area volunteering for the Obama campaign. Excerpts from an excessively-long email I sent to a select group of friends and family:
“The amazing thing was that no matter where we were, no matter who we spoke to - rich, poor and in-between; black, white, hispanic, asian; male or female; Catholic, Buddhist, or other; young or old, everyone was energized - I have never seen such universal appeal for a candidate before. While we were walking door to door, people walking their dogs were stopping us on the street to talk about Obama and to let us know how hopeful they were and that they were encouraging all of their friends to donate. On some blocks, literally every house was leaning Obama. We also encountered a lot of people who, although they weren’t eligible to vote (too young, registered Independent, not registered in the precinct) were looking for opportunities to get involved - 15 year old kids will be helping to organize the caucus tomorrow night while their parents are voting!
…
Ironically, the most memorable conversation I had was with the parking shuttle driver at Dulles. I was still wearing an Obama sticker on my jacket (forgot until he asked about it) and was the only person on the bus so he started talking about how disappointed he is with the state of the nation. He is Ethiopian and was talking about the difference in U.S. perception in Africa, then talked about the overall cost of the war - as he put it: “They spend billions of dollars on the war for nothing. Americans have died, innocent people have died. But people die here every day. I work all day for $10/hour, how do they expect me to buy a house here?” He is planning to vote for Obama (as are his family and friends) because he thinks Obama represents the best chance we have to move forward as a country”
As Super Tuesday will be over in ~24 hours, we’ll soon need to shift our focus to DC/MD/VA (aka “home”), which is coming up on Feb 12. I can’t think of a time when the country has been more energized and ready for something new. We’re all looking forward to putting the last 7 years behind us. I happen to think that Barack Obama is the best person to lead us out of the funk we find ourselves in, but you may disagree. The most important thing is that you vote - our voter turnout has been utterly dismal for as long as I can remember, and as a result we find ourselves with leaders that do not represent the majority of Americans. Make sure you’re registered, and make time to cast your vote!
http://my.barackobama.com/yeswecan
Here we go Steelers…
Spent the weekend in Pgh with the family - Wifey and I got our hands on a pair of tickets to the Steelers-Browns game… It was freezing and wet and, for the first half, completely demoralizing. However, the 2nd half turned out to be some of the most exciting football I’ve ever watched.
Ozymandias
Since my wife asked:
I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert … Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed:
And on the pedestal these words appear:
“My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works ye mighty and despair!”
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.– Percy Bysshe Shelley
And we’re back…
It’s been about a year, but I’ve finally managed to get myself back online. I’m happy to report that I got WordPress installed and working on this, my 3rd attempt - turns out I can’t read directions so well.
Anyway, I’m looking forward to getting into the swing of things: rambling incessantly about my life, my work, my family and everything in between.